The room was beautiful.Warm.Comfortable beyond anything she'd experienced in years.
Thick carpets covered the stone floor.Rich tapestries hung on the walls, keeping out the drafts.The bed was piled high with furs and blankets, and someone had even placed hot stones wrapped in cloth between the sheets.
It was everything she'd dreamed of and it frightened her.
Because this—this warmth, this comfort, this unexpected kindness from a man who'd made it clear he despised her—was more dangerous than any cold chamber.
Cold, she could endure.Isolation, she could survive.Cruelty, she'd learned to bear.
But kindness?Gentleness in Boyd's voice when he told her she'd be warm?
That could break her completely.
Bella pressed her hands to her chest, feeling her heart hammer beneath her palms.
She couldn't let herself hope.Couldn't let herself believe that this meant anything.Boyd had made his feelings clear that this marriage was a punishment unless she apologized for something she did not do.
The warm room changed nothing.
Then she remembered wise words spoken to her by the abbess."Judge a man by his actions, not by his words."
Bella thought about that.It was true, Boyd's words were harsh whenever he dealt with her but his actions, though somewhat confusing, were not all bad.Yes, the east wing chamber was cold and sparse, but Mrs.Anders and the servants had done what they could to make it liveable.She'd also apologized for Boyd's actions saying he had been away for so many years and did not fathom the real extent of damage to the east wing until today.When he saw it, he immediately rectified it.
So at least for now, Bella decided she would give him some grace, but she would not let it give her hope that someday they could move beyond to something more.That dream died years ago in a dusty tavern.
She climbed into the warm bed, pulled the furs up to her chin, and closed her eyes.
Tomorrow, she would wake and continue as she'd been doing.Keep her head down.Do her duties.Stay out of Boyd's way.
Even if he was now sleeping just on the other side of that wall.
Even if the thought of his proximity made her pulse race and her body ache with longing she had no right to feel.
***
Chapter 13
