Page 23 of Temel

“As I said, there is no doubt Tommy get his intelligence from you.”

She laughed and briefly touched his cheek.

“Perhaps Naffon learned his charm from you.”

He shuddered as they both rose.

“A horrifying thought.”

He escorted her to the door, then stood looking down at her, reluctant for the evening to end.

“It really was a delicious dinner. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

“Sleep well, my sweet.”

She smiled up at him, touched his cheek again, and disappeared back through the dining room. He watched until she entered the kitchen before turning back to the study. The pile of documents on his desk still awaited his attention, but for once his sense of duty wasn’t strong enough to compel him to resume work.

Instead, he banked the fire, turned out the lights, and headed to his room for a long, cold shower.

CHAPTER 10

With her body still humming from Temel’s kisses and touches, Ida expected to have a hard time falling asleep. Her response to him shocked her, but instead of worrying about it, she was asleep almost as soon as her head hit the pillow—and her dreams featured Temel in a variety of erotic activities. She woke just before dawn with her nipples hard and a slow, throbbing pulse between her legs.

This level of sensitivity, of excitement, was a new experience for her. She’d come to her marriage a virgin. Abner had been surprisingly patient with her and hadn’t caused her any pain on their wedding night. Their weekly couplings had not been unpleasant, just unremarkable. So unremarkable that Tommy was six months old before she realized that Abner had stopped coming to her bed.

She’d briefly considered broaching the subject, but in the end she focused her attention on her son and daughter instead. If he’d aroused even a fraction of the passion that Temel drew from her, she suspected she would not have remained silent.

But did shared passion mean there could be a future between them, she wondered, staring up at the ceiling as the light outside the window increased. Dora had been passionate about Malcolm and look how that had ended up. Not that she thought Temel was the type to get her pregnant and then abandon her.

Her hand covered her stomach for a moment, remembering the feeling of a life growing inside her.Perhaps a life with pale blue skin and tiny horns, she thought, then shook her head at her foolishness. Now she was really putting the cart before the horse, especially considering her age.

She sat up just as a soft murmur came from Dora’s bedroom.Excellent.If Angel was awake, even Dora couldn’t pretend to be asleep while she was nursing her daughter. She’d come so close to telling Temel the truth last night. She didn’t want any secrets between them, but this was not just her secret.

Wrapping the blanket around her shoulders, she padded quietly across the hallway to Dora’s room. Her daughter was sitting up, feeding Angel, and she shot her a wary look.

“Good morning,” she said calmly, sitting down next to her on the bed, then waited for Dora to relax. A not uncomfortable silence filled the room, broken only by the sound of Angel suckling.

“Do you want to tell me about it?” she asked at last, and Dora bit her lip.

“No! Well, maybe—not that there’s much to tell. I ran into him at the market.” A faint smile twisted Dora’s mouth. “I mean I actually collided with him. I thought I was going to fall, but he caught me. We… stared at each other and then I ran away. That’s all.”

She suspected that Dora still hadn’t told her the entire truth, but she let it go.

“Is that why you were so reluctant to move out here? To be close to their farm?”

“Yes. I’m sorry—I know I was kind of rude.”

“Little bit,” she agreed and was rewarded with a smile. Taking a deep breath, she continued, “After you went to bed last night, Temel offered me a job working here as a cook and housekeeper.”

“What? You aren’t seriously thinking of taking it?”

“I’m considering it.”

“But why?”

“It would be a steady income, rather than having to wait for the next sewing job or doing laundry all week.”

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