She reminded herself to enjoy it. It wouldn’t last forever. But then, nothing did.
Cullen and her father found conversation easy, and Sara barely was able to sneak a word or two in. Cullen handled her father well, playing into his every word while sharing food off her plate or popping a morsel into her mouth, insisting she try the delicious fare.
“Sara, the women will attend you in the second floor chambers,” her father said to her. “Go, I wish to talk with your husband.”
“They can attend me later,” she said, not wanting to leave Cullen and her father alone.
“You will take your leave now,” her father said with stern firmness.
Sara braced her arms on the table. “I’m not ready to leave.”
Donald McHern shook his head. “You’ll lose a good husband soon enough unless you learn to obey a man’s order.”
“It’s my orders she needs to obey, not yours,” Cullen said, his strong voice slicing through the air like a sharp knife.
“Then see that she obeys her husband,” McHern challenged with a sharp glint.
Cullen turned to Sara and tucked one of her unruly curls behind her ear. “Go and enjoy. I won’t be long.”
Sara wanted to kiss him, and she did, to the shock of her father and all those around her. Then she slipped off the bench and walked with her chin high out of the hall. Cullen had managed to have her keep her dignity and show his strength by letting her father know he’d give him only so much time and then join his wife.
Yes, she had chosen a very good husband. She just wished he were hers to keep.
Sara stripped herself bare and almost jumped into the large tin tub the women had generously filled with hot water from the caldrons brewing in the fireplace. There wasn’t sufficient room to stretch out her long legs, but she didn’t care, she just wanted the heat of the water to soak into every aching muscle of her tired body.
She dunked her head and washed it quickly with the lavender soap kept stocked in the keep. When her hair was rinsed and sweetly scented, she rested her head on the tub rim and closed her eyes to enjoy the heat before the water cooled.
It was good to be home. She had many loving memories here and many sad ones, those starting with her mother’s death, when she was twelve. It happened so fast, her mother sick but a couple of days before she died, and along with her, a part of her father.
They had been an inseparable pair, falling in love from when they were young and allowing nothing to stand in the way of that love. She had hoped to find such an enduring love, but time, or luck, hadn’t been on her side.
Though that wasn’t entirely true, she thought now. She’d met Cullen, a good man and a man she could easily love. He treated her with respect, cared about her safety, and was true to his word.
She sighed softly. What good did it do thinking on what could never be? It only served to upset her, and she didn’t have time to feel sorry for herself. She had to attend to her bargain with Cullen and see him and his son reunited and then safely out of here. She would adjust to life once he left. After all, they’d spent only a week together and would probably not know each other more than two months. And yet she felt as if she’d known him her entire life.
There were things she wanted to learn and experience, and she would fill her days with adventure so that at night she would fall exhausted into bed and sleep. Then she would be too busy to think of Cullen and how she missed him beside her.
She was grateful that he’d been wrapped around her the night she suffered her nightmare. His embrace had been like a loving cocoon that she could snuggle within, knowing she was protected from all harm. She had felt safe and secure, and it hurt to know that she would never know that endearing contentment again.
A sprinkle of water dusted her face.
“The water cools. You’ll chill.”
Sara’s eyes sprang open wide and she near popped out of the tub until she remembered that she was completely naked, with Cullen hunched down beside her. Not that her nakedness was concealed, which she tried to rectify with flaying arms and hands and little success.
Cullen chuckled. “I’m your husband,” he reminded her, “and from what I can see between your useless attempts to hide from me, you have a beautiful body.”
Sara froze in shock. Either she hadn’t heard him correctly or he was simply trying to impress, but then, she hadn’t known him to lie.
She hugged herself, concealing her breasts as best she could and crossing her legs while gooseflesh rushed over her body, reminding her the water had cooled considerably.
“We need not be that familiar with each other,” she said.
“I beg to differ,” he said, and reaching out, took hold of a large towel on a nearby stool. “You could have a mark since birth your father would know of, and what if I don’t? Or perhaps a scar or—”