Decorum by Kaaren Christopherson Read Free Book Online

as she drank in the masculine scent of shaving soap and pomatum. Reluctantly, she remembered herself and peered over his shoulder to the pianoforte, where her eyes rested on a sheaf of blood-red roses in a chrysalis of baby’s breath and tissue, cinched with green ribbon.
    “Oh, how beautiful,” she said, breaking the embrace and gathering up the roses in her arms, drinking in their fragrance. She touched each silky rose, firm and tight on its stem. “Thank you, Edmund. They’re perfect.” Blood-red roses—no man with any sense of decorum would present a lady with such a blatant display of passionate love unless he meant to follow through. The qualm in Francesca’s stomach was likely to prove right.
    “I thought we should have a few minutes before Vinnie arrives,” said Tracey. “I think it’s high time we settled a few things.”
    “Oh?”
    “Now, don’t pretend not to know what I’m talking about, duchess.” He drew up close to her. “This interview has been a long time in coming.”
    “Edmund—”
    “Now, hear me out—and take those silly things out of your arms and look at me.” He took the roses from her, replaced them on the piano, and took both her hands in his. A roar of thunder shook the house. Rain torrented against the windows. “How long have we known each other? Too long to pretend there’s no attachment between us. There is a decided attachment, isn’t that true?”
    “You’ve been a good friend to me, Edmund—”
    “Friend? I had thought—had hoped—that after all this time I would have become more to you than that. Besides, do you usually kiss your friends with such determination?”
    “Oh, Edmund. You’re teasing me.”
    “Of course, if it will help ease the situation.”
    She pulled her hands from his, strode to the fireplace, and turned and faced him.
    “This is so difficult,” she began.
    “Why?”
    “Now you hear me out, Edmund. Please.” He gestured as if to give her the floor. “You have been a good friend to me, when a friend was what I needed most. You left me alone when I needed that, too. You didn’t demand anything of me or ask me questions.”
    “I didn’t know what else to do.”
    “I know. In fact, I marvel that you haven’t given up on me after all this time. I’ve often asked myself why.” He nearly interrupted her, but she held up a hand, begging him to keep still. “You were wise to stay away, when I was living with the Jeromes.”
    “I was afraid you thought I had abandoned you.”
    “No, not really. I wasn’t fit to be seen. I never would be until I could go out on my own and get back on my feet. I know the settlement house wasn’t exactly your cup of tea, but you didn’t fight me over it.”
    “I admit that at first I thought you may have been foolish not to let Maggie and Jerry take care of you. I do know how protective they can be, though. It can’t have been easy.”
    Protective? More like smothering, she thought. The rain continued its relentless patter against window and street.
    “Eventually, I came to see it as a sign of strength,” he said.
    “Did you really?”
    “I know it took a great deal of courage to walk away from them with no guarantee of success. I also understand the anxiety they must have felt when they realized you were gone. It’s a natural reaction to want to protect someone you care for deeply.”
    Always protection. The protection of a man’s name. The protection of a family and a home. Maybe even protection from herself, she thought. Where was this protection the day Mother and Father and Oskar went boating? No one protected them—or her from grief.
    “And do you want to protect me?”
    “I know better than to answer that. What I want is to somehow make up for a part of what you lost—and more, if I can,” he said, as if he could read her thoughts. “More than a friend or a brother. I think you’re ready for more and I believe you know it too. You’re ready for what a married life can offer you,