“Yet this day must be the exception, my lady,” he replied, donning his chausses and boots.
“You sound most alert.”
“Indeed, I am.”
She braced herself on an elbow to survey him sleepily, as seductive as a siren with her hair tumbling over her shoulders and her cheeks flushed. Nay, it was that smile that stirred his blood and scattered his thoughts. Ramsay was gladdened to see that the bruises on her arms from her fall were already fading.
“I thought we might savor each other first,” she said. “And greet the day slowly.”
Ramsay hauled on his jerkin and fastened his belt. He bent over her, wishing she would not languish beneath him and smile quite so alluringly, and spoke crisply. “Rufus arrives and we must meet him.”
With those words, Evangeline’s merry mood was banished. She pushed Ramsay aside as she lunged to her feet. “How could he find us so quickly?”
In that moment, Ramsay realized the truth.
“You would not leave the kirtles,” he said, recalling her comment about the smell of the river clinging to her skin. “The dogs must have followed the scent.”
Evangeline spun to eye him with horror, her hands working busily at her laces. “I never thought…”
“It might not be him in truth,” Ramsay said, wanting only to ease her apparent fear. “It might be his huntsman or gamekeeper, but I have no doubt the arriving party hails from Dunhaven. We will meet them…”
“We will flee,” Evangeline interrupted, speaking with vigor. “If you choose to greet them like honored guests to your refuge, that is your choice, but I will be gone.”
Ramsay stared at her, not comprehending her choice. “What is this?”
“Do you expect me to meekly wait that I may be captured and carried back to Dunhaven? Have you forgotten his deed at the river? The man sought to kill me!”
“Of course, I have not forgotten,” Ramsay said, even as he wondered why he had not asked her sooner for more detail.
Though, to be sure, he had been distracted.
“Then you must understand that I will not stand idly by until I am compelled to wed Rufus!” She dressed in haste, pulling on her boots so quickly that she almost stumbled.
Ramsay caught her elbow and steadied her. “But you cannot wed Rufus, not now.”
Evangeline exhaled as noisily as the stallion she favored, making her disagreement clear. She braided her hair back with quick fingers. “Whyever not? What has changed? I am his betrothed. He has the agreement…”
Ah, so this was her fear. Ramsay shook his head and spoke with authority, determined to put her concerns to rest. “Yet now you aremywife.”
She fell silent and stared at him, eyes wide for a long moment.
“A woman cannot be wed to two men in these lands.” Ramsay smiled at her. “There is no need to flee. We will meet the party and explain…”
But Evangeline shook her head with disapproval. “Ramsay, you must abandon these foul habits you have learned.”
“What habits?”
“You cannot tell such a falsehood, not even to aid me.”
Ramsay frowned. “I tell no falsehood. We are wed.”
“We are not.”
He turned and gestured to the place they had stood when exchanging their vows. “Have you forgotten? I swore myself to you, and you pledged yourself to me. We stood there and exchanged our vows mere hours ago.We are wed!”
She blinked, at least a little less certain of his error. “But a few words cannot mean we are married in truth.”
“We willingly made marital vows to each other,” Ramsay insisted. “That means we are married.”
