The Hawk pulled back, his expression wary. “She could not,” he protested, but she heard the doubt in his tone.
Good. If he shared her conclusion, they might resolve upon the same course of action.
“Whyever not?” she asked. “Do you remember that day?”
The Hawk exhaled and rolled to his back. “I will never forget it.” His voice hardened. “That cocksure blackguard, marching into my own keep to deceive me…”
Aileen placed a fingertip over his lips to silence him. “He reminded me of you.” His gaze flew to hers in shock and she replaced her fingertip with her lips. This kiss was long and slow, a sign that the Hawk was thinking as well as kissing her. Aileen had no quibbles with that choice. When she lifted her head, there was a new consideration in his expression.
Ah, he was prepared to hear her view.
Aileen rolled atop him, noting his growl of pleasure as he locked his hands around her waist. She felt his enthusiasm for the position and smiled, shaking out her hair from its braid so it fell around them in a curtain shot now with silver.
“I am lost,” he murmured, not appearing to be troubled about the matter. “When you release your full arsenal upon me, lady mine, I know you mean to win your way at any price.” He raised his brows. “And I am powerless against your assault.”
Lady mine.He had always addressed her thus and the sound of those words in his low voice still warmed her to her toes.
“I suspect in this case that you are not so very troubled by the prospect.”
He winced. “The comparison is fair warning that I may not like what you say at first, but may find it compelling soon afterward.”
“Hedidremind me of you,” she said, knowing the Hawk watched her closely. “A knight and a warrior. A man confident in his abilities. A natural leader who knew the strategic power of appearing weaker than he was in a key moment. Such fearlessness. Such power.” She sighed in appreciation as he watched her. “It can only be born of surety in one’s skill—or the knowledge that one is right.”
The Hawk raised a brow. “He might have died in the Hole.”
“Perhaps it is a sign of a man so assured of his own good fortune that he trusts in it,” she continued, ignoring his comment, and kissed him again.
The Hawk gathered her close, then rolled her to her back, deepening their kiss with an ardor that might have prompted her to lose the thread of their conversation. His thigh was between her own, his hand holding her captive to his kiss as he braced his weight above her, his other hand cupping her breast again. She had resolved to resume their discussion later, when he raised his head to survey her.
“You think she loves him?”
There was less of a question in his voice than she expected. Aileen nodded. “I think she could not have done otherwise. Do you not recall her that day?”
The Hawk’s brows rose before he frowned and nodded.
Aileen whispered against his throat. “I cannot believe that you, who knows her so well, did not guess she would aid his escape.”
The Hawk flicked a very green glance at her, then watched his own hand as he caressed her nipple.
Aileen gasped outrage. “Youdidanticipate her!”
“I was not certain,” he acknowledged. “I suspected, no more than that.”
“And this was why so little was said of the palfrey’s disappearance,” Aileen concluded, disgusted that she had not guessed the truth sooner.
Her husband grinned at her, an expression that took decades from him. “I was certain you knew, for you never challenged me on that matter.”
“Do I challenge you so much as that?”
“All the time, lady mine,” he declared, kissing her soundly. He whispered in her ear when her heart was thrumming. “And I rely upon you in this. You are perceptive and clever, and with your counsel, I have avoided many errors.” He sobered as he studied her. “Even now, you mean to save me from a second error with Evangeline.”
“She is one who knows her own heart. If he is as valiant as I suspect he may be, then she will not be swayed. Michael,” she whispered, using his name as seldom anyone did. “I would not lose a daughter over a father’s resolve to protect his child at any cost.”
“And I, lady mine, would see this betrothal agreement to Rufus Percival dissolved at all costs. I have mistaken his nature, from his father’s assurances, and if naught else results from our journey, Evangeline will not be compelled to wed him.”
“I agree,” Aileen whispered, brushing her lips across his.
The Hawk leaned his forehead on her shoulder and she pushed a hand into his hair. She knew he was pondering some detail and she was well content to remain where she was. When he finally raised his head, his resolve was clear in his gaze. “Ramsay must love her in truth,” he said, naming a condition. “And he must wed her honorably.”
