Free DeButy & the Beast by Linda Jones Page B

him, moving quiet as a cat. "Good morning," she said sweetly. Too sweetly. That innocent tone usually meant she was up to something.
    "Good morning." He closed his hand, making a fist around the necklace.
    Anya missed nothing. "What do you have in your hand?"
    "Nothing," he said, offering his arm to escort her to breakfast.
    She took his arm and they descended the stairs. Good heavens, even dressed properly Anya looked like no other woman he had ever known. Wild. Free.
    And not nearly as fearless as she would like everyone to believe. Her reaction to the storm proved that to him.
    "Actually," he said as they reached the foot of the stairs, "it's not exactly nothing." He opened his fist and displayed the plain necklace.
    Anya wrapped one finger around the delicate chain and lifted it slowly. The pendant, a gold rose, swung between them. "It's very pretty," she said softly.
    "It was my mother's," he explained. "My Aunt Helen gave it to me when I turned twenty. She said I might want to give it to my wife, one day."
    Anya lifted her head and looked him dead in the eye. "It is for me?"
    "It's not fancy," Julian said quickly. "You probably won't care to wear it." Her tastes were much more extravagant, especially where jewelry was concerned. "But Aunt Helen said my mother always considered it a kind of good luck charm." He dropped his eyes. "My father gave it to her soon after they married."
    "They died when you were young?" she asked softly.
    "I was nine when my father died. My mother passed on a year later."
    Anya held the necklace high, so the gold rose swung between them. "Do you have many remembrances of her?"
    Julian's mouth went dry. "Only this."
    "And you give it to me?"
    "I thought you might like a good luck charm of your own," he explained. "Something to hang on to when storms come." He wouldn't always be here to comfort her. Like it or not, there would come a day when Anya would be on her own. Something so simple as a lucky piece was not too much to offer.
    Anya held the necklace aloft, offering it to him on the end of a slender finger. Of course, she wanted nothing to do with something so simple as a hand-me-down pendant. She grinned as he took the necklace from her, then spun to present her back.
    "You will put it on me?" she asked.
    For some reason, Julian felt relieved that she was not returning the gift.
    "Of course." His fingers didn't fumble much as he draped the necklace around Anya's neck and worked the clasp. He told himself that it only made sense to give the geegaw to Anya. He reasoned that it wasn't as if he'd ever take another wife, and besides, a lucky charm might actually bring Anya a little comfort, one of these days.
    When she turned to face him again, she laid her hand over the small gold rose that sat high on her chest. "Thank you," she said with a softening smile.
    "It's nothing, really," he said too quickly. "I can't very well wear it, and it simply makes sense—"
    " Marido ," she interrupted. "My teacher would tell me that the proper response to 'thank you,' is 'You are welcome.' " She licked her lips. "Thank you."
    Julian took a deep, calming breath. "You're welcome."
    * * *
    The arrival of Julian's books, two days after the big storm, changed everything. Anya was so relieved to have something new to read! In the following three weeks, each afternoon after a family lunch, Julian and Anya retired to their sitting room to read. In the privacy of their shared room she shed her conventional clothing, but she always covered herself with well-placed brightly covered scarves. Julian seemed not to mind, anymore, though in those early days he did not mind because he rarely looked in her direction.
    They had been married almost six weeks. He was proving to be much more steadfast than she had anticipated.
    His library was wonderful. Too wonderful. Anya hardly knew where to start. She spent an entire afternoon arranging his books on the bookshelf Grandmother had moved to their sitting room for that purpose.