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‘I can’t wait.’ She pushed her anxiety aside, unwilling to spoil her first night back either. ‘I have so much to show you.’
‘Then I can’t wait either.’ His gaze drifted across to the bed. ‘I suppose you’ll want to make an early start?’
‘Not necessarily. There are other things I could show you tonight.’ She felt a shiver of anticipation. ‘In here.’
His eyes darkened instantly. ‘You aren’t too tired after the ride?’
‘Not that tired. Unless you don’t want to...’
‘I want to.’ He stood up at once, reaching for her hand and drawing her after him. ‘Trust me, Constance, I definitely want to.’
Chapter Twenty-One
‘There they are,’ Constance announced triumphantly, stalking up the side of a sand dune.
‘Who?’ Matthew sounded confused.
‘What we walked all this way in the damned cold, as you so charmingly put it, to see. Come here.’ She beckoned for him to join her, lying face-down in the patchy grass.
‘All right, but I’m not covering myself in sand.’ He crouched down and peered over the top of the dune to where a group of several dozen grey animals were gathered together with their pups. ‘Seals?’
‘Yes. Aren’t they lovely? They come back every winter to give birth and then stay for a few months. This whole beach is their nursery.’
‘All I can smell is fish.’ He pressed his cheek against hers and lowered his voice. ‘Why are we hiding? Are they armed?’
‘We’re not hiding.’ She rubbed her cheek against the stubble on his and then nudged him in the ribs. ‘We’re just not disturbing them. One of the boys from the village was bitten once and he said their teeth were as sharp as a dog’s. They can be extremely fierce, especially if you get between a mother and her pups.’
‘I’m sure they can. They say that of all mothers.’
She glanced sideways, surprised by the wistful note in his voice. ‘Do you ever wonder about your mother?’
‘About how different my life might have been if she’d lived, you mean?’ He gave a sad-looking smile, though he kept his gaze fixed on the seals. ‘Sometimes. My father said something about how everyone he’d ever cared about had left him. It made me wonder whether he might have loved her, after all. That would explain his resentment.’
‘It still doesn’t excuse it.’
‘No, but if he cared for her... It would explain why he hates me so much. I was the one who killed her, in a way. She died giving birth to me.’
‘You can’t think of it like that. Besides, it wouldn’t explain his behaviour towards Alan.’
‘I suppose not. Unless he cared for his mother, too...’ He sighed. ‘It would just be easier if there were some way to understand him.’
‘Maybe some things can’t be explained.’ She slid an arm around his waist sympathetically. ‘But I’m sorry. I can’t imagine what it’s like to have a father like that.’
‘I couldn’t imagine any other kind until I met Jerrard.’
‘You think of him as a father?’
‘I suppose I did at first. He was the commander of the castle where I was stationed in Normandy. Now he’s a friend, too. I’d trust him with my life.’
‘What about Laurent?’
‘Ah...’ his lips twitched ‘...Laurent I met a couple of years later. He was drunk and causing trouble in a local tavern. I had to knock him cold and then carry him back to the castle to be disciplined.’
‘And you still became friends?’
‘He knew he deserved it.’
‘He still must be very forgiving.’
