In Pursuit of His Wife(12)

Cappy returned with the gelding, interrupting the banter and greatly  embarrassing Nasira when she considered that he might have overheard.  "They're all yours," he said. "Just go out the front, take a right and  follow the trail past the back of the barn. Once you reach water, you're  all out of path."

"Would we be allowed to explore the rest of the acreage, Cappy?" Sebastian asked.

The man chuckled. "Well, that would be close to two thousand acres, but  if you want adventure, be my guest. Just take care not to get lost."

Nasira could imagine wandering around for days and days. "I believe we  will stay on the path. My husband does not have the best sense of  direction."

Sebastian sent her a quelling look. "Might I remind you that you have been known to become lost looking for the tube?"

"I have not."

"Yes, you have."

She suddenly remembered one incident from long ago. "For heaven's sake,  Sebastian, that happened once right after we married and I barely knew  my way around London."

Cappy cleared his throat. "I hate to interrupt, but I need to muck  these stalls while you're gone. I'd like be done before midnight."

"Of course," Sebastian said. "Do you need assistance mounting your steed, Sira?"

She answered by putting her boot in the stirrup and hoisting herself onto the saddle. "No, I do not."

Sebastian laid a dramatic hand over his heart. "You wound me by not allowing me to make any show of chivalry."

She clasped the reins in one hand. "Knowing you as well as I do, you only wanted an excuse to put your hand on my bum."

He frowned and mounted the stallion with ease. "Darling, you are going  to lead our friend here to believe that I'm a scoundrel."

"If the moniker fits, darling."

Cappy narrowed his eyes and studied them both. "How long have the two of you been hitched?"                       
       
           



       

"Ten years," they responded simultaneously.

"Well, that explains it," Cappy said. "Just some friendly advice. The  missus and me have been married nearly forty years. In that time we  figured out when you find yourself bickering a lot, the best way to cool  down is taking a nekkid swim together in the crick. You should try it."

"Crick?" Sebastian asked.

Cappy scowled. "That's Texan for creek. See y'all when you get back."

With that, the man disappeared, leaving Nasira and Sebastian sitting  atop the horses, staring at each other. And when her husband presented  her with a slow, knowing grin, Nasira pointed at him despite the  seductive images flashing in her mind. "Do not even think we will be  engaging in that behavior."

He shrugged. "I can see some merit in the man's suggestion."

So could she. Bent on ignoring him and her own questionable thoughts,  Nasira nudged the gelding forward with her heels, not bothering to look  back.

When she guided Gus through the stable doors into the bright sunshine,  Sebastian rode up to her side. "Perhaps you should lead the way since I  have such a terrible sense of direction."

She turned right on the path without giving him a passing glance.  "Could we call a truce and concentrate on having a pleasant ride?"

"I suppose I could do that. Will I be allowed to speak?"

She sent him a sideways glance. "I highly doubt I could prevent that if I tried."

"Your request is my command."

Whether he could be quiet for any real length of time remained to be  seen, Nasira thought as they rode down the path at an easy pace.

As they traveled on, she relished the feel of the sun on her shoulders,  the scent of freshly cut grass, the wide expanse of open land before  them where livestock grazed nearby. "Oh, look," she said, breaking the  silence. "A baby cow."

"I believe the proper term would be calf," Sebastian began," although  that does conjure images of a disjointed leg frolicking in the field."

It took great effort to contain her laughter. "Always the witty one."

Another span of silence passed before Sebastian addressed her again. "When did you last communicate with your mother?"

The question came as a surprise to Nasira. "When I became pregnant."

She could feel his gaze boring into her. "Are you saying she doesn't know-"

"About the miscarriage? No."

"Why haven't you told her?"

"She did not share in my excitement over the pregnancy. She has never been concerned about my life."

He released a rough sigh. "I've never understood your hesitancy to reconnect with her."

"She does not welcome that, Sebastian. I remind her of my father."

"You are still her child."

"Perhaps, but I was raised by the palace staff. She only gave birth to me out of obligation."

"In a manner of speaking, I can relate. I'm certain that was the  reasoning behind my birth. And that insistence on producing heirs is no  bloody reason to bring a baby into this world. Nothing good can come of  it."

"We are both good people, Sebastian."

"Good people whose mothers were forced to bring us into being."

Nasira saw an opportunity to encourage him to expand on his feelings. "Yet your mother loved you, did she not?"

"Yes, she did, until her untimely death."

A death that he had never discussed in detail in Nasira's presence,  despite the fact she had asked numerous times during the beginning of  her marriage. Eventually she had given up. "What exactly happened to  her, Sebastian?"

His jaw tightened, a positive sign of anxiety. "She became ill."

That much she knew. "What did that illness involve?"

Sebastian shaded his eyes and focused on the horizon. "I believe I see the creek ahead."

Sebastian's behavior was a certain sign of emotional avoidance as far  as Nasira was concerned. "I assume it must be painful to discuss the  particulars, but I would like to know."

"It doesn't matter how or why. It only matters that she left her only son orphaned."                       
       
           



       

The comment gave Nasira pause. "Is that why you've avoided having a  child of your own? Do you fear you will somehow desert them?"

"No. I've spent a lifetime having the importance of an heir crammed down my bloody throat."

Denial or not, Nasira sensed she had touched on the crux of his  reluctance. "Have you ever considered the absolute joy fatherhood  brings?"

He continued to stare straight ahead. "Most people I know pawn their children off on the nanny for the sake of their sanity."

Her husband was either terribly misguided or overly cynical. "Not the  Shakirs. You would have realized that if you noticed the way Darin  looked at his daughter."

"I noticed." Sebastian's tone was oddly laced with sadness.

Nasira wanted so badly to reach him. To uncover the secrets he harbored  in his soul. "And you have no desire to experience that love?"

He attempted a smile that did not quite reach his eyes. "I desire to find out if Studly can fly."

When Sebastian and the stallion took off, Nasira remained behind for a  few moments, pondering his need to escape. The behavior was so unlike  Sebastian the businessman. As long as she had known him, he had always  been a take-charge man. A man who had never avoided any challenges. A  man who had been inclined to run from all things emotional.

Before her husband put too much physical distance between them, Nasira  spurred the gelding into a gallop. She did not catch up to Sebastian  until she reached the tree-lined ribbon of water where he had  dismounted. She found him standing on the bank, the stallion's reins  secured to a low-hanging limb. She climbed off Gus, tied him to the tree  opposite Studly and went to Sebastian's side.

"Why do you always do that?" she asked when he didn't acknowledge her.

He picked up a stone and tossed it into the muddy green water. "I find speed exhilarating."

Her frustration over his evasion began to escalate. "That is not what I meant, Sebastian."

"I know."

The acknowledgment surprised her. "You promised me you would make an effort to be open about your feelings."

He finally faced her. "I would prefer to have a nice, relaxing  afternoon with my wife, not to dredge up past history and events that  cannot be changed. Could we possibly do that and leave the serious talk  for a later time in a place that is not quite so serene?"

She recognized that her husband responded better with gentle  persuasion. "All right. We shall postpone the conversation for the time  being."

"I'm glad you see it my way."

When Sebastian took a seat on a large stump and began to remove his  boots and socks, Nasira worried he had other activities in mind. "Surely  you are not going to take Cappy's suggestion about going swimming naked  in the creek."