“I don’t know, Callie. I just don’t know.”
Taking a deep breath, she said goodbye to him and made her way to her room. She had plans to make. Plans that included seducing her lost, wayward husband. And this time he would have no escape from her.
Thirteen
It was long after midnight before Sin ventured toward his bed. Callie was sound asleep, curled on her side.
He stood there for quite some time, staring at her features as they were highlighted by the firelight. She was so breathtaking in her slumber. Nothing would give him greater pleasure than pulling the blankets back and joining her in bed. Of gathering her in his arms and making love to her until the sun was high.
The taste and feel of her was branded into his soul and he wondered if he would ever have the courage to leave her when the time came.
What would it be like to spend the rest of his life with her? To have laughter and love...
He closed his eyes. It wasn’t for him. He’d learned long ago to hope for nothing except a comfortable bed of his own and a good meal. Those things he could possess.
Having Callie in his life would be like trying to contain the wind. She was beyond his reach. Far beyond it.
You could have her.
Nay, he could not. If he betrayed Henry for her, Henry would kill him and attack her clan. And if he betrayed Callie for Henry, she would hate him for killing her brother. Either way, he was damned.
Either way, he would lose her.
How could he choose between the two people he owed the most to? Henry, who had given him back his life and Callie, who had given him back his soul.
God, how he wanted to hold her and just forget about his duties. Forget about the man he’d been. To have her soothe him in the way only she could.
The pain and fear inside him was so raw. So jagged.
Shaking his head to dispel the thought of her hating him, he made his way to the hearth. Weary and soul-sick, he lay down on the cold floor and forced himself to go to sleep.
Callie woke up a few hours after sunup to find her bed empty. Tears filled her eyes as she realized her husband had never come to her.
She wondered where he’d spent the night until she rolled over and saw him alone on the floor. A nasty burst of anger tore through her. She narrowed her gaze on him.
Why would he have done such a thing?
Suddenly aggravated beyond reason, she was seized by a childish impulse. Normally, she would squelch it, but as she sat there, she realized one of the problems with her husband was that he’d been too stern and serious in his life.
A few childish antics would do him good. Aye, she’d love to see the man who had been chased by his brothers into her barn. Sin needed many more such moments.
Before she could stop herself, she lobbed a pillow at his head.
Sin came awake instantly. His heart pounding, he rolled over with a dagger in his fist to confront his attacker. To his complete shock, he saw his wife approaching him with a pillow in her hand.
Sheathing his dagger, he relaxed, until she hit him with her pillow.
“What are you doing?”
She answered him with another smack. “I gave you a weapon, defend yourself, knave, or surrender.”
Sin grabbed the pillow she’d tossed from the floor where it had landed and came to his feet. He fought her back as she beat him with the pillow and giggled at him.
In spite of himself, he laughed with her. She was so wonderfully beautiful in the morning light with her coppery hair tousled, her cheeks rosy and her bare feet peeking out from beneath the hem of her white, linen kirtle. Her smiles and laughter took his breath away.
He backed her toward the wall as feathers began to fly about the room. Just when he was sure he had her cornered, she dropped her pillow and ran at him.
Unprepared for her movement, he stumbled back three full steps. She ran her hands up and down his ribs, tickling him unmercifully. Sin laughed, dropping the pillow and wrapping his arms around her to stop her.
