He grinned. “Free?”
The opposite of free, actually. Was there a word for happily bound? She felt, if he remained by her side, she could surmount any obstacle. Conquer any foe.
It was happening again. Because of Chev, she could see doors of possibility where before there had been only walls.
But, would history repeat?
Would those doors shutter and leave her alone?
He spoke soothing things to his horse, as led them all to a sheltered area within the rocks. He secured his horse’s reins.
“Come,” he said to Pen. “Let us find a place where we can be out of the wind.”
As they rambled around the rocks, he frequently stopped to give her his hand. He chose a place for them to sit between two large outcroppings, where they had a partial view of the horizon.
How had she not known him at once?
And now that she was certain, how could she keep from taking him into her arms and covering him in grateful kisses from head to toe?
“Tell me, Captain,” she said. “Of all the places you’ve traveled, what do you think of Ithwick?”
His teeth flashed in the moonlight. “What proper Englishmen doesn’t love a good ruin?”
“You are jesting,” she said.
“Only in part. You must admit history’s shadows run long in these parts. The standing stones alone have been there for thousands of years.”
“Yes,” she agreed. And still they retained their magic.
“What did you think of this place when you first came?” he turned around her question.
Always a specialty of his.
“I was not welcomed,” she replied. “Not at first.”
“But what did you feel? Of the landscape?”
“Ah,” she breathed. “Stark beauty. The moors, and rocks, and woods have settled into my soul and will never depart.”
“This is home, then?”
“Yes,” she replied. “I never want to go anywhere else. I will wait for my husband to return.”
“And what if he returns—as I have?”
“Dressed like a beggar?”
“You know that is not what I meant.” He rested the elbow of his injured arm on one knee.
“Captain,” she said, almost scolding. “I miss his heart. I miss the warmth of his body beside me in bed. I miss the way my heart lifted when he smiled.”
She turned away. She could do this no longer.
“Penelope,” he said softly.
He moved behind her, so she was sitting between his legs. She leaned back against his chest and turned her face upward toward his.
Stars sparkled around the shadow he made in the night, just they had on that first night in the alley behind the public assembly rooms.
