Page 17 of Cadell the Dragon

“Come in.”

Thank God, when he entered Johanna was tucked up under the covers, hidden from view, because he suspected that she was wearing only her shift.

“If you are ready, I will come into bed now. I’m exhausted,” he lied.

In reality, he had never felt more alive in his life.

“Yes.”

Before he started to remove his tunic, Cadell took the precaution of blowing out the single candle. The fire still threw enough light for Johanna to see him if she chose to look but, as he kept his back to her, he had no idea if she watched him or not. The notion that she might want to catch a glimpse of him inflamed his blood.

Lord, but this was going to be a test of his will.

Finally, Cadell lay down, determined not to let any part of his body touch hers but the bed was too narrow to allow him to maintain the proper distance between them. His left arm rested against her right arm and he couldn’t see a way of moving it without making her feel aware that they were, in fact, touching. So he stayed where he was, his heart beating in unison with hers.

“I hope I’m not taking up all the space?”

The pallet had been prepared for one person, so it would make sense if he was. He should have told her he had what he needed to make himself another one, but he didn’t seem able to utter the words. Besides, she would have seen him enter the room with the furs and covers, and yet she had asked him to lie with her.

As taxing as this was going to be, leaving her would be even harder. So he stayed where he was.

“Not at all. Thank you for staying, I know it cannot be very comfortable for you.”

“It’s all right. Now let’s try to sleep.”

“Yes. Good night, Cadell.”

With the woman of his dreams lying next to him, Cadell had feared he would stay awake long into the night, tortured by desire, but to his surprise, he was asleep in moments.

5

In the morning, Cadell left the solar before first light pervaded the room. He could not risk being in the pallet when Johanna woke up, all mussed and warm from sleep, because then he would reach out to her and draw her on top of him—before kissing her with all the intensity of his pent up passion. Last night’s kiss had been folly.

Delicious ecstasy, but folly nonetheless.

He needed to take it slower, make no mistakes. At least, his rescue in the forest seemed to have erased her first disastrous impression of him.

Instead of indulging his desire to watch Johanna sleep, he went on a tour of the castle to take stock of what needed to be done beside repairing the roof of the tower. The storm had blown over during the night and a timid sun was now shining over the devastation. Cadell came back to the great hall more dispirited than he had been the night before. Nearly everything he’d seen was broken, overgrown, or just plain missing and the dousing of the night before didn’t help him see the place in a favorable light.

Johanna had hinted that she had come to ensure that Bryn Glas was now well looked after, having been so long neglected by her husband and it seemed she had been right to fear that Rhun would have left the place to rot while he organized raids against the English.

The steward, Cadwgan, a man in his seventh decade, came to speak to him. He seemed capable enough, if unwilling to behave as he should toward his mistress. Cadell decided not to antagonize him immediately by listing all the things he had noticed. Instead he would make an ally of him, because he would need it.

“Assemble everyone working here in the bailey,” he instructed. “Tell them I shall be with them shortly.”

The people of Bryn Glas would be told in no uncertain terms that things were going to change. Once the man was gone, Cadell went to the kitchen to ask to have some food sent to the main hall. He doubted anyone would have bothered bringing anything to Johanna in the solar.

Once he was certain she would be awake, he knocked on the door three times, as he had the previous night, to announce his arrival.

“Enter.”

To his relief she was already up and wearing her dress, not stretched out on the pallet dressed in only her shift.

“Did you sleep well? How is your wrist this morning?” he asked, closing the door and doing his best to act as if it were normal that they should behave as a married couple.

“Much better, thank you. I was able to get dressed on my own. However, I cannot reach the laces between my shoulders. Perhaps you could help me?”

With those words, she turned around and gathered the heavy mass of her hair to one side to give him access to the half-laced back of her dress.