Chapter 71
Chapter 71:
After that, the room slipped into heavy silence, without so much as a rustle.
Brinley, however, remained wide awake.
She sensed he hadn’t stretched out beside her again, as if he were still sitting nearby, his eyes lingering on her.
Not wanting him to know she was awake, she held herself rigid, her thoughts spinning aimlessly into the night.
𝖸о𝘂𝗿 𝖽a𝗶𝘭у d𝗈se 𝗈𝘧 𝗻о𝗏e𝗹𝘴 𝗼𝘯
Why was he watching her so intently? Could it really be that Austin had a weakness for her?
Brinley pictured him dusted in flour as he stubbornly tried to master cooking, the calm in his face as he swallowed down her disastrous attempts at meals, and the ghostly pallor he’d worn when he endured the pain of gastrointestinal bleeding.
Those snapshots flickered through her mind like a film reel, and her pulse stumbled, racing faster.
To everyone else, Austin was decisive and relentless, a man carved from steel—yet with her, he revealed a tenderness that seemed to exist nowhere else.
The thought unsettled her. Maybe she was reading too much into it.
Perhaps it wasn’t affection at all, but simply that Austin had never been close to a woman before. Suddenly bound by marriage, he might be treating her kindly out of obligation.
Their union had tied the two families together, and she reasoned that as long as he posed no real danger to her, she could continue this marriage.
As for what lay ahead, they would take things one cautious step at a time.
Brinley’s thoughts drifted until the faint glow of dawn finally softened her mind into a shallow sleep.
When she stirred again, the space beside her was already empty.
Sunlight poured through the tall windows, casting golden streaks across the polished floor.
Out on the balcony, Austin stood with a phone pressed to his ear, his lean, imposing frame outlined by the light. The dark gray pajamas only sharpened his aura of quiet authority.
As she watched his back, Westley’s words from the night before echoed in her memory.
“Brinley, you may not know this, but Austin’s mother left the very day after he was born. He never experienced a mother’s love. That’s why he seems cold and distant. But he’s soft on the inside; he just doesn’t know how to connect with people. You’re his wife, so try to endure. If he ever mistreats you, tell me. I’ll make sure he’s taught a lesson p>
Back then, she had responded with a smile, though something complicated had twisted in her chest.
Learning Austin had grown up in such a cold, barren household suddenly explained why he buried his emotions so deeply.
Yet Brinley couldn’t help wondering—was the Austin she knew truly as detached as Westley had described?
This was the same man who had fumbled his way through cooking just to please her, who had eaten every poorly prepared dish she set in front of him without a word of complaint…
Complaint, and who had stood quietly at her side when his family made things difficult for her.
He seemed nothing like the person Westley had described.
“You’re awake.” Austin ended the call and turned, a faint curve to his lips. “Go freshen up. Breakfast’s ready p>
Brinley gave a small nod, slipped out of bed, and hurried toward the bathroom.
In the mirror, she caught the faint shadows beneath her eyes—evidence of the sleepless night she had endured.