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Lying down, she found the makeshift mattress surprisingly comfortable, as he settled next to her. Amazingly, her eyes drifted closed. It was so nice to be stretched out flat. She thought the tension or her thoughts might keep her awake, but her body immediately relaxed. “Oh, this is lovely.”
He gave a soft chuckle next to her. “Did you sleep in the carriage?”
“Mm-hmm,” she answered, already relaxing into that state between wakefulness and sleep.
“And before that you stayed with Baxter?”
“Bash and his wife, Isabella.” She’d liked the duchess a great deal. Not only was she beautiful, sweet, and kind, but she understood about real hardship. Isabella had been one of the main reasons she’d stayed.
“And before that?”
“My cottage,” she answered, fluffing the hay under her head to better prop her neck. An arm slid under her head. For a moment, she tensed, but then he stilled, not deepening the embrace by pressing his body to hers, only allowing her to use his arm as a pillow.
Which was decidedly comfortable.
“You had a cottage?”
She closed her eyes, relaxing once again. “We can’t all have townhouses and estates.”
He laughed again. “I know that. It’s just you mentioned going hungry. I’m glad to hear you improved your situation.”
The sleepiness had surely loosened her tongue, because she found herself answering far more candidly than she usually might. “I acquired the cottage after I also managed an internship. Of course, Bash bought that out for me to leave with him. But I still have the cottage and the land. I could sell.”
His other hand came to her shoulder. “Were you contracted by your employer in such a way that you couldn’t marry?”
“Of course,” she murmured, the tiredness sinking deep down into her bones. “But I wasn’t worried about that.”
“Why not?”
“Because…” The word sighed from her lips. “I don’t want to marry.”
“Me either,” he answered, his fingers sliding softly and soothingly down her arm. She ought to be worried about traveling fingers, but she couldn’t muster the emotion. Instead, his touch caused her to sink deeper into relaxation. The touch was so light and soothing, it melted her very bones.
“All earls marry and make little baby earls. It’s the way of your class.”
“My class is full of jackals.”
“Too true,” she answered. She’d like to ask more. Most lords married and secured their line. But before she could, sleep overtook her and the world went grey.
Ash felt her muscles loosen as she slipped into sleep.
He didn’t blame her. After what she’d been through, who wouldn’t be exhausted?
Tiredness weighted his limbs too. Not that he’d sleep much tonight. He had to keep an ear open—not only might they be discovered by the farmers they’d borrowed this space from, but he couldn’t allow them to be taken unawares by her former captors.
He shifted closer, pressing his front to her back. She didn’t move and he allowed himself to relax against her as he cradled her closer.
She sighed in contentment and snuggled into the nook he created.
He’d heard her clear announcement. She didn’t wish to wed. She mistrusted men. Who could blame her?
Ash wasn’t much for sharing his past but if he were, he might tell Lily that he’d been his mother’s sole protector. He’d kept her safe from his father on more than one occasion when his father’s temper had boiled over, kept her company during his father’s long absences, and most of all, kept the secrets that might break her heart.
But Ash understood how callously cruel men in power could be. His father had been free to come and go from their lives as he pleased, his mother trapped in a loveless marriage because she could not support them without his father. He’d held all the cards and he’d used them to keep Ash and his mother prisoner. The idea of it still filled him with a burning anger.
He didn’t need to share, but he wished for Lily to know that he was a man a woman could trust.
He closed his own eyes, hoping to relax and at least rest when Lily turned in her sleep, pressing her front against his as her face nuzzled into his neck.
