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He turned to her. Sensations of their kiss returned to her body, but this time, his eyes created the warmth swirling inside her.
She could stay at the door, safe, far enough away from him, or she could step inside. She moved forward, unable to do otherwise. ‘The duchess was quite fractious today—your injury on the anniversary of Geoff’s death.’
He nodded. ‘I thought to leave so she might not learn of my hand, but decided it was not for the best, because of the date.’ He moved a black knight.
‘You have no opponent?’ she asked.
‘Not for this game.’ He grinned at her. ‘If you are unarmed, you may join me.’
‘I have no knife,’ she said, then answered the question in his eyes. ‘Or weapon of any kind. Nothing that can jab or hurt you except my hairpins.’
‘I suppose one must take progress where it is found.’ He nodded to the board. ‘Do you wish to play?’
She shook her head. Another thing she could not do. ‘How is your injury?’ she asked Rhys, stopping near his hand.
She waited, moving closer. He turned his palm towards her. The gash was closed, the skin around it slightly puffy, but reassuringly healthy.
‘The valet has told me he has seen a man recover after having his leg cut off,’ he said, ‘and that his own father died from a toothache. He said when it’s my time to go, something will find me. But he said it’s not my time to go. He knows this because he peered at the whites of my eyes and pinched the top of my foot. The best check of all, he said, was to slap a cold cloth across my face. I almost let him, but when I declined, he said I passed his test.’
‘I have hidden my knife, even from myself. It is with my bow and arrows.’
‘Do you continue with the nightmares?’
‘I have had dark ones, but I’m fighting back with the knife in my dreams now. It’s much better, and when I wake I tell myself I can shout for help. I remind myself I can scream out.’
‘Is my mother treating you well?’
‘Well enough. She asked me to read to her again. A letter she’d saved from your sister this time. I could read most of it, and when I did not know a word she was able to tell me without looking. She said I have progressed much with my reading.’
‘She is correct.’ Gently spoken words.
‘As a mother must be,’ she said. ‘When I have my own children she assures me I will understand.’
‘I think you understand perfectly well now.’
She stepped to the mantel and noticed a vase, not as tall as her hand, had been added. Primroses were tucked into it, their perfume so delicate she’d not noticed until she stood near the flowers. She brushed one yellow petal, feather-soft. ‘Yes. I do.’
‘You didn’t want to leave your island. But you did. It was for the best.’
‘Best for me?’ She let laughter into her words.
‘Yes. It has not turned out so bad, surely?’
‘No. I cannot mind. I know how things must be.’
‘I cherish those thoughts. I would not want you unhappy.’
‘I’m not. Though I don’t know that I wish to live on Warrington’s estate any longer or live in London. I do not think I should stay here now. I want to have true contentment.’
‘Do you truly know what you need for that?’
‘Yes.’ She met his eyes. ‘I have known since I was a child.’
She went to the bookshelves and knew just where to find the Cobwebs book, seeing that she had placed it back there. She pulled the book out and looked at the title again. ‘I thought about how Mana would have rejoiced to see her daughters so well placed. She would have bargained with the heavens that she would suffer so her daughters would not have to. And perhaps she made a bargain in another way to give us more. So when I feel sadness, because she could not share this life with me, I tell myself it is not so bad. She would have been joyous to know how bountiful my life is. And I will not let her struggles be for nothing. I will not.’
She traced a finger over the cover of the book where his hand had rested. ‘I even know what would cause me the greatest of unhappiness. The union my mother had.’
* * *
Rhys had to gaze at her. He had no choice. He turned. That crown of hair she wore would topple around her shoulders some day and the man who could see it every day would fall to his knees and give thanks.
‘What did your father tell you about love?’ she asked. ‘Your mother has mentioned it to me.’
‘He said if the head could lead, the heart would follow. He said many men have lost their families, their lives and their world by trusting the most untrue organs of the body. He said the heart lies. A man’s body lies. But he must separate himself from that and look from a distance. I thought them wise words, but he could not have known he did not need to say them to me.’
