The Possessive Lord's Contract Wife

Chapter 261: Friends [3]

"You are a sensible woman, but at times I fear you miss what is before you. I’ll give you the space you need to tidy," Zayne said, stepping aside to allow her to work.

"Now you’ll offer me space? Why now, of all the times when you’ve bothered me while I worked? I thought you wanted the company," Iris said, suspecting Zayne was hiding a secret.

"And I thought you hated speaking to me alone," Zayne replied.

"You misunderstand me. It is not that I hate it. You only bother me at times when you speak of family, but on other occasions, I enjoy these conversations. I don’t speak to many of the maids, so the times we talk in your chamber make me feel... normal," Iris said, uncertain if she had described it well/

"Normal?" Zayne raised his brow, his gaze lingering on her face.

"That wasn’t the best way to describe it. I feel as though I am not forgotten when I speak to you. I haven’t spoken to my friends and family for some time now, so you are the only source of comfort I have. Without you, I would be lonely," Iris admitted.

"You warm my heart," Zayne said, touched by her confession.

"If you repeat it to anyone, I will deny it," Iris said quickly, turning her back to him, her cheeks burning. "I don’t mind if you speak."

Zayne walked to the bed to help Iris pull back the blankets.

"You don’t need to help me. That is what I find uncomfortable," Iris said as she waited for him to retreat to where he had stood before. "No special treatment, remember?"

"This isn’t special treatment. This is me helping you so you can finish faster, and I can rest. I do want to rest," Zayne said.

"Oh, silly me," Iris said, her cheeks flustered. "I forgot that you wanted to rest. I will be much faster," she promised, hurrying with the blankets. "They will feel hot because I have just taken them from outside."

"So, what time shall I pick you up far away from here to offer you a ride to the estate? Please remember that Damien might have my head, and Eloise will think little of me if I don’t offer you a ride. I want to remain in their good graces, so please, help me," Zayne pleaded.

"Very well. I won’t make this difficult for you. You should inform the head maid that you have an outing which requires the presence of a maid. I would be that maid. Then we can leave together, and no one can question it," Iris suggested.

"You would go that far? Would they not think I have done all of this to secretly take you away from the mansion? No matter what you do, there will always be questions, so I think you should ignore what others say," Zayne said, unwilling to sneak around in his own home.

"That is easier for you to say. You are not the one on the outs with the maids. I ignore what they say because of the work, but it gets to me at times. This is all new to me, and I am alone most days. I am in constant fear that they will add this one to my father being a murderer," Iris said, her eyes glistening with unshed tears.

"I might not have aided my father in killing my uncle, but that will always be attached to me. I don’t want seducing my employer to be added to it. My mother has already tried to marry me to a man more than twice my age. I am ruined, but I don’t want to be so ruined," Iris said, her heart aching with shame.

Zayne felt a pang of guilt for not being more sensitive. "Iris, I apologise for pushing you to be more open with us speaking. I should have thought about what more you needed to worry about."

He walked around to the other side of the bed, intending to embrace her, but stopped as the door stood wide open. Iris’s fear of being seen held him back.

Iris set down the blanket and drew a deep breath. "I’m sorry. That was a bit dramatic of me. I can ignore what the maids have been saying. They have been acting very childish and envious, but I have never faced this before. I don’t want to add to my worries and then tarnish your name with rumours of entertaining a maid."

"I’m not one to care about rumours going around about myself, Iris. There’s plenty about me and why I am the way I am, but I ignore it. I know the truth, so I don’t worry about the lies others make up. I suppose my position makes it easier for me to do so," Zayne acknowledged.

Zayne sat down on the bed so he wouldn’t tower over her. "I don’t know what to tell you concerning the maids. Their rumours won’t vanish if you stop being my maid. I will help you by instructing the head maid to warn them about spreading lies."

"I have always made it evident that I draw a line between myself and the maids. As the master of this home, I will not allow anyone’s name to be sullied by lies. What they are doing affects not only you, but me as well. Can you trust me to settle this?" Zayne asked, extending his hand to Iris.

"Is this how you trap your victims?" Iris asked, before shaking his hand.

"I am not a creature, Iris. If I hear of it once more, I will bite you," Zayne playfully threatened. "I will settle this with the head maid now so the mansion can calm down," he said, rising from the bed. "In the morning, we leave for the Hawthorne estate together, right?"

"Right," Iris nodded.

"Do you think we should prepare a gift?" Zayne wondered.

"I am going to tell my cousin that I am well and have been under your employ all this time. I don’t think this is the occasion that calls for gifts," Iris said, rejecting the idea.

"Every occasion calls for a gift. I will send someone to pick out a few to take with us. It should help calm them about waiting so late to reveal that you have been here all this time. I won’t be long," Zayne said, heading towards the door.

Iris cleared her throat. "You are in your trousers," she pointed out.

Zayne stopped and looked down. "Right. I’ll get dressed first."

Iris shook her head, watching as he changed course. She turned back to her task, but the drapes caught her attention. ’He is kind,’ she thought, forgetting her worries.