Page 84 of Monsters in Love

Her jaw dropped. “But you… but I…”

“Oh. You were thinking to attend, were you?” His face split into a grin and he pulled her into his embrace, spinning her around before returning her feet to the ground. “As if there’s anyone else I would wish to take. Or any reason aside from you that I would go.”

She swallowed hard and met his gaze. “You have not seen much of me lately.”

“Belle.” His expression sobered and he framed her face with his hands. “I only meant to tease. There’s no other woman for me, and there never will be. It’s you, love. It’s always been you. I am a humble farmer. I spend my days in the fields and my nights tending the livestock. It’s not a glamorous life—nothing like you’d have in the Keep. But if you will have me, we’ll announce our union at the ball, then it’s mere months until the spring tyne.”

“You beast.” Pure joy filled her being and she wrapped her arms around his waist. Beaming up at him, she soaked in the strength of his arms and the sheer love in his eyes. Her mother thought she could do better than this man? Folly. Pure folly. She loved this man, and love was all she needed to have a good life. “Of course, I’ll have you—terrible sense of humor and all. There’s no other man for me, and there never will be.”

From her position comfortably reclined against a haystack, Belle stretched her arms and smiled up at her sweetheart. As the sun had risen, he’d taken off his jacket and scarves until he toiled in a linen shirt—and she could see every line of his muscles through the thin fabric.

“If you’re still warm, you’re welcome to take that shirt off,” she said, sending him a wicked look beneath her lashes. “A wife should know what to expect from her husband.”

In fact, she’d like to do a great deal more than look.

“Belle…” Wiping sweat from his brow, he shook his head. “Stop tempting me. I mean it.” He pointed his scythe at her. “I won’t give the Chastry any reason to deny our union. When we announce our intentions tonight, and when we join the rest of the couples pledging to each other at the spring tyne, there can’t be any cause for question.”

“Come now,” she said, crooking her finger in a silent plea for him to join her. “Who would protest?”

His gaze traveled past her and his mouth flattened. “I can think of one.”

“Huh?” Getting to her feet, Belle turned and found an armed patrol passing the field.

Armor bright in the afternoon sun, the men all focused in their direction. The figure in front, with a bold plume of red adorning his helm, lifted a hand in silent greeting. The esteemed captain. Who her mother had invited to tea on more than one occasion over the past month.

“Oh. Right.” She forced herself to wave at the guards until they passed

“He’s interested,” Thomas said, voice low. “Jaston is the captain of the guard. You’d have a life of privilege in the Keep. Servants. It would please your mother to take such a suitor and—”

“Bite your tongue,” she snapped. “I want none of that.”

“Are you sure?”

Eyes narrowed, she slowly turned to regard him. “Are you trying to be rid of me, Thomas Marr?”

He flashed her a grin. “Never.”

“Good.” She gripped the front of his shirt and tugged. “Because I’ll have to do terrible things to you if you decide to throw me over now. You had your chance. You failed to use it.”

“Tragic.” His hand slid up the back of her neck.

Her breath caught.

She slid her hands up his chest, stretching up on her toes until her mouth hovered a mere hand's breadth from his. But instead of a kiss, he rested his forehead against hers. “I suppose I’ll keep you, if only to spare the rest of the town your violent wrath.”

She blew out a frustrated breath.

He laughed. “Spring isn’t so far away.”

“It’s far enough,” she muttered. “Yet they deny us even a kiss.”

As he returned to his work, she found herself staring past the fields at the forest. The narrow trees this high up the mountain shouldn’t form much of a barrier, yet they sat tight together, preventing her from seeing much beyond the length of a horse.

There were towns beyond those trees. Cities. Or, there had been. Despite what the bishop claimed, she wanted to believe those places hadn’t fallen to the Spreading Dark.

She wondered if people were happier there.

If there were places where one could live without the Chastry watching every breath, where they could kiss and laugh and love without judgment. Where demons didn’t scurry beneath their streets.

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