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“A surprise?” John’s eyes widened a little. Then he winced and came even closer. He ran his hands up and down her arms and looked at her tenderly. “I love that you don’t give up on the idea of surprising me. I was worried I frightened you out of that notion.”
“I shall never stop trying to keep you guessing.” Sam’s smile was wobbly, but she couldn’t help but remember her failed attempts at pleasing him with surprises. It was different now, wasn’t it? He wouldn’t react the same way, no matter his feelings.
“You always do,” he said in a low voice, almost a whisper. Then he lowered his head and brushed his lips over hers. Sam stifled the urge to lean into him.
Instead, she jerked out of reach. “Yes, well… Don’t distract me. Put your clothes on and follow me.” She turned on her heel, ready to stalk out of the room, but he caught her arm and turned her back to face him.
“What, no kiss for your husband? Haven’t you missed me?” he asked as he moved her closer to him until their mouths were a hair’s breadth apart.
“You are diverting me from my goal,” Sam breathed almost inaudibly, staring at his full lips so close to her own.
“Which is?” he asked just as quietly, tracing her jaw and cheek with his knuckles.
“You need to get dressed.” Sam made a quick step back and ran out of the door before John pulled her into bed. His husky laugh followed her out of the room.
In several minutes, John entered her room dressed in a shirt he’d thrown over his head and hadn’t bothered to tuck into his breeches, and a pair of old boots he used to roam around his estate.
“Well,” he said, raising his arms and turning this way and that. “I am ready. Lead the way to the surprise.”
Sam smiled at him, gave him a swift peck on the lips, and before he could put his hands around her, handed him the bundle of blankets to hold. He raised his brow in question, but she just smirked and beckoned him to follow her. She led him out of the manor by the side door and walked for several minutes in silence before reaching a naked lawn between the gardens and the woods. She turned to him and gestured to the bundle in his hands.
“You can put it here.” She pointed to the ground.
“Here. On the ground.”
Sam nodded in answer, looking smug.
“All right.”
John put the bundle on the lawn and knelt before it to untie the knot she’d used to keep the blankets together. When he was done, Sam helped him spread the blankets and left a couple of them as covers, although it was too hot to use them at the moment.
“Lie down,” she said, her lips twitching at his bewildered expression.
“You want me to lie on the ground…” he intoned slowly.
“No, you daft man, that’s what the blankets are for. I want you to lie on them.” She laughed then and settled on one side of the blankets herself. She lay down on her back, facing the sky. Slowly, John took his boots off and joined her on the covers. They lay side by side for several moments, not talking, just gazing at the stars.
“When Ben was at war, he would write to me that he loved looking at the stars. It made him feel peaceful.”
John made a grunting sound but didn’t say anything more.
“It was the only thing we had in common. The sky.” She smiled. “We would watch the stars and try to describe what we saw in them. I became obsessed with the stars, and I read legends about constellations, but I didn’t like them. So I came up with my own.”
“I remember,” John said with a smile.
Sam peeked at him curiously, realizing what he meant. He’d received a good portion of those letters by mistake after Ben’s passing.
“Did you know him?” Sam suddenly asked.
“Benedict? No. We probably crossed paths, but no, I don’t remember him. I am sorry. I wish it could have been different.”
“Do you? How?”
John heaved a sigh. “You know there’s another legend about a constellation that I think fits our story.”
“Which one is that?”
“About Hades and Persephone.”
