The Resilient Lady Collins

Chapter 151: Spend the night (2)

"Why are you sitting on my bed? Don’t tell me you intend to lay beside me. I am not a child who needs to be watched to make sure they go to bed," Scarlet said, finding Ian’s actions to be ridiculous. "Why should I even rest before dinner? I might become too tired to attend."

"I will wake you and bring your dinner here. The princess should understand why you are not present for dinner," Ian replied.

"You are overreacting. I stopped working so that should be enough," Scarlet said, sitting up instead of lying down.

"Scarlet, think of the servants here who worry about how much you work. Just rest for a few minutes or an hour. Had I not shown up here, you would be sleeping in that terrible position. I will gladly tie you to this bed if I need to," said Ian.

"I would like to see you try," Scarlet replied, confident that was not going to happen. Sunny was going to fly before she allowed anyone to tie her here so she could sleep.

"Be careful with what you challenge me to do. Now," Ian said, pushing Scarlet back to the bed. "Get some sleep."

He was serious about her needing to sleep. Ian would rather Scarlet spend the night resting than force herself to stay up to speak with him.

Ian touched her forehead again. Regardless of what Scarlet said, he felt like she was coming down with something and if she didn’t rest now, it could grow into something more.

Ian laid beside Scarlet, trapping her in his arms so she had no choice but to sleep.

"Ian, should I show you what else I can do if you do not unhand me? Getting flipped would be the least painful thing you experience. Unhand me right now," Scarlet ordered him. Ian seemed to want to test if she still knew what was taught to her when she was younger.

Ian pulled Scarlet closer to him. "If you wanted to roll around in bed, that was all you needed to say. I won’t judge you."

Scarlet glared at Ian for putting words in her mouth. "Now you are asking for it because that is not what I meant. I should throw you out and bring Sunny inside."

"Leave the cat where it is. She doesn’t want to be disturbed," Ian replied.

"All of a sudden, you speak on behalf of Sunny. Since when did the two of you become close? I don’t like it," Scarlet confessed.

Her entertainment with trying to see Ian get close to Sunny could not end now.

Despite her earlier request for Ian to not join her in bed and then to let her go, Scarlet enjoyed having company in the room. The room was quite large for one person so she often found herself bored or unable to sleep.

Would it be so wrong to truly be sick so someone could take care of her for once?

This thought only lasted a few seconds as Scarlet became worried about the work she would need to catch up on after missing a few days.

Scarlet peered up at Ian. His eyes were closed already. Wasn’t he trying to get her to go to sleep? How could he fall asleep before he accomplished that? frёewebηovel.cѳm

Scarlet shook her head. He gave her a lecture on sleeping yet he needed to sleep.

"Am I handsome?" Ian questioned, having an inkling that she was staring at him.

"Yes," Scarlet honestly replied. She was never going to lie about it unless he suddenly turned ugly. "You also need to rest. Did you work a lot today?"

"I spent most of my day sleeping away in my office-"

"Yet you have something to say when I do it!" Scarlet argued.

"I slept on the long couch while you leaned over to rest your head on your desk. I slept for hours while you were taking a quick nap. We are not the same," Ian replied.

"You do not know how long I was asleep for. I won’t be able to fall asleep before dinner so your efforts will be in vain. You are lucky that I have no energy to move or remove you from the bed. You should know that I spoke to Dorothy today," Scarlet said, deciding to speak since she could not sleep. "She already suspected that Beth was not pregnant."

Ian opened his eyes. This must be the guest Florence spoke of. "And what will she do about Beth wanting to kill her?"

"She planned to send Beth away, but I think it is unlikely she would stick to that plan. Beth wanted her dead so Dorothy might now want Beth dead. Then there is the doctor. What kind of doctor would agree to fake a pregnancy? Was he even a doctor?" Scarlet wondered.

Ian smiled as he was used to many doing something like this when money came into play. "You were born with a silver spoon in your mouth. He was not. Beth might have dangled a lot of money before him. I hope it was worth it as if this story were to get out, he would be ruined."

"Before anyone tells a lie, Beth sent a woman to my place of business today to seduce me but she miserably failed. I only humoured her to see how far she would take her lies. Nothing more," Ian said, wanting to avoid a misunderstanding between them.

Scarlet didn’t understand how Beth had time to meddle in her relationship and to keep up with her lies. "She has wanted what she longed for but continues to meddle in my life. Thank you for telling me. You didn’t harm the woman, did you?"

Ian laughed as Scarlet made it sound like he was just going around harming everyone who came in his path. "I did not. I am not someone who looks to kill everyone before me. I left her with Owen and he somehow found out that Beth sent her."

"I thought you had to question her to get the truth out of her. I trust you, Ian. You don’t need to tell me about every interaction you have with women. Many will try to get close to you as you are competing against Victor. As long as you remember that you have me and do not do something foolish, I don’t have a reason not to trust you," Scarlet said.

Scarlet couldn’t forget what happened with Jack but she was not going to put that on Ian. There wasn’t a point in starting a new relationship if she was going to keep worrying that they were cheating on her.

"I will not betray you," Ian promised. "If placed in a predicament, I might pick Sunny over you because I don’t need her attacking me, but that is it."

Scarlet chuckled. She could live with Sunny being Ian’s first pick. It made perfect sense to her and she would do the same. "That I would allow."

"If I don’t get her to like me the first few times, then I will go back to picking you. The palace party is tomorrow. Are you still not going to attend it? Ian questioned. He didn’t know if she had fixed her troubles with the king.

"I will not be attending. The king now sings a different song because one of the Callahans is coming to town but I have been burning his letters and gifts. Should I give in, he would ask for Alana back and try to marry her off. I am fine not being in the palace," Scarlet replied.

Gone were her younger days when she visited the palace to play. It had nothing for her now since Alana was here.

"If you must attend it, I am afraid I must decline. I do not want to go where people are wanting to upset me," said Scarlet.

Scarlet had enough of arguing and having to defend herself. She needed a break from that just as everyone said she needed a break from work. Besides, why would she go to the palace when life on her estate was suddenly sweet?

Ian raked his fingers through her hair, attempting to put her in a trance to have her sleep. "Then we can have our own little party at my home. You can bring the princess and anyone else whose company you like. It is time you see where I am moving to."

Scarlet considered it. "Alana does need to get out of the estate. I shall take the offer, but I must go to my hotel first tomorrow. It is the only work I shall do," she added before he could tell her about a break.

"Ian," Scarlet said, a risky thought on her mind. "Would you mind spending the night here?"

Ian would gladly accept the offer but there was one thing to be concerned about. "You don’t care what the town would say since we are not married?"

Scarlet didn’t need that said about her now.

"I don’t have neighbours, Ian. Who will know how long you were here?"