94
She was in bed lying awake, back in their familiar room beside his office when he came home, staring into the darkness at the ceiling. She had wanted the familiarity and cosiness of this room, instead of his mother’s suite upstairs. The closeness to the drive to hear him return so she would be able to anticipate his coming to bed and be awake for him, so she could talk about this whole crazy day and his over the top security measures.
She listened to him undress and felt the relief as he slid into bed beside her. Pulling her close the way he always did, even that gentle familiar motion bringing her a little peace.
‘I’m awake.’ She whispered, sensing the tension running through him and nestling into his arms with a sense of relief. All day her anxiety levels had been through the roof and she just needed him to make her feel better.
‘Sorry baby. I’m too hungover and too tired to do anything more than lay here with you.’ His voice was low and husky in the darkness, his chin brushing her shoulder from behind as he got comfortable around her. She turned in his arms to meet his face in the darkness, letting out a small laugh, momentarily breaking the tension.
‘I was not asking for that!’ She smiled, feeling his breath tickling her lips, close enough to touch.
‘Can never tell with you.’ He grinned, laying lips against hers and smiling back, she could feel the movement against her mouth, almost seductively.
‘You’re mixing us up again.’
Tracing her facial features gently with his fingertips, he was silent a moment, breathing against her face as they lay nose to nose, unusually quiet for him.
‘You couldn’t sleep?’ He asked quietly, fingers now tracing her arm. She shook her head, sliding her hands up his chest and across his shoulders, further around him until she had her palms on either side of his strong neck. She needed him to be connected to her right now, to push away the weird emotions of the day and just be with him. His distance all day had affected her more than she cared to admit.
‘All this... It’s making me worry.’ She sighed lightly, feeling his mouth move to hers and softly graze her lips affectionately. A chaste and gentle kiss.
‘There’s nothing to worry about. I’m making sure of that and taking care of it.’ Rob’s arms moved around her body and pulled her to mould into his snuggly, all muscle to curves and a perfect fit.
‘It seems a bit extreme. All those security men and fence erectors. Who was the guy in the suit?’
‘I’m being cautious. He’s a security advisor for the camera’s I want. All these years leaving this place so accessible was stupid, it’s about time I realised how dumb that was and get the place locked up tight.’ His voice cleared a little, pushing tiredness back and sounding more awake.
‘She’s not going to show up with a gun and take me out, Rob!’ Rose tried for humour, but it felt flat between them.
‘It’s not just her. It’s the realisation Rose that anyone can just drive up to the house. Walk in and...’ Rob hesitated, falling silent and making Rose’s heart beat elevate, worried about what he wasn’t saying.
‘It’s how it’s always been.’ The manor had always been the hub of the community and its doors open to anyone who needed to see the Munro’s.
‘Times change. It’s not the same world out there and we’re not exactly low profile. Especially now after that party. We have money and titles, no matter how obsolete they actually are. There’s always that chance that someone would mean harm to any one of us.’ Rob had loosened his grip on her, was being evasive and plumping his cushion a little aggressively. She could read him, he was getting agitated as she was hitting a raw nerve.
‘But this isn’t about that, though, is it? What did she say Rob?’
He fell into uneasy silence, confirming her doubts and making her queasy with nerves. He was obviously fighting with himself internally as to whether he should answer her, the silence drawing out far too long.
‘What did she say?’ Rose repeated more insistently his time, catching his chin in her fingertips and tugging it down to meet her. She had pulled herself up now, leaning over him and trying to see his face in the dark. She was not going to let up easily and he could see that.
Rob shifted, pulling away and sliding out of bed. Stalking to the bathroom and flicking on the light as he leant against the wall beside it. Gently illuminated the room enough to see her face and showing her just how tense he really was, his muscles straining. For once he still had boxers on instead of his usual strip to skin approach in bed and a darkness in his look she wasn’t accustomed too
‘She said she would make you disappear, so we could be together. That if I wouldn’t get rid of you then she would.’ The dead pan tone and flat expression confirmed that he had believed every word of Morag’s threats and was why today he had gone into protective overdrive.
Rose frowned, that feeling of nausea climbing to her throat and almost strangling her.
‘And you believed her? You think she will try?’ Her voice wavered, her hands beginning to tremble as she sat up in bed, pulling the sheets up over her bust.
‘I’m not waiting to find out...If anything happened to you...’ He broke off, his voice losing strength and the look of sheer despair on his face, it almost made her break. She reached out for him, wanting both to comfort him and be comforted by him; he followed her outstretched hands obediently and slid back onto the bed, cradling her.
‘She was manic. Most likely drunk. You know she says this crazy kind of stuff.’ Rose sounded more convincing than she felt, trying to explain this away, more for her own peace of mind than his. She didn’t want to believe that Morag could pose any real threat in this way.
‘She’s never made threats before.’ He sounded flat and tired and his tone did nothing to alleviate her growing fear. Rose fell silent, her thoughts racing, her heartbeat elevated.
‘You’re making me scared Rob. This isn’t you.’
‘I’m sorry baby...I’m tired, I’m hungover and I’m stressed. Ignore me. I’ll never let her hurt you, there’s nothing to be scared of...Just do me a favour. Stay here. Don’t go out. Stay in the manor until I sort the security, for my own peace of mind. Let me talk to my lawyer and see my friend at the station. Let me be over cautious Rose. Let me make sure that threats, empty or not, can’t be carried out okay?’ He pulled her in tight against his chest and buried his face in the top of her hair, inhaling slowly and holding her that way for a moment. ‘I love you so much.’ He kissed her head and then pushed her back gently so they both laid down on the bed again, wrapped together.
‘I promise, for the time being.’ She breathed against his neck, trying to close her eyes and block out the anxious thoughts racing through her brain.
‘I couldn’t function, you know? If anything happened to you...If I lost you...I couldn’t be like my dad and just go on with life.’ Rob’s voice broke, he buried his face in her hair before sliding down to cradle his cheek against her bust instead, his arms sliding around her waist, the way a child looking for comfort would. Rose’s arms automatically moved around his head, holding him tight, feeling his arms crushing around her possessively. ‘I would serve time in jail for what I would do to her.’
‘Nothing will happen... I know you won’t let it.’ She soothed. Rob reached up, hungrily searching for her mouth and pulling her down below him. The need to be surrounded by her, to escape the emotions coursing through both, overtaking him and he no longer wanted to talk about this. He wanted to be lost in the feel of her, imprint her touch, taste and smell in his mind for an eternity.
Sliding off her nightdress and trailing kisses down her abdomen slowly, Rob manoeuvred her body and Rose was only too happy to succumb to him. This wasn’t about passion and fulfilling a sexual need, it was about comfort and the need to be lost in the moment, shutting out everything else, stop his overactive brain and exhaust his body into oblivion. It was about losing himself and letting her be the only focus.
He moved over her, feeling her legs move apart to accommodate his own, his surge of heat and hormones never failing him. She moaned as his hand moved down, searching her out, arching her back at his touch and exposing her naked body. This is what they both needed, and it lasted unquenchable hours into the early morning light.
