man…like you before.” She looked down at the grass and lowered her voice when his smile deepened on her. “I never thought I would…want to meet a man like you.”
“And now that ye have?” he pressed gently.
She looked at him. “I…I do not know.”
He didn’t want to push her too much, or at all. He was falling in love with her. If she wasn’t falling for him naturally, he would leave her alone.
But the way she looked at him. It was the same way he was sure he looked at her. With delight and desire, respect and passion.
“Captain, we found a spider!” Alex called out from the huddle he was in with his sister.
The arachnid must have jumped in Alex’s direction because he yelped and leaped away. Margaret stood in her spot laughing at him.
“I think they had fun today,” Galeren told Silene while he laughed with them.
“’Tis important to you. Why?”
He thought about it for a moment. He knew things about the King of the Scots, just thirty-three years old and a prisoner of England. Things King David had told him during their friendship. He was married, though in name only, at the age of four. He never played. He wasn’t allowed any friends. He grew into a somber man, awkward around others and probably perfectly happy alone.
He saw the same thing happening to John’s bairns. Friendships were important, but safety more so. Because of that, they were alone most of the time.
“They are children. They need to play.”
She nodded. But he saw the shadows cross over her eyes.
“Did ye not play as a child?” he asked her, drawing a little closer.
She shook her head. “I was the oldest. My mother was often ill, so I did much of the work. And then I was sent to St. Patrice’s.”
Galeren wanted nothing more in his life in that moment than to teach her how to play. “Ye are verra bonny, Silene.”
She had the most peculiar reaction. It was different from any he’d ever seen when he told a lass she was bonny. She covered her mouth and gave him a little laugh. He looked at her curled lips when she dropped her hand away from her face. He thought about taking her face in his hands and touching her beauty as if to convince himself she was real. Kissing her…
“Silene,” he whispered, then glanced at the children. They were busy tying leaves together and putting them around the horses’ necks. There would be trouble if one of them saw him and the novice kissing and told.
“Galeren,” she said on a siren’s breath. He forgot everything else and became captive to her alone.
She seemed to have trembled in her skin. He ached to hold her. He moved closer, dipping his head, tasting her sweet breath.
“You have me going in circles and I do not want it to stop.” She rested her palms on his chest, leaned up on the tips of her toes, and pressed her lips to his stubbled cheek.
When she withdrew, he took hold of her wrist and pulled her back to him with the graceful ease of a dancer pulling his partner back into his arms. He pressed his lush, sensuous lips to her mouth and covered her, engulfed her in strength and tenderness. She felt right in his arms, as if she belonged there. Could they stay like this forever, locked in each other’s arms, their mouths sealed in passion’s kiss?
No. If the children saw they would have to live with a secret.
He withdrew. His legs felt unsteady. His head felt as if he’d just finished his fifth ale.
He groaned her name.
Her face grew red. Her eyes widened with…what was it? Horror? No!
“Forgive me!” she cried and turned and ran to her horse.
He opened his mouth to stop her, but the children were still playing and weaving leaves. They hadn’t seen their kiss. He almost breathed with relief. He didn’t want to draw their attention by calling out—demanding that she return to him. Aye, he would demand it, and she would surely ignore it. He would do anything to keep her near, but the things he wanted could be dangerous to her—possibly cost her her life.
The steward had his own army. Would he send them after Galeren and Silene if they left? Galeren couldn’t fight them all and he didn’t want to. Most of them were his friends.
He clenched his jaw to keep quiet as she mounted her horse.
“Come children. ’Tis time to go,” he called out.
He