LOST - PART I
TOGETHERNESS
Chapter 18
Adam took his time driving home, believing that Thea had fallen asleep. So he was startled when she abruptly sat up and pressed more firmly up against his side. Quickly glancing at her face, he saw that her eyes were still closed. She seemed to be hovering in the twilight between being asleep and awake. He drove on in silence for a while then decided it might be a good time to get some questions answered.
"Thea," he said low and she rested her chin on his shoulder to murmur, "Hmmm.?"
He shivered slightly at her warm breath caressing his ear, then firmly reined in his attention. "Tell me about Doc."
"I loved him, but he hated me," she answered promptly in a tone that was both hurt and puzzled..
"Hated you?" he echoed in surprise.
"Oh yes, he did," she assured him softly with conviction.
Adam went cold, in spite of the warmth of the night, so this was the reason why she kept pushing him away. He swallowed hard against his tightening throat.
"Theadora, what did he do to you?" his voice deepened with his anger. He glanced at her again and she opened her eyes halfway. Her expression didn't reflect any of the pain he could hear in her voice and he was puzzled by that for a moment.
"What did he do?" he repeated, determined to get an answer to that question.
She leaned back, away from his side, her heavy lidded eyes taking in his furious expression. "Nothing physical.I mean he didn't beat me or anything like that. He just treated me like I was beneath notice." Emphatically nodding her head she leaned into him again. "He never touched me.never, ever touched me.in any way."
He clenched his teeth, reading the world of hurt in her simple words. "Then who took care of you? You were with him since you were born, right?"
"Yes, since I was born.he hired a long string of nannies. Very few of them stayed for long and I think that most of them left because they feared him."
Adam winced, appalled at the picture she was painting, but aware he wasn't hearing a bit of self-pity in her voice or words.
"When I was little I tried to hug him occasionally, or take his hand, but he would always push me away. Sometimes he was furious and sometimes he was cold, but I learned quickly not to try anymore." She paused for a moment to sigh tiredly. "It could have been a lot worse Adam. I was fed, clothed, and given an excellent education. And when I finally began to assist him in surgery he actually started talking to me, but only about medical things and I learned so much from him." She fell silent then and her eyes closed again, but he knew she wasn't asleep yet.
He was also silent, unable to speak, his heart aching for the little girl she had been, being brought up in a world as cold as charity. Shaking his head, he sighed deeply with regret for the heartache she carried daily without complaint.
"Thank you," she said softly into his ear, understanding his sigh, and he tightened his arm around her. In a moment, he felt her body relax in sleep and he spent the rest of the ride home wondering how on earth she had developed into the loving, fiery, compassionate, and strong woman she was.
When they reached the house, he tried to wake her up, but couldn't. So he pulled the buggy around to the barn and carefully backed out, lowering her upper body to the seat. The combination of nervous tension and wine had her sleeping very deeply.
He quickly took care of the horses, climbed back into the buggy to take her in his arms, and then carried her into the house. Trying to move quietly was difficult as he climbed the stairs, and he hoped he hadn't woken anybody up. She stirred in his arms as he went down the upper hallway to her room and he knew she was half awake again when he opened the door and went in.
Gently laying her on the bed, he lit the lamp and turned it down as far as it could go. Then he took his hat off and set it down on her bedside table. He stood there looking down at her, wondering what the hell he should do now, when her eyes opened to stare back. Leaning over her, he was about to ask if she needed Glory to get undressed when she reached up to lock her hands together behind his neck and yanked him onto the bed.
"Thea let go," he said as firmly as he could without raising his voice.
"No," she said and pouted, her former even mood disappearing.
"Theadora let go," he repeated reaching up to try and pull her hands apart, but quickly let go when she said, "Ow!" then grinned up into his face.
"What are you gonna do?" she said softly while trying to tug his head down.
Adam sighed with exasperation. "Dear Lord!" he grumbled and tried to slide off the bed backward, but she quickly shifted her strong arms around his waist and locked her hands together again.
"Nuh uh, you're not going anywhere mister," she whispered in his ear and he surprised himself by laughing at the absurd situation.
"Thea," he started to say but she stopped his words with her mouth. He gasped when her full lips parted and she touched his bottom lip with the tip of her tongue. For a moment he caressed her lips with his own and it took every bit of his strength of will to drag his mouth away.
"Now stop that. I told you before I will NOT treat you as something cheap. It's all or nothing with me, Thea. You know that, damn it."
She pouted again and opened her mouth to argue, but he put a hand over her mouth. "I asked you once and I'm going to ask you again. Theadora, will you marry me?" he said low and took his hand away.
Her lower lip pouched out further. "Why do you have to go and spoil everything like that?" she said irritably and he almost laughed again.
"I'll take that as another 'no'," he said with amusement in his voice, and then startled her by taking her mouth in a hot demanding kiss. His tactic worked - she became so lost in the kiss, she forgot to keep her tight grip on him and he easily slipped away.
He took a step back from the bed when she sat up to grab at him again, and grinned at her annoyed expression.
"That wasn't fair." she insisted. "You cheat!"
"No I don't," he said reasonably. "You're just angry because you lost this wrestling match," his eyes were sparkling with humor in the dim light and she grinned.
"I gave it a good try though, didn't I?" she giggled, and then flopped back on the bed. "Oh Lord, I'm sooo tired," she breathed, and seemed to fall asleep as soon as the words left her mouth. He cautiously moved closer, suspecting another trick, but she didn't move and her deep, even breathing told him she really was out.
Sighing again, he bit back a chuckle and debated about what to do. He felt he just couldn't leave her fully, and no doubt uncomfortably, dressed for the rest of the night. And he really didn't want to have to explain to Glory what had happened. Taking a deep breath, he gritted his teeth and quickly removed her slippers then began removing her clothes, stopping when she was still in her chemise and bottom petticoat.
He stood there for a few moments, watching her sleep, her chest rising and falling underneath the white silk. Then he noticed the sparking of the pink diamonds and reached down to remove her necklace and earrings. Placing them carefully on her dressing table, he stiffened his spine and slid his hands up one leg to release the garter that held her stockings up. He smoothed the stocking down her leg and she giggled in her sleep when his hands touched her bare foot. Grinning, he touched her foot again. This time she laughed and rolled over onto her stomach while kicking that foot against the mattress. His eyebrows rose with amusement as he noted she had very sensitive feet.
Quickly removing the other stocking he breathed a sigh of relief and began to slide the covers out from underneath, and soon was able to pull them over her. He was about to leave when he noticed the heavy braids pinned up on top of her head.
Sighing again, he turned her over, and slid one arm under her shoulders to push her torso up and sat carefully up against the headboard with one leg folded, his foot behind the knee of his other leg. He slowly let her fall back against his chest and started removing the pins. He was so intent on his task, he didn't realize she was awake until the last braid was undone and he gathered her long, silky black hair together and draped it over her shoulder.
She reached up to take his hand and pressed it to her cheek. "Why did Doc hate me like that Adam? Why did he hurt me like that?" she said in a small voice and his heart almost broke when he felt her tears wet his hand.
Slipping his arms around her, he slid down a little further to rest his cheek on the top of her head. Rocking her slightly he held her in a fierce grip as he murmured soft words of comfort until she fell asleep again.
Adam waited for a while, intending to leave when she was sleeping her deepest, and let his head lean back against the wall. He was still there holding her tightly in his arms when the first rays of dawn touched his eyelids with warmth, and gently woke him up.
His eyes popped open and he held back a groan as he slid awkwardly out from under her and settled her head on the pillow. Slowly straightening up, he heard cracking from his spine, and he had to put most of his weight on one leg. The other one was asleep from being folded underneath him all night long.
He carefully started moving toward the door and smiled wryly when he saw his hunchbacked shadow on the wall. Then he limped as quickly as he could out into the hall and down the stairs, just making it into his room before Glory's door across the hall opened.
Leaning back against his bedroom door he put a hand over his mouth to muffle a chuckle then softly said to himself, "And a good time was had by all."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~
Thea woke up a few hours later, rolled onto her side, and was instantly sorry she had. She groaned softly, knowing that any sound over a whisper would result in more pain. Groaning quietly a second time, she opened her eyes for a brief second and snapped them shut. The sunlight pouring into the room seemed to lance right through her pupils and into her brain.
Lying completely still, she breathed shallow breaths, and desperately tried to remember the evening before. But she couldn't remember anything clearly past drinking two half glasses of the white wine. Gritting her teeth, she tried harder and only came up with vague impressions, none of which made any sense to her. She saw a huge white candle being lit, a cake being held by two black-vested waiters as they flew through the air, and Adam driving her home in the buggy with Doc sitting in between them.
She was about to give up when later memories came marching across her mind's eye and she gasped in horror. The gasp made her head start to throb, and wincing from the pain she remembered yanking Adam onto the bed and refusing to let him go. Then she recalled his second proposal, her irritable, flippant answer, and hearing him laugh. Those clear memories stopped when she had fallen asleep for the first time.
Sighing, she opened her eyes again to see something large and dark blue on her bedside table. She had to squint to bring it into focus and she immediately recognized Adam's hat. Frowning, she delved deeper and remembered the feel of large, strong hands removing her clothing, smoothing her stockings off, and tickling her foot.
Raising one hand to rub her forehead, she stared at his hat and wondered just what HAD happened later in the night. She tried to take stock of herself physically, but she ached all over and couldn't tell which aches were caused by what.
"Oh God," she almost whimpered, not sure if Adam had eventually given in to her persistent demands. He WAS a man after all, and she had shamelessly thrown herself at him, more than once.
Pushing the covers slowly to the side, she carefully sat up and had to clutch at the edge of the mattress with both hands when the room tipped alarmingly. She slammed her eyes shut and held on until the buzzing in her head receded.
She opened her eyes again and was glad that the room seemed to be steady now. Wincing again, she pushed herself to her feet and began the painful process of trying to make herself look presentable.
As soon as she was ready, she left her room and went in search of Adam, but after an hour of creeping slowly around the house, she still hadn't found him. Carefully making her way to the kitchen, she sank down into one of the chairs, propped her elbows on the table, closed her eyes, and dropped her aching head into her hands.
She was just thinking about trying to make some tea when she felt hands grip her shoulders firmly and gently squeeze. She opened her eyes and saw a cup of tea being set in front of her, and then a cold, wet cloth was pressed to her forehead. Glory sat down across the table while Thea held the cloth in place with one hand, and picked up the teacup with the other to take a sip.
Clenching her teeth when the tea hit her stomach, she waited to see if it would come back up, and was thankful when it didn't. Then she lifted her red-rimmed eyes to look at Glory's gentle smile, and kind eyes.
"What happened?" her friend asked. Thea carefully shook her head.
"I have no idea."
"You drank wine, didn't you? Thea, you know what that does to your system, and to make it worse, your stomach was empty."
"I know." the other woman almost moaned and took another cautious sip of the tea. "What's in this?"
Glory laughed softly, "Some honey and a little bit of ginger."
"Oh," Thea took another sip and tried to sit up straighter. "Where's Adam?"
"He went back to that restaurant. What's it called? Le Coeur de la Maison?" Thea nodded her head slowly and was about to ask why when they heard the front door open.
"That's probably him now, Nate's working at the club," Glory offered.
"Glory," Thea leaned forward to whisper. "If it is, would you mind leaving me alone with him for a bit? Please?"
Adam appeared in the doorway to the kitchen, Thea's shawl and her reticule in his hands. Glory stood, gave him a quick smile, and hurried from the room. He slowly walked over to the table, set the shawl and reticule in front of her, and then sat down. She looked up to meet his sympathetic gaze.
"Thank you for going back for these," she said low, afraid to speak any louder.
"You're welcome," he said quietly, his dark eyes smiling into hers. Her gaze dropped to the table.
"Adam.did we.I mean did I.oh God I can't say it," she choked on the last words.
"Did we what?" he asked, not understanding what she was talking about at first, and then bit his lip when he did. He waited, highly amused, for her to answer his question.
She winced, and he wasn't sure if that was from pain or embarrassment. "You were in my room last night, right?"
"Yes I was."
"And were you," she paused to choose her words carefully, "in bed with me?"
"Yes," he answered simply and she winced again.
"Dear Lord, then it's true. We spent the night together," she sounded both shocked and appalled, still staring down at the table.
"I suppose you could say that," Adam responded and she finally heard the amused tone in his voice. She looked up to see him grinning.
"This isn't funny Adam! How could you take advantage of me that way?"
He chuckled at her outraged expression. "Whoa, hold it right there. I didn't DO anything, and if you can remember, YOU dragged me down on the bed and wouldn't let go." Her eyes widened in surprise.
"You mean we didn't.?"
Laughing, he shook his head. "Of course not! I TOLD you Theadora. It's all or nothing I want from you, and throwing yourself at me is not going to change my mind."
"Oh thank God!" she answered, sounding so relieved he laughed harder. Her face quickly turned bright red when she realized how that sounded.
Still laughing, Adam stood, came around behind her and put his hands on her shoulders. Leaning down he whispered, "All or nothing, my love," in her ear then was gone.
Thea continued to sit there for some time, concentrating on remembering everything she could from the night before. The more she remembered, the lighter her heart began to feel, and the clearer her thoughts became. She considered the kindness he had shown her by asking the staff to create a diversion so he could whisk her away out the back. Saving her from being embarrassed.
She drank the rest of her now cold tea and remembered the drive home and his empathetic response to her description of her childhood. Then she recalled him trying to get out of her clutches without hurting her. Shaking her head, she felt truly embarrassed by throwing herself at him, and then sighed softly at the memory of his gentle hands undressing her carefully.
Adam had been a perfect gentleman the entire evening and night, no matter how outrageous her behavior had been. No matter what she had done he had treated her like a lady, and for the first time she felt her life-long defenses against the thought of marriage start to crumble. That feeling took her by surprise and she tensed, waiting for the usual heart-pounding fear to wash over her, but it didn't.
She smiled.
TOGETHERNESS
Chapter 18
Adam took his time driving home, believing that Thea had fallen asleep. So he was startled when she abruptly sat up and pressed more firmly up against his side. Quickly glancing at her face, he saw that her eyes were still closed. She seemed to be hovering in the twilight between being asleep and awake. He drove on in silence for a while then decided it might be a good time to get some questions answered.
"Thea," he said low and she rested her chin on his shoulder to murmur, "Hmmm.?"
He shivered slightly at her warm breath caressing his ear, then firmly reined in his attention. "Tell me about Doc."
"I loved him, but he hated me," she answered promptly in a tone that was both hurt and puzzled..
"Hated you?" he echoed in surprise.
"Oh yes, he did," she assured him softly with conviction.
Adam went cold, in spite of the warmth of the night, so this was the reason why she kept pushing him away. He swallowed hard against his tightening throat.
"Theadora, what did he do to you?" his voice deepened with his anger. He glanced at her again and she opened her eyes halfway. Her expression didn't reflect any of the pain he could hear in her voice and he was puzzled by that for a moment.
"What did he do?" he repeated, determined to get an answer to that question.
She leaned back, away from his side, her heavy lidded eyes taking in his furious expression. "Nothing physical.I mean he didn't beat me or anything like that. He just treated me like I was beneath notice." Emphatically nodding her head she leaned into him again. "He never touched me.never, ever touched me.in any way."
He clenched his teeth, reading the world of hurt in her simple words. "Then who took care of you? You were with him since you were born, right?"
"Yes, since I was born.he hired a long string of nannies. Very few of them stayed for long and I think that most of them left because they feared him."
Adam winced, appalled at the picture she was painting, but aware he wasn't hearing a bit of self-pity in her voice or words.
"When I was little I tried to hug him occasionally, or take his hand, but he would always push me away. Sometimes he was furious and sometimes he was cold, but I learned quickly not to try anymore." She paused for a moment to sigh tiredly. "It could have been a lot worse Adam. I was fed, clothed, and given an excellent education. And when I finally began to assist him in surgery he actually started talking to me, but only about medical things and I learned so much from him." She fell silent then and her eyes closed again, but he knew she wasn't asleep yet.
He was also silent, unable to speak, his heart aching for the little girl she had been, being brought up in a world as cold as charity. Shaking his head, he sighed deeply with regret for the heartache she carried daily without complaint.
"Thank you," she said softly into his ear, understanding his sigh, and he tightened his arm around her. In a moment, he felt her body relax in sleep and he spent the rest of the ride home wondering how on earth she had developed into the loving, fiery, compassionate, and strong woman she was.
When they reached the house, he tried to wake her up, but couldn't. So he pulled the buggy around to the barn and carefully backed out, lowering her upper body to the seat. The combination of nervous tension and wine had her sleeping very deeply.
He quickly took care of the horses, climbed back into the buggy to take her in his arms, and then carried her into the house. Trying to move quietly was difficult as he climbed the stairs, and he hoped he hadn't woken anybody up. She stirred in his arms as he went down the upper hallway to her room and he knew she was half awake again when he opened the door and went in.
Gently laying her on the bed, he lit the lamp and turned it down as far as it could go. Then he took his hat off and set it down on her bedside table. He stood there looking down at her, wondering what the hell he should do now, when her eyes opened to stare back. Leaning over her, he was about to ask if she needed Glory to get undressed when she reached up to lock her hands together behind his neck and yanked him onto the bed.
"Thea let go," he said as firmly as he could without raising his voice.
"No," she said and pouted, her former even mood disappearing.
"Theadora let go," he repeated reaching up to try and pull her hands apart, but quickly let go when she said, "Ow!" then grinned up into his face.
"What are you gonna do?" she said softly while trying to tug his head down.
Adam sighed with exasperation. "Dear Lord!" he grumbled and tried to slide off the bed backward, but she quickly shifted her strong arms around his waist and locked her hands together again.
"Nuh uh, you're not going anywhere mister," she whispered in his ear and he surprised himself by laughing at the absurd situation.
"Thea," he started to say but she stopped his words with her mouth. He gasped when her full lips parted and she touched his bottom lip with the tip of her tongue. For a moment he caressed her lips with his own and it took every bit of his strength of will to drag his mouth away.
"Now stop that. I told you before I will NOT treat you as something cheap. It's all or nothing with me, Thea. You know that, damn it."
She pouted again and opened her mouth to argue, but he put a hand over her mouth. "I asked you once and I'm going to ask you again. Theadora, will you marry me?" he said low and took his hand away.
Her lower lip pouched out further. "Why do you have to go and spoil everything like that?" she said irritably and he almost laughed again.
"I'll take that as another 'no'," he said with amusement in his voice, and then startled her by taking her mouth in a hot demanding kiss. His tactic worked - she became so lost in the kiss, she forgot to keep her tight grip on him and he easily slipped away.
He took a step back from the bed when she sat up to grab at him again, and grinned at her annoyed expression.
"That wasn't fair." she insisted. "You cheat!"
"No I don't," he said reasonably. "You're just angry because you lost this wrestling match," his eyes were sparkling with humor in the dim light and she grinned.
"I gave it a good try though, didn't I?" she giggled, and then flopped back on the bed. "Oh Lord, I'm sooo tired," she breathed, and seemed to fall asleep as soon as the words left her mouth. He cautiously moved closer, suspecting another trick, but she didn't move and her deep, even breathing told him she really was out.
Sighing again, he bit back a chuckle and debated about what to do. He felt he just couldn't leave her fully, and no doubt uncomfortably, dressed for the rest of the night. And he really didn't want to have to explain to Glory what had happened. Taking a deep breath, he gritted his teeth and quickly removed her slippers then began removing her clothes, stopping when she was still in her chemise and bottom petticoat.
He stood there for a few moments, watching her sleep, her chest rising and falling underneath the white silk. Then he noticed the sparking of the pink diamonds and reached down to remove her necklace and earrings. Placing them carefully on her dressing table, he stiffened his spine and slid his hands up one leg to release the garter that held her stockings up. He smoothed the stocking down her leg and she giggled in her sleep when his hands touched her bare foot. Grinning, he touched her foot again. This time she laughed and rolled over onto her stomach while kicking that foot against the mattress. His eyebrows rose with amusement as he noted she had very sensitive feet.
Quickly removing the other stocking he breathed a sigh of relief and began to slide the covers out from underneath, and soon was able to pull them over her. He was about to leave when he noticed the heavy braids pinned up on top of her head.
Sighing again, he turned her over, and slid one arm under her shoulders to push her torso up and sat carefully up against the headboard with one leg folded, his foot behind the knee of his other leg. He slowly let her fall back against his chest and started removing the pins. He was so intent on his task, he didn't realize she was awake until the last braid was undone and he gathered her long, silky black hair together and draped it over her shoulder.
She reached up to take his hand and pressed it to her cheek. "Why did Doc hate me like that Adam? Why did he hurt me like that?" she said in a small voice and his heart almost broke when he felt her tears wet his hand.
Slipping his arms around her, he slid down a little further to rest his cheek on the top of her head. Rocking her slightly he held her in a fierce grip as he murmured soft words of comfort until she fell asleep again.
Adam waited for a while, intending to leave when she was sleeping her deepest, and let his head lean back against the wall. He was still there holding her tightly in his arms when the first rays of dawn touched his eyelids with warmth, and gently woke him up.
His eyes popped open and he held back a groan as he slid awkwardly out from under her and settled her head on the pillow. Slowly straightening up, he heard cracking from his spine, and he had to put most of his weight on one leg. The other one was asleep from being folded underneath him all night long.
He carefully started moving toward the door and smiled wryly when he saw his hunchbacked shadow on the wall. Then he limped as quickly as he could out into the hall and down the stairs, just making it into his room before Glory's door across the hall opened.
Leaning back against his bedroom door he put a hand over his mouth to muffle a chuckle then softly said to himself, "And a good time was had by all."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~
Thea woke up a few hours later, rolled onto her side, and was instantly sorry she had. She groaned softly, knowing that any sound over a whisper would result in more pain. Groaning quietly a second time, she opened her eyes for a brief second and snapped them shut. The sunlight pouring into the room seemed to lance right through her pupils and into her brain.
Lying completely still, she breathed shallow breaths, and desperately tried to remember the evening before. But she couldn't remember anything clearly past drinking two half glasses of the white wine. Gritting her teeth, she tried harder and only came up with vague impressions, none of which made any sense to her. She saw a huge white candle being lit, a cake being held by two black-vested waiters as they flew through the air, and Adam driving her home in the buggy with Doc sitting in between them.
She was about to give up when later memories came marching across her mind's eye and she gasped in horror. The gasp made her head start to throb, and wincing from the pain she remembered yanking Adam onto the bed and refusing to let him go. Then she recalled his second proposal, her irritable, flippant answer, and hearing him laugh. Those clear memories stopped when she had fallen asleep for the first time.
Sighing, she opened her eyes again to see something large and dark blue on her bedside table. She had to squint to bring it into focus and she immediately recognized Adam's hat. Frowning, she delved deeper and remembered the feel of large, strong hands removing her clothing, smoothing her stockings off, and tickling her foot.
Raising one hand to rub her forehead, she stared at his hat and wondered just what HAD happened later in the night. She tried to take stock of herself physically, but she ached all over and couldn't tell which aches were caused by what.
"Oh God," she almost whimpered, not sure if Adam had eventually given in to her persistent demands. He WAS a man after all, and she had shamelessly thrown herself at him, more than once.
Pushing the covers slowly to the side, she carefully sat up and had to clutch at the edge of the mattress with both hands when the room tipped alarmingly. She slammed her eyes shut and held on until the buzzing in her head receded.
She opened her eyes again and was glad that the room seemed to be steady now. Wincing again, she pushed herself to her feet and began the painful process of trying to make herself look presentable.
As soon as she was ready, she left her room and went in search of Adam, but after an hour of creeping slowly around the house, she still hadn't found him. Carefully making her way to the kitchen, she sank down into one of the chairs, propped her elbows on the table, closed her eyes, and dropped her aching head into her hands.
She was just thinking about trying to make some tea when she felt hands grip her shoulders firmly and gently squeeze. She opened her eyes and saw a cup of tea being set in front of her, and then a cold, wet cloth was pressed to her forehead. Glory sat down across the table while Thea held the cloth in place with one hand, and picked up the teacup with the other to take a sip.
Clenching her teeth when the tea hit her stomach, she waited to see if it would come back up, and was thankful when it didn't. Then she lifted her red-rimmed eyes to look at Glory's gentle smile, and kind eyes.
"What happened?" her friend asked. Thea carefully shook her head.
"I have no idea."
"You drank wine, didn't you? Thea, you know what that does to your system, and to make it worse, your stomach was empty."
"I know." the other woman almost moaned and took another cautious sip of the tea. "What's in this?"
Glory laughed softly, "Some honey and a little bit of ginger."
"Oh," Thea took another sip and tried to sit up straighter. "Where's Adam?"
"He went back to that restaurant. What's it called? Le Coeur de la Maison?" Thea nodded her head slowly and was about to ask why when they heard the front door open.
"That's probably him now, Nate's working at the club," Glory offered.
"Glory," Thea leaned forward to whisper. "If it is, would you mind leaving me alone with him for a bit? Please?"
Adam appeared in the doorway to the kitchen, Thea's shawl and her reticule in his hands. Glory stood, gave him a quick smile, and hurried from the room. He slowly walked over to the table, set the shawl and reticule in front of her, and then sat down. She looked up to meet his sympathetic gaze.
"Thank you for going back for these," she said low, afraid to speak any louder.
"You're welcome," he said quietly, his dark eyes smiling into hers. Her gaze dropped to the table.
"Adam.did we.I mean did I.oh God I can't say it," she choked on the last words.
"Did we what?" he asked, not understanding what she was talking about at first, and then bit his lip when he did. He waited, highly amused, for her to answer his question.
She winced, and he wasn't sure if that was from pain or embarrassment. "You were in my room last night, right?"
"Yes I was."
"And were you," she paused to choose her words carefully, "in bed with me?"
"Yes," he answered simply and she winced again.
"Dear Lord, then it's true. We spent the night together," she sounded both shocked and appalled, still staring down at the table.
"I suppose you could say that," Adam responded and she finally heard the amused tone in his voice. She looked up to see him grinning.
"This isn't funny Adam! How could you take advantage of me that way?"
He chuckled at her outraged expression. "Whoa, hold it right there. I didn't DO anything, and if you can remember, YOU dragged me down on the bed and wouldn't let go." Her eyes widened in surprise.
"You mean we didn't.?"
Laughing, he shook his head. "Of course not! I TOLD you Theadora. It's all or nothing I want from you, and throwing yourself at me is not going to change my mind."
"Oh thank God!" she answered, sounding so relieved he laughed harder. Her face quickly turned bright red when she realized how that sounded.
Still laughing, Adam stood, came around behind her and put his hands on her shoulders. Leaning down he whispered, "All or nothing, my love," in her ear then was gone.
Thea continued to sit there for some time, concentrating on remembering everything she could from the night before. The more she remembered, the lighter her heart began to feel, and the clearer her thoughts became. She considered the kindness he had shown her by asking the staff to create a diversion so he could whisk her away out the back. Saving her from being embarrassed.
She drank the rest of her now cold tea and remembered the drive home and his empathetic response to her description of her childhood. Then she recalled him trying to get out of her clutches without hurting her. Shaking her head, she felt truly embarrassed by throwing herself at him, and then sighed softly at the memory of his gentle hands undressing her carefully.
Adam had been a perfect gentleman the entire evening and night, no matter how outrageous her behavior had been. No matter what she had done he had treated her like a lady, and for the first time she felt her life-long defenses against the thought of marriage start to crumble. That feeling took her by surprise and she tensed, waiting for the usual heart-pounding fear to wash over her, but it didn't.
She smiled.