Dazedly, she stared upward at the window but saw only the faintest light. Was it dusk? Mayhap dawn? Her sense of time and place skewed, she closed her eyes again and lay still, trying to gather herself.
She lay abed, that much she knew. She yawned, the sound strangely so loud in her ears.
She heard the hiss of something…and then a low thud and more hissing that made her gasp softly…until she realized that a log must have fallen through the grate in the fireplace—
The fireplace.
Suddenly Magdalene knew exactly where she was and she froze—another sound near the shell of her ear making her heartbeat seem to stop.
Breathing. Low and steady…and in so rhythmic a fashion that she knew Gabriel was fast asleep—aye,Gabriel!
Now she couldn’t breathe, everything rushing back to her.
The terrible shivering. Her overwhelming despair. Clovis trying to spoon some awful-tasting potion into her mouth though she had turned her face away.
Gabriel pacing not far from the bed. His tortured gaze upon her as if begging her for some response though she had kept her eyes fixed upon the canopy overhead—and wished simply to die.
Nothing making sense to her any longer. The stunning realization she’d come to while at the village like ashes in her mouth.
Gabriel…one of the most honorable men she had ever encountered? Nothing could be further from the truth.
She remembered feeling so stricken, so dizzy, his voice the last thing she heard before the world went dark.
Until the iciness of water revived her…Gabriel’s angry eyes the last thing she glimpsed as she sank further into the depths.
No chance to draw a breath to save herself even as what seemed an instant later, someone grabbed her by the hood of her cloak and hauled her back up into the light.
Not Gabriel at all, but Finlay, the man so powerful a swimmer that she had found herself coughing and gasping on the bank while he dove back into the lough.
Aye, that glistening span of water that might have been her grave if not for Gabriel’s strapping cousin, who next dragged Gabriel to the shore while desolation overcame her.
He had thrown her into the water! Why?Why?
Magdalene shook her head upon the pillow in fresh despair, tears smarting her eyes as she hazarded a glance behind her.
Gabriel’s face was right there against her shoulder, his breath tickling her ear, his arm draped around her waist and one hand curled beneath her breast—ah, God, no, was she naked?
Stiffening, yet not daring to move, Magdalene remembered all too vividly the ripping sound of fabric, which made her flush from her scalp to her toes.
Toes held hostage by a larger foot resting upon hers…the length of her body resting snugly against his…her back, her bottom, her legs—
“Och, no…please no,” Magdalene whispered, something pressing at the cleft of her bottom that seemed to come alive just at the slightest shift of her hips.
A hard bulging there now as Gabriel groaned low in his throat, though the pace of his breathing hadn’t changed—saints help her, please may he remain asleep!
She froze again, scarcely daring to draw a breath.
What could she do but try to fall back asleep herself? He held her so tightly, she had no hope of attempting to wriggle out of his grasp. And, strangely enough, the slow, steady rise and fall of his chest seemed to lull her, though she thought to fight against it.
His breathing so stirring upon her ear, her nape, making her shiver in a manner wholly unlike the spasms that had wracked her the night before.
Aye, for she knew now that it was nearing dawn, the soft lavender light at the window growing brighter.
In the distance, she could hear a rooster crowing and sounds of life drifting up from the bailey. A horse whinnying. The youthful voices of the stable hands. Soon everyone in the castle would be roused and eager for breakfast, while here she lay abed with Gabriel. His masculine scent surrounding her and his skin so warm…
“No, he’s a beast,” she whispered fiercely, though when he shifted against her, she chided herself for having uttered a word.
Not awake…but dear God, not fully asleep now either, she sensed, Magdalene closing her eyes tightly and pretending to sleep.
