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“He—” Gage started but was swiftly interrupted as Isabel raised a finger in warning.
“Don’t even start. You’re supposed to be the head of this household.”
“I am—”
“But Sam is not under your protection anymore. She is Ashbury’s wife. So if he wants to speak to her, we are going to allow it.”
“I will not give him a warm bed to sleep in after what he’s done!” Gage said angrily.
“I don’t need a bed,” John said, already starting up the stairs. “A floor will do just fine.”
* * *
Sam was lounging in her bath, when a knock sounded at her door. She sat up, startled.
“I’m sleeping,” she called out and heard a soft laugh.
“I doubt it,” John said through the door. “Please, let me in.”
Sam heaved a long sigh. She closed her eyes and shook her head mildly. “Why should I?”
“Because I’ve missed you.”
The simple admission nearly tore her to pieces. She covered her face with her hands. “Please, leave,” she said almost inaudibly. She doubted he even heard her.
“I just want to see you. I won’t even speak if you don’t want me to.”
Sam took another breath. “All right,” she finally said. “Come in.”
He entered and stopped at the doorway. Sam huddled farther into the bath, so that only her head peeked out of the water, but the moment she saw John, she almost leaped out.
His clothing was in disarray, his nose bloody.
“What happened to you?” she asked in astonishment.
John waved a careless hand. “It’s not important. Do you need help with the bath?”
“Your nose is bloody!”
John calmly took out his handkerchief, walked to the bath, and dipped it in, before wiping off his face.
“Don’t tell me. It was Gage, wasn’t it?” Sam seethed in anger.
“He had every right.”
“No, he didn’t!”
“Sam—”
“I am so tired of you men deciding everything for me. What is good for me, what is bad, fighting for me when I am the only one whose opinion matters in the end!”
John discarded the bloody handkerchief, then rolled up his sleeves and sat by the rim of the bath. “Gage is just trying to protect you.”
“And you? What are you trying to do?”
John took the sponge, dipped it in the water, and lathered it with soap. “I’m just trying to help you bathe. Lean forward.”
Sam blinked in confusion.
