Page 23 of Suddenly a Bride
“I did what I had to to survive.”
She tried to soften him with a compassionate gaze. “Of course you did. I—I understand that that was how you raised money for Castle Wintering.”
“Did Geoff say that?”
She nodded, wondering if he would be offended that she’d spoken about him with his friend. But it had been a long journey, with little else to say in the evenings.
Strangely, he seemed to relax. “Bringing a place like this back from near ruin requires more than just the money earned from a good harvest. And we haven’t had many of those lately.”
Hesitating, she asked, “What was it like?”
“The harvest?”
She smiled and shook her head. “Being in the army. Living away from home so much.”
With a shrug, he leaned back against the table. “I’ve only ever been a soldier before now. What could I compare it to?”
“Did you not miss your family?”
His direct eyes seemed to cloud over. “My mother died birthing me, my father only a few years later. What was there to miss?”
Her chest tightened with sorrow for him. “I am so sorry. I cannot imagine such a lonely life.”
“I did not grow up alone in the woods,” he said, with a touch of sarcasm. “A friend and his family took me in. They were almost a real family to me.”
“I am very glad.” The pain in her heart eased. “Was that where you learned to fight?”
He nodded.
“Yet the last time, you were not so fortunate.”
“Nay,” he said shortly, still watching her. “Does it bother you that I am lame?”
“Lame? You seem to do everything you want to, with that small limp. Why should it bother me, when it doesn’t bother you?”
But did it bother him? she wondered, reading nothing in his eyes. Of course, she didn’t know how extensive the damage truly was or if the pain still lingered. A cold, sick feeling of pity washed through her. Was that the problem? Was he wounded in ways she didn’t understand, ways that would make him feel that he could not be a real husband to her?
“How did your injury happen?” she asked, then winced at how hoarse her voice sounded.
“A simple attack, from more men than I could handle alone,” he said unemotionally.
Geoffrey had told her that Edmund had gone against five men in defense of his squire. He must be brave and certainly did not boast about himself, as some men did. She found herself feeling very proud of her new husband, even as she worriedly looked down again at his leg.
“How recently did this happen?” she asked, searching his face.
“Four months.” He picked up his account book with obvious impatience. “You are full of questions today, Gwyneth.”
“Why don’t you let me look at your wound?” She dropped her gaze, feeling embarrassed heat sweep over her. Quickly she added, “I am accounted a good healer, and I brought my medicines from home.”
Edmund could think of absolutely nothing to say, and the very air about them was filled with tension that had nothing to do with healing and everything to do with sex. She expected him to strip off his garments and lie quietly beneath her ministrations? All he wanted to do was lean her back on the bed, on the table, on the closest thing he could find, and taste every part of her. He had an excellent imagination, and it was filled with how she would look naked. She was a bold thing, coming to his chamber like this, and he wondered how else she would be bold.
Yet—why was she in his chamber? Surely curiosity couldn’t be the only reason. He thought again of Earl Langston’s smug triumph when Edmund had signed the marriage contract.
He tried to put his mind back to their conversation, but it was a moment before he could remember. All he could do was look into her deceptively beautiful face and wonder what she was lying about. “My wound is well healed, my lady, but I thank you for your offer. Now I have business to attend to. Do you need help finding duties to occupy your day, something to keep you…busy?”
He knew she understood the unspoken order not to return to his chambers. He watched the blush turn her skin from the color of peaches to the palest strawberries. He starved for her as a hungry man in need of food.
“I was going to work in the garden today,” she said softly. “We could use more servants, now that the harvest is approaching.”
