Tanon blinked at him, wondering if she just heard him right. “You pined for me?”
He nodded and gave her an intimate smile. “For a long time. Pathetic, aren’t I?”
Tanon felt tears sting her eyes, but then she remembered him mentioning how Prince Dafydd’s daughter had helped him escape his imprisonment. It was clear that Gareth could get what he wanted from many women with nothing more than a smile. She wasn’t a fool to believe that a man like him pined over the memory of a toothless little girl. She laughed and gave him a little shove. “Stop that jesting.”
She moved awayfrom his outstretched hand to lie back and stare up at the clouds.
Leaning up on his elbow, he traced the quirk of her brow. “What are you thinking about?” he asked her.
“My parents.” It wasn’t really a lie. She did miss them terribly, but she was thinking of their happiness. She wanted her marriage to Gareth to work. How was it possible that he had shed her of her defenses so easily? She knew how. He made her feel alive again. Even when he angered her it felt exhilarating not having to hide behind a forced smile. He excited her. He made her laugh. She had forgotten who she was, and he helped her remember. Once, long ago she wasn’t afraid to love him. She realized, looking into his gaze, that she wasn’t afraid anymore. He made her feel safe. He always had.
Neither of them heard Madoc’s approach until his voice broke the comforting silence. “What the hell happened to the cottage?” he asked, carefully averting his eyes from the sweet contours of Tanon’s form.
Gareth turned toward his friend and sat up. “Tanon was cleaning.”
Tanon would have defended herself, but she was too busy scrambling for the drying cloth to cover herself. She sat up and tossed her husband a scathing look.
“I knocked.” Madoc averted his gaze from Tanon’s calf when the covering she pulled over her lap dragged her shift up. “It’s getting late in the day and you said you wanted to work in the fields today.”
“Aye,” Gareth nodded. “I’ll be out shortly. Madoc, tell Tanon how I pined for her.”
Madoc scoffed and shook his head. “It was pathetic.”
“There, you see?” her glorious husband said, quirking his mouth at her.
Tanon laughed behind her hand, not telling him that she didn’t believe Madoc for one instant, He’d agree to whatever Gareth said.
“Have Cadwyn and Dierdre come by to help clean the cottage,” he told Madoc, “and then—”
“But I made the mess, Gareth.” Tanon reminded him. “I’ll clean it.” She offered Madoc a polite smile. “Disregard what Gareth said. I’ll do it myself.”
“Disregard what Gareth said?” Gareth repeated, raising an incredulous eyebrow at her. “Did I just hear you right?”
“Oui,”she said pointedly.
His jaw flexed. “Everyone here—”
“I won’t have these women thinking that I refuse to lift a finger—”
“Tanon, stop talking.”
Her green eyes flared with indignation. “I most certainly will not stop talking.”
Her husband’s eyes glinted dangerously on her. “Madoc, you may go,” he commanded without taking his eyes off her.
“Madoc,do notbring Cadwyn and Dierdre to this cottage,” Tanon warned him through clenched teeth. Oh, she had had enough of Gareth’s arrogance. Had she just thought him glorious? Who did he think he was telling her to stop talking? How could she have even considered caring for him? Why, he was looking at her like he wanted to throttle her senseless.
“Madoc,” Gareth growled.
“I’m going.” His first in command slipped back into the house without another word.
When they werealone, Gareth leaped to his feet and stared down at his wife as if he’d never met her before.
The hellion had been set free.
“Does your father allow you to argue with him this way?”
“Of course not,” she replied curtly. “But then, he’s not a brute.”