“Okay, I get it, you don’t think it’s the curse but –”
“Sibyl listen to me,” he interrupted her, “you are beautiful.”
Her eyes sparkled. “And you’re very handsome,” she returned, completely unfazed by his words. “But then again, I love you so of course I’d think you’re handsome, to others, you’re probably very ugly.”
He found himself biting back laughter at the same time growling with frustration and something infinitely deeper. She lifted her knees so she was straddling him and bent her head to kiss the base of his throat, her hair sliding luxuriously across his chest.
“Likely extremely ugly,” she muttered as she moved lower and kissed his stomach and his muscles tensed as he understood her intent. “Hideous,” she whispered as she moved lower.
He let go of his unhappy thoughts and moved his hands into her hair to pull it away so he could watch.
Later, after he’d yanked her roughly back on top of him to finish what she started with her mouth in an entirely different but infinitely pleasurable way, he rolled them to their sides and her arms tightened around him.
“That was nice.” She spoke what he considered the understatement of the year and he chuckled.
He felt her body settle and her breathing even out and he remembered a phone call he’d had that day.
“Sibyl?”
“Mm?” she murmured against his neck.
“Mrs. Manning called today.”
“Who?”
“My housekeeper, she requests that you not make the bed. She says it’s her job. Since I pay her to do it, there’s no reason you should.”
“The invisible housekeeper,” Sibyl said quietly. “Now that’s weird. She’s here but you never see her.”
He found that rather surprising as he wasn’t letting Mrs. Manning in, he wondered who was. Nevertheless, with other weighty things on his mind, he didn’t spend any time thinking about it.
“I’d rather not hire a new one –” he started but she cut him off.
She did this by declaring on a yawn, “There are lots of things in life worth fighting for, Colin, my right to make a bed is not one of them.”
And then she promptly fell asleep.
And, as with nearly every night since Meg had dinner with them, Colin did not.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Pensioner Posse
Sibyl stood in the doorway of her office at The Community Centre. She watched as Mags, Marian and Phoebe all concentrated very carefully on their bingo cards as Marianne’s scratchy voice called out the numbers.
Sibyl was allowing herself the luxury of contemplating her new life and further allowing herself to decide it was, quite simply, wonderful.
Colin may not love her but she’d come to the conclusion that, from Colin, she would take what she could get. Furthermore, what she was getting was pretty heady stuff so she felt it would show extreme ill-grace to complain.
It was clear to Sibyl that, even if he didn’t return her love, she loved him enough for the both of them. Threat or no threat, curse or no curse, she felt invulnerable and strong, as if nothing could harm them. Her love and Marian’s protection would be enough. Sibyl was certain of it.
So, Sibyl ceased worrying.
Colin, however, had not.
She tried to make him feel some of her calm but no matter how she tried to soothe him, it didn’t work. As the days went by, he became more and more impatient and tense.
And Colin could get very impatient and Colin’s tense was a little scary.