“If I didn’t spend every day reading to a horse whose only thoughts were for the apples I provide—”
“I never asked you to climb the tree to fetch more apples. And while we’re on the subject, I am a horse, not a stool.”
“Will you add that to the rules?”
“And risk another rule regarding your books? I think not.” He came toward her, subtly checking his ponytail for hay. “My lady, there’s something I wish to discuss.”
His tone had changed, the ever-present playfulness shifting into something more serious. It was the same tone he’d used when he’d described his feelings on being an E∂ian and how he believed the scales needed “to be righted in the direction of equality” for E∂ians and Verities alike.
“All right.” Truly, he’d been more handsome than ever during his speech that night. It had been the first time she’d ever thought there might be more to his mind than women, ale, and the wind in his mane.
“I wasn’t sure whether to tell you.” He closed his eyes and turned his face away from the candle she’d just lit. “It seemed like it might be easier for you to assume I hadn’t the wits to comprehend what you were saying, but I’ve given this a lot of careful thought and I’ve decided I wanted you to know.”
Jane gazed up at him.
“The other day when you came out to the meadow and told me that you appreciate what I did during the E∂ian attack, I heard. I understood.”
So he’d gone off in his horsey-like behavior simply to put her at ease. How unexpectedly kind of him.
“But I also wanted you to know that what you tried to do—that was very honorable, if ill-advised. I’d been so busy studying the Pack I’d hardly thought to do something, having already decided there was nothing I could do. And while I will never regret preventing you from being foolishly brave, I do regret that I had not been willing to even try.”
Jane said nothing. The words were nice, but this was a man accustomed to wooing women. He was adept at appealing to whatever side of them would move him closer to the bed. Married or not, Jane refused to be so easily swayed. She needed proof.
Gifford’s eyes were still closed, his face still in shadow. She touched his jaw and turned him until he looked at her. He was earnest and serious.
“As much as it pains me for you to know yet another of my flaws,” he said, “I wanted you to know that I heard every word you said that day, and I’ve heard every word since. Sitting under the tree with you, listening to you read, has become one of the best parts of my day.”
“Second only to apples?”
The tension in his shoulders relaxed. “I know there is more to you than your apples.”
Jane blushed and said, “Sharing my books with you has been one of the best parts of my days here, as well.”
His gaze was steady on her, and though they stood very close together, neither of them moved.
Would he kiss her? Part of her hoped he would. A big part, maybe. Multiple parts: her butterfly-filled stomach, her thudding heart, and her lips, which remembered the gentle breath of a kiss during their wedding. Not meant to be sweet then, just swift, but now proof that he was capable of such tenderness.
She shifted toward him. “G . . .”
“My lady?” He touched her arm, and if he was surprised about her use of his preferred address, he didn’t show it. There was a hopeful note in the way he said, “Jane?”
A knock sounded, and a maid entered without waiting for permission. Jane and G jumped apart as if they’d been caught in a compromising position. Which they had, almost, but they were married so it was allowed.
Jane’s heart pounded and she couldn’t seem to catch her breath, though G’s recovery appeared much smoother. Perhaps he was more used to being discovered like this—or worse.
“Yes?” Gifford’s voice was rough; maybe he wasn’t as recovered as he appeared. “What is the meaning of this?”
The maid stepped aside to admit two burly men in royal guard uniforms. “Lady Jane must return to London immediately.” It was Unibrow Guard, the same man who’d prevented her from seeing Edward the day she left London.
Jane went cold. No good news came in the middle of the night. “What is wrong?”