Free Reads!! Wednesday Briefs – Innocence & Carnality Part 35
Welcome to the next part in my Wednesday Briefs flash fiction serial, Innocence & Carnality! Each chapter has to be between 500 and 1,000 words and this week I skipped using a prompt. No prompt this week, my head was elsewhere.
Nathan prepares for his first night co-hosting at Delaga House.
Click here to start from the beginning
Part 35
A soft rap on my bedroom door caught my attention, ceasing my circular pacing by gaslight.
“May I come in?” Samantha asked.
“Of course. What brings you here?” Samantha was one staff member I rarely had the opportunity to interact with, she was so busy running the household. She closed the door behind her and I welcomed the private moment.
“I just wanted to check in on you. Are you ready for your first night as co-host?”
“I think so.”
Closing the gap between us, her skirt rustled softly and her heels made barely a sound on the hardwood floors. Samantha looked stunning in her leather dress and top hat. Elegant and fierce, she was ready for the Delaga House festivities to begin, the ringmaster to our bizarre circus. The buckles and straps across her body and limbs should have been restrictive, yet she moved with a fluid grace all her own.
Her radiant smile warmed me as she sampled the lapel of my jacket with her fingers. “Look at you. Dignified, yet attractive, but not on display. Excellent choice. It suits you much better than your original couture.”
“I could say the same to you, my dear lady.”
She beamed. “Such a gentleman.”
“Harston selected most of it. His tastes have always been excellent.”
“Are you nervous?”
I put my hand in my pocket to stop my fidgeting of my cuffs. “Not at all.”
“Harston tells me you’ve barely eaten all day.”
I huffed. “The little snitch. He’s supposed to be my confidant.” My so-called outburst only served to draw a sultry laugh from Samantha’s full lips.
“He’s only looking out for your best interests. Everyone should have such a friend.”
“All right I admit it. I’m nervous.”
Samantha reached up, grazing her touch over my looser hairstyle with approval. “I run the operations of Delaga House on and off business hours. And I take a special interest in the welfare of everyone under its roof. Not only the staff.”
“You have enough to tasks to govern. I wouldn’t want to burden you.”
“It’s only a burden when something goes wrong when it doesn’t need to.” She cupped my cheek, the leather glove far warmer than I expected.
“And I assure you I’m ready. It’s been a difficult transition to life in Francine, but I’ll have a better chance to condition myself if I jump right in.”
“If it helps, I think you’ve done well given the sudden change.”
My cheeks flushed and I smiled. “Thank you. It does. I finally feel like I can perform my duties and stand at my husband’s side. It galls me to fall flat on that front.”
“So you’re comfortable living and working within this den of iniquity?”
The question stalled me with its brutal honesty. I’d asked myself the same several times tonight alone. Something about Samantha always drew my fascination. Perhaps it was an innate maternal quality my mother didn’t possess. No intrigue or potential duplicity sat on the edge of her words; I knew all too well how to spot such things. So, I gave her the truth. She deserved as much for all the kindness she’d shown me since I arrived.
“Please don’t take offense, but no I’m not. The whole thing flies in the face of everything I grew up with. But I’ve learned there are many so-called virtuous souls in Victoria whose sins are equal to any here. In Francine, you’re simply more honest about your vices. I have to respect that. If my marriage is to succeed, I need to stop balking at Rother’s profession. He’s made himself a wealthy man by it. That smacks of a keen intellect. I can’t begrudge him his efforts.”
With a serious tilt of her head, she continued. “But it still bothers you.”
“I imagine it will for some time. In Victoria, intimacy outside of marriage is high scandal, something to avoid at all costs. Now that I live in Francine, I struggle to adjust my views. However, putting on a happy face is a lifelong skill in my homeland. I’d like to think if I keep repeating it to myself, it will be real soon enough. I want to be able to do this for Rother.”
“You two are finally coming along well?”
“We haven’t exactly made it easy for either of us. We didn’t know each other to start, and our backgrounds are much different than I expected in a husband.”
“I can’t argue with that.”
“He does have a bit of a tiresome jealous streak, but I can see us learning to love one another as time passes.”
Samantha glanced away at voices growing in the hallway. “I’m glad. Be patient with him. Rother needs someone who can balance out his considerably rough edges. You’re good for him.”
“I hope you’re right—what is that noise?”
Growing in volume, I could easily make out Harston’s voice directly outside the door.
“You can’t just go in there! That’s Rother and Nathan’s private bedroom!”
The responding growl was distinctly Blythe. “No kidding. I know where I’m going.”
My bedroom door lurched open, my bodyguard stomping in carrying two large crates stacked in his arms. Harston fumed with a futile pull on Blythe’s sleeve.
“Nathan, I’m sorry—” Harston pleaded.
Blythe shot an annoyed look at my valet. “Relax, princess. Be done in a moment.”
While it was nice Blythe was over his silence in my presence, I began wishing for a reversion.
“What is this?” Samantha asked.
“Workmen delivered them an hour ago. Can’t leave them in the foyer. It’s a business night.”
“You can’t do this!” Harston insisted.
Blythe set the crates in bedroom’s center. “I’m not carrying them back down four flights.”
I sighed. “And why pray tell are you dropping them in my bedroom?” I pinched my nose because rolling my eyes was far ruder than I wanted. Blythe stared at me as if I should already know the answer.
“Because they’re yours.”
Check back next Wednesday for the next installation… Be sure to take a read at the other briefers free reads this week here: Wednesday Briefs
