Page 7 of Love Me Forever

She laughed softly. ‘Tell me of this pride.”

The gleam in his eye remained. “I think it wiser that I do not.”

She took no offense to his refusal. She understood that he teased her, though she was also aware that he did not volunteer information on himself. Was he guarding secrets? Was he reluctant to trust her?

She yawned, fatigue creeping up on her.

‘Try to rest.” He stood; the bowl he held near empty.

“You like giving orders.”

It was as if she understood his way and thought nothing of it; perhaps she was familiar to obeying, and then the thought struck him. Was she wed? She had traveled alone with but two men to guard her. Was she going to join a husband or had she been promised and yet to wed?

His immediate response was to ask—and yet he held his tongue. In time he would learn all about her—the inclement weather would see to that, making the roads difficult to travel and covering their tracks so there would be no trail to follow.

She would belong to him if only for a while, and he would see that she was well tended, well protected. This need to protect her haunted him. She appeared fragile, but he did not assume she was delicate. There was courage and a tenacity about her that sparked strength in her. She was by no means a weak woman.

He returned to the side of the bed and spoke bluntly though gently. “I need to examine your bruises and see how they fare.”

Her eyes rounded, her fatigue faded, and she tensed, a look of fright crossing her face.

He ran a tender hand over her warm cheek. “You need not fear me.”

Fear of him was not on her mind. Fear of being naked and vulnerable in front of him weighed heavily on her mind. But those were her fears to contend with and caused by a selfish husband, and presently she should be more concerned about her injuries than being naked in front of a man. But old habits could not help but haunt her, and she saw no way out of her dilemma. She had no choice but to allow him to tend her, no matter how uncomfortable it made her feel.

She did attempt, however, to put off the inevitable. “I am tired.”

“It will take but a moment.” He reached for the edge of the blanket.

“I am very tired,” she said with an urgent fright.

Royce sat down beside her on the bed and brushed a stubborn strand of hair off her cheek. When it would not remain where he placed it, he tucked it gently behind her ear. ‘Tell me, Brianna, are you wed?”

“I am a widow.”

Was that relief he felt? “Then you have known a man.”

“Only my husband.”

He heard disappointment in her voice, not sadness but disappointment. Did she not mourn her husband? He would find out more in time. “Then you have felt a man’s touch and mine will not be foreign to you. I may not be your husband, but I am a man concerned for your wellbeing and only wish to see to your care.”

She believed him. Though he was a stranger and a warrior who probably wielded a sword more deftly than a gentle hand, still she believed him.

He recognized the resignation in her eyes, and he slowly slipped the blanket down to rest at her waist. He kept his look impersonal, though he could not help but admire the swell of her full breasts as his fingers gently probed the bruises on her ribs. His fingertips unintentionally brushed beneath her breasts, just a faint skim across her soft flesh.

She stiffened and turned her face from his.

He immediately thought he hurt her, for his intentions were not of intimacy. “I am sorry, I do not mean to cause you pain.”

She could not explain her pain to him, for it was an emotional scar she had yet to deal with, so she chose to present a false bravado. “I am all right.”

He moved the blanket farther down, exposing her completely.

She was about to shut her eyes when she thought better of her cowardly actions. It would serve her well to know the full extent of her injuries. She forced her eyes to follow his hands.

His fingers ran over the lower part of her stomach, and she felt a slight discomfort. He then ran his hand over her right hip, and she winced in pain.

“That wound seems to be one of your worst,” he said and moved his hand down her right leg.