Seeking Persephone by Sarah M. Eden Read Free Book Online Page A

going?” Harry actually sounded concerned.
    “My wife is indisposed,” Adam flung back at him. “I am going to see for myself that she is well.”
    “Adam.” It was both warning and question. Harry was on his feet.
    “I am not going to hurt the blasted woman,” Adam growled back as they both left the book room and made their way down the hall.
    “Adam.” That same tone.
    Adam spun around, stopping Harry mid-step. “Have I ever harmed a woman?” Adam demanded. “Have I?”
    “No,” Harry finally admitted, with a little smile.
    “I have no intention of starting now. So quit looking at me like I’m about to drown a puppy.”
    “Have you ever drowned a puppy?” Harry asked.
    “Shut up, Harry.” Why did the man like goading him? There were dozens of men in Town who would tell Harry in no uncertain terms that pushing Adam was not a good idea. There were dozens more littering the countryside.
    “Is it really necessary to bother her?” Harry trailed along behind Adam.
    “I am not going to be made the monster in my own home.”
    “Adam.”
    “No. Do not start using that tone with me,” Adam snapped, turning down the hall that housed both his rooms and Persephone’s. “Whenever you think you have some great philosophical insight into my—what was it your sister always said, my ‘tortured soul’—you use that tone. It’s enough to make a man want to throttle you.”
    He grabbed the doorknob to Persephone’s sitting room.
    “I cannot go into your wife’s rooms,” Harry reminded Adam.
    “Good.” Adam shut the door in Harry’s face.
    “I’ll just be in my room,” Harry said from the other side of the door. “You know, for when you get around to shooting me.” Harry’s footsteps faded as they retreated down the corridor.
    “Jack-a-napes,” Adam growled under his breath.
    He turned. There was no sign of his wife in her sitting room. Adam crossed to the doorway to Persephone’s bedchamber. She’d be in there looking like some frightened rabbit, apparently.
    He’d married a coward. That was worse than marrying a beauty. If they ever made an appearance in Town, she’d need more than a pretty face to survive the viciousness of the ton .
    Persephone needed backbone. He’d simply have to tell her to toughen up, to seize command of herself. Adam had done so even as a child. If he’d spent his life feeling sorry for himself, he’d be nothing more than his mother’s “poor boy” still.
    Adam set his features and stepped across the threshold to Persephone’s bedchamber. He checked the shadowed corners first—that was where cowards tended to hide. He found her, however, curled in a ball on her bed. She was still fully dressed, wearing precisely what she’d worn that morning when bidding her family good-bye—what she’d worn in the gardens.
    Persephone must have come straight from there to her room and promptly fallen asleep. She hadn’t even gotten under her coverlet. The room, he noticed, was not terribly warm, despite the low fire.
    “Boil and blast,” Adam grumbled. He’d been ready to confront a quaking wife. Instead he’d found her sleeping, obviously exhausted, seeing as how she’d not even dressed for bed. The last thing he wanted was to feel sympathy for the woman. Emotions were best left out of any and all interactions—he’d learned that early on.
    He crossed to the door, which, conveniently enough, led to his own chambers, but he stopped with his hand on the knob. It was entirely too chilly for her to sleep without at least a blanket to provide warmth.
    “Now I’ve become a lady’s maid,” Adam muttered, crossing back to the bed.
    He grabbed the coverlet on the side of the bed opposite Persephone. With a tug he pulled it loose then draped it across her where she slept.
    Tomorrow night, he told himself, she’d simply have to remember to get under the blankets, as he had no intention of playing nursemaid again.

Chapter Seven
    Persephone had decided on a few things.