Total pages in book: 108
Estimated words: 98745 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 494(@200wpm)___ 395(@250wpm)___ 329(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 98745 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 494(@200wpm)___ 395(@250wpm)___ 329(@300wpm)
Leora watched her husband. There was a slow stretch to his body as he tended the fire in the hearth. His defined muscles shifted with strength in his arms and legs as if in perfect precision, as if he commanded them. And when he stood, his body seemed to devour the small room, his chest expanding, his shoulders drawing back, and his stance powerful. She should fear him but instead she found him appealing, a definite shock to her senses.
“Are you unwell, Leora?” Noble asked.
He was suddenly in front of her, crouching down, taking her hand in his.
“You look a bit pale. Does your head continue to pain you?” he asked.
Concern. She heard concern in his voice. He cared when she was in pain just as he had cared enough to comfort her when she had suffered a nightmare and not because it was his duty as a husband.
“Leora?”
She realized she hadn’t answered him, realized how pleasant her hand felt in the strength of his, realized she missed the warmth and comfort of his arms and his usual scent of pungent pine and burning wood. And she realized that for a moment, only a moment, when she woke and found her lips so close to his that she wanted to kiss him, and she thought she saw in his eyes that he felt the same. And she would have kissed him if common sense hadn’t intervened, or was it fear that had forced her to turn away from him?
“Minor pain,” she managed to say since it was the truth, pain still lingering in her head.
“You need more rest,” he said and sat beside her, taking her in his arms again to tuck her in the crook of his arm so she could rest her head on his shoulder.
It would have been a dangerous prospect if she were not in pain, for he found he desired his wife far more than he ever thought he would. And if not for her wound, he would consummate their vows here and now.
He silently cursed himself for thinking that. This was no place to seal their vows. It would be a proper bed that he coupled with his wife in, and started their lives as husband and wife.
Leora made sure to tuck her hands in at the sides of her waist so that neither would fall where they shouldn’t and yet to her shock and curiosity, she was curious to see for herself what lay beneath his plaid and if it would bring her nothing but unpleasantness as some women claimed it did or absolute pleasure as Elsie had claimed with delight. She shook her head. Now was not the time for such foolish thoughts.
“Is something wrong? You shake your head,” he said, feeling a tenseness in her body that had not been there previously when he held her.
She spoke the truth. “My mind is cluttered, and I try to clear it.”
“What troubles you?”
“Far too much,” she said.
“Perhaps I can help clear some of it. Tell me,” he urged.
She almost did. It was on the tip of her tongue ready to slip out, to tell him what she thought, how he made her feel, which she did not understand, but she wisely held those words and instead said, “Nay, you cannot for you are the one who clutters my mind the most.”
CHAPTER 6
The forest was left with the aftermath of the thunderstorm, raindrops dripping from the trees’ leaves, the ground muddy, and an undeniable freshness in the air. Noble took note of it all while his thoughts lingered on his wife’s words from last night as they continued their journey the next morning. That her mind was cluttered with thoughts of him pleased him. It meant she was not just giving him thought but their marriage as well. He would rather she remain in the marriage willingly rather than having no choice but to do so. And he also wondered if the kiss that almost happened between them last night wasn’t another reason why he cluttered her mind since it was certainly cluttering his.
His wife tensed in his arms, drawing him out of his musings and he surmised the cause when he saw her eyes widen in fright as she stared at the walls of the abbey in the not too far distance. With her terrible experience at Dundren Abbey, he imagined she never wanted to step foot in another abbey again.
“There is nothing to fear, I am with you,” Noble reassured her. “That is Whitehall Abbey, you see. It is run by a group of kind-hearted nuns who are exceptional healers. They offer help and care to those in need and provide healers to Slayer’s clan and Clan Skirling when needed, as well as surrounding crofts. We will rest here tonight and reach Clan Skirling tomorrow.”