Black Richard's Heart (The MacCulloughs #1) - Suzan Tisdale Page 0,101
of the finely woven shawl Keevah wore. It looked as soft as silk and as warm as a bear skin. Woven in shades of blues and greens, it was quite lovely. “Keevah, did ye make yer shawl?”
“Aye, I did,” she replied with a smile.
Marisse described the shawl to Aeschene. “Oh! When I could see, my favorite colors were blue and green.”
“Might I ask a question, m’lady?”
“Please, call me Aeschene.”
Keevah glanced first to Marisse, then to Lachlan as if asking for permission. Each of them nodded their approval. “Were ye born blind?”
Aeschene smiled and shook her head. “Nay. I had perfectly good vision until a few years ago.” She politely explained how her vision had gone from bad to very nearly blind.
“So yer world is not black?” Keevah asked.
“Nay, ’tis not black. Everything is mostly just gray blurs,” Aeschene said. “But if something is verra close,” she demonstrated by holding her fingers an inch from her eyes, “I can see a bit more clearly.”
“So ye have seen Richard then?” She asked without thinking.
Aeschene giggled. “Ye mean when he kisses me?”
Marisse giggled at Keevah’s crimson blush. “Ye have made her blush, Aeschene.”
“I am sorry, m’-Aeschene. I didn’t mean—”
Smiling, Aeschene leaned closer to her. “I close my eyes when he kisses me,” she giggled. “And usually, the room is dark.”
Leaning back in her chair, she looked in their general directions, looking rather mischievous. “What? Do ye nae close yer eyes during kissing?”
“’Tis the truth it has been so long since I’ve been kissed that I do not remember,” Marisse said, feigning all seriousness. “But if my memory serves me well, then aye, I closed my eyes.”
“What about ye, Lachlan?” Aeschene asked to the shape standing across the way. “Do ye close yer eyes whilst kissing?”
Silence rent the air until Marisse burst out laughing. Keevah and Aeschene couldn’t help but to laugh along with her. “How upset does Lachlan look?” Aeschene struggled to ask the question.
Marisse and Keevah both turned to look at the handsome man.
“He is smiling as if he has a secret,” Marisse told her.
“What say ye, Lachlan? Do ye close yer eyes while kissing?” Keevah asked with a playful smile.
There were several replies bouncing around in Lachlan’s head, but he held on to every one of them. He couldn’t seem to take his gaze away from the lovely Keevah. All during the meal, he stayed in the shadows, listening to the quiet chatter hoping to sink into the background, forgotten by the women. Quietly observing and enjoying the sound of Keevah’s voice when she spoke or the sound of her laughter.
“Me thinks he doesn’t want to answer,” Marisse said.
“Mayhap he too has forgotten how to kiss,” Aeschene added to the teasing.
Marisse turned her attention back to Aeschene. “I think we are embarrassing him.”
Hattie came rushing into the room looking excited and pleased.
“M’lady! Thomas the Red and John have just returned from the hunt! They bring a dozen rabbits, even more pheasants, and a grand stag!”
Her excitement was contagious. “That is indeed good news, Hattie,” Aeschene said. “Will ye please see the bounty divided amongst those who need it?”
“M’lady,” Lachlan said as he approached. “If ye promise to stay within the keep, I can help Hattie.”
’Twas the only thing he could think of to extricate himself from the women. Or, more specifically, one woman in particular.
Aeschene had begun to dread the arrival of dawn for each morn that she woke to an empty bed, it made her heart ache just a little more. After a few nights of feigning sleep, she discovered Richard was slipping out of the room almost immediately after they joined. And he wasn’t returning.
It hurt, knowing he couldn’t abide sleeping with her. She knew that not all married couples shared a bed chamber, but many did. Where on earth did he go each night? Why didn’t he return? And the most important question of all? Where was the man sleeping?
When the next thought entered her mind, she felt very much like weeping. What if, perchance, he had a mistress? What if he was only joining with her in order to gain the heir their king was determined they produce? Was joining with her naught more than a duty?
Nay, that is impossible, she told herself.
When they joined, Richard always made certain she found her pleasure first, he was attentive and quite thorough in that regard. Not once had he made her feel as though she was nothing