His voice so husky and deep, she felt overwarm all over again and opened her mouth to speak, but instead she could only gape at him.
A desperate thought seizing her that it had been so much easier playing the lunatic than to stand as just herself in front of him, not Mad Maggie but Magdalene, with no idea what to say or what to do…
“Shh, wife, ease yourself. It’s very late, I know. I would have come sooner, but there was much to do. Forgive me.”
She saw it then, a weariness in his shoulders as he turned to shut the door and then faced her again, his gaze moving to the chair near the fireplace.
“Would you mind if I sit and pull off my boots?”
Startled that he would even ask her, Magdalene shook her head and moved closer to the bed, where she reached for the nearest poster. To steady herself, aye, for she trembled now as he walked to the chair with evident weariness, too. A low groan escaped him when he took a seat and merely sat there a moment before he unfastened his sword belt and set his weapon upon the floor.
Still his gaze never left her, and she saw lines in his face that she’d never noticed before, her heart going out to him.
Whether he supported Seoras or King Robert, the life of a baron wasn’t an easy one with so many men under his command and kinsmen depending upon him.
Unbidden, her thoughts flew to her stunning revelation in the village…that Gabriel had taken her as his bride, a woman he believed to be a lunatic, because her dowry would ease the lives of so many. She couldn’t imagine a more selfless act, Magdalene letting go of the poster and walking toward him almost before she knew she’d taken a step.
“May…may I help you?”
Now he looked startled, Gabriel giving her only a slight nod as she sank to her knees in front of him and took a boot in her hands. With great care, she tugged it off slowly, imagining his feet must feel as sore as the rest of him was weary. Then the other boot, Magdalene focusing upon her task as she heard him exhale with relief.
Only then did she look up to find him leaning back in the chair as if she had done him the greatest of service, though still he gazed at her, his eyes darkened to black in the firelight.
She felt caught in them, mesmerized by them, Gabriel MacLachlan was truly the most handsome man she had ever beheld.
“You’ve a kind heart, wife.”
His voice was so gentle that she blushed deeply, even as she shivered, Gabriel reaching down to pull her up with him as he stood.
“Only last night I feared I might lose you. Come, I dinna want you tae catch a chill.”
He didn’t wait for her to walk with him, but swept her into his arms and carried her to the bed, Magdalene’s heart hammering in her breast.
Still holding her, he leaned down and pulled back the covers with one hand and then settled her onto the linen-covered mattress. He wasn’t finished, though, but plumped the pillows behind her and swept up the covers to her shoulders, tucking them there.
“I’ll tend tae the fire. Go tae sleep now, love. Dawn will come quickly enough and you’ve smudges under your eyes. At least you’ll have a few hours of rest.”
Go tae sleep now, love.
Had she dreamed that he just said those words? With all that had happened between them since he’d pulled her from the fountain at the convent, he wanted her to rest.
Not to answer a myriad of questions about why she had acted the madwoman.
Not to explain so many other things to him.
Not to give herself to him as expected of any wife—and here their marriage was yet to be consummated!—but instead to get some sleep before tomorrow’s journey.
That last thought made her blush all over again. She gasped softly when Gabriel leaned over her to cup her face with a battle-scarred hand, his thumb tracing the delicate skin beneath her eyes.
“I would leave you here if I could, where I know you’d be safe. Your brother has demanded a hard thing from me—too hard a thing tae subject you tae ridicule and mockery. They dinna know what I know about you, but we’ve no time tae speak of it tonight. If it troubles you for me tae share the bed with you—”
“No, Gabriel, stay.”
His thumb went still, and now he was the one to suck in his breath, Magdalene knowing why.
She had never said his name to him before, no, not once. Suddenly he leaned down further to press his lips to hers in so fervent a kiss that her own breath caught.
Her heartbeat thundering.
