her when she tried to speak. “The Darlington Castle ghost, Cecilia. The White Lady. She’s my brother’s widow, Lady Leanora.”
Cecilia stared at him, stunned. Until this moment she hadn’t realized how badly she’d needed to hear him tell her the truth, and how uncertain she’d been he ever would. “H-how long have you known? Since she first appeared?”
He shook his head. “No. Until a few days ago I thought the White Lady was just another rumor invented by the Edenbridge gossips. I still don’t know what she’s doing here—she’s meant to be marrying the Marquess of Aviemore in a few months. I foolishly allowed myself to believe we were safe from her until Miss Honeywell saw her. Then I realized there really was a White Lady. I knew then it must be Leanora.”
It made sense. Fanny Honeywell had no reason to lie about it, and every reason not to, given how determined her mother was for her to become Marchioness of Darlington.
“I believe she’s come back to take Isabella. She’s…not well, Cecilia. I didn’t want you to venture out because I can’t be certain what she’ll do, or how far she’ll go. Until tonight, I never believed she’d hurt anyone, but it must have been her who locked you in the kitchen garden.” Gideon met her gaze, his eyes bleak. “You might have frozen out there.”
“But I didn’t, Gideon. I’m perfectly well, as you can see. I climbed up the limbs of an espaliered apple tree to get out. That’s how I cut myself.” Cecilia tried a smile. “I did tell you I’m much heartier than I look, didn’t I?”
Gideon’s lips twisted into something that wasn’t quite a smile, but it was close. “You did, yes. I should have listened to you.”
“Certainly, you should have.” Cecilia settled against the pillows at her back with a huff. “Let that be a lesson to you, Lord Darlington.”
“It’s not the first lesson you’ve taught me. Not the last either, I imagine.” Gideon’s lips quirked in a smile, a real one this time.
“No, likely not.” Cecilia grinned at him, nestling further into his bed. It was warm and soft, the fire crackling in the grate, and Gideon…he was here, with her, so close she could touch him. “Your bedchamber is much warmer than mine. May I stay here with you tonight?”
He laughed softly. His eyes, such a deep blue tonight, drifted over her, and a smile of pure masculine satisfaction crossed his lips. “Did you think I’d let you go? I like seeing you in my bed.”
Cecilia shivered at the low rumble of his voice, the heat in those deep blue eyes that seemed to stroke every inch of her skin until the last vestiges of cold and fear still lingering in her body turned to pulsing warmth.
He watched every shift in her expression, every breath she took as he stripped off his cloak and tossed it onto a chair near the bed. His riding coat followed, and then he set to work on his cravat, his long fingers working the knot until the length of white linen unraveled. He slid it free from his neck and wound it around his hand, his gaze still holding hers.
Cecilia’s breath caught as he tossed the cravat aside and moved his hands to his waist. He tugged his shirt free of his breeches, but paused, his fingers toying with the hem as he waited to see if she’d object.
She didn’t. Her teeth sank into her lower lip, her breath quickening as she watched him.
The white cotton clung damply to his skin as he dragged it up his torso and over his head, and then the muscular chest that had so fascinated her that first morning at Darlington Castle emerged, bare, sleek skin pulled over taut muscles, that smattering of dark hair, thicker in the center of his chest and around his navel before vanishing in a tempting line into the waist of his breeches.
Cecilia waited for him to come to her, to join her in the bed, to stretch out beside her and press his body to hers. Her fingertips ached to stroke his bare skin, but he paused beside the bed to take her chin gently between his fingers, and raise her face to his.
“Look at me, Cecilia.” His deep blue gaze flickered over her features, lingering on her parted lips, the flush on her cheeks, the madly beating pulse at the hollow of her throat.
She wrapped her fingers around his wrist. “Come to bed, Gideon.