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“So, she was stabbed only once?” Leora asked.

“Aye, only one wound,” Mother Abbess said.

“No wounds elsewhere?” Leora asked.

“I looked but there is only one. Now if that is all I really must return to Adele,” Mother Abbess said.

“Keep me apprized,” Noble said, and the nun took her leave, and he joined his wife to sit at the table. “I can almost see your thoughts churning.”

“Yours must be as well,” Leora said, eager to share her thoughts with him. “Adele had no wounds on her arms or hands meaning she didn’t try to defend herself, which could also mean that her attacker could have surprised her. But what had taken her to the barn in the first place when she was so eager to get to her secret meeting spot in hopes of seeing Wendell?”

“Or Chief’s barks and sudden entrance into the bern could have stopped the attacker from finishing what he started,” Noble suggested.

“Or he realized he had the wrong person,” Leora scrunched her brow. “But if that was so, and I was the one he intended to find, why not attack me when I entered?”

“Fear the pup’s barks had drawn attention or—” Noble turned silent.

“Or what?” Leora asked, impatient to hear what sudden thought had turned him silent.

Noble didn’t respond right away, his mind still working on a possibility.

“You have me breathless with anticipation,” Leora said, growing more impatient.

Noble lowered his face near hers to whisper, “I would prefer to have you breathless another way.”

She gave his lips a faint kiss. “That can be arranged later… if you no longer keep me in suspense.”

“You make my thoughts drift, wife,” Noble complained and shook his head to clear it. “With how many sentinels I have stationed around, it is unlikely the attacker got past them, which means the attacker is here among us. And that he did not attack you when you entered could mean only one thing—”

“He would be missed if gone too long from his chore,” Leora finished. “Let’s go find out who may have been missing.”

Noble grabbed his wife’s arm when she went to stand. “I will not chance your safety on this.”

Leora tapped his chest. “Need I remind you that I am a lot safer being with you than without you.”

Bloody hell, why did she always have to make sense? How many times had he thought that now? When was he going to accept that his wife not only had a quick mind but a sensible one?

She tapped his chest again. “I can tell by your silence that you realize the wisdom of my words.”

“How lucky am I that I have such a wise wife,” he said with a touch of sarcasm.

Her smile bordered on a laugh. “I am pleased to see you finally realize it.”

He tapped the tip of her nose as he reminded, “I am in command, wife.”

She rested her cheek against his and whispered, “I love it when you are in command.”

“Bloody hell, Leora!” he scolded, drawing his head back. “You know what those words of yours do to me?”

“I have no idea,” she said with playful innocence and slipped her hand between his legs and grinned, feeling his arousal.

He grabbed her hand and tore it off him, though he would have much preferred her hand to remain there, however, now was not the time or place—unfortunately.

“Behave,” he ordered.

She frowned. “Is that what you truly want of me?”

He placed her hand on the table, then quickly gave one of her nipples a squeeze.