“You have got to get rid of her.” Marcus said with his hands splayed out in front of him. The two of them had been arguing for the past half hour.“Look at what you just did. She is turning you into a God damned idiot. First you let her tell your people what to do and then you run into a burning building after her? You realize she has done nothing but cause trouble. She tells my wife that she is having twins when the physician, the actual physician, just examined her and said otherwise. She got her hopes up for nothing, Donovan.” His voice rose bouncing off the walls of the library. “I could have died going in there after you! My wife would have been left to raise our child alone!”
Donovan took a deep breath, too tired to deal with any of it. “Are you done now?”
“Does she even remember you? Have you told her?”
No he hadn’t and perhaps it was time but he didn’t want to blurt it out. But was there ever going to be a right time? “No, and I am not going to have this discussion with you right now.” He began to cough, the rumbling in his chest intensifying. He had inhaled far too much smoke and soot for his liking.
“Donovan.” Marcus went to the door to leave, “If she doesn’t know by tomorrow morning, I am going to tell her myself. I have had enough of her. I don’t like her.” He slammed the door behind him.
“No kidding.” Donovan mumbled. No one ever spoke to him like that, but in the case of Marcus’s wife, he wasn’t surprised. Marcus would protect her with his life and tonight, he could have been killed. At least, that is what he was told. Donovan didn’t really remember much after the initial blackout. He did remember waking on his back with a wet cloth over his face. The same one that Laura had been using. He could smell her on it, through the smoky odor. After he had gotten a good look at the dirty blue fabric, he realized she had torn it off the bottom of her dress. She had fared much better than he had in that barn.
He had thought her mad when she jumped into the cold trough of water, and even more mad for dashing into the building. It was only after that he understood what the water had done for her. It had kept her cool and made her difficult to set on fire. The wet cloth around her face had not only protected her face but had sifted out the smoke and ash. While it was reckless for her to go in, he had been the idiot for not having done what she had. In only one day, she had managed to drive a rift in between him and his best friend. She had also managed to pry herself back into his heart.
Now the real issue he had to contend with was why the barn had caught fire. There were no fires in the area, and there was no lightning, which meant only one thing. Arson. Why would any of his people set the stables on fire? The majority of them had seemed happy. Except that Laura had shamed a few families, and rightly so. Since he had left the dining hall to see what Laura was doing, he hadn’t seen if those families had left the room or not. If they were going to set anything ablaze, why not the castle?
He needed to clean up, and then he needed some sleep. If someone were trying to get his attention, they got it and it was pretty unlikely that they would try anything again tonight.
The halls were quiet. Everyone had gone to sleep except for a few of the men downstairs who played cards and drank. Those were the single men, because the wives made sure their husbands were around to keep them warm at night. His thoughts drifted to Laura as he imagined her curled up under the covers of his bed. It would be good because he needed to clean up before he laid down in front of the fire since there was no way he was going to be able to sleep smelling of smoke and horses.
He opened the door quietly but was alarmed when he saw she wasn’t in his bed. Opening the door further revealed her small body asleep on the fur rug he had used the night before. The soft glow of flames accentuated her body. His mouth was suddenly dry. Her body was wrapped in nothing but a sheet off the bed and her hair was splayed out in chestnut curls across the floor. In the corner of the room was the destroyed blue dress in a heap on the floor. Her tub had been removed, probably as she had slept, otherwise she would have demanded clothing. Yes, she certainly would have demanded clothing. A grin spread across his face at the thought.
