27: Tales of love

*Ben*

I wake her up before dawn so I can have her before sunlight steals into the room. Then, even though she invites me to stay, to prove to myself I still possess enough willpower to resist her charms, I dress and go to the library to study my ledgers. Instead, I keep seeing her sitting in the chair before the fireplace that first night. We will probably spend many nights there. Either there or in my bedchamber or wandering the hallways. It isn’t as though I am providing her with an abundance of options.

Not that she needs any options. She is there to warm my bed and provide me with an heir. She isn’t supposed to make me want to laugh. She isn’t supposed to make me want to give her more.

Nor is she supposed to make me glad for her presence when I walk into the breakfast dining room after growing tired of staring at her empty chair in the library. She is dressed in the dark blue she had worn yesterday, which I suppose signals that she is going to tidy up the music room a bit more. I