Too tired to takethatbait. “Don’t tell me you never fought with your sister.”
“Clarissa wouldn’t have dared.”
She chuckled halfheartedly. “That strong and fearsome, are you?”
“No…I simply wasn’t there.”
Voice texture spoke volumes over words. Rayne’s went thin, brittle as aged waxed paper.
Julia tried to discern what that could mean.
Clarissa had said she and Rayne hadn’t been close as children, but Julia hadn’t been able to conceive of such a thing. “Brother” was a word that encompassed pestilence and protector but was always, always something on which you could rely.
She smiled, thinking of Markham. With him, she’d never doubted she was loved.
They’d lost parents young, just like Rayne and Clarissa, but Julia had never felt alone. In Markham,pestilencehadn’t ever been far fromprotector. Since she could remember, he’d bedeviled her worse when she was sad—especially if she were crying. He hadn’t known how to comfort, so he distracted.
If Rayne had lefthissister completely alone, Julia ached for Clarissa.
“Where were you, if not at home?”
Rayne’s brow creased. “At school. Or with Bromton. Anywhere but the Grange, if I could help it.”
“But why—”
“Too much talking, minx. Give me your hands.”
He didn’t wait for his command to penetrate her weary mind. His thumb grazed her belly as he lifted her hand from beneath the blanket.
Her gaze dropped to her red fingers. “Much improved,” she forced. “I think I can—”
“Rest.” He arranged her hands against her belly and bundled the blanket beneath her chin. “You need warmth.”
Problem was, Rayne generated something more than warmth.
Something he’d proven again and again she could not trust.
Yet she was far too spent to argue.
Everything grew heavy—her arms…her legs…and, especially, herheart. “Can I sleep now?”
His assent hummed through his chest.
She turned her head into his neck, inhaling his male fragrance.
A fragrance at once familiar and foreign—a loosely recalled comfort that had haunted her nights. Often, she’d awoken craving this strange, breathable comfort—the heady experience that was Rayne holding her close.
Just as he was holding her close now.
Volatile, uneasy emotions blended in a bubbling cauldron. Nineteen months. Two seasons. A lifetime ago, in experience. And yet…
Why argue?
For now, she was resting inside Rayne’s warm embrace.
At last.
…
