The Robber Knight's Love (The Robber Knight Saga #2)(65)

It felt good all the same.

“What sort of things?” she asked, breathless.

Reuben's smile turned even more devilish, and he leaned closer until their faces were only inches apart. Ayla could feel the warmth of his breath on her cheeks.

“Well…” he began.

Suddenly, heavy footsteps approached down the corridor outside. Before Ayla could move or do anything, a guard pushed the door open and stepped inside.

“Milady, there you are! Sir Isenbard sent me to look for you! He…”

Then the guard's eyes caught up with his mouth. His gaze traveled from his mistress, to Reuben, and back to his mistress. They didn't have to travel far between the two.

“Um…err…um…”

“Got something to say, soldier?” Reuben asked, fixing his eyes on the man and not letting go of Ayla in spite of her furious attempts at freedom.

“Err…yes, Sir. That is…no, Sir. I'll, um…wait outside. Shall I, Milady?”

“I think that would be a good idea,” said Reuben before Ayla had even opened her mouth. The guard nodded hurriedly and fled from the room.

“Reuben!” Ayla hissed. Anger was boiling in her hotter than the Devil's tea pot.

“Yes?”

“Why didn't you let me say something? He thinks…thinks that we…”

“What?” Reuben asked, trying to look innocent. He didn't manage it very well.

“You know!”

“Just suppose for a moment that I am very stupid and enlighten me.”

She smacked him on the chest. “Let go of me, you lecher!”[15]

“Do you really want me to, Milady?” he asked, giving her a look that almost made her change her mind.

“Yes! The guard said Isenbard sent him to look for me. It must be something important.”

“Maybe he is just concerned for you.” The humor that had been there until just a moment ago drained from Reuben's face. “I certainly was.”

He was? He had been concerned for her? Ayla’s heart brimmed over with a joy so fierce it almost banished the horrors of the night from her mind. Her face softened.

“I know,” she whispered. “But even if he is only concerned for me, I should go. You see…” Quickly, before her courage could desert her, she leaned forward and brushed her lips against his cheek, once. “…I don't like the people I care about to be concerned or troubled. I like to make them happy. Whenever and wherever I can.”

Under the touch of her lips, she felt him stiffen, and, for a moment, she feared he would pull away. But then he crushed her against his chest tighter than ever and breathed into her ear, “A nice sentiment. But I hope very much you aren't thinking of making anyone else happy with your soft lips?”

“No,” she murmured, spellbound by the intensity of his words.

“That is very good to hear. Then I won't have to beat anyone senseless.”

She waited, her heart pounding. Was he going to tell her that he loved her again? Now would be the perfect moment. Like this, so close to the mesmerizing power of his eyes and his seducing devilish smile, she would have believed him instantly.

She longed to hear the words again, hear them from the lips of the true man: Reuben the robber knight, not Reuben the merchant, who had never really existed. She needed to hear them, soon, or she didn’t know whether she could go on any longer.

He opened his mouth. “Ayla…I…”





Racket

“Ayla, I think we had better go see what Sir Isenbard wants,” Reuben said.

All right. That was definitely not what she had been hoping for. It was so infuriatingly prosaic, cold, and…true. After all, she herself had advocated the same course of action not two minutes ago. Dang!

But that had been before she had dared to believe, for the first time in days, that he’d repeat his confession of love! No one could expect a young lady to have the same priorities while a man as mind-bogglingly beautiful as Reuben stared at her with those fiery gray eyes of his…

She shook herself.

War, she reminded herself. We’re at war. Think about chopped off heads, not about how soft Reuben’s lips felt on your skin.

Sometimes, life was really hard.

“All right.” Sighing, she slid out of his grasp, but took hold of his hand. He wasn't going to get away from her as easily as that!

“Stay with me?” she asked, peeking up at him through her eyelashes.

“Always,” he said in a tone as immovable as granite. It sounded like a promise. So why, why hadn't he told her that he loved her once again? Why hadn't he taken this opportunity to rebuild her broken beliefs?

~~*~~*

Sir Reuben felt frustrated. No, to be honest, the word frustrated didn’t quite capture how he felt. Raging in hell, pounding on the iron walls of his dark soul, fed up to here with life and love—yes, that would describe it more accurately.

For the life of him, he couldn’t understand why she hadn't told him she loved him just now. Everything had been right: they were close, emotional, alone—well, maybe not quite alone once the guard had arrived, but still—pretty perfect conditions for a confession of love. He had almost sensed it, almost felt what she was feeling for him.

So why, by all nine circles of hell, hadn't she told him she loved him?