Her eyes opened and she found herself staring into white linen. Tanned skin peeked out from beneath the folds of a shirt. She blinked, remembering what had happened and embarrassed to the hilt. Slowly, she sat up and found herself face-to-face with smoky eyes.
He smiled gently. “I am sorry to wake you, madam, but supper will be served soon.”
“Supper?” she blinked, smoothing away an errant lock of hair. “How long have I been asleep?”
“A few hours,” he said. “You were exhausted.”
She put a hand to her face, feeling groggy and her head hurt. She was aware he was looking at her and she fought down a blush.
“I…I do not know what to say, my lord,” she said sheepishly. “I feel most foolish for my outburst.”
She felt his hand on her hair, stroking it. “No need, angel. I rather enjoyed watching you sleep.”
Her eyes snapped to him. “Why do you call me that?”
“Call you what?” He looked confused, and then suddenly realized what she meant. “Angel? Because you remind me of one.”
Her brow furrowed faintly. “I remind you of an angel? How do you know? Have you ever seen one?”
“I have,” he said firmly. “The moment I saw you crossing the drawbridge nearly a week ago. I knew that I was gazing into the face of an angel.”
He was smiling slightly and she was unsure if he were jesting or not. Perplexed, she slid from his thighs and stood on unsteady feet. Reluctantly, he let her go.
“I apologize again for falling asleep on you,” she said quietly. “I have kept you from your duties overlong.”
“Look at me,” he said quietly.
Hesitantly, her eyes came up and locked with his, and her entire body washed with a warm, languorous feeling. Was he indeed in league with the devil to have this effect on her?
“Do you not believe me when I tell you that you are beautiful?” he asked, his voice like warm honey.
She stared back at him; he obviously wasn’t going to let the subject rest without an explanation. Dear God, she had never truly allowed herself to voice her feelings. She wasn’t even sure how to start.
“Nay,” she whispered.
He blinked, puzzled. “Do you think I would lie to you?”
She shook her head, the look of hurt filling her face again. “Nay, I do not,” she gestured lamely, turning away from him. “I…I just do not like hearing it.”
“Why in the hell not?” he demanded, raising his voice.
She jumped, spinning around to face him. He put up his hands soothingly. “I am sorry, I did not mean to yell. But why, angel? I would like to tell you what I am thinking, but not if you do not want to hear it.”
She looked at him for a moment, long and hard. Then she licked her lips, thinking. “My husband told me I was beautiful all of the time,” her voice was barely a whisper, sickened at revealing her innermost terrors. “Especially…especially when he…would couple with me. He used to tell me how beautiful I was as he slapped me senseless.”
Gaston was stunned. He stared at her a moment before letting out a long, hissing sigh. “My God, Remington,” his voice was hoarse. “I had no idea.”
She sat slowly on the silk chair, staring at the cracks in the floor. She curled her legs underneath her bottom, somehow feeling strangely relieved that she had confessed to him. Her courage grew.
“He made love to me hours after Dane’s birth,” she murmured. “I almost hemorrhaged to death, but no one could stop him. Eudora tried and he almost killed her. That is why she walks with a limp, you know. When my sisters came to live with us, he took fiendish delight in deflowering them one by one. Jasmine was the first, then Rory. Rory gave him a good fight, but she succumbed in the end. Even Skye; he took her when she was eleven.”
Gaston closed his eyes tightly to the horrors her disclosure brought to his mind. Dane’s small tale did nothing to encompass this disgrace.
Remington rested her chin in her hand. “If he wasn’t beating us, he was taking us to bed. Sometimes he would bed three of us in a night. Yet to make up for his cruelty, he would buy us clothesand finery and perfumes. He always thought that made up for the worst of times.”
Gaston couldn’t imagine the shame she had suffered, all of them had suffered. His gaze was incredibly compassionate as he watched emotions play on her lovely face. After a moment of thought, her eyes came up to him.
“You wanted to know about us, my lord. Now you know.”
