Page 48 of While Angels Slept
Thankfully, Tevin was calming. But Val could see that his big hands were shaking with the internal struggle he was feeling. She gripped his hands tightly.
“Listen to me,” she whispered. “You distract Geoff and I will remove Cantia. Tell him… tell him she is still in mourning and that it is improper for her to socialize. Then I will excuse the two of us and take her someplace where he cannot find her. I’ll take her out of Rochester this night.”
He looked at her, considering her words, knowing she was thinking more clearly than he was. In fact, he was so shaken he could hardly think. “That is more than likely the necessary answer.”
“Of course it is.”
He took a deep breath, laboring to relax. “Cantia mentioned the manor house in Darland as somewhere she and Hunt could stay until this was over. Perhaps you should take her there.”
“We shall leave tonight.”
As much as Tevin did not want Cantia away from him, he knew it was for the best. With Geoff’s discovery of her, the situation was morbidly dangerous on many levels.
“Take Simon with you,” he said quietly. “Get away from here as quickly and as quietly as you can. I shall come when I am able.”
“You’d better not. He’ll follow you if he thinks a game is afoot.”
A flicker of pain ripped across his expression, just as quickly gone. But Val saw it.
“What is the matter?”
He averted his gaze, wiping the sweat from his brow as he looked anywhere other than his sister’s probing eyes. “Nothing.”
“I know you, brother. Why did you look so when I told you not to come?”
He sighed, his black eyes moving in the direction of the warm light emitting from the solar. He could hear soft voices inside, Cantia’s voice, and he took another deep breath, struggling for calm.
“Cantia,” he began, then shut his mouth. When he opened it to speak again, his tone was barely a whisper. “When I told you earlier that I did not know what I was feeling for her, I know now.”
Val suspected she knew the answer before she even asked. “And what is that?”
“I fear… I fear that she has my heart, Val. More than that, she has all of me.”
“You love her, then?”
“I must. I cannot explain what else I am feeling.”
“Does she know?”
He shrugged those massive shoulders. “I’ve not told her if that’s what you mean. But I… I have demonstrated my feelings.”
“What do you mean?”
“I have bedded her.”
Val tried not to appear shocked. But it was too much. “She just lost her husband, Tevin,” she hissed. “How could you…?”
He could hear the concern, the pain, in his sister’s tone and he put up a hand to silence her. “I did not force her. It was the most natural of things, as if we were always meant to be. It was the most amazing experience of my life, Val. Do not diminish it with your judgment.”
She eyed him, swallowing what was left of her admonishment. She had never heard such emotion from his lips and a hand came up to gently slap him on the side of the head. “I do not judge, brother,” she said quietly. “But I am concerned for the both of you. This is a delicate situation.”
He gave her a wry expression. “You are telling me something I already know, all too well.”
They could hear more voices in the solar. They even caught a glimpse of Cantia as she walked past the doorway, apparently showing Geoff something on the wall above her head. Tevin’s eyes never left herand Val found herself watching her brother, envying him his feelings for the woman. She wished for such happiness, too.
“Well then,” she took her brother’s elbow. “Are you calm enough so that we may enter the solar?”
His gaze still lingered in the doorway. “I am. But I must make a slight alteration to our plans. You must go and find Simon and John. Tell them of our plans and tell them to prepare an escort immediately.”
