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

the relief that flooded her. It was good to finally share the joy with the man who’d come to mean so much.

“How long have you known?” Matthew asked flatly, the anger gone from his voice as his mind quickly started to search out the practical way out of this suddenly increasingly difficult situation.

“A month or more.”

Matthew growled with exasperation. “And just how far along do you reckon yourself to be?”

“I’m not entirely sure,” she admitted with a small shrug of her shoulders. “Mary guessed that I was four, maybe five months.”

“Damn.” Matthew ran an agitated hand through his thin hair.

“I believe you are starting to repeat yourself at last,” Imogen said dryly, then added cajolingly, “it doesn’t really matter, does it?”

“Doesn’t matter, she asks!” Matthew exploded. “Doesn’t really matter? Of course it bloody well matters. What kind of idiot do you take us for? Do you really think we would have dragged a pregnant woman halfway across this godforsaken country if we had known? Imogen, why didn’t you tell us about your condition when we were planning this ill-conceived mission?”

Imogen felt herself flush. “Would telling you have really made any difference?” she asked quietly.

“Of course it would have made a difference. You wouldn’t be here arguing with me, for one thing. Instead you would be safe on a boat destined for warmer climes.”

“What I meant was, would it have made any difference to Robert’s situation if I had told you about this? You need me to save him. The king has to listen to a woman of noble birth, no matter how much he might dislike it.” She smiled coldly as she pulled herself up straight. “As much as he might like to, I can’t be ignored. You and Gareth, on the other hand, well, you can all too easily be dismissed as mercenaries prepared to lie and connive to save your leader.” She drew a shuddering breath. “I didn’t think it ultimately mattered, because whether I’m pregnant or not won’t save Robert, but me seeing the king might.”

“Have you considered in all your scheming that Robert might be long past saving?” He watched Imogen blanch at that possible truth but continued ruthlessly, “What if Robert is already dead and all your noble sacrifice actually achieves is to put you and your baby in danger? Did you think of that before you started on your foolish quest?”

“Of course I thought about it,” she said softly, her hand moving instinctively to cover her womb. “But I have also thought about my child growing up without a father. I think of me, living the rest of my life without the man I love. I think about how he must be suffering now, and I think about how I am the cause of that suffering. You think I don’t know that if it weren’t for me, Robert would have been safe? Strangely, I find I can think of little else.”

Her face tightened with determination. “But I do not think about being too late to save him. I will not think of it. Robert lives and he waits for our rescue. If I thought anything else, I just might run mad.”

Matthew stared at her in silence, admiration warring with fears across his weathered face.

“I didn’t mean it,” he muttered finally. “I don’t believe Robert is, well…”

“Good, because it isn’t true. I’d know if he was no longer with us.” She grabbed his hand and placed it on the slight curve of her stomach once more. “We’d know.”

Matthew might have forgiven her, but no matter how hard Imogen tried to convince him otherwise, he felt he had to tell Gareth about the baby. And the other man’s reaction turned out to be everything Imogen feared it would be.

After his initial stunned amazement, Gareth’s anger had known no bounds. He had stormed over to her and yelled at her about the stupidity of her actions. She kept her peace, waiting hopefully for his anger to blow itself out. It didn’t do so for some time, but when the first wave of his fury was spent he stormed off into the night, saying that he needed time to think. The supper that night was such a silent, strained affair that Imogen was actually relieved to retire to her furs.

It was midnight before Gareth returned to the camp.

He was no longer roaring like a wounded lion, but as Imogen lay by the fire listening to him moving about the camp, she could still feel his anger simmering below the surface. After a while he sat down with some cold supper on a plate and began eating it halfheartedly.

“Do you feel better now?” Imogen asked quietly.

Gareth paused a moment to swallow before answering. “You should be asleep,” he said quietly.

She pulled herself up onto her elbow, not noticing that the blankets had slipped down a little. Gareth did, and his hand clenched painfully around his trencher.

“I tried, but I just couldn’t when I was worried about you.”

“I thought pregnant women slept all the time.”

“Some do, I’m sure, but not me. Not right at the moment. Sometimes I think I will never sleep properly again.”

Gareth was quiet for a moment, then, as if he couldn’t help himself, he ground out, “Why didn’t you tell me?”

Imogen could hear the hurt from her betrayal in his voice and she searched desperately for something to say that wouldn’t upset him further and would make him feel better.

“It wasn’t like that, Gareth, I didn’t tell anyone, until Matthew. Mary guessed. I didn’t want to know about it myself. It…the baby disgusted me somehow.” She sighed. “It’s so hard to explain.”

“Try,” Gareth said with stony determination, and Imogen realized that there was going to be no easy escape for her.

She drew a shaky breath.

“I thought Robert had betrayed me. It seemed to me that my body had joined that betrayal by harboring his seed. Then, when I realized Robert was innocent, when I learned that loving him and bearing his child wasn’t an act of