“We were starving,” she reminded him. “Squirrels are small but good eating. Of course, cook never admitted the squirrels, but once it’s in a stew, you can’t tell what it is. Anyway, one night Reverend Mother caught me sneaking in again. She was waiting in my room. Oh, the penances I had to perform…” She pulled a face. “But she let me out again in the end.”
“It was that or starve?”
She nodded. “My contribution wasn’t much, but it made the difference between us starving or not.”
“No wonder she called you a treasure.”
“I suppose that was it. Food is important.”
“I meant the courage it took,” he said softly.
“Courage? There’s nothing courageous about setting a few traps.”
No, Luke thought, but there was a deal of courage in a young girl roaming the mountains alone during wartime, foraging and hunting for food for her friends.
She was surprise after surprise, this wife of his.
She lay on her back in the grass, squinted up at the sun, and heaved a sigh. “I suppose it’s time to leave.”
Temptation stirred anew. There was nobody around for miles, so privacy shouldn’t be an issue. And she loved the outdoors. What better place? “It’s so pleasant in the sun; let us delay awhile. I’ll show you what married couples do during siesta,” he murmured and reached for her.
She jumped as if he’d bitten her, and scooted away, sitting up straight. “As to that, I don’t think we should engage in… um, marital relations again until we get to England.”
“What?” He sat up.
“Another two weeks cannot make any difference to you.”
Two weeks?It damned well could.He’d thought perhaps her time of the month had come upon her, but two weeks?
“After all, you left me at the convent for eight years—”
“Is that what this is about? Retaliation for those years?”
“Retaliation? No, of course not. I just meant you obviously weren’t in a hurry to get an heir then, so another few weeks won’t matter now.”
“Get an heir?”
“Yes, it’s the main purpose of it, isn’t it—like breeding horses?” Her eyes dropped and she added, “I would rather not do it for a while, if you don’t mind.” Her hands rested in her lap, but they were tightly knotted.
Luke stared at her, perplexed. He couldn’t give a hang about an heir. When he’d taken her to bed, an heir was the very last thing on his mind. It was all her, and the need to possess her, taste her, enter— Oh, of course! That was it. Damned fool that he was, he’d been in such a hurry, he’d frightened her off, if not for life, for at least a couple of weeks.
He must really have hurt her, damn him for a clumsy oaf.
“No,” he said. “We will not wait until we get to England.” The longer they put it off, the more her anxiety would grow.
“But—”
He said in a gentler voice, “I was clumsy last night. If I’d known you were a virgin, I would have been more careful, slower, gentler. It will not hurt the next time.”
She frowned, turning his words over in her mind, then her chin came up and her fingers curled into fists. “So you intend to force me?”
“No, of course not.” He’d never forced a woman in his life.
“Good, because if you tried, I would fight you.”
His brows rose at her tone, but all he said was, “I give you my word I won’t force you.”
“Good, then we shall wait until—”
