Ariella stiffened.
Isla smiled like a cat who had swallowed cream. “I ken he might wish to see ye, first thing this morning.”
Then winked and then fled before the slipper that Ariella threw hit her.
Ariella exhaled slowly and walk to the door, sliding on the slipper as she opened it and stepped into the corridor.
Prepare for me husband,she thought as she turned down the dark pathway, letting her fingers glide over the smooth stone walls as she walked slowly.And do we think that me husband will he be angry or kind this morning, after such an eveni —
“Ye left.”
Ariella stopped so abruptly she nearly stumbled backward.
Maxwell stood in the corridor just behind her, fully dressed, cloak hanging heavy at his shoulders. His arms were folded across his chest, and the line between his brows was carved deep.
He looked… displeased.
Not furious. Not cold.
More like a man who had expected to find something and hadn’t.
“I,” Ariella began, then her voice caught. “Erm. Good morning.”
His gaze swept over her face with unnerving focus, as if cataloguing whether she was well, whether she was frightened, whether she regretted anything.
“When I woke,” he said, “ye were nae in me bed, lass.”
The words should have sounded ordinary, but they didn’t and they weren’t.
Ariella felt the heat crawl up her throat.
“I thought…” she started, then forced herself to finish. “I thought ye wouldnae wish me there once… once the night was done.”
His frown sharpened, and for a moment, the sternness looked almost endearing. Like he was genuinely offended by the notion.
“Ye thought incorrectly.”
Ariella’s breath caught. “I did?”
“Aye.”
She attempted a joke because her body had forgotten how to do anything else in the face of him. “Forgive me. I forget how fond ye are of company.”
His eyes narrowed slightly. “Daenae turn this into jest.”
Ariella’s heart kicked. “I wasnae.”
He stepped closer, and the corridor suddenly felt too small.
“I didnae bring ye to me bed to have ye flee before dawn,” he said quietly.
The words were not romantic or soft.
They were worse than that because they were plain truth, stated like a fact that could not be argued.
Ariella swallowed. “I… didnaeflee.”
“Aye,” he said. “Ye walked.”
