Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 91373 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 365(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91373 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 365(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
I couldn’t quite work him out. Or how quickly I’d grown comfortable in his presence. No, comfortable wasn’t the right word. It wasn’t like how I’d felt with Grandpa and Jared. Every time Theo appeared in my room, I got butterflies, and I never quite knew what to expect from him, so I was always a wee bit on edge. However, it wasn’t like the way I was with him before. Or how I was with other strange men. Even around Lachlan Adair, my longtime boss, I turned into a nervous, blushing wreck.
But something about Theo taking care of me had created this intimacy between us. Moreover, other than when I accused him of looking after me for adaptation rights, he never seemed to take offense to anything, so I felt perfectly safe saying whatever was in my head.
Correction: If he wounded me with his arrogant mockery, I felt safe to bite back.
Usually the nervousness won out because I was overthinking being in someone’s presence. But not with Theo.
It didn’t make sense considering how intimidating he could be. As an observer, I’d noted that quite a few people at the estate found the aristocrat overwhelming.
For the last four days, Theo had cooked my meals, forced me to eat what I could, kept me hydrated, and after I showered he’d insisted on brushing my hair like a nursemaid and pleating it so I didn’t have to bother with blow-drying. The first few days, I’d mostly slept, but yesterday I felt better and insisted he bring me my laptop. I was still not well enough to write, but I wrote chapter summaries and answered emails.
Theo disappeared, off to who knows where, but was back in the late afternoon. We ate the pasta salad he prepared and made light conversation about Theo’s writer’s block, the script that just wouldn’t come together for him, and the next book in the Juno McLeod series. He didn’t bring up the rights.
After getting up this morning to relieve myself, I was grateful to discover that my limbs were much stronger, and I wasn’t anywhere near as light-headed. I wasn’t a hundred percent back to normal, but I was on the mend. And I needed fresh air.
I said as much to Theo when he arrived from the kitchen with poached eggs on toast and a cup of coffee. The man had taken to sleeping in the guest room and was an early riser because he was always up, washed, and dressed before I even woke. When I was well, I was an early bird too. But the flu was making me sleep longer.
“I’m going for a walk on the beach,” I announced once I’d finished breakfast.
“I don’t know if that’s wise.”
“It’s been nearly a week,” I argued. “The worst of my symptoms are gone. Even my stuffy nose is gone, and I’ve only got a wee cough.”
“But you’re still weak.”
“No.” I frowned. “I’m much better this morning. Look, I’m not asking. I’m going for a walk.” I threw off the covers and slid out of bed, grabbing my empty breakfast plate. Hurrying past him, I heard him mutter something under his breath but couldn’t quite make it out. Then I heard him following me into the kitchen. I glanced over my shoulder as I put the plate in the sink. “I don’t need an escort.”
“Don’t you?” he murmured silkily as he leaned against the doorframe. He eyed me like a sleepy tiger.
“I’m a grown woman, Cavendish. While I appreciate you taking care of me this week, I don’t need an escort and I don’t need permission to go for a walk. I’m going to the beach. If I don’t get out of this cottage for some fresh sea air, I will scream.”
Theo smirked. “Someone woke up on the fiery side of the bed this morning.”
I grimaced. “Don’t be patronizing. This is my cottage. And in my cottage exists a gynarchy.”
He grinned and it was much too attractive. “It’s pronounced gai-nah-ki and your use of it is a little clumsy, darling.”
Of course, his vocabulary was better than the average person’s. “Are you mansplaining a word that literally means a government ruled by a woman?”
“I wouldn’t say mansplaining. I am curious as to where you came about such a colorful vocabulary?”
I shrugged as I brushed past him. “I like words.”
“Where are you going?”
“To get washed and dressed and then to the beach.”
“Well then, I guess we’re going to the beach.”
I turned at the entrance to the bathroom to look at him. “You don’t need to come along.”
Theo stared me down in that intense, assessing way of his that would have made me squirm just a week ago. “If you’re well enough to take a walk on the beach, you’re well enough to discuss business. And we do have business to discuss, little mouse.”