Thomas thought on that. “I know the House of de Bowland,” he said. “From Lancashire.”
“It is,” she said, removing the offending piece of mail and dropping it on the ground. “Henry had very little and whatever he had, he inherited from his father.”
“Then if he had so little, why did your father allow you to marry him?”
Maitland’s movements slowed as she reached for a large pair of tweezers, debating just how much to tell him. “Several reasons,” she said as she returned to picking out the last bits of debris from his shoulder. “Female children can become a burden if not married at the proper age.”
“Did your father tell you that you were a burden?”
She plucked out a tiny piece of something, tossing it aside. “He cursed the fact that I was not born male,” she said. “I suppose that meant I was a burden. When Henry made the offer for me, my father took it immediately. Mayhap he was afraid that I would never have another offer.”
Thomas frowned. “You?” he said, incredulous. “With your beauty and accomplishments? Your father is a fool, Mae. He could have commanded a very high price for you had he only been patient.”
She suddenly stopped and Thomas turned his head to look at her, to see why she had paused. She was simply sitting there, staring at him, a hint of warmth and delight flickering in her brick-brown eyes.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
Maitland shook her head. “Nothing,” she said. “But you… you called me Mae.”
Thomas thought she looked rather pleased that he had and it fed his boldness. “Did I?” he said. “Des said I could. You heard him. If you have issue with me addressing you as Mae, then you’ll have to take it up with him.”
Her smile broke through at his defiance. “I have no issue with it,” she said. “You may call me Mae.”
He grinned. “Good,” he said. “Because I like the name. I shall call you it often.”
She flushed, a pretty pink coming to her cheeks, as she returned her attention to his shoulder. This time, Thomas didn’t turn his head around. He kept his gaze on her.
“Tell me something, Mae,” he said softly.
She could feel his breath on her face, causing her heart to thump madly against her rib cage. “What shall I tell you?”
“Why would a woman like you commit yourself to a life of piety?”
Her gaze flicked up to him. “What do you mean?”
Thomas lifted his eyebrows. “I mean that you are lovely and intelligent,” he said. “You would be a wife a man would be proud to have. Why must you waste all of this glory on the church?”
The flush in her cheeks deepened, flattered by his words even though she probably shouldn’t be. They bordered on insulting, but she didn’t care. It was still the nicest thing anyone had ever said to her.
“Lady Adelaide asked me that at supper,” she said, picking the last of the debris from his wound. “You were with your little sister hunting puppies, so I will tell you what I told her. Any husband of merit would require a wife with a fortune, and I have none. My father had no money and neither did my husband, so I had little choice but to seek a life of service with the church.”
Thomas watched her as she spoke, seeing that it was upsetting for her to tell him the truth. Hell, he was upset hearing it. It simply wasn’t right that this magnificent woman should be handicapped by her circumstances when someone like Adelaide had the world laid out before her purely because of her wealth and breeding.
“A decent man worth his salt would not look for a woman of fortune,” he murmured. “Any decent man, a man you should want to be married to, would simply look for a woman of brilliance and character and accomplishments. I think you did not give yourself enough time to find such a man before you decided on serving the church.”
Maitland sighed faintly as she set the tweezers aside and picked up the rag soaked in the warm wine and water mixture. “I had little choice,” she repeated. “My father did not want me to come home and I had nowhere to go, so the church was my only option.”
“I wish I’d known.”
She looked at him curiously. “Why?”
His eyes glimmered at her as he threw a thumb in the general direction of the keep. “Because I would have married you two years ago when your husband was killed and that misfit in my keep would have never happened.”
Maitland stared at him a moment as his words sank in. Then, her eyes widened. “You would havemarriedme?” she gasped. “But… why should you even want to? You are a de Wolfe and you can command the greatest bride in all of England. What on earth would you have wanted with a destitute widow?”
He grinned, the big teeth flashing. “You would have made a very fine Lady de Wolfe,” he said. “I am rather perturbed to have lost you to the church. They do not deserve you. Mayhap I do not, either, but at least I could have offered you more than they could.”
Maitland stared at him a moment longer and he swore he saw the pink in her cheeks go pale. She lowered her gaze and rinsed his wound one more time with the wet rag, dabbing at it to ensure there was no more debris. She didn’t reply to his statement right away but he knew she was thinking on it. Her hands had started to quiver. Something inside of her was stirringas the result of what he’d said, and she seemed either nervous or agitated, but he couldn’t tell which. Concerned, he spoke softly.
