He asked so much more of himself on her behalf.
When he had taken her virginity, he had done so with the intention of marrying her. He looked back on the boy he’d been and now recognized how rash that belief had been.
Time and his father had intervened, and that pure intention as a teenager had been thwarted. He’d been shipped back to school, she and her entire family had been sent away, and his father had forbidden anyone from speaking of them again. And when Jonathan continued to fight his father’s dictates, he was summarily sent off to Scotland.
Back then, he’d been too stupid and too afraid to risk it all for her. Especially since he’d be risking her life, too. After all, his father had threatened that.
So Jonathan had taken the coward’s way out. He finished his schooling, bided his time in Scotland, and eventually found his way to well-reasoned decisions. And he never, ever trusted his father again. Not his father’s words nor the man’s beliefs.
And so he’d been well prepared to chart his own course when his father died.
But now that he had found Giselle again, what did he want? He knew that marriage was so much more than simple love, especially an aristocratic one. There were as many requirements on his countess as there were on him. And not every woman leapt into a society marriage.
Did she want that? Did she want him as much as he wanted her?
He needed to talk plainly with her. Everything had happened so fast. He’d just found her again, and though it was well after midnight now, he wanted to—
A bolt of pain seared through his temple. Agony wrenched through him the likes of which he’d never felt before. He’d been rubbing her shoulder, soothing himself with her skin as he thought through their possible future together. But as the ice pick of pain slammed through him, his hand spasmed. He kept from crying out—barely—but Giselle had no such restraint.
She cried out, a soft mew of distress that quickly changed to alarm.
“Jonathan!” she cried as she straightened up in bed. Her eyes narrowed and she stared into the air above him.
“Stop it!” she snapped. “You’re mad at me, not him. I seduced him. I brought him into my bed. Speak to me and cease hurting your own son!”
Her voice was clear, her body strong. And though he saw nothing in the air above them, the pain in his temple eased enough that he could face his dead father.
“That’s not true,” he ground out. “I came here of my own free will.” He looked at her. “I chose you. I choose you still.”
He saw her gaze soften as she looked at him. “Thank you,” she whispered.
He reached out to hold her hand and she grasped it. But the moment they connected, pain shot through him again. Hisshoulders hunched, his head felt like it was splitting apart, but he would not release her.
At least, not until she twisted out of his grip.
“We need to talk clearly to him,” she said.
“Agreed,” he said. The pain lessened the moment she broke contact with him, but he would not let it dictate his actions. And he would not give her up. Not for a ghost who needed to move on and leave him the hell alone. “Give over, Father. I will choose my countess, not you!”
Her breath caught at that, but she shook her head. “One issue at a time.”
“Yes. But we will—”
“Get some clothes on,” she interrupted. “This might take a while.”
What? Oh. Of course. Always better to face the ghost of his dead father with some pants on.
The two of them scrambled to put on their attire. Enough, at least, to feel decent. Fortunately, his sister had left Giselle a robe to wear over her chemise. She drew it on, and he thought she looked incredibly sexy with her hair unbound and her expression fierce.
She stood straight, as she hadn’t done as a teen. She radiated a confidence that few women possessed. Clearly, this was her area of skill, whereas he felt completely at sea. And though he lit the candelabra with shaking hands, she stared hard into the shadows.
“How’s your head?” she asked gently.
He frowned as he rubbed his temple. The pain was gone. “Good. Has he gone?”
“Not at all. But he’s facing us now instead of wrapped around your head.”
“Where?”
