Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 87502 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 438(@200wpm)___ 350(@250wpm)___ 292(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87502 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 438(@200wpm)___ 350(@250wpm)___ 292(@300wpm)
I didn’t know why I was being so open with him about my life and my past—it really wasn’t appropriate to dump my trauma on his broad, young shoulders. But he seemed interested and was not put off at all. That was nice—and really unusual. At least for me.
Kor shook his head.
“I’m sorry to speak ill of the dead, but he sounds like a real bastard.”
I bit my lip. I really shouldn’t speak ill of my late husband either, but Kor was right in every way.
While I was thinking what to say, I found that we had come to a stop—right in front of my own bedchamber!
I blushed fiercely when I saw what I had done. It was as though I was offering to let him share my bed, which was wrong in so many ways I couldn’t even count them.
“Er…is this where I’m staying?” Kor asked, nodding at my bedroom door.
“Um, no. This…this is my room,” I said. Then, fumbling for a reason I had brought him here, I turned to the door next to mine. “This will be your room while you stay with me,” I said, and pushed open the door.
It was Carter’s old room, of course, empty ever since his passing.
“Wow,” Kor breathed as the door to the bedchamber swung open. It was a massive room with a vast arching window on one wall that let in the light of the half-full moon. A huge, heavy bed carved from native mahogany dominated the center of the room and there was a fireplace flanked by two large wingback chairs that matched it. The whole thing was decorated in deep greens and grays and browns—extremely masculine, without even a hint of a woman’s touch, which was exactly how Carter had liked it.
“Is this really one of your guestrooms?” Kor asked, looking around with wide eyes.
“Well…no,” I had to admit, because I didn’t like lying to him. “This was your uncle’s room. I, uh, thought it ought to be yours, considering you’re the head of the family now,” I added lamely. “All the sheets and the comforter set, and the mattress and pillows are new,” I added quickly. “I had the whole thing cleaned from top to bottom to get rid of every trace of him after he passed.”
“Er…I hope you don’t mind me asking but did…did he die in here?” Kor asked, turning to me.
“What? Oh no—definitely not!” I said, but didn’t elaborate.
It was actually a heart attack that finally took him—right at the end of the vast dining room table we never used for guests. Carter had insisted on sitting there for every meal, even though the huge empty area echoed so loudly I could barely understand him. Not that he ever spoke to me much as we ate. I was always an afterthought and an annoyance to my late husband.
“All right, thank you.” Kor nodded. “I’m glad to know he’s not going to be haunting me for sleeping in his bed. Er…are you sure you don’t mind me staying in here?”
I shook my head.
“It ought to be your room.” The more I said it, the more certain I sounded. I didn’t mention the connecting room between Carter’s old bedroom and my own—the one that wouldn’t close all the way because early in our marriage when I’d tried to keep him out so he wouldn’t breed me, he had broken the lock.
“Please make yourself at home,” I said now to Kor. I stepped into the bedchamber and started pointing things out. “There’s an ensuite bathroom through there and a dresser for your clothes…or, er, I guess you don’t have any clothes, do you?” I said.
He grinned and shrugged.
“Just what’s on my back.”
I bit my lip.
“I’d offer you some of Carter’s but I got rid of them all after he died. And besides, he was about a head and a half shorter than you are.”
Actually, I had gotten rid of all of my late husband’s personal items after his death down to the razors he used to shave with and the toothbrush he brushed his teeth with. I had wanted to purge the house entirely of his presence—and I thought I had done a fairly good job. I had donated everything I could and sent the rest to the dump.
Which is exactly where you should have buried him, whispered a spiteful little voice in my head.
“It doesn’t matter,” Kor said, breaking my train of thought. “I can order some more online. Er, do you get deliveries way out here?” he asked.
I shook my head.
“We have to pick everything up at the post office. You can still get one day delivery on a lot of items though—you’ll just have to make a trip to town to get it.”
“Guess I’m going to town tomorrow then,” he said easily. “For tonight, I’ll just sleep in my boxers.”