The Possessive Lord's Contract Wife

Back in town, Iris worked quickly to tidy Zayne’s chamber before he came up from dinner. She set a candle on the nearest surface to bring some light to the room, not yet familiar with the space to move around it in the dark.

"What sane person keeps their home this dark?" Iris muttered, lifting the candle holder to carry it to another table. "He has lost his mind. I am working for a man who is not in his right senses."

Still, she was grateful for the roof over her head and the meals that came with it.

Her first day away from work was approaching, but she had no idea what to do with herself.

’I can’t go into the market, or I might run into my mother, ’ Iris thought.

"But I need new shoes," she whispered, glancing down at the pair on her feet, the soles worn thin and the sides beginning to split.

Iris sighed. "I should have taken more of my things when I left."

She lowered herself to the floor, bringing the candle down with her to get a proper look at the damage. "I can go a little longer," she said, pressing her finger against the sole. "Perhaps one of the other girls could buy them for me, but what would I tell them?"

Before she could come up with an answer, the bedchamber door swung open, and Zayne walked in.

He stepped inside slowly, his gaze dropping to Iris sitting on the floor with a look of mild bewilderment. "Is this how you tidy my bedchamber?"

Iris scrambled to her feet, catching the candle before it could tip. "No. I was only looking at my shoes."

Zayne glanced down at the shoe she was trying to angle out of sight. "What has happened to your shoes?"

"Nothing," Iris replied, bending to retrieve the candle. "I am nearly finished in here. Shall I prepare your bath?"

"I have already bathed," Zayne answered.

He moved further into the chamber, attempting to get a better look at her shoes, but the candle gave too little light. "If you need more light to see, you are welcome to use the fireplace or fetch a lantern. I would rather not have you stumble in the dark and tell people I mistreated you."

"The candle is enough," Iris said, declining the offer.

"Yet you carry it from one end of the chamber to the other. I am already in a foul mood. Don’t make it worse by refusing a simple kindness. Add some light if it helps you," Zayne said, settling himself onto the bed. "Are your shoes worn out?"

"They are not worn out. I am making good use of them," Iris replied, watching as he laid back.

"They look better suited for a ballroom than for working. I have been to enough balls to recognise the difference. That tells me something about you. You lived a comfortable life to never need shoes for work," said Zayne.

"I did have working shoes. I just left in such a hurry that I didn’t think to bring the right ones. I don’t have all of my things with me." Iris paused, realising what she had just done. "Why am I telling my employer any of this?"

"Because you have no one else to say it to, and I happen to be in the mood to listen," Zayne provided the answer.

"Whatever you think of me, I am not the sort of man who can’t spare a moment for his servants’ troubles," Zayne said, his gaze settling in her direction. "Besides, you and I are something like family."

Iris frowned. "How are we like family? I work for you. We don’t share a name or a bloodline."

"Isn’t it evident? I think of Damien as a brother, and he has married your cousin. That connects us. Though I would ask you to keep that between us so the other maids don’t think I am showing you special treatment."

"We should keep it between us because it is simply not true. Eloise’s marriage does not make us family. I am your maid, and you are my employer. I would prefer that line stays where it is, before either of us gets too comfortable," Iris said, moving towards the door.

"Too comfortable in what sense?" Zayne asked, a crooked smile working its way onto his face. "I can see you judging me. I have been perfectly decent to you, and still you sit there judging me."

"Because you are a strange man. Forgive me for saying so," Iris said, dipping her head slightly. "It is not that I think you are a bad man, but you are my employer. If I let myself become too comfortable, I might say something you don’t want to hear and find myself out of a position."

"And unless I can get word to Eloise or reach my brother somehow, I have nowhere else to go. I do like it here, even with all the darkness," Iris admitted.

"What is wrong with the darkness?" Zayne asked, genuinely curious.

"Aside from not being able to see where you are going, it feels a little lonesome. The days can be quite beautiful, and though your garden has no flowers, it is still worth seeing. You ought to look at it more often," Iris said, glancing towards the window.

"My life is rather depressing," Zayne answered flatly. "Candidates for a wife are being pushed upon me from every direction."

"That is what puts you in this state? You are a wealthy man with far more freedom to choose than most, and you have decided to sulk over it. I ran away from home to avoid being sold into a marriage my mother had arranged," Iris snapped, though she didn’t mean to.

"Since I arrived here, no one has come to force you to marry anyone. No one has cornered you or placed another family’s debts onto your shoulders. Compared to most, you are doing very well," Iris said, frustrated.

Zayne rolled onto his side, settling his gaze on her properly for the first time. "I never said that was the cause of the darkness. I was only speaking of what is presently bothering me. Your mother is using your marriage to settle debts?"

Silence settled over the chamber.

"I won’t breathe a word of it to anyone. Not to Eloise, and certainly not to Damien. I am already on thin ice with that one," Zayne said and patted the edge of the bed. "You have done enough in here. Come and talk with me."

Iris didn’t move.

Zayne caught his mistake. "Forgive me. My better judgment isn’t always present. You may stand right where you are and speak, or you may leave."

Iris looked away from him and sighed.

Any other time, Eloise would have been beside her for this sort of moment. But Eloise was gone now, and she was on her own.

Iris turned back to face Zayne. Could she truly trust this man to listen and say nothing?