He shook his head.“Gone.To be fair, I didn’t think I’d see ye again.”There was a touch of melancholy in his voice.A melancholy she well understood.
“What about my coin?”
“Spent.”
“Spent?”That startled her.That much coin was meant to last at least half a year.“All of it?”
“Ye left me with next to naught to wear,” he said defensively.“I couldn’t exactly fit into any o’ your gowns.I had to purchase new armor.”
“And a new beard, I see,” she said, eyeing the thick growth on his chin.“Or did ye make that out o’ the hair ye chopped off your head?”
He scoffed.“I grew this beard myself, ye wicked vixen.”
She giggled.He was an easy target for her teasing.“And what about my gowns?”she asked casually.“What did ye do with them?”She lowered her eyes, hoping he wouldn’t lie to her.
“Gave them away to those less fortunate.”
His answer was cursory, but accurate enough.Lady Feiyanhaddonated the garments to the convent.
After they dressed, he scrutinized her costume, straightening her cap.Then he shouldered the satchel.
“I’ll go first,” he said.“Ye follow at a distance.”
“Wait.”She’d only just reunited with him.She couldn’t bear the thought of parting so soon.“When will we…” She caught her lip under her teeth and dipped her eyes in suggestion.“Meet…again?”
He returned her smoky look.
She could read his thoughts in his smoldering gaze.He wanted to hold her again.Caress her again.Ride the waves of surrender with her again.She blushed.
But after a moment his brow creased.“We can’t be caught together at the tournament.’Tis too risky.”
She sighed and nodded.He was probably right.“After the tournament then?”
He furrowed his brows even more deeply.“I hate to do this to ye,” he said with a grimace.“But there’s somethin’ I have to attend to first.It may take a fortnight or so.”
“A fortnight?”A frisson of alarm shivered up her spine.Something to attend to?That sounded awfully vague.And dismissive.
Did he mean to leave her?Was this revenge?Now that he had his precious satchel, would he give her a taste of her own betrayal and abandon her?
With her heart in her throat, she reiterated, “Somethin’ to attend to?”
“Aye.”
“And what’s that?”If he was telling the truth, he could be more specific.
“I can’t tell ye.”
“Can’t tell me or won’t?”
“Won’t,” he admitted.
Eve’s heart dropped.She’d always heard there should be no secrets between husband and wife.The abbess said keeping hold of secrets was harder than keeping hold of leeches, and once your grip on them was lost, they could suck the life out of you.
“Why not?”she asked.“Do ye not trust me?”
“I do, but…” He winced.“This is a matter o’ grave secrecy and great importance.”
“If ’tis so important, maybe I can be o’ help.”
