Page 11 of A Lover for Lady Jane (The Welsh Rebels #5)

“A fox,” Griffin confirmed, sounding just as relieved.

He ran a hand through his hair and sighed.

“Let us get some rest. It’s the best thing to do for now.

We only slept a few hours last night and since we won’t set off again until tonight, we might as well make the most of the opportunity.

There’s naught to fear. Eryr will wake us up if anyone approaches. You heard how he reacted to the fox.”

“Yes.” He was right. They needed to rest to be able to ride safely tonight.

“Go see to your needs first,” he instructed her, nodding at the opening’s entrance. “I will go after you.”

Though she had snatched a moment of sleep on the horse earlier, Jane was so tired she fell on the carpeted ground as soon as she walked back through the opening in the rocks. She didn’t even hear Griffin return.

The smell of roasted meat was what woke Jane up, or so Griffin supposed. This was good timing as he had just decided that the rabbit was cooked enough. When she opened her eyes, she found him crouching by the fire, spit in hand, ready to remove it from the flames.

“Good evening.”

The unusual greeting for someone who was just waking up melted his heart at the same time as the sight of her set fire to his loins. In her reclining position, with her eyes half closed and a smile floating on her lips, she was a picture of sensuality.

“Good evening,” he answered, mouth dry.

“Have you even slept?” she asked, rolling to her side.

This proof of concern for his welfare reduced his rapidly melting heart to a puddle. “Yes. Don’t worry about me. I feared I would wake you up when I brought the wood in and got the fire going, but you never even stirred.”

“No. Like my father, whom I take after in every way, I always sleep soundly.” She twisted her lips, as if she would have preferred to be a light sleeper. “At least, I do when I feel safe. As Geraint’s captive, I haven’t been able to get enough sleep so this was sorely needed.”

Of course. She wouldn’t have been able to relax since her abduction, constantly wondering when Geraint or the men would come to her, always on her guard and looking out for chances to escape.

With luck, a whole day spent sleeping would have helped with her exhaustion.

She sat up, looking impossibly neat, when he felt each and every day he’d spent on the road keenly.

How did she do this? Who didn’t look mussed upon waking up from a sleep on the forest floor?

Jane Hunter apparently. With her hair falling in its usual sleek sheet over her shoulders and her miraculously uncreased dress, she appeared ready for an audience with the King himself.

Only one dried leaf had dared come mar the effect.

“Wait. You have… Just here.” He reached out to remove the offensive leaf from the side of her head.

Their gazes locked, green against blue. Griffin’s breath caught in his chest. By the saints, but she was beautiful.

Dizzyingly so. How had he ended up alone in a cave with a woman like this? It could only lead to trouble.

“Thank you.” She reddened and set about smoothing her hair. There was no need. With the leaf gone, she looked just as perfect as usual.

Griffin shuffled back toward the fire, fearing what he would do if he stayed too close to her.

He might brush the side of her cheek, pretending there was dirt on her face, he might reach out to straighten the bodice that was perfectly fine.

He might draw her into a hot, passionate, decadent kiss, a kiss he had no right dreaming about.

She was a lady, damn it all, and not for the likes of him.

“I put a snare outside before going to sleep,” he told her, clearing his throat.

Much better to explain what he had done than imagine how her mouth might taste.

Like honey and rose petals, probably. “When I woke up, there was a rabbit caught in it. I roasted it, to go with the bit of bread I had left in my saddle bags. I also filled the wineskins. There is a river not too far. Are you hungry?”

“Yes.”

Her enthusiasm wrenched a smile from him. She was so artless, sitting on the ground without complaint, when she was probably more used to carved chairs and plump cushions. Without further ado, they started eating.

Griffin could not believe what was happening. Watching this elegant lady eat the simple fare he’d prepared as if it were the most prized delicacy sent flutters to his chest. She ate like no one he knew, with small, precise gestures. The straight, white teeth bit into the bread as if it

were the consistency of a cloud, the dainty fingers held the rabbit leg as they would a delicate object about to shatter, the pink tongue licked the juice from her lips with swift, maddening flicks.

Damnation, he wanted to take hold of her hands and lick them clean, he wanted to taste the sweetness of her lips, he wanted… so much more.

He swallowed his last mouthful of rabbit with difficulty. His body had gone as taut as a bow string, and he wasn’t sure how long it would be before the roaring in his blood dissipated.

“Night is falling,” Jane observed, glancing toward the slit between the rocks.

“Yes. I think it’s safe for us to ride and start heading west.”

“Us?”

She whispered the word, as if she’d not imagined he would accompany her to her destination.

He bristled at the mere suggestion. What else did she think he would do?

Abandon her here with no money, no horse and no protection?

As if he could do such a thing! Or was there another reason behind her question?

Now that she was free, was she saying that she would rather he did not stay with her?

Everything within him rebelled at the idea, and he forced his answer through gritted teeth.

“Yes, us,” he said, forestalling any discussion. “I will escort you back home, if you allow me.”

Allow him ?

Jane’s whole body collapsed in relief. She had been about to beg Griffin to do just that, even if it was not fair of her to ask such a thing.

After having spirited her away from the camp successfully, he might think his role over.

With his conscience clear, he could now leave her and return to his own life.

Though she didn’t want to be parted from him, she forced herself to offer him the option. “You’ve done enough already. I cannot ask you to?—”

“You didn’t ask. I offered. And I won’t take no for an answer.

You need protection, not just from Geraint’s men.

The roads are not safe for a woman on her own, and you are not a villager but a rich lady, which is to say you are twice at risk.

And of course…” He threw a furtive glance at her stomach and lifted his chin, determination etched on his face.

“I would have escorted you even if you had not been with child.”

Jane blushed. They had been interrupted by the fox earlier, but it was time to tell him about her lie.

After what he had done for her, she could not carry on with the pretense.

Not only was he doing all he could to protect her, but he also worried about the safety of her supposed child.

The least she could do was to ease his mind on at least one account.

“There is something I have kept from you,” she started, as she stood back up.

“ Yet another thing, you mean, like the fact that you speak Welsh?” He smiled, standing up in turn.

Heavens, but he really had a beautiful smile, Jane reflected for the tenth—or was it the hundredth time?

His lips were perfect, full and firm. How would they feel against hers?

Soft or demanding? Jane had kissed a few men in the last two years, or rather she had been kissed by a few men whose heads had been turned by her dazzling beauty, or so they claimed.

And it had always been a disappointing experience, nothing like she had imagined.

They kissed her in triumph, not real desire, like victors claiming a prize everyone had been after.

Griffin wouldn’t do that. He would kiss the woman she was inside, not the pretty face he wanted to parade to the world.

With him, she would not be disappointed.

What was more, she knew she would not simply let him kiss her, she would kiss him back, and live the moment to the full.

“Yes. There is yet another thing,” she breathed, pushing such thoughts from her mind.

“Let’s hear it then.”

“I-I am not truly with child.”

He blinked, and looked at her stomach once again, though it was covered with her cloak. “But how…We all saw?—”

“The day I was captured, while alone in the blue room, I placed my shift around my waist to make it appear as if my waist had thickened, and I’ve been careful to always wear my cloak ever since.

Thankfully, as it is the middle of winter, Geraint saw nothing odd in that, and no one thought to keep checking if my stomach was still the same shape. ”

“Yes, of course they wouldn’t.” He ran a hand over his face, as if he could not believe what he’d just heard. “You’re really not with child then?”

“Really.” He didn’t seem to believe her, but she wanted to reassure him. There was only one thing to do. “See for yourself.”

With those words, she opened her cloak and placed one of his hands on her stomach. Under his palm he would feel softness, nothing like the taut stomach of a woman carrying a babe.

“No,” he croaked, looking at the fingers splayed over her middle. “You’re most definitely not with child.”

It was only when his hand slid around her waist to draw her closer to him that Jane realized her mistake.

She should never have put his hand on her.

But it had seemed the natural thing to do.

It was as if this man had been born to touch her, as if he owned her, and she him.

It was a ludicrous thought but how else could she explain this connection between them?

Under his palm her skin was heating up, in her chest her heart was quivering like a trapped bird. Could he feel it?

“I’m relieved to be able to stop pretending,” she said in a whisper, staying in his embrace when she knew she should draw back.

“I was dreading one of the men seeing me without my cloak before we reached Castell Esgyrn and understanding I had lied about the babe. I’m sure Geraint would not have been best pleased to know he’d been tricked. ”

“No, he would not.”

Griffin sounded relieved as well, but for a slightly different reason. After days worrying about her child’s welfare as well as her safety, he would be able to relax marginally. Now he only had one person to protect.

“So, my lady. You ride as well as any knight, you speak Welsh like a native, and you’re not with child.” He tilted his head in mock concern. “Is there anything else you are keeping from me, I wonder? Is Jane even your real name?”

“Yes, my name really is Jane.” She tried to smile but could not because indeed there was something else she was keeping from him.

Something she could never reveal. How attracted she was to him, had been from the start, how ardently she wished he would kiss her now that they were alone and he was holding her in his arms.

She reddened. What would Griffin think if he knew what she was thinking about right now? He was still holding her tight against him, but he’d made no move to lower his head. He was not interested in kissing her, only in establishing what secrets she was keeping from him.

Well, she would have to keep that one at least.

When she stayed silent, he drew back and cleared his throat, as if suddenly realizing he should not have held her so tightly against him.

Jane swallowed, bemoaning the loss of his warmth against her side, of his hand on her waist. This embrace had been like none she had ever experienced but he seemed to think he’d taken unforgivable liberties.

“Come,” he said gruffly. “It’s dark enough now. We should go.”