Page 93 of The Silversmith

But instead of losing myself to the frustration his relentless ambiguity drew out of me, I searched my memory of Gemma the night before. I remembered how she’d lovingly rested her hand on my hip, as if she’d felt the need to comfort me. Concerned and aloof, but not horrified. Not traumatized. And I couldn’t fight the feeling that despite her uneasiness, she’d had an air of awareness about her. As if something, maybe Gavin himself, finally made sense to her.

“Fine. You’re clearly not going to tell me.” I looked down and fiddled restlessly with my gloved fingers.

“Aryella.” He enveloped both my fidgeting hands in one of his, stilling my anxiety with his certainty. “I promise you, Gemma and I arrived at a very agreeable mutual understanding where you are concerned.”

“But you won’t tell me what that understanding is.”

He sighed. Still gripping both reins in one hand, he brushed a strand of hair from my face and shifted my hat down over my partially exposed ear. “She knows… how I feel.”

I gulped. “And how’s that?”

He gave me nothing. But this time, I felt his chin brush against my cheekbone. My stomach clenched at the gentle friction of his beard on my sensitive skin.

He pressed a sweet kiss to my temple, right below the edge of my hat.

A shuddering pant escaped my throat. I felt him tense and shift behind me, knowing he heard the unintended sound. Pulse quickening, I clamped my mouth shut and laid my head back, longing to rest in the comfortable crook where his neck met his shoulder.

But thick fur was in the way.

With his protective arms wrapped around me, I didn’t need the wolf’s pelt. I leaned forward and removed it from my shoulders, then set it in my lap where it could warm my legs—our legs—instead. To make up for the space it occupied between my back and his chest, I shifted on the mare with every intention of getting as close to him as physically possible.

For warmth.

After a few minutes of my squirming, he locked one arm around my stomach like a steel cage. “I’m going to need you to stop moving, Aryella.”

“Sorry,” I muttered.

He chuckled softly into my hair, the sound lulling me into tranquility.

The entire time we rode, I thought of his confession to Gemma. That he refused to act on his confessed desire just made me want him even more. His care for me mattered more to him than satiating himself. I wasn’t sure there was a truth more capable of driving me straight into his arms or his bed.

Not that I’d even have the slightest clue what to do, given the opportunity. I knew the basics. We’d had goats in Warrich once, after all. But beyond that, I was oblivious.

My irritated breath collected in front of my face in a ball of mist. I’d hardly had time to discuss with Gemma what happened between her and Finn. I’d filled my days with running, training, sparring, and reading, too tired to do anything but fall into bed most nights.

I was going into my marriage with Elias Winterton completely blind. I would be going into everything blind if it weren’t for my training with Gavin and the books from his library.

“What is it?” Gavin asked.

“Nothing.”

“Ella,” he warned. “Talk to me.”

“Oh, it’s not so fun, is it?” I snapped back. “When someone is keeping things from you.”

He released a heavy sigh but didn’t press.

The rolling hills and craggy peaks expanded into vast blue lakes scattered at the feet of staggering mountains, some with apexes so grand, they touched the clouds. The forest surrounding Tovick must have been the last one for a while, because the foliage here was sparse.

The previous night, I’d hardly slept, so it surprised neither of us when I drifted off for most of the morning, lulled to sleep by the rhythmic trot of our black mare and the assurance of his strong body at my back.

My growling stomach woke me a few hours later. At first, I thought I was dreaming. Sometimes how he soothed me felt too good to be real. His warmth. His safety.

“Welcome back,” he mumbled into my hair, his rich bass soothingly real. “You didn’t last very long at all. I missed my conversation partner.”

“Hmm.” I suppressed a smile and leaned my head back against his chest. “Maybe you shouldn’t be so comfortable.”

A low responding hum traveled from his throat to my core. I shivered, and his hand tightened on my ribs.