Come Lie With Me - Linda Howard [56]
He insisted that she help him undress, and she put him to bed as if he were a child. As she leaned over him to adjust the sheet, he caught her hand and pulled it. After the champagne, her balance wasn’t the best it had ever been, and she tumbled across him. He stopped her giggles by kissing her slowly, sleepily, then settling her in his arms. “Sleep with me,” he demanded, then closed his eyes and fell immediately to sleep himself.
Dione smiled a little sadly. The lights were still blazing, and she was dressed in the royal-blue dress she’d put on to celebrate the occasion. She hadn’t had that much to drink. After a few moments she gently extricated herself from his sleep-relaxed grip and slid from the bed. She turned out the lights, then made her way to her own room and removed the dress, dropping it carelessly on the floor. She, too, slept deeply, and woke the next morning with a headache that tempted her to just stay in bed.
With admirable, if painful, self-discipline, she got out of bed and showered, then went about her normal activities. The champagne hadn’t affected Blake as much as it had her, and he was as clear-eyed as usual, ready to begin his exercises. After helping him to warm up, she left him to it and went to take a couple of aspirin.
Serena came in just as she was about to go downstairs—a radiant Serena, whose mouth seemed curved in a permanent smile. “Hi,” she said cheerfully. “Where’s Blake?”
When Dione told her, she said, “Good, I came to see you, not him. I just wanted to ask you how the chase is going.”
It took a moment before Dione realized what she meant; her “scheme” to attract Blake had been so short-lived that, in retrospect, it seemed silly that she’d gotten so upset over something so trivial. Other worries had taken over her time and attention. “Everything’s fine,” she said, forcing herself to smile. “I think everything’s fine with you, too. You look better than I’d expected you to look this morning.”
Serena gave her a wink. “I hadn’t had that much to drink,” she admitted without a hint of shame. “It just seemed like too good an opportunity to pass up. You inspired me; if you could go after the man you wanted, why couldn’t I? He’s my husband, for heaven’s sake! So I seduced him last night.”
Despite her headache Dione chuckled. Serena grinned. “The war isn’t won yet, but I’ve recaptured some lost territory. I’ve decided that I’m going to get pregnant.”
“Is that wise?” So many things could go wrong. If the marriage failed, then Serena would be left to raise the child alone. Or Richard might stay because of the child, but that seemed like a hellish situation for all concerned.
“I know Richard,” said Serena with confidence. “I’ve offended him, and it’ll take him a while to forgive me, but I really think that he loves me. Having his baby will show him how much I love him, too.”
“What he really needs is to know that you love him more than you love Blake,” Dione said. She felt a little uneasy at giving advice; what did she know about handling a love life? Her own brief experience with marriage had been disastrous.
“I do! I love Richard in an entirely different way from the way I love Blake.”
“If you were faced with a situation where you could save one of them, but not both of them, which one would you save?”
Serena paled, staring at her.
“Think it over,” Dione said gently. “That’s what Richard wants. Your wedding vows were to forsake all others.”
“You’re telling me that I have to let Blake go, to cut him out of my life.”
“Not entirely; just change the amount of time that you devote to him.”
“I shouldn’t have dinner over here every night, should I?”
“I’m sure Richard wonders which house you consider your home.”
Serena was a fighter; she absorbed Dione’s words, and for a moment she looked frightened. Then her shoulders straightened and her chin went up. “You’re right,” she said forcefully. “You