"You didn't attend the funeral." Albert said, leaning in the doorway.
"I didn't need to." Ella answered. She'd been invited to her late husband's parent's house as a sad celebration to mark the anniversary of Harrison's death. Ella had accepted their invitation more out of a need to see these kind folk than for any want of remembrance of Harrison himself. This was the first she'd stepped back into this house, the first that she'd actually talked to any of his relatives in the long year since his death.
"I went looking for you, hired a private detective even. Sophia Watson wouldn't tell me where you lived, but she seemed to think you were doing all right." Albert studied Ella's face. In the last year she'd lost an extraordinary amount of weight. She didn't look like the same distressed house wren that she'd been in the hospital. But she had sadness about her face that marked her new status as widow. And the black dress she wore screamed it to the world.
"Sophia Watson writes occasionally. And if I'm in the mood I write back. There's a bit of irony here. I have a better relationship with Harrison's mistress than I ever had with Harrison."
Albert crossed the room in quick strides. He didn't want to think about his brother's widow as she was now. If he did so he'd only be aware of how the dress she wore clung to her like a second skin. He wouldn't be able to take his eyes - or his mind - from her perfect collarbones, how the bracelet she wore was loose around her wrist, or the muscled calves that peeked at him from beneath her long demure skirt. Albert found he very much wanted to think of Harrison's Widow as she had been. He stopped abruptly; close to her...towering over her...and found he enjoyed the sensation. He felt wildly in control.
"I am sorry, so very sorry. I can't believe - none of us can believe - that Harrison would have ever cheated on you!" Albert began.
Ella lifted her chin. "Really, do you think he wanted to sleep with someone as large as I am - was - when he could have someone half my size?" Ella demanded, both amused and offended.
Shock rippled through Albert, loosening his tongue. "I admit you've lost weight. But you're not too large now. You're perfect." Ella's disbelieving snort propelled him into action. Grasping her wrist he pulled her into the bathroom. "Just stand here and see what I see." He said. Albert was aware that some crazy spirit had a hold of him.
"What do you see?" Ella blinked at her reflection. Goodness! Was that low smoky voice coming from her throat? Before she could quite get her mind around the thought Albert trailed his fingers over her collarbones.
"Beautiful." He whispered. Then, when she would have turned away from the image. "No. Stand still and look."
"Oh!" Ella exclaimed when Albert's palm smoothed down the side of her breast to rest over her belly. It was a large hand, masculine. In the mirror she looked tiny against his spread blunt fingers...Her eyes snapped to his. Had he seen her reaction?
"What's the matter, Bella?" Albert slid his hand up to tease one of the turgid points that made her awareness of him clear. His gaze met her wide-eyed look in the mirror. "You're paying me the highest compliment."