“I should like to go see it for myself tomorrow. I have been too long within these walls. It would please Genith to come again too, to show me the better shops. May we have your permission on this?”

He contemplated her with an enigmatic expression. “I will be visiting the farms tomorrow, so I cannot accompany you.”

She already knew that. “Surely another can escort us. It is for our own pleasure, so we can admire the goods as women do. We will not stay long.”

“I suppose that a knight will be protection enough, since you do not go far.”

She turned to go, but paused and looked back at him. She began to express her gratitude for his allowing Dylan to sing the last two nights, but her voice died on her lips.

Her glance had caught his gaze scrutinizing her from head to toe, then lazily traveling back up again. She suddenly felt naked.

His gaze met hers. Except for their confrontation the first night here, he had done well in hiding his interest these last ten days. It was always there, however, shimmering through the air like the heat from a hearth, alerting her to his presence and to the looks she did not see. The hidden attention had left her unsettled enough, but now the mutual temptation silently roared between them.

She felt her color rise, and hurried away. She had been experiencing an inexplicable hesitation over her course of action. Marcus had just reminded her that there really wasn’t any choice for many reasons, including the unholy passion that kept pulling them toward each other.

“Are you writing it as I told you?” Nesta peered over Genith’s shoulder while her sister scratched her quill on the parchment.

“Aye, aye. This is stupid, though, and I don’t know why I bother.”

“I do not want him blamed.”

Genith scratched out a mistake, and continued. “I do not much care if he is.”

But I do, Nesta thought. Genith’s letter to Marcus, explaining that her decision was not because of him, who had behaved most courteously, might not help very much. Hopefully, however, it would keep Stratford and the King from directing too much anger at him.

Still, he would be in the thick of it. That concerned her more than she wanted it to. None of this was really his fault. He only did the King’s bidding. It did not seem fair that he should answer for things he could not affect.

Well, it wasn’t her fault that he would. Still, she wanted to protect him as much as possible, in the small ways available to her.

“Be sure you include that you feel compelled to fulfill our father’s wishes. Make that very plain.”

“It is plain enough, three times over.” Genith straightened and put down the quill. “Read it yourself, while I help with the packing.”