Any Other Name (The Split Worlds) - By Emma Newman Page 0,40

you into trouble, but I wouldn’t have risked coming here unless I really needed to. And this isn’t any different to the time you helped me before.”

“Of course it is! You’re married now, Catherine, and not into just any family. Didn’t your parents prepare you? The Irises are ruthless in their pursuit of perfection, in all things. I have no idea what William Iris thinks he’s doing leaving you free to run away on your wedding night but I don’t want to be caught in the mess if it’s discovered.”

Cathy didn’t move. She couldn’t. Where was there to go but back to the honeymoon flat? She looked down at the floor, not wanting him to see the despair in her eyes.

“I’m sorry.” His voice was softer and she watched his shoes as he came out from behind the counter. “I genuinely want to help but I can’t take the risk. And you can’t either. You need to go back to… wherever you’re supposed to be and hope that you get there before your husband discovers you’ve gone.”

“I don’t give a stuff if he knows.”

“Catherine, listen to me. I once knew a young lady married into the Iris family and unhappy with her lot. She came to me for a sleeping Charm. I thought it was for her own use, but in fact she was using it to make her husband sleep as soon as he came to bed instead of fulfilling his –” he cleared his throat “– marital duty.”

Cathy smiled at the thought of it, admiring the solution.

“They realised what she was doing,” the Shopkeeper went on, his expression humourless.

“What happened?”

“They packed her off to the Agency and replaced her with a more obedient wife.”

“Perhaps life with the Agency was preferable.”

8

Will stroked Amelia’s back, breathing her sweet scent in deeply. She was nuzzled into his chest, the bed was soft and they were both warm and relaxed. He could feel her belly against his hip, her right leg draped over both of his, her breasts pressed against his side.

Her skin was divinely smooth and free of blemishes, her hair long with a slight curl having been freed from its elaborate pinning. He explored the curve of her waist, brushed his fingers down her hip as hers traced the line down to his belly-button.

Will planted a kiss on the top of her head. She tilted her face up and stretched to meet his lips with hers. Her nipples grazed his skin and, seized with a pulse of passion, he grasped her about the waist and rolled her on top of him so her breasts would be squeezed against his chest. She giggled and let her hair fall around their faces, forming a secret world in which only their kisses existed.

Gradually, the realisation that he couldn’t stay there all day as well as all night crept in and tarnished the gilded pleasure. This was how it should have been with his wife. He should have been tempted to tell Catherine that his plans for the day had changed and that they weren’t to leave the bedroom until their marital home was ready. Instead, he found himself dreading seeing her again.

“What is it?” Amelia asked. “Do you have to go?”

He wrapped both arms about her, pressing as much of her skin against him as he could, wanting to have her leave an impression in his flesh that he could take with him. “Soon,” he whispered. “I don’t want to. But I should.”

“It is your honeymoon, I suppose,” she said, a twitch at the corner of her mouth waiting to break into a smile.

“Hardly,” he muttered. “I’d rather pretend it was ours.”

“I’m game,” she said. “Let’s pretend you’re being called away to a function at Black’s that you simply couldn’t get out of. Whilst you’re drinking cocktails, I’ll bathe in milk and honey, and while you play billiards I’ll wash my hair in rosewater.” She kissed his throat. “And as you play cards, I’ll brush my hair a hundred times with my sandalwood comb until it shines.” She kissed his chest. “Then I’ll come back to bed and warm it for you, so you can slip between the sheets.” She kissed his belly. “I’ll wrap myself around you and steal the chill from your skin.”

He pulled her back up to kiss his lips, trying to control his baser urges. “If I’m not careful, I’ll never leave.”

“I’ve always preferred a carefree man,” she said, smiling.

After a few moments locked together, he summoned all the