Although she hated to say the words, she opened the door wider. “We are both adults, and since I seem to have taken the only bed, it looks as though we are going to have to share.”
He lifted himself up on a single elbow. “You would dare sleep beside the hardened devil himself?” he mocked.
She tossed her head. “Trust me, I shall ensure my comfort is paramount. If you do not know how to behave, you will be back on the floor without a second thought spared to your health.”
He winced slightly. “And here I thought I was the barbaric one.”
As he stood and gathered his pillow and blanket, Leah moved to the side. When he entered the room and she shut the door, she had the sensation that all of the air was suddenly sucked out of the cramped interior that had been perfectly fine just moments before. She hadn’t realized how imposing he was until they were standing in the same room together with nothing but a slight bed between them that they would soon share.
She wished she’d had a robe to layer her gown with extra protection, because it seemed as though his eyes could penetrate the fabric, when she had been confident it was concealing enough.
“Do you prefer a side?” he asked, as if suddenly unsure of the current situation as well.
She glanced at the bed, and then regretted her choice when she pictured him lying there. She cleared her throat. “The left.”
“How fortuitous as the right is what I prefer.”
She inclined her head. “Fine.”
She climbed beneath the covers and lifted them to her chin. She watched as Harlan laid down, but his section of the counterpane remained along the center of his chest. The mask was still in place. “Do you really want to sleep with that thing on?” she asked irritably.
He didn’t look at her. “It’s not a choice, but a necessity.”
She sighed. “Are you really that concerned that I might recognize you? I have not been in England in some years.”
“Perhaps not,” he murmured. “But should I find myself captured, you would be a credible witness. I can’t take the chance you would turn me into a thief taker.”
Leah couldn’t argue with that reasoning, and yet, she desperately wished to see him without it on. If nothing else, just so she could point him out to the authorities later on.
She shut her eyes tightly and told herself to regulate her breathing. But clinging to the edge of the bed was not particularly the most comfortable position she’d ever been in. Nevertheless, she told herself that she wouldn’t be in this odd predicament forever. Soon enough she would be at her brother’s house, subjected to Henry’s dull sermons and finding herself led to the altar to marry someone he’d personally selected.
She might hate to admit it, but the man sleeping soundly beside her was a better choice than what might await her.
Harlan didn’t remembera time when he had slept so soundly. It was as if the peace he had been searching for so long had finally settled over him like a warm and inviting cloak.
Or perhaps it was the arm that was thrown over his chest and the head that was snuggled within the crook of his shoulder.
Blast. As he returned to reality, he found he had a conundrum on his hands. If Miss Lindquist awoke snuggled up to him, she might think that he was trying to take advantage of her. He had already earned her ire. He didn’t care to exacerbate the issue further and gain her hatred. If he did, she might be impossible to be around, and until he knew without a doubt that she was innocent of any crimes against the Crown, he had to keep her close at hand.
He started to slide his arm away from her, but she sighed in her sleep and dared to move closer. He stopped instantly. Obviously slow and steady wasn’t going to be of much assistance. He decided it would have to be a smooth, fluid motion.
He poised his muscles for the perfect escape. Sweat started to break out on his brow as he considered the implications if it didn’t work and she awoke on top of him instead. He took a deep breath and gritted his teeth as he jerked his arm back quickly.
Harlan imagined a scenario where she rolled to her side and fluttered her eyes open with a natural ease, to which he would calmly ask if she slept well.
That did not happen.
When Harlan whipped his arm back, the momentum sent her spiraling a bit too close to the edge of the mattress—and tumbling right over the edge. She expelled a cry of alarm as she hit the wooden floor. Harlan closed his eyes and mumbled a curse as the thump resonated throughout the silent room.
He sat up, prepared to offer her his assistance when her head popped up from the opposite side. “What was that for?” she demanded.
For an instant, Harlan wasn’t able to respond. She looked entirely too lovely with her eyes sparking with fury, her dark hair in disarray about her head. But it was the firm set of her mouth that caused him to clear his throat—and lie. “I’m afraid I don’t know what you mean.”
With a grumble of annoyance, she got up and brushed at her nightdress with brisk movements. With her long hair falling about her shoulders and brushing the upper part of her backside, the worst part was that she had no idea what sort of torture she was putting him through. With a sigh, he rolled out of bed. “It was an accident.”
He realized too late it was the wrong thing to say. “So, youwereaware of pushing me out of bed?”
He scrubbed a hand down his face. “Miss Lindquist—” Her expression turned darker, and he held up his hands in supplication. “Leah. Forgive me, but I was trying to ensure you woke up on your side of the bed.”
