“I will be back in a minute,” he murmured.
Jess watched him go and wondered what he was doing. Still, just being at home and knowing he was there was enough to ease her fear. She had never realised before just how much she had come to rely on him. It disturbed her because she had always considered herself to be someone who could cope with life by herself. To think that she had so instinctively turned to Marcus told her just how essential his presence in her life was.
It is love. She mulled that over. It has to be. You have never felt like this about anyone else before. No man has ever attracted you like this.
“I love him,” she whispered aloud. “I really do love him.”
She was shocked, horrified, appalled, amazed, worried, delighted, and nervous. More importantly, she was completely at a loss to know what to do about it. Marcus had invited questions, so she knew more about him. Unfortunately, there were so many more things she needed to ask him now that she could interrogate him every evening for the next six months and still not know enough.
Lost in her thoughts, she huddled under the covers and waited for him to return.
Marcus stood to one side of the window and studied the woods beside the house for signs of anyone lurking within, but it was too dark to see anything. Frustration was rife because of his inability to go out and search for whoever had scared her. However, Jess needed him, and she came first. She was considerably more important than any idiot who chose to be outside in the middle of a thunder storm.
By the time he got back to the room with a steaming cup of milk, Jess was huddled beneath the covers on the bed, staring blankly at the wall.
“Are you alright?” He asked.
Rather than wait for her to take the cup off him, he put it on the floor where she could reach it. Rather than put her damp clothes in front of the fire to dry out, he yanked his shirt over his head. Then slid into bed beside her and hauled her into his arms.
“What are you doing?” she gasped as she snuggled against him.
“Holding you,” he said with a smile. “Don’t you know that in circumstances like this it is best if we share warmth?”
“No, I didn’t know that,” she whispered, inwardly thrilled.
The atmosphere within the room turned soft and intimate. Marcus didn’t bother to light a candle, even though the sky outside had turned almost black.
“I need to get dinner ready soon,” she whispered reluctantly.
“Not until you have warmed up a little,” Marcus assured her. “I am sure the guests will understand. Besides, there are a good few hours yet before they are due back. There is plenty of time.”
As a companionable silence settled over them, Jess fell for Marcus just that little bit deeper. He had, once again and without question, come to her rescue. At a time when she needed it the most, he gave her a shoulder to cry on and had protected her from physical threat.
“Can you tell me what happened?” He tucked the blankets around her while he waited for her to talk.
“I just got this strange feeling that I wasn’t alone,” Jess explained. “It was so strong that I took a good look around. He then left the woods and crossed the road.”
“Did he approach you?”
“No, but he made no attempt to hide either.” Jess began to feel a little foolish. “Now that I come to think about it, he looked sinister but didn’t do anything wrong. He was just there. It was me who fell into a fit of hysterics.”
Marcus stroked her cold hair away from her warm face.
“I know he was cloaked, Jess. I saw him. Did anything untoward happen while you were in town? Did anyone bump into you, or speak to you, or look at you strangely?”
“No,” Jess replied instinctively. “It was just an ordinary trip to the village. Nothing happened. I got what I needed, and made my way back home. I didn’t feel anything until I reached the road that runs past the house. Then I got that horrible awareness, and just knew someone was in the trees watching me.”
Marcus nodded. “I know what feeling you mean.”
I know it all too well, Marcus mused silently.
“When you have to go back into town again, take Ben or me with you. Don’t go alone.” His order was clipped and discouraged argument.
“Who do you think it is?” she asked curiously.
“I don’t know. It could be the magistrate. Lloyd is looking for anything to use against anybody at the moment, but I don’t know why. I think he is feeling a little hopeless because this is a small village where hardly anything happens. If he can pin something on Ben, or you, then he will. But don’t let him frighten you. He didn’t accost you, or approach, so that is something positive. Whoever it was may just be trying to scare you, that’s all.”
“He chased me, Marcus,” she whispered, her anger rising now she was safe.