He sighed heavily. “I am,” he said. “I did not sleep last night. I stayed awake, drinking with my brothers and my father and even your brother. Gruffydd stayed with us. And I am not surprised that I look terrible, because I feel terrible. Guilt and remorse will destroy a man’s soul when he’s hurt the woman he loves.”
She eased up on her harsh manner. “That is in the past now,” she said, leaning over him as he took his arms away from his face. “Where is my brother?”
He looked at her with red-rimmed eyes. “The last I saw, he was heading home.”
“This morning?”
“Aye.”
“He was up all night, too?”
He nodded. “He told me that he was glad you spoke,” he said. “He also said to tell you that he will see you at his wedding next month.”
Her lips twitched with a smile. “I will, indeed,” she said. “So will you.”
“Then I am to assume all is well between you two?”
She shrugged. “I think it is going to be,” she said. “It will take time, but I feel confident that it is going to be. Where are your parents, by the way?”
“Neither one of them went to bed until it was nearly dawn.”
“And the rest of your family?”
He reached up and pulled her down against him. “Myles and Douglas went to bed about the same time I came up to see you,” he said. “Peter and Sherry, too. Liora and Christin went to bedlast night, but I assume they will be up shortly. Christin… Sherry had to very nearly restrain her from harming Lady Munstone. My sister was determined to seek vengeance on your behalf. She probably still is. I do not think Lady Munstone is going to be safe for the rest of her life.”
Elle smiled faintly. “I like your sister a great deal,” she said. “I see a lot of myself in her, I think. She seems passionate for what she believes in.”
He rolled his eyes. “You have no idea,” he said. “She has seen, and done, quite a bit in her lifetime.”
“And the sister that is closest to her?” Elle said. “Brielle? Is she the same way?”
“Worse,” Curtis said. “Brielle is as tough as they come. She married a de Velt, you know. You met Bretton de Llion last night—he married Brielle’s husband’s sister. Very strong, very determined, very deadly people.”
Elle began to toy with his blond hair. “I think the same could be said for the entire de Lohr clan,” she said, growing serious. “I hope you are not disappointed that I did not stay and defend myself last night. Mayhap I should have, but I was so sickened by it… I could not speak.”
He was shaking his head before she finished speaking. “You should not have had to defend yourself,” he said. “Moreover, the vendetta was against me. You happened to be the tool that was used by a petty woman with a small mind. I found out that she and another woman, a friend of hers who was married to another allied warlord, spread the rumors. They were hoping to create a divide between us. My father took their husbands aside and essentially threatened them. If one does not wish to feel the wrath of the Earl of Hereford, then mayhap he should control the mouth of his ruthless and stupid wife.”
Elle grew serious. “But there was a grain of truth to what they said,” she said. “I did not go into our marriage a virgin, and I didlive with rebels. They did not make up those details. Someone had to tell them.”
“True,” he said. “It was probably servants or soldiers. You know how they talk. But they heard those details and decided to spread the lies, which was a very bad decision on their part. But last night, my father and I spoke to all of the allied warlords and straightened out the situation. They have asked me to express their apologies to you, and they hope you will give them another opportunity to make it right. But that is your decision, love—I will not force you.”
Elle was glad that the situation had worked itself out, but she wasn’t sure about giving a former enemy the chance to hurt her again. “I will think on it,” she said quietly. “But thank you for telling me.”
He smiled and pulled her to his lips for a gentle kiss. “I have asked those close to our family to stay tonight so that we may have another feast without petty dramas,” he said. “Wrexham and Wolverhampton and de Llion and the rest. They are good men, Ellie. I hope it was agreeable with you that I asked them to remain even after the others have gone home. It means a great deal to me that you know them and that they know you.”
She shrugged. “If it means so much to you, I am not troubled if they remain,” she said. “If you value them, then I am certain I will, too.”
He smiled, kissing her again. “I hope so,” he said. “But meanwhile… May I sleep this morning, my lady? And will you lie with me?”
She grinned slyly as she pushed herself off him. “If I lie with you, you most certainly will not sleep.”
“Please?”
She shook her head. “It is not because I do not want to, but because you have been up all night and you need your rest,” she said. “You need to sleep off the drink that is still in your veins.”
“But where will you go if you are not here with me?”
She pointed to the bundle of laundry on the ground. “There are things to wash,” she said. “I will do that while you sleep.”
