“A guest? Someone I know?”
“No, but he is very anxious to meet you. My brother, Garrett.”
I quirked an eyebrow. “And he knows about me and about ... everything?”
“Yes. He knows.”
I nodded. He’d told me he would have to tell his family, and while I understood his desire to be truthful to them, I wondered what his brother would think of me—a woman who had trapped his brother into a marriage when he’d never wanted one. “I suppose that will not make me a favorite in his eyes.”
“On the contrary. He has given me no end of exultant grief since arriving and is delighted by our arrangement. If you aren’t feeling up to coming down for tea today, I’m more than happy to give your excuses. One of us putting up with his merciless glee is, perhaps, enough.”
I reached for the brush Maren had set on the dressing table. It was wicked of me, but I’d seen how he’d looked at my hair. AndMaren hadn’t finished her task. “I’ll be ready. It will do me good to be out of my room and conversing again.”
I turned back to the mirror and ran the brush from the top of my head down to the ends of my hair. David finally moved from just inside the doorway to stand behind me, his face almost reverent as he watched the brush glide through my thick, straight tresses.
After a moment, he lifted his eyes and caught mine in the mirror. “I’m glad you are feeling well enough to join us.” He lifted a hand, and for a moment, I thought he might reach for my hair, but he dropped it and caught my gaze again. “You gave me quite a scare.”
I shrugged my shoulder. “It was a simple fever. Dr. Clarke said as much.”
“James didn’t see you at your worst.”
“Was I so terribly bad?”
“You looked nigh unto death, weak and shivering. I’m so accustomed to seeing you strong.” He shook his head slowly at the memory. Apparently, that night had haunted him as well, but for very different reasons.
I put down my brush, reached behind me for his hand, and pulled it up so it rested on my shoulder. My hair had fanned out from brushing it, and some of it caught underneath his palm. I wanted him to touch my hair, and I wished he would stop holding back when I knew he wanted to close the distance between us.
I gave his hand a squeeze. “Thank you for caring for me.”
He closed his eyes for a moment, and his thumb moved just enough to trap a lock of hair between it and his forefinger. He tested the strength and softness of the strands, pulling delicately down, letting them slide along the pad of his finger. When he opened his eyes, they looked pained. “I wish I could care for you more.”
The flush of excitement I’d reveled in when he’d walked in the room froze and died. Enjoying the sight of me and not wanting meto die was a far cry from loving me enough to let me understand his secrets or face his father, and he continued to make that very clear.
What was it that made hope so tenacious and long-suffering? I should have killed it long ago, but it refused to die.
But I couldn’t resent David for it. He’d done nothing wrong and had done more to care for me than anyone else in the past eight years.
I’d seen his childhood desire to help the tenant farmers when he accompanied me to deliver baskets, and I’d heard from the Mortensens of his continued kindness over the past several years. I couldn’t fault him for also being uncommonly kind to me when it was my turn to need help.
David cleared his throat. “I’ll send for Maren so she can help you with your hair again.”
I quirked an eyebrow at him through the mirror. “You don’t want me to come down like this?”
He put his hand on my other shoulder and leaned forward so his head was nearly resting on mine. If I didn’t know our story, I would think we made the perfect picture of a young, newly married couple. Even after being sick, my face seemed to glow with a healthy light when David was nearby.
“You would give poor Garrett a heart attack. He isn’t fortunate enough to have a wife, let alone one so beautiful.”
I’d only just told myself to be careful, but his words warmed me again. My poor, foolish heart.
“Do you really think yourself fortunate?”
He slid his fingertips into my hair, and his hands inched their way down through it to my waist. With eyes half closed, he placed a gentle kiss at the crown of my head. “I am mediocre in all things except my choice of a wife, so yes, I consider our marriage fortunate. You’ve given me the opportunity to best my very clever brother for once.”
I tipped my head pretending to be in serious thought, even though what I wanted to do was lean back into him. “So Garrett is clever, older,andunmarried?”
David narrowed his eyes, the soft gaze from his kiss gone. In its place was something playful, slightly offended by my praise of his older brother. “Don’t be fooled by his age. He hardly acts it. I’ve always been the more serious brother.”
I smiled through the mirror at David. Nothing about him seemed boyish anymore, except, perhaps, his grin. “Is there anything else I should know about him?”
