Page 107 of Once Upon A Haunted Castle
Senara was nearing the pull of sleep when she had the sense of being watched. Her lips curled into a contented smile even as she opened her eyes and found Gavin staring down at her. His expression was soft and his mouth held the same languid grin as she felt on hers.
“I prefer meeting here to the stairs,” Senara said.
Gavin’s eyes crinkled at the corners and he chuckled softly. “As do I, my bonny lass.”
He pressed a warm kiss to her mouth, far tamer and sweeter than their previous ones had been. And it was exactly perfect.
Senara smiled against his lips and tried to ignore the insistent press of all she had been trying to forget. She wanted to stay locked in the moment forever, where the pain of loss could not touch her. Where love was her shield.
He stroked the hair back from her brow. “We shouldna see one another anymore.” His eyes danced as he said it.
She nodded in agreement while keeping her gaze fixed on his. “Aye, it isna a good idea to see one another again.”
His mouth came down on hers at once, so greedy and hungry it renewed her lust once more. They lost themselves in each other for the duration of the afternoon, knowing their words to be empty and their hearts to be full.
*
Gavin did seeSenara in his solar again.
And again.
And again.
For the next two months they continued to see one another, not only in the privacy of the solar, but occasionally on the stairs. Their fingertips would brush one another and their glances lasted the lifetime of a second, every small touch a whisper of a promise for so much more later.
Gavin leaned back in his chair and stared out the window of his solar, where the snow-covered trees glittered like freshly sifted sugar.
As always, he thought of Senara.
Too often before, he’d thought on his inability to find a fitting match to marry and the very real threat his lands would one day fall to King James.
Now Gavin had finally made up his mind.
His door slammed open and his aunt rushed in with something in her fist. A simple metal chain trailed from her hand and swung wildly in the air.
“She’s done it again.” Edana stomped toward Gavin with all the petulance of an irate bairn and slammed something atop the flat of his desk. “She threw it to the floor and left it.”
When Edana withdrew her hand, he could see the wooden cross, its pale wood a stark contrast to the dark finish it rested upon.
Gavin suppressed a sigh. He didn’t have to ask who his aunt was referring to. She had been trying with tremendous effort to see Senara relieved of her duties.
“Did ye see her?” He did not bother to hide the weariness of his tone.
Edana’s eyes narrowed. “I dinna have to. It was on the floor beside the chair plain as day. Who else would have done it?”
Gavin lifted the cross and held it toward her. She snatched it up from him, hatred glinting from her dark eyes.
He nonchalantly stacked his parchment back into place. “Would ye like her removed from her position?”
The glare turned wary. “Aye.”
He nodded. “It will be done.”
Edana stared down at him. “I’d like to hire a replacement immediately.”
“I imagine Anice will suffice, or one of the other ladies.” Gavin pulled open one of his ledgers and reviewed the final calculation of their winter stores. Their preparation had been well managed and there was still plenty to get them by with ease until spring.
“One of the kitchen lasses?” Edana’s horrified tone dragged his gaze from the books. Her eyebrows had crept halfway up her wide forehead. “They dinna even know their letters.”
