“Yes, but how are you meant to do that without looking at me?” he asked, smiling. She merely shrugged. “Is this about Sir Patrick?” he prodded.
She paused, as if contemplating the question, then replied, “Yes, it is. It was entirely unnecessary—”
“Unnecessary?” he broke in. “Of course, it was necessary.”
Malcolm detangled himself from the sheets and blankets, getting out of bed to face her properly. He wasn’t entirely naked—he did have fresh undergarments on—but he’d left his sleeping robe hanging over the back of a chair since it was too damn hot to wear it.
“And…” she said, glancing at him and then away. “And it was an unnecessary scene to create in front of all the other crowned heads. All of them were present, Mal, really, what were you thinking?”
He could sense a trace of something deeper behind that question. As though she wanted to truly understand his motives, but weren’t they already obvious?
“He kissed you,” Malcolm reminded. “In front of everyone. What sort of statement do you think he was trying to make?”
She clenched her jaws, glaring at the wall. She knew very well what statement it made of her that she might be the sort of woman who would encourage a knight to be so forward.
“His reputation makes him more likely the culprit,” she said.
“Of course, it does,” Malcolm agreed. “He was counting on that. You’ll be guilty by association. The rumors will already be flying that you’ve been intimate with him before. Nothing will be confirmed, of course, but it can cause as much damage.”
“You don’t think I know that?” she asked, finally turning to look at him. “But why did you have to…?” She trailed off, struggling to keep the tears at bay. “It speaks so poorly of you, Mal. And all because of me. Because I wasn’t quick enough to see through Sir Patrick’s intentions. I’m… I’m sorry.”
Malcolm shook his head slowly. She had it so wrong.
“I hit him because it was as much an attack on me as it was on you,” he stated. “I have chosen you to sit by my side and last night confirmed that. Sir Patrick has felt the sting of my indifference towards him for some time now. He was trying to underline to the court—to everyone present—that you were a poor choice. I will make sure that his misstep doesn’t succeed in swaying a single member of the court against you. I swear it.”
“I don’t care about me,” she said and, when she looked down, eyes off his again, he placed a hand beneath her chin and made her meet his gaze.
“But I do,” he said.
She looked ready to argue with him, a small pout on her mouth. The urge to pull her face to his so that he might get rid of that pout by catching it between his lips was so sudden and so unfamiliar that he released her immediately.
For a moment, they stood staring.
Had she felt it too?
She looked a little flushed, a little out of breath, startled.
“I know you care about me,” she broke the quiet, making his hearts begin to beat harder. Were his thoughts written all over his face? “But it seems all it is bringing you is discord.”
“Don’t say that.” He shook his head.
Even though his yearning to reach for her again was so overpowering, it was making the floor seem to tilt beneath his feet and wouldn’t him giving into that yearning bring him only discord?
It would. Because she was stepping away from him, making a clear statement that whatever she might have read on him was not what she wanted. She had no such inclinations or, surely, she would be acting on them, rather than agreeing to be a member of his council? She would be vying for his hearts, wouldn’t she? Would she? Why would she when all she could see was him vying for the hearts of Lady Shannon?
He opened his mouth to speak foolish thoughts, but then stopped himself.
She was dipping her fingers in the bathwater.
“It’s ready for you,” she said, knowing what temperature he preferred. “I’ll be back with breakfast.”
“What about washing my back?” The words left his mouth before he could stop them, before his hearts could condemn them for being much too forward, but his mind wanted to know what she would do.
“I think it’s time you learned to wash it yourself,” she merely replied, tone even as she headed for the door and quietly left the room.
He watched the space she had just occupied as though she might materialize out of thin air. What had just happened?
He had wanted to kiss her, is what had just happened.
