Lady Betrayed by Tamara Leigh

Author:Tamara Leigh [Leigh, Tamara]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Tamara Leigh
Published: 2017-08-04T07:00:00+00:00

Gone. Again.

Leaving the flustered Lissant in the hall where she had rushed upon him, Gabriel strode across the room and ascended the stairs two at a time.

Though he intended his search for Juliana to begin in her chamber, a current of cool air amid relatively warm made him pause in the corridor to discover the source.

The chapel door was not fully closed—just enough space in that finger’s width to allow the colder air within to escape.

He reached his legs longer and thrust open the door.

Juliana was curled on her side before the canvas stretched over the wall, one arm cradling her belly, the other crossing her chest, hand bunched beneath her chin.

He dropped to a knee and gripped her shoulder. “Juliana?”

A moan parted her lips. At its end, she murmured, “I am.” But she did not open her eyes.

Was she ill? Hurt? Was something wrong with the babe?

“Look at me!”

Another moan.

As he scooped her into his arms and started for the door, she jerked awake. “What do you, Gabriel?”

He glanced into her wide eyes, tightened his arms around her when she tried to turn out of them, and stepped into the corridor.

“Put me down!”

He halted and looked near upon her. “What is wrong with you?”

“Naught. What is wrong with you?”

Certes, she was her usual defensive self. Had she only been sleeping? If so, why amid ruins?

“What is wrong with me is that you disappeared again. Search though Lissant did, she could not find you.”

She moistened her lips. “I was at prayer.”

“You were not. But if you insist on making me draw my own conclusion for you venturing where I told you not to go, I would say that in seeking to use the torn wall to escape, you took a fall and fell asleep whilst recovering.”

She scowled. “Set me down.”

He continued to her chamber, shouldered open the door, and lowered her to the bed.

Immediately, she swung her legs over the side and sprang to standing as if for fear he meant to join her on the mattress. But now she was so near, there was only enough space between them to hold a shallow breath—a breath he longed to draw into his lungs as he looked upon her.

Her hair was all but loosed from the waist-skimming braid she had worn at the nooning meal, dust surely gained from the chapel’s floor was upon her brow, nose, and chin, and spots of color were in cheeks so bright they appeared painted on.

“You truly believe I would attempt the sheer drop of a third story floor?” she asked. “Even were I not with child, I would have to be most desperate.”

“But that you are, Juliana. I do not have to be near enough you to make love to you in order to feel the desperation that falls off you like the leaves of autumn.”

Her eyes widened, lowered to the shallow breath between them that was hardly that anymore. She stepped back and had nowhere to go but the bed upon which she sat down hard.

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