Page 27

She came towards him, still refusing to be drawn by anything below his neck. Her soft flush made her more irresistible than ever and Jacob bit the inside of his cheek in a reminder not to stare, her flustered reaction to seeing him half-dressed frankly flattering. ‘I was. Thank you.’

Meg all but flung the tankard at him, stepping back again at once. ‘Well. I’ll just… I just need to…’

Apparently unable to finish, she jerked her head towards the cottage, edging away even as her last word petered out. Sipping his ale, he watched her go, and it came as one of the most gratifying moments of his life when he saw her eyes flit down to linger a split second on his bare chest before she scurried away.

Lying there in the dark, Meg tried once again to fall asleep.

Eyes firmly closed, she settled back against her pillows and drew the blanket up to her chin. It was a comfortable bed, and it should have been no problem to drift off, but as the minutes crawled by it was becoming more and more apparent that sleep would be slow to come.

I shouldn’t have gone outside.

Her fingers tightened in the folds of the blanket. The picture of Jacob standing shirtless in the yard with his skin glistening in the sunlight and his arms raised to showcase muscles he certainly hadn’t had as a younger man was burned into the inside of her eyelids. She could perfectly recall every dip and rise of his toned chest, the hair on it something she’d already caught herself wanting to touch, and she felt her pulse flutter to think how fascinatingly loosely his breeches had hung from his hips. After the first unexpected glimpse she hadn’t been able to prevent herself from staring, standing there like a dumbstruck girl as all the desire she’d felt years before crashed over her like a tidal wave…

Silently she gritted her teeth. She’d seen him without a shirt previously, but that had been a long time ago, during the summer of their doomed engagement, and there had been some very definite changes since. His shoulders were much broader now and his arms looked more powerful, the way his biceps had moved as he’d pushed back his hair something she was currently struggling to forget. He’d reminded her of some Greek god, more sculpted and chiselled than he had any right to be—and now he was barely an arm’s length away, lying on the floor beside her bed, and she was painfully aware of every single sound and movement he made.

‘Is something wrong?’

Jacob’s deep voice in the darkness made her jump. ‘What?’

‘I said, is there something wrong? I feel as though I can sense cogs turning.’

‘Oh.’ Quickly Meg shook her head, immediately wondering why she’d bothered, since he couldn’t see her. ‘No. I just can’t seem to get to sleep, that’s all.’

‘Ah. Neither can I.’

Hesitantly, not at all sure it was a good idea, she rolled over. She could just about make out the pale smudge that was Jacob’s heap of blankets on the floor, her heart giving an unsettling flip when she realised he was lying stretched out on top of them, only his nightshirt standing between him and the cool night air.

‘Why not?’

She heard his short, dry laugh. ‘I’m loath to admit it, but…my arms. They ache like nothing I’ve felt before.’

‘I’m not surprised. You did well today.’

‘I’m glad you think so.’

Rustling came from the floor, followed by an intake of breath. Evidently he was trying to get more comfortable and Meg felt a spike of concern.

‘Are you really in that much pain?’

‘No. I’m fine. Forget I mentioned it.’

Unseen in the darkness, she pursed her lips. Apparently men were the same, no matter what class they belonged to: they would rather push on than show weakness, and often that made things worse. Jacob wasn’t used to hard work and he’d suffer for it if he tried to fight through the pain, she acknowledged uneasily. There were ways she could help him, but the form she knew that help would take made her hesitate to offer it.

It would be too intimate. It could tempt her to think of things she shouldn’t. It might give Jacob the wrong idea, alarming him if he misinterpreted her intentions…

Another faint grunt came from the floorboards, cutting through her private litany of excuses.

‘Here. Let me.’

Before she could change her mind, she pushed her blanket aside and slipped out of the bed, sensing Jacob start as she knelt next to him.

‘What—?’

Her heart had begun to beat a little harder. ‘Your arms will be even worse in the morning if I don’t do this. Sit up.’

He paused but then shifted upright, his leg brushing hers as he moved. The floor was hard under her bare knees but she barely noticed, too focused on him to care about anything else.

There was the narrowest of gaps in the curtains. It allowed a brilliant gleam of moonlight to slice through, illuminating Jacob’s face and showing that he was watching her as she reached for his arm.