Page 26 of Beyond Montana's Sky
Cai moved the chairs back to the table.
“Mormorthought of everything.” Edith picked up the buttonhook, moved to sit in her chair, and shifted away from Cai. Lifting the hem of her skirt a bit, she bent and began undoing each button, not easy with a stiff corset cutting into her and the lantern light not reaching the floor. Normally, unless the maid helped her, she undid her shoesafterremoving her corset.
“I’d go outside to give you privacy, but….”
“If it wasn’t snowing, I’dsendyou outside,” she retorted lightly, not looking up from her task. Once finished unhooking the buttons, she struggled to pull off each shoe, while at the same time keeping her skirt down to hide her feet and ankles.
After her shoes were off, she tucked them under the foot of her bed, grabbed the nightgown and robe, and hurried toward the wooden screen closing off the corner. With only silk stockings to protect her feet, the plank floor felt cold.I’ll be glad of Mormor’s thick stockings.
Edith went behind the screen to undress, pulling the side closed behind her. Mortified, she stared at the enamel pot set on a wooden frame and the stack of newspaper next to it, knowing she’d have to use it before bedtime.Cai will hear everything.
She fingered the first button of her bodice, let out a sigh, and began the tedious task of undressing.
This was so much easier as a child.Unlike many mothers, hers hadn’t put Edith into a corset at a young age. She hadn’t begun wearing one until she started menstruating. Such lateness scandalized Aunt Agatha, whose daughter Hermione had to suffer wearing training corsets from age eight to mold her figure. On their childhood visits to Boston, her aunt tried to persuade her mother to give in, saying that without a narrow waist Edith would never find a husband. But, thankfully, her parents stood firm.I married in spite of her dire predictions.
As Edith undressed, she draped each piece over the screen, spreading her skirt over them to hide the undergarments. Then she squatted and used the pot, cringing the whole time.
Living with indoor plumbing spoiled me.
When Edith emerged from behind the screen, her cheeks hot, she saw Cai sitting at the table fingering the handle of the mirror, a lost expression on his face. He looked up and smiled. “These were Aurelia’s.”
She could tell his smile took effort, and her embarrassment about her ablutions vanished.
“I don’t need them. I have a comb in my reticule.”
“No, I have a feeling Aurie would want you to use them.”
Edith picked up the soap and towel and went over to the dry sink to wash her hands and face before moving back to the fireplace to sit down, grabbingMormor’sstockings as she passed the table. Once again, she shifted away from Cai before putting them on but couldn’t help a quick flash of bare ankle. She hoped he hadn’t noticed.
But when Edith looked up, her gaze met his, and she saw the desire in his eyes. For a moment, she imagined him placing a hand on her ankle and slowly gliding a palm up her leg. She knew all too well how a man touched a woman, how he made her feel. Memories of the past entwined with the present, and she was sure her cheeks stained red.
Edith looked away and reached to let down her hair, her hands trembling. She forced them to start the nightly task. Only now did she realize how windblown and tangled were the strands.I must have looked blowsy all this time.
One by one, she slowly removed her hairpins, conscious of the intimacy of taking down her hair in the presence of a man who wasn’t her husband. She wondered what Cai was thinking, if he, too, was aware of the beds behind them, how private and secluded they were, away from anyone who might know and judge.
His eyes intense, Cai reached out to touch a long strand falling over her shoulder and down her arm. “Let me brush your hair.”
Brush my hair?Even Nathaniel had never brushed her hair. That was the job of her lady’s maid.
“I used to do that for Aurie.”
His invoking his sister stopped her instinctive protest.
A corner of Cai’s mouth turned up. “When Aurie was little, she’d argue against having her head touched. Half the time, she’d run around all day like a little savage, her braids coming loose, hair in tangles. For a tough girl child who wouldn’t cry when she fell off her horse, she sure could shriek if I pulled on a knot.”
“I think that’s what all little girls do.”
“I learned to be very slow and gentle. Somewhere along the line, I figured out all the protesting was her way of drawing out the time before she had to go to bed. I don’t know what her excuse was for the morning, though.” He picked up the brush and waited for Edith’s answer, and then broke out his charming smile. “I won’t pull. I promise.”
She knew better than to accept, but temptation beckoned. Remembering the lost look on his face, she couldn’t help but nod.
He stood with the brush and moved behind her chair.
She’d expected him to start at her head, like her maid always had. But instead, he picked up a long lock, slid his hand all the way to about six inches from the end, and started brushing there, carefully working his way toward her neck.
At first, Edith sat tense, aware of each movement Cai made. She could feel the tremble of her hands, and her heart pounding. But gradually, the quiet rhythm soothed her, and she began to relax. Slowly, subtly, the mood between them slid into something else—something sensuous.
Finally, he began stroking the bristles over her head, and then set down the brush on the table.
