Page 98 of Wed By Proxy

She nodded. “I should have told you I loved you before you left for Allworthy, but I didn’t want to fling it in your face as a reason for you not to go…” She bit her lip, and lowered her gaze ashamed. “I know I acted very badly that night, but even I was not quite up to that.”

“Mathilde.” He enveloped her in his arms. “This queen should not be expecting you to sit out on a hillside in bleakest February. Are you cold, my love?”

“Not anymore and I never will be again.” They both sat a moment deriving comfort from their embrace.

At last, Mathilde drew back with a small sigh. “Guy, can I just say that when I said what I did about divorcing you that night at dinner… I was not in earnest. I have been angry with myself, remembering those words. I want you to know, I spoke false.”

“They did not hurt me as much as they should have,” Guy admitted now, apologetically. “For I knew I would never permit it, not while there was breath in my body.” He hesitated. “Then there was the fact you were so angry about Julia…”

Mathilde groaned. “Is that your tactful way of saying I acted like an extremely jealous wife.”

He definitely smiled at that, though it quickly died away.

“That was the only thing that gave me hope,” he admitted. “You were so cold to me, but when it came to her, you grew hot as fire.”

She watched his eyes darken. “Are you thinking of that night?” she asked awkwardly.

He nodded and cleared his throat. “Constantly,” he admitted. “You were so—”

“Guy…” Mathilde squirmed, feeling herself blush.

“—demanding,” he finished. “I loved it.”

“Really?” She exhaled.

“But I’ll only be gentle now,” he said, tightening his hold on her. “Until you’re fully recovered from your ordeal.”

“Oh, but I am fully recovered,” Mathilde, assured him hurriedly. “I was the moment you returned to me.”

“I still want to be tender with you,” he said gruffly. “Until I’m assured you realize how much you mean to me.”

“Well, gentle is good too,” Mathilde said, placing her forehead against his. “But what if I want you rough again?”

“Then you can scratch your nails down my back, and I’ll be as rough as you like,” he promised in a low, intimate voice. Mathilde sighed happily and he laughed, before gazing down at her face. “I hope you are with child,” he said. “Not just for my sake, but ’twould be a factor for winning over your mother. I would have an ally in her camp,” he said. “Leander will be her first grandchild.”

Mathilde laughed. “It could be a girl.”

“And what would her name be, I wonder?” He looked, she thought, a little nervous.

“I thought perhaps… Heloise?” she ventured.

“The honorable Lady Heloise Randall of Acton March,” he said aloud and nodded his head. “I like it.” She smiled. “There’s just one thing I still don’t understand.” He frowned.

“Tell me.” She stroked his chest encouragingly.

“How the hells can people think you timid?”

Her hand halted a moment. “You don’t find me timid?”

He snorted. “Hardly. And it doesn’t sound to me like you ever were.”

She frowned and leaned one elbow on his shoulder. “You mean because of my daring escape from court? Or because … of Tristan Kerslake.”

His arms tightened around her. “Because,” he said with deliberation. “Nervous little virgins don’t dream about marrying great ugly brutes like me.”

“You’re not ugly,” she said indignantly.

“I’m not the stuff of maidenly dreams.”