AN: To those of you who are following my other story, Unexpected, no, I haven't abandoned it to write this, and yes, I will be updating it again later this week. But I wanted to get started on a second project and try out something more than just what's essentially a collection of one-shots.

Disclaimer: Nope, don't own DA.

"Mr. Bricker, I've asked you twice now. Will you please go?" Cora hissed.

"You said yourself. Who knows when I'll be back?"

"Mr. Bricker—"

"Don't pretend, Cora. You know something's happened between us. You know things have changed now. I feel it, and I know you do. When did someone last cherish you? When did someone even listen to you? I've seen you with your family—ignored and passed over."

Her cheeks burned at his words. He had hit on the precise reason she had ever allowed Simon Bricker to slip so near to her in the first place. "None of this is any reason for you to come in here—I can't think what I've done to indicate you would be welcome in my bedroom!"

He smiled, and she suppressed a shudder. "I know you must give me a refusal at first; I understand that's how these things are done." These things? How many other wives had he seduced? "But that's enough," he continued. "You can admit how you feel now. Let me take you to bed, Cora."

He suddenly laid a hand on her hip, and she gasped. She did not have to think to jerk away immediately—it was as natural and instinctive as pulling her hand away from a hot ember. Something she did not quite recognize flickered behind the blue of his eyes. It looked like—determination—with a mix of…what?

"Cora…" he said, stepping even closer.

"Mr. Bricker, do not force me to call my maid back."

After a moment's silence, he sighed. "If you are sure, Cora."

"I am. You must go."

He slunk back out of her room, and she realized her hands were shaking. Good heavens, had she just had a man in her bedroom? It seemed like a dream now that Bricker was gone. In an effort to still her hands, she clasped them together, then pulled back the covers and got in bed. What on earth could she possibly have done to precipitate that? Perhaps she'd been flirtatious, but that was a far cry from implying she wanted him in her bed.

It's all right, she told herself. You've made yourself understood, and you are alone now. Half of her thanked God that Robert was two hundred miles away in London and had no knowledge of this, but half desperately wanted him here to soothe her.

She tossed and turned, her anxiety and nagging guilt making sleep elusive. The clock on the mantel showed that a full hour had ticked away since Bricker had left. Perhaps she should get up for a bit…go walking…something to calm her mind and her nerves. It was warm; she could even step outside.

Cora threw the covers off and stepped out of bed. She'd dress herself in something simple; she couldn't ring Baxter this late when the maid was probably asleep herself.