He rose on his forearms and looked down at her. Beneath the warm contentment in those dark, intense eyes she read the deeper reflections of his mind. He was contemplating the same thing as she was.

Two clever people were concluding that they had just done something most unwise.

He shifted to her side, breaking the physical bond. The other one would be harder to sever.

Lying beside him in front of the fire, stretched out to his thoughtful gaze, she felt more naked than she had ever been in her life. She subtly dragged the edge of the fur over her hips.

Smiling as if he knew what she was about, he brushed the covering away again as he caressed down her length. His hand paused on her stomach.

“You have never carried a child.”

“Nay.”

“The King hoped you would not, didn’t he? I think Edward chose that old knight hoping that you would remain untouched.”

“I suspect he was assured of it. That part of the bargain was quickly forgotten, however. As to a child, Duncan and I both did what we could to avoid that, but perhaps fortune just smiled on me. A child would bind me there forever, even after he died. It was not my home, and never would be, and I did not want such ties.”

“That convent was not your home, either. Were you so unhappy that a nunnery was better?” His expression was too thoughtful as he watched his hand smooth over her body. She could see his mind working at something.

“It is no woman’s first home. No one is a stranger if everyone is.”

“But your father was still alive when your husband died. Why didn’t you go to him, or join Genith?”

“The choice was not mine. I was sent to Scotland for a reason, and that did not change with my husband’s death.”

“An old husband, and then a convent.” His fingers splayed over her hips and thighs, as if he drew his mental wanderings on her body.

She knew where his thoughts were going. “Aren’t you going to ask me what happened with Edward? Don’t you wonder if there were others besides him and my husband, and just how much a whore I have been?”

“Sleeping with your husband was not whoring.”

“It is not my husband that distracts you now.”

“You are so sure of what distracts me, Nesta?”

“You are a man. I expect that you are wondering how often I have surrendered my virtue as easily as I did this night.”