Page 35 of In Want of a Wife
“I can’t… Please don’t cry, Lily.”
There was no point in wiping the tears away now. They were happening whether she embraced them or not.
Rafe leaned closer. “May I come in?”
She stepped aside as he rushed inside and closed the door.
He had said her name, as if it was some holy devotion, and she was something to worship.
And she was crying like a fool.
“Oh, I hate crying.” She brushed back her tears, staring up at him as he studied her. He walked closer, bracing his hands on her arms.
“There is nothing wrong with crying.”
“I don’t wish to. It’s only…” She threw her arms to her side and laughed in spite of herself. “I don’t wish to bother you. Please, I will figure this out in the morning. You may return to your room.”
“It doesn’t seem like I should leave you now.”
“I don’t need managing! I wish everyone would stop moving me around like some pawn so their life can be made easier.”
Rafe rubbed his thumbs over her arms. Her eyes turned up to his. Even from beneath her tears, it was time to admit that Rafe Davies was handsome. Frustratingly so. She had no business standing here with him in her room, the two of them alone.
“Let me say that again,” he said in a low voice, “I don’t want to leave you now.”
She sniffed, then closed the distance between them and buried her face against his chest.
“Don’t cry, Lily,” he whispered, gently wrapping his arms around her.
Lily melted into his embrace and cried. Cried about being jilted at the altar twice. Cried about being left behind by her mother. Cried about being treated like a guest ather own home after her father remarried. Cried for feeling as if she was always a problem to everyone around her.
And all the while, Rafe stood firm in the middle of her rented room at the inn, holding her, letting her fall to pieces without any judgment.
She pulled back, wiping her face and smiling. “I assure you, that is not a common occurrence. I hate crying.”
It was his turn to nod.
She wished he would have said something irreverent then. Anything to turn her attention away from the warmth of his eyes, the laugh lines around his mouth. For all his bristly comments during their brief time together, she knew at that moment that Rafe Davies was hiding a terrible secret.
He was unequivocally kind.
The realization annoyed her. He was to be her brother-in-law, and yet, she was wearing his jacket. She had just rested in his arms as if they were lovers. And she had just thought about his lips kissing hers.
“Lily,” he repeated.
“Please stop saying my name,” she said in a small whisper, “before I…” She stopped herself, sure that if she continued she would kiss him.
“Very well.” He stepped back, then circled around to examine the trunk. “It looks identical to yours.”
She threw her hands on her hips. “Open it up.”
He snapped his attention to hers. “I believe you. I don’t suspect you’d come find me in nothing but a man’s shirt otherwise.”
“I don’t think that is considered proper, no.”
He chuckled. “As if I’m concerned with what’s proper or not.”
Rafe opened the trunk and removed another tailored jacket. “Very fine clothes. Is there a name here, so we know who it belongs to?”
