Chapter 98 - Ninety Eight
The day after they had arrived on Baston Island was peaceful. Eric and Delia walked down the long, empty stretch of beach, the soft white sand cool beneath their bare feet. It was already midday, and the sun, which had been bright and warm all morning, was beginning to hide behind a gathering of dark, heavy clouds rolling in from the horizon.
Delia looked up at the sky, a thoughtful expression on her face. "The sky is getting dark, just like it did yesterday," she said. "But it never actually rained then."
"Yes, I noticed," Eric replied, his own gaze fixed on the ominous clouds.
Just as he spoke, Delia felt a single, cool drop of rain land on her bare arm. Then another. She turned to him, a small, concerned frown on her face. "Your Grace," she began.
"Eric," he corrected her gently, stopping their walk. He turned to face her, a soft, warm smile on his lips. "I am your husband now. I have decided that I always want to hear my own name coming from your lips. Like you said so boldly the other night in our room."
The memory of her pushing him down on the bed made Delia’s cheeks flush a pretty pink. She looked down at the sand. "Eric," she said, her voice a soft murmur.
"Yes, my duchess?" he replied, his voice full of a deep, satisfying warmth.
"It is still hard for you to enjoy the rain, isn’t it?" she asked, her gaze full of a new, empathetic understanding.
Eric’s smile faded as he felt the first few drops of rain on his own skin. He didn’t have to answer. The sudden tension in his shoulders, the way his jaw tightened, said it all.
Delia’s expression was full of a soft, surprising sympathy. "I can show you a good method," she offered. "I used to hate the rain, too, when I was little. The Baroness... she used to lock me outside in the rain whenever I complained to my father about her, and he would scold her. So, she would punish me that way. I was always so cold and scared." She paused, then looked at him with her clear, honest blue eyes. "Do you want to know how I learned not to be afraid of it anymore?"