Page 40 of While Angels Slept
He put his hands on her in a calming gesture. “I did not mean to offend you. I simply meant that you will not be forced to do anything you are not ready to do.”
She reached in and began pulling the cluster of clothes out, onto the floor. Hunt yelled at his mother, again, and she shifted from Brac’s clothes to her own, pulling a durable broadcloth surcoat on andsecuring it with a leather girdle.
“Coming, Hunt. Be patient.”
Tevin had already walked to the door, his hand on the lock as he watched Cantia cinch up the girdle. She had a deliciously narrow waist, making her breasts appear rounder and larger. His thoughts began to turn lustful again but he fought them. Now was not the time. They had been selfish enough. Still, after a night like the one they had just spent together, he knew his thoughts would be only of her. It would be difficult to deal with his cousin and the situation the man brought with him.
The girdle was finally fastened and she smiled at him, slipping on the small leather slippers that would cover her feet. He smiled in return, feeling weak and warm and giddy. Over the past day, their relationship had deepened and expanded into something he had never known to exist. He couldn’t even remember his life before this woman was a part of it and the warmth he felt, the satisfaction, was more than he could describe. It blanketed him, like a warm, enveloping embrace that encompassed his entire being. He felt so very fortunate.
“I shall open the door,” he said quietly. “Let the boy see only you and I shall slip out when his attention is on his mother.”
She nodded, moving towards the door. He reached out, touching her cheek, as she came near. Then he unlocked the door and pulled it back.
Hunt sat in front of the door with a ball in his hand. George, the dog, lay beside him, gnawing on his paw. Hunt looked up sharply from his toy as the door opened, his face full of impatience at his mother.
“I’mhungry,” he said firmly. “I want porridge and honey!”
She lifted an eyebrow. “I am not sure I approve of your tone,” she reached down and pulled him into the room, making sure to keep his back to Tevin. “Come in here now. I must speak with you.”
Tevin, seeing the boy was properly distracted, slipped from the chamber. George wagged his tail at him, doggy eyes the only witness to the viscount being in Lady Cantia’s room. With her peripheral vision,Cantia saw Tevin disappear as she lifted her son up and kissed his face repeatedly.
“Mam!” he shoved against her, wanting to be put down. “I’mhungry!”
“I know,” she set him down on the floor. “But we have a serious matter to discuss and it cannot wait.”
He wasn’t particularly interested. “What?”
Cantia sat on the edge of the bed so that she would be closer to his eye level. “The Earl of East Anglia arrived earlier. Did you know that?”
He shrugged, shook his head, and tossed the ball at George. Cantia grasped his arm gently to force him to focus on her.
“The earl is a very important and very busy man,” she continued. “Although Rochester is your home, I must ask you to stay in my chamber with me until Lord Tevin tells us that we may leave to go about our business. That means that, for now, you cannot go outside and play. You must stay in here with me. We must…hide. Like when you play a hiding game. We are going to play a game.”
He looked at her with his big blue eyes. “Why are we hiding?”
“Because we must not bother the earl. We must be silent and obedient and invisible. Do you know what invisible means?” When he shook his head, she continued. “It means that he must not see us. We must be like a ghost.”
Hunt’s face lit up. “I want to be a ghost!”
She smiled at him. “Of course you do. He must not see you at all. If you are very good and the earl never sees you, then there shall be a reward waiting for you when he leaves.”
His happy face grew happier. “What reward?”
“What would you like?”
“Armor!” he shouted. “I want armor like my da!”
Her smiled faded. His innocent words depressed her so, whether because it once again reminded her of her now-fatherless son or because she imagined him as a grown warrior, she did not know. All she knew was that her son wanted to grow up so fast, to leave her andbecome a man. She wasn’t ready to let him go yet.
“We will discuss it further when the earl leaves,” she told him. “But if he sees you at all, no reward. No armor, no anything. Do you understand? This is important, Hunt.”
He nodded emphatically. “Good,” his mother said. “Now, I believe Lord Tevin is bringing us food. We will wait here for him.”
“Do we have to be a ghost for him, too?” Hunt wanted to know.
She shook her head, her gaze drifting to the mussed bedclothes on the floor beside the bed. Just to look at them gave her a shudder of pleasure.
“Nay,” she said, hoping she didn’t sound as breathless as she felt. “We will not hide from him.”
