Midnight Eyes by Brophy, Sarah (well read books .TXT) 📕

old Duncan was teaching her to weed, and while Mary might grumble that gardening was no job for a lady, she also enjoyed the chance to catch up on her sleep too much to pass on the opportunity. Grudgingly, she allowed the small social abomination to continue.

Imogen smiled with satisfaction at how everything had turned out. It was good for Mary to have some time to herself after all these years of devoted service, but it was also good that Imogen was finding a place in the world. With Duncan watching over her, there was no longer any excuse for her to be idle.

He had given her a garden bed to weed in preparation for the seeds he had collected last autumn. It was amazing to know that as long as she was methodical about her work, then her hands were nearly as useful as Duncan’s gnarled ones.

No, it was more than amazing. It felt like she was being let back into the human race after many long, dark years of exile. It felt like magic and Robert was her personal magician who had brought her back to life.

Her smile broadened at the absurd thought of her strong, simple warrior of a husband as a manipulative conjurer of tricks, although she had to admit that in him, there was a certain enchantment to be found. She knew she must be blushing as memory after memory filled her mind with the exact details of the magic that he created in her with his body. She had never known such joy as there was to be found in Robert’s arms.

She couldn’t help but shiver a little. Joy. Even to think of it seemed to be tempting fate, or perhaps it was Roger she was afraid of tempting. He was the one who had brought Robert to her, and she should never forget that. It was a surprisingly hard thing to remember, especially when it was inconceivable that any action of her brother’s could be the source of so much joy.

Her hands clenched in the soil as her sunny day seemed to lose some of its warmth all of a sudden and she hated Roger for that. Damn, but he was always there, waiting at the fringes of her life to destroy everything. And as much as she tried to deny it, a part of her feared that all she was feeling right now might just be another move in his game. Perhaps he knew that if she lost this life, lost Robert somehow, she would be absolutely destroyed. If he knew that…

She turned her mind from the darkness and stopped thinking altogether, concentrating instead on the pursuit of weeds. She willed her soul to be soothed by the sounds of the early spring. She listened intently to the sound of birds building nests and finding mates, the sound of bees returning, the sound of sheep bleating…

Sheep? In the courtyard?

“Sheep?” She turned to where Duncan had been digging. “Do you hear sheep, Duncan?”

“Yes, my lady,” Duncan said, scratching his forefinger along his nose as he leaned on his shovel, “and I can see one too. Sir Edmond seems to be holding it.”

Startled, Imogen turned to the sound.

“Didn’t mean to stop you working, Little One,” Robert said laconically, “but Sir Edmond couldn’t wait to give you a small…something.”

“Something? You can’t possibly mean a sheep?”

“Actually, I think it might technically be a lamb, but I could be wrong. I am not exactly au fait with agricultural matters.”

“Aye, sir, you have the right of it.” Duncan’s face wrinkled into a broad smile. “That is most definitely a lamb.”

“I defer to your greater acquaintance with such things, Duncan.”

“Thankee, sir.”

“Not at all.”

By this stage, Edmond was wishing the earth would open up and swallow him. He started shuffling noisily from foot to foot, longing for what was becoming the most embarrassing moment of his life to end.

“Stop it, you two, can’t you tell you’re embarrassing Sir Edmond?” Imogen scolded as she got clumsily to her feet.

“Don’t blame us,” Robert snorted, “any embarrassment he feels is the sheep’s fault.”

“Lamb, sir.”

“Lamb. That’s right. Thank you again, Duncan.”

“Ignore them, Edmond, they are just being silly,” she said dismissively, giving him a large smile of encouragement, unaware that she in fact managed to dazzle him. “Do you really have a lamb?”

“Ye…yes, Lady Imogen,” he stumbled.

“Can I pet it?” She stepped forward a little. “I’ve never touched a lamb before.”

Edmond almost fell over himself in his rush to gain her side. With a sad, resigned shake of his head, Robert watched another of his men fall. They were all like sailors drowning under a siren’s spell.

Imogen smiled tenderly as she groped to find the lamb in Edmond’s arms. The lamb, perhaps also under her spell, went silent and leaned its small head closer to her touch.

“Oh, isn’t it a dear,” Imogen cooed, then she bit her lip earnestly. “May I hold him?”

“Of course,” Edmond yelled with almost indecent relief, causing Imogen to flinch a little.

Her brow furrowed with concentration as Edmond awkwardly placed the lamb into her willing hands. The lamb settled itself peacefully in the arms of its new protector, resting its head on her forearm and closing its eyes trustingly.

“It would seem you can charm animals just as easily as you charm grown men.” Robert shook his head with disbelief as he moved to her side and slid an arm around her shoulders. He couldn’t help relishing the way she instinctively leaned into him although all her concentration was focused on the lamb.

“Oh, Robert, may I keep him? He is such a dear and won’t be any problem.”

“Now Imogen…”

“I promise, you’ll barely know he’s here. It will be no more painful than having another dog around the Keep. I promise.”

“But Imogen, a sheep…”

“Please,” she whispered pleadingly and Robert knew he was sunk.

“All right, it can stay,” he sighed, slightly belligerent in his resignation, “but it can’t stay in our chamber. You’ll have to find somewhere else…”

His stern lecture was cut short