their nature. He was naïve. He just didn’t know what it was she’d been doing to lure his gaze to her breasts. She’d only been brushing her hair in an attempt to appear innocent.
Aaron, that is the most ridiculous line of reasoning anyone ever came up with.
He grunted and turned away from her. This was going to be the longest night of his life. He was going to be lucky if he managed to get any sleep.
Chapter Sixteen
When Kitty woke up the next morning, she had those first few seconds where she thought all of yesterday had been a terrible nightmare, but when she looked over at Gretchen’s bed, she saw Aaron sitting on the edge of it. He was facing the window. His eyes were halfway closed, and when his head nodded forward, his eyes shut all the way.
She rolled her eyes. It hadn’t been a nightmare. It’d all been horrifyingly real. Aaron was taking Gretchen’s place as her chaperone. How she envied Teddy right now. At least his dreams weren’t actually happening to him.
“I need to get up,” she said.
He snapped to attention, his bloodshot eyes meeting hers.
“Didn’t you get any sleep last night?” she asked in surprise.
“No, I didn’t.”
“Go on to your bed and get some rest. I can manage all by myself without getting into trouble.” She shooed at him to go to his bedchamber.
“I can’t do that. I have to stay with you. There’s no telling what you’ll do if I leave you unattended.”
She shook her head. “I can’t believe this. You refuse to trust me at all.”
All right, so he was going to stay with her no matter what. She might as well get ready for the day. She couldn’t help it if he insisted on following her around, but she could decide to enjoy the day.
She got out of the bed and went to the armoire.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
Not hiding her sarcasm, she replied, “Are you really so daft that you can’t tell when someone is going to get dressed?”
“Do you have to do it right in front of me?”
She stared at him in disbelief. How could he ask her that when he insisted on being in this room with her? “If you don’t want to watch, then go to another room.”
He blinked in surprise as if the idea hadn’t even occurred to him.
Rolling her eyes, she opened the armoire door and saw the few gowns that she was allowed to wear. Her gaze went to the ones that had been forbidden. She drummed her fingers on the armoire door. She was tired of walking around like she was trapped in a cocoon. She wanted the freedom to wear her other gowns. She wanted the freedom to wear one of her old red or purple gowns! She’d had enough of this nonsense. She found a light purple gown Gretchen hadn’t tossed out. She grabbed it, clean undergarments, and a pair of slippers. Today, she would be comfortable.
Ignoring Aaron, she marched over to her bed and pulled her chemise over her head.
“What are you doing?” Aaron demanded as he jumped up from Gretchen’s bed.
“Why do you keep asking that stupid question?” she asked. “It’s obvious to anyone what I’m doing.”
She went to the pitcher and poured water into a basin so she could clean up before putting on the clean clothes. She didn’t watch him as he left the room, but she did jerk when he slammed the door.
Groaning, she turned her attention back to the pitcher and basin. She was going to end up killing him. He was going to push her to the point where she was going to lose all of her control and whack him over the head with a candlestick. Things with him only got worse. She never thought she’d miss anyone so much, but she prayed Gretchen would come back, and soon!
***
Aaron felt as if he was about to break. Every gentleman had his limits, and he was at his wit’s end. He had only managed a fitful sleep last night. Every time he managed to drift off to sleep, he started having dreams—dreams of which he’d rather not consciously think about—and it made it impossible for him to find any semblance of peace. There was no doubt about it. Kitty was going to be the death of him.
He looked at her as she sat across from him in the dining room, eating her eggs as if she didn’t have a care in the world. He