Tate gazed at her a moment; dirty and disheveled after the hellish past few days, she was still the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.
“I am glad to see you have decided to retire,” he said. “I will therefore leave you to your bath and sleep. But I wanted to make sure you did not require anything further.”
She shook her head at him, her eyes never leaving his. “All I require is to see you before I go to sleep,” she said, lowering her eyes coyly as she did so. “Since you have shown yourself, I require nothing further.”
It was a charming thing to say. Tate smiled as he moved towards her. “You just wanted to see me?”
She nodded sharply, averting her eyes. “Aye.”
He stopped right in front of her, dipping his head down to look at her lowered face. “Nothing else?”
Her cheeks were turning a deep shade of pink as she avoided his probing gaze. “Nothing.”
“Not even a kiss?”
She looked up at him, preparing to reply, when he suddenly pulled her into his arms and, with a wicked grin, kissed her deeply. Toby ended up weak and boneless as he sucked the strength right out of her. When his lips finally released her own, the storm cloud eyes gazed at her half-lidded.
“I was right.”
“About what?” she asked breathlessly.
“It was as good as I remembered.”
As she grinned, he kissed her again, so passionately that it made her head swim. He seemed to take great delight in suckling her tender lips before moving to her face, kissing her cheeks, nose and eyes gently. All the while, Toby simply held on to him and struggled not to fall. She had no sense of time or balance; she was lost in the man’s embrace.
“As much as I would like to do this all night, it is important that you rest,” he finally said, his voice husky. “I will therefore leave you to your bath and to sleep. I will leave a soldier out in the hall should you require anything.”
Toby simply nodded her head, sighing raggedly when he kissed her soft lips again and released her. Taking both of her hands, he kissed them, too.
“Good sleep, sweetheart,” he murmured.
Toby stood in the middle of the room where he had released her, watching him walk to the door. He smiled at her as he opened it, issuing another soft good night before closing it quietly. Still, she stood there like an idiot, hardly able to think much less move. But the smell of the soap reminded her that her bath waited and she began to remove her surcoat with unsteady hands. Without someone to help her unlace the stays, it took longer than usual but eventually she managed to get it off. The shift followed, as did the pantalets, hose and shoes. She untied the scarf around her head, allowing her dirty golden-brown hairto go free. Climbing into the pot, it was a tight fit but suited her wonderfully.
Picking up the lavender-lemon soap, she went to work.
CHAPTER TEN
The following day,they buried Ailsa.
Stephen made the recommendation to Tate at dawn; having just come from the coffin of the young girl, her body was rapidly deteriorating and it was important they get her it in the ground before she putrefy further. Stephen made the suggestion purely based on how Toby would react to her sister’s decaying corpse and Tate was forced to agree.
The air between the two knights was strained but professional. Tate hadn’t told Stephen that he and Toby were betrothed, mostly because it wasn’t any of the man’s business. Although he was certain of Stephen’s interest in Toby, the man had yet to make any inappropriate moves. When, and if, it came to that, Tate was prepared to act. It was a bizarre situation that Tate could never have imagined they would face. Kenneth just tried to stay out of it.
Tate extricated a couple of men from the army of soldiers digging a mass grave for the victims of yesterday’s battle and put them to digging a grave in the floor of Harbottle’s small chapel. As the sun began to rise, he was reluctant to wake Toby with news that they had to bury her sister right away but he knew that he had little choice. Stephen and a few men were bringingthe coffin up from the store room and the day was already busy. Shortly after sunrise, Tate went up to her chamber.
Knocking on the door softly, he was surprised when she immediately responded. The door was unlocked, too. Opening the door, he should not have been surprised to already find her awake and dressed. Clad in a muted red surcoat and off-white linen shift, she was clean and washed and looked positively radiant. She also had the room in complete disarray. She smiled at Tate as he entered the room.
“Good morn to you,” she said. “I hope you slept well last night.”
He couldn’t help but smile in return; every time he saw the woman, he felt his heart soften just a little more.
“I was going to ask you the same question,” he made his way towards her. “But my next question would be why you seem to be tearing the room apart.”
Her smile broadened as she looked about. “Well,” she began, “it seems to me that I will be spending some time in this chamber. It needs to be cleaned and I need to see what, exactly, you brought from Forestburn so I can begin to calculate what was saved against what was lost. There seems to be a good deal to do and I am at a loss as to where to start, so I thought I would begin here.”
He was standing next to her, watching the way her mouth curved when she spoke. “This can wait, sweetheart. You do not have to do everything in one day.”
“But I must see what I have lost so I will know what I must purchase to replace it.”