“Then what would ye call what ye’re doin’?” he asked.
She shrugged, even though she knew he couldn’t see her.
“Watchin’,” she answered simply.
She could have sworn she heard him huff out an amused chuckle, but by the time he finished tending to the fire and turned to face her, there was no hint of amusement on the lines of his face.
Mayhap I imagined it?
“Well, ye can watch yer way to our bed,” Arthur commanded, nodding his head toward the dark threshold that separated the sitting room from their bedchamber.
She nodded, feeling the call of the comfortable mattress and warm blankets in her bones. Turning to walk in that direction, she felt Arthur’s eyes on her the entire way.
A sigh of relief left her lips as she sank beneath the covers, tugging them up to her chin and letting the warmth surround her. She was silent as Arthur settled in beside her, the downy mattress shifting beneath his weight as he got comfortable.
“Does this count as one of our outings?” she asked, her voice soft in the silent night.
Arthur didn’t answer right away. And for a moment, she thought that maybe he had fallen asleep. But soon, his voice floated to her in the darkness.
“Do ye want it to?”
But Marissa didn’t know how to answer. A part of her did not want it to count. Didn’t want to speed up the process of getting to know him. Not after how much fun they’d had tonight.
Would all their outings be like this?
It was only when Arthur spoke that Marissa realized she’d taken too long to answer.
“Ye can decide later,” he grunted, sleep weighing heavy on his words. “Because I can barely keep me eyes open.”
Marissa nodded, feeling a new wave of exhaustion wash over her. She turned onto her side, staring at the wall next to her, just as she’d done when they’d first climbed into their bed.
She expected her mind to begin racing again, just as it had earlier. She expected that the combination of the dark in an unfamiliar place and the weight of a strange man sharing the bed with her would once again drive sleep out of her mind.
But those thoughts would quickly prove to be wrong because as she settled in, unconsciousness claimed her quickly. And it didn’t even take five full breaths before sleep had pulled her under.
“What is it?” Arthur called out in irritation, dropping his face into his hands with a groan.
It was the morning after his first night with Marissa, and he was sitting in his study. He’d retreated there first thing in the morning, hell-bent on getting a little bit of work done before he took her out on their next outing to the lake as he’d promised.
He’d been struggling to keep his eyes open since the moment he’d walked in, the few hours of sleep he’d managed to get after they’d played their games proving to not be anywhere near enough.
So, when a knock sounded at the door to his study just as he was finally getting into his ledgers, he couldn’t stop the annoyance that rushed forward.
A maid poked her head around the door, her golden hair glinting in the morning light spilling through the windows at his back. Her eyes were wide and worried as she glanced at him.
“I apologize, Me Laird,” she said, her voice shaking. “But yer guests have arrived.”
Arthur arched an eyebrow at her. Typically, he would not lose patience with his servants. Especially not a servant he did not know. The girl was clearly new, and even more clearly, she was nervous. But his exhaustion weighed on him.
He didn’t have the energy to consider the emotions of others. Not if he wanted to save that energy for his excursion with Marissa later, which he very much looked forward to.
“What guests?” he barked, sending a quick prayer for patience.
“It’s the—” she began, but was quickly cut off by a familiar male voice.
“Step aside, lass,” the voice barked.
The mild irritation that Arthur had felt a moment ago flared brighter. He was no longer annoyed. He wasangry.
