Page 34 of Lady of Charade
Was she a woman with whom he could spend the rest of his life? For the first time ever, the notion of such a thing didn’t cause panic to race through him. He was still uneasy, yes, for he wondered if his current infatuation with her was something that could last forever. He was hard-pressed to consider that it could, but then the thought of her leaving, of being without her… was also more than he could bear.
He lay there, staring up at the stained ceiling above him, visible through the dim light filtering through the clouded window. He chuckled to himself at the thought of bringing her home to meet his parents, wondering just what his father would say if he told him that he had, finally, found a woman to call his own — a woman with no title but that of an illegitimate birth, who was a healer from the Americas and currently living within leased rooms in Cheapside as she passed herself off as family of the nobility.
The explanation, even within his own head, sounded far worse than it actually was. Sarah was simply trying to find family, to find a connection, and she was doing the best she could within those circumstances.
She stirred on his chest, and instead of his typical rush to escape as fast as he possibly could, for the first time, David was looking forward to waking up with the woman who slept so soundly upon him.
Sarah blinked a few times as she pushed herself up from his chest, as though she wondered just what her head lay upon.
“Good morning,” he said, and she looked up at him in a daze.
“Good morning,” she responded, looking positively angelic with her hair in a halo around her head. “I’m sorry I fell asleep so quickly.”
“It’s fine,” he said with a smile. “I’m glad you did. You were exhausted.”
“Yes, well…” her cheeks turned bright pink as she smiled at him, a smile that brought him incredible satisfaction.
“Are you feeling well?”
“I am,” she said, and he wondered if her blush could deepen any further. “Thank you, for last night. For your help and for… for everything.”
“It was my pleasure,” he said with a grin, and she finally laughed, though he could tell she was not quite as uninhibited in the light of day.
“It looks quite bright out,” she said, though how she could tell through that excuse for a window, he had no idea, but then, she had far more experience within this room than he did.
“I should probably be going,” he said, though he wanted nothing more than to stay where he was, to make love to her once again. Would she welcome it? If he returned here tonight, what should he expect? But he couldn’t very well stay here all day, for then what would that mean for the two of them?
Everything he had ever thought about himself, about relationships, was in question now, all because of this woman. His desire to please her, to protect her, shocked him to his very core.
“I will help you find your father, Sarah,” he promised her as she moved off his chest to lie on the bed next to him. “I can promise you that.”
He continued to talk as he walked about the room, collecting his clothing and dressing to return home.
“I’ve narrowed down the areas of where his estate could be to a few within the country, based on what your mother told you of nearby fields and forests and what was growing. However, it is still quite a wide range of locations. I’m going to speak with Clarence today. I thought perhaps if we put our minds together, we might come up with additional ideas on where would be best to next search.”
He walked over to the basin in the corner, pouring water from the pail next to it into the bowl before splashing it upon his face to revive himself. He would change once more after he returned to his own rooms, but he needed to be somewhat respectable in case he encountered anyone he knew along the way.
He picked up the towel beside the bowl, wiped off his face, and then was about to replace it when something caught his eye. It was a ring, sitting within a dish beside the basin. He reached out, picking it up and turning it over between his fingers as he noted the crest within the black setting.
“What is this?” he asked, turning to show Sarah at what he was looking.
“It’s my ring,” she said, her face closing as she sat up in bed, drawing the sheet around herself, though he would have dearly liked to have seen what she looked like in the light of day. “My mother gave it to me. I believe it might have been my father’s.”
“Sarah!” he exclaimed. “This could be exactly what we are looking for — something to lead us to the man. Did you not think that this would be something of significance?”
She shrugged a delicate shoulder, though her eyes hardened ever so slightly at his admonishment and she looked down for a moment.
“I suppose I was being foolish. I just thought… if you knew I held onto such a thing, from a man who doesn’t even know I exist, you may think it silly. Besides, it’s just an insignificant design. Probably some trinket he gave my mother. I doubt it is actually worth anything.”
“This is more than a design,” he said, staring at it once more. “This is a family crest. This, Sarah, could be the answer. Can I hold onto it while I look further into it?” At her furrowed brow, he continued, “I promise I shall return it.”
“Of course,” she said, and he palmed it in his hand before slipping it onto his own finger, excited now to finally have a lead. He would share it with Clarence, he decided. Surely he would have some idea of to whom it belonged.
“I should be going, then,” he said, though he made no move toward the door, torn between needing to leave and the longing to stay here, with her, all day.
“Good day, David.”
After a moment of hesitation, he strode over to the bed, cupped a hand around the back of her head, and then kissed her long and hard, an unspoken reminder to her of all that had occurred between them the previous night, and a promise of what was to come.
