Always (8 page)

“
Where are you?”

“
I’m right here,” he was suddenly directly in front of my face.

“
Ah,” I jumped back, nearly tripping over some unseen object.

“
Careful,” he warned. He was starting to sound more like himself, I noted with relief.

“
Don’t try to scare me,” I hissed.

“
I’m not.” He was far away again.

“
Are you having a good time?” I snapped.

“
Sort of.” I could almost see his small shrug and cute grin.

“
This is no time to be playing around.”

“
You are quite right,” he spoke so close to my ear that I felt his warm breath tickle the small curls there.

I reached my hand out and felt his hard chest. “We should…”

“
Sleep?”

“
Exactly.” My heart hammered painfully in my chest.

“
Would you like to sleep beside me, or should I find you a safe place to sleep alone?”

“
I don’t want you to leave me alone,” I whispered.

I felt the lightest pressure on my face as he trailed his fingertips along my cheek and down to my jaw.

“
Then I won’t,” he said huskily.

My tongue darted out to run nervously across my bottom lip. Was he going to kiss me? Did I want him to?

I had never felt like this before. I longed to reach out and touch his face or run my fingers through his hair, but I only stood there, listening to the sounds of our hearts echoing off each other.

“
There’s a dry stall this way,” he said softly. I felt his hand clasp mine and tug gently so I would follow, but I couldn’t seem to make my feet move. “Come on,” he urged, “you’ll be safe. I promise.”

I wasn’t worried about being safe, though. I knew that Marcus would protect me against Ryan or anyone else that may try to hurt me.

I was only worried that if I moved from that spot, then Marcus wouldn’t kiss me. We would both come to our senses if I moved.

“
Claudia,” he squeezed my hand, “you need to sleep.”

“
Of…of course,” I stammered. “We both need some sleep.”

I nodded to myself in the darkness of the barn and let Marcus lead me to the dry stall. It wasn’t exactly my bed at home, but it was comfortable enough for the night. Marcus situated me in the surprisingly comfortable straw and then sat down himself a small distance away.

He was too far away to touch, but he was close enough that I could see his face. I closed my eyes with a smile on my lips.

Chapter
Nine

When I awoke the next morning, Marcus was gone. I groaned as I tried to stretch the muscles in my neck and leg. I was going to have to tell Marcus that the barn had been a terrible idea.

In the light of the morning, I could better take stock of my appearance. My nightdress was beyond recognition. It was so dirty and torn, Aunt Dora would go into a fainting spell if she saw it. My leg throbbed painfully.

I pulled the hem of my clothes up to examine the wound. The blood had dried to form an ugly brown covering over the gash. “Eww,” I complained. I touched the place gingerly with one finger. It was still pretty sore, but after I got it cleaned up and bandaged, I was sure I would be fine.

“
Everything okay?” a familiar voice asked.

“
Marcus!” I got slowly to my feet. I meant to get up more quickly, but my stiff shoulders and sore leg wouldn’t allow it. “Where were you?” I smiled wide up at him.

He raised one eyebrow at me as I limped toward him. “Just…looking around.”

“
For?” I raised my chin to see him better.

He pressed his finger to the tip of my nose. “Not Ryan.”

“
Good boy.”

He laughed lightly. “Always, ma’am.”

“
Then, what were you looking for?”

“
Breakfast,” he raised both of his eyebrows at me comically.

“
Mmm, what’s on the menu this morning, Mr. Letrell?”

“
Nothing as fine as you are accustomed to I’m afraid, Miss Sinclair.” He nodded his head toward the door.

I was surprised to see how light it was. I wanted to be horrified that I had not been returned home before first light like he had promised. Instead, I only felt ridiculous joy that I was still with him.

“
Your banquet awaits, my dear,” he held his arm out grandly.

I daintily placed my hand on his offered arm and let him lead me to where he had a small fire burning. I didn’t even want to know what animal he had cooking over the flames. It smelled delicious, and my stomach rumbled in response.

When he laughed, the sound seemed to travel through me, making me laugh in return.

“
It should be done by now.” He pulled off a piece of the meat to check.

“
How long have you been up?”

“
I couldn’t sleep.”

“
How did you even catch…whatever that is?”

“
It just jumped right into our fire.” He shook his head. “He must have known you would be hungry.”

He handed me a large piece of the meat skewered on a short stick. “Is this my fork?” I asked with a grin.

“
Only the finest.” He bowed and took a seat close by my side.

“
Aren’t you going to eat?”

“
I ate earlier, while you were still sleeping.” He poked a long stick around in the ashes of the fire. He must have been out there for a while, I realized. Had he slept at all?

As I chewed the breakfast Marcus had supplied, I watched him from the corner of my eye. I tried to not let him see me watching him, but he may have noticed anyways.

“
Why are you looking at me?” he asked.

“
I’m not.”

“
Yes, you are.”

I widened my eyes and shook my head. “You are imagining things.”

“
Eat,” he ordered. “When you’re finished, I’ll take you home.”

“
What if I don’t want to go home?” I challenged.

“
Eventually, you’ll have to.”

“
I should wash up first. Can you imagine what Aunt Dora will say if I show up like this?” I gestured to my ruined nightclothes.

“
I saw a river not far from here. I’ll take you there to wash up, although I’m not sure how much good it will do.”

I took another bite without saying anything. I found myself wondering what Edmund would have been like out here. Would he have caught an animal so I could have something to eat when I woke up?

Would he have found somewhere for us to sleep? Or would we have slept on the ground? Would I have been infatuated by him as I was Marcus, or would he have just annoyed me?

I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. I was pretty confident that Edmund would in no way measure up to Marcus Letrell.

“
What are you thinking about that has you so sad, Claudia?” Marcus asked.

“
Nothing,” I denied, but quickly added, “the animal that you killed; I was thinking of that poor animal.”

His eyes narrowed immediately. “Nice try,” he teased.

“
We women are not like you men,” I reminded him, “we don’t crave blood like you do.”

He stood up abruptly, but when he turned to me, his eyes were lit with amusement. “Some women crave blood.”

“
Eww.”

“
Are you finished?” He nodded toward my discarded meal.

“
Yep.” I slapped my hands against my thighs and stood up. “It was actually not bad.”

“
Is that supposed to be a compliment?”

“
Maybe.” I smiled up at him, enjoying our easy banter.

He made quick work of the fire before turning back to me. “Miss Sinclair, would you care for a walk this morning?”

“
Why, Mr. Letrell,” I brought my hand dramatically to my chest,” I would love to.”

He held his arm out so I could entwine my arm through his as if we were strolling through a garden.

“
It is a lovely time of year, is it not?” he continued the charade.

“
This is my favorite time of year,” I confided.

“
When everything dies?”

“
When the trees are all beautiful colors,” I corrected, “and the air turns crisp. It’s like I can finally breathe again after the heat of the summer.”

“
At least this morning is not too chilly.”

“
What’s your favorite time of year?”

“
I enjoy the winter.”

“
And all the snow?”

“
Especially the snow. Everything about the world that is ugly is covered in a beautiful white blanket.”

“
Won’t be long now.”

“
Nope.” He recaptured his arm so he could move a large branch from our path.

“
Do you need any help?”

“
Who do you suggest will help?” he grunted.

“
Me.” We both laughed.

It was nice to walk through the woods with Marcus. The terror from the night before was gone, replaced by a carefree laughter. I had never been so at ease with anyone else since I had been a child and still with my parents.

“
I think I hear the water,” I announced a short while later. It was easy to make out the sound.

“
I think you’re right,” Marcus happily agreed.

It didn’t take us long to reach the edge of the water. Marcus held a low branch aside so I could duck under it and then suddenly, there was the river.

It was much larger than I had expected it to be. Why had I never seen this place? How far out were we?

“
I didn’t know there was a river beyond our woods,” I exclaimed.

“
We are quite a ways out here. I doubt that you’ll come this far again.”

“
I might,” I looked over at him, “now that I know it’s here.” When he still remained silent, I began to doubt myself that I would be able to venture this far. “I could ride.”

“
You mustn’t think to come here alone,” he scolded.

“
You could come with me,” I suggested hopefully.

He laughed and shook his head. “In two days, you’ll have a husband, I doubt if any husband would let his lovely wife go out alone with such a handsome young man.”

He turned to show me his strong profile. “And to think just yesterday you were an old man climbing an apple tree.”

He ducked his head playfully. “He wouldn’t let you come out here with an old man either.”

“
We’ll be going to London anyways.” I looked out over the inviting landscape. I had never been anywhere like this before.

“
You’ll like London,” Marcus assured me.

I scrunched my nose up at his words. “How do you know?” Maybe I wouldn’t like London at all. Maybe I would hate the crowded streets and the stuffy gossip filled afternoon teas. There wasn’t much about the city that I was looking forward to.

“
How do you even know anything about it when you haven’t ever been there?” he asked.

“
I used to have a friend called Savannah Borman. She lived not far from us. When she was twelve, they moved there.” I picked up a small rock and threw it as far as I could. It landed with a small plunk a short distance from where the river actually started. I heard his laugh. “Anyways,” I began walking closer to the water’s edge, “she doesn’t write to me anymore, but she used to.”

“
She told you it was awful?”

I hesitated. “Not exactly, but I could read her hidden meaning.”

“
Ah,” he nodded slowly.

“
Can we sit here?” I pointed to a place near the water.

“
Of course,” he smiled as I eagerly sat on the ground. He sat beside me more slowly. “So, which parts of the city are you looking forward to seeing?”