Page 29 of A Raven Repents

“Tell me when you’re all tucked in.”

Untangling herself, she got up off the floor and shook her gown back into place. She straightened the blankets and climbed beneath, and he never moved. “I’m in,” she said quietly.

He settled back into the chair beside the bed.

“Will you tell me what happened? I don’t understand why I’m in your bed, or how I got here.”

“I don’t know all the details. But I believe you snuck off to your father’s to get away from me.”

She had run away from him, and gone to her father’s. The very last thing she remembered was climbing into her old bed. “But how did I get here?”

“I carried you. Your father drugged you and then ransomed your virginity.”

She gasped, shaking her head. “He would never do that.”

Giles pulled a folded piece of paper from his inside pocket and dropped it onto the bed. She didn’t want to read it. Didn’t want to believe he was telling the truth. But she had to see for herself. She opened the note and her heart broke as she read the horrible words. But when she fully understood the meaning of them, panic gripped her.

“But, does that mean— Did you…?” A tear trickled down her cheek.

“Did I have my way with you, while you were unconscious?” He looked so defeated as he breathed a long sigh. “I suppose I deserve that. I know I’ve been awful to you, and you have no reason to believe anything but the worst of me. But I would never do something like that. I only carried you out of your father’s house and brought you here.”

“Why would he do that?”

“He got himself back into debt already. And when he found out our marriage hadn’t been consummated, he saw an opportunity to leverage more money out of me.”

How could her father do something so wretched? After everything. The roast chicken, and his apology… none of it had meant anything. “How much did you pay him this time?”

“Nothing. I made it clear when I paid his debts the first time that I would not do it again.”

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have shared that with him.”

“You have nothing to be sorry for. Everyone around you has failed you. Especially me. It’s my fault it hasn’t been consummated, and it’s time to rectify that.”

Oh God. She wasn’t ready for that. She pulled the blankets more tightly against her chin and scooted back just a bit.

“I didn’t mean I’m going to climb in and force myself on you.”

“You are my husband.” Her heart lodged itself in her throat, fear constricting her lungs. “I know I have to submit to you.”

“You most certainly do not.” He shook his head, looking appalled. “I may have been a bully and a cad, but being your husband does not entitle me to your body. I don’t give a damn what the law says. You are the only one who gets to decide when, or if, I touch you. And I have a whole lot of groveling to do before I can earn enough of your trust for you to even begin to want that. So if I ever do anything you don’t want, you have my full permission to wallop me with whatever object you have to hand.”

Cautious laughter whispered between her lips. “You did kiss me,” she reminded him.

“I did. Perhaps you already owe me a wallop. Would you like me to fetch an umbrella for you?”

Another tear fell as she laughed. It felt strange to laugh with him, but slowly, relief settled over her. He wasn’t angry or shouting, even though she’d run away from him.

“Was that kiss your first?”

She nodded, remembering the warmth of his lips pressed against hers.

“I’m sorry.”

“I’m not.”

That seemed to surprise him. “Aren’t you?”

“No. That was the best moment we’ve shared.”