Temple of the Winds (Sword of Truth 4)

“About your headache being gone. I could see that he didn’t make it any better. Why did you tell him that it was gone?”

Kahlan cupped a hand to the side of his face.

“I’d like you to have a brother you could be proud of, Richard, but I want it to be real. I guess what you said about coincidence has made me wary, that’s all.”

“Anything other than simply what I said, about coincidence?”

“No. I hope he can bring a little brotherly love to your heart. I pray that it is nothing more than simple coincidence.”

“Me, too.”

She gave his arm an affectionate squeeze. “I know he has the women on the staff all aflutter. I suspect he will soon be breaking hearts, what with all the swooning looks I’ve seen.

“I promise to let you know if he gives me reason to suspect something amiss.”

“Thanks.”

He didn’t smile at what she said about the women all liking Drefan. Richard had never displayed any jealousy, he didn’t have reason to, even if she hadn’t been a Confessor, but still, there was a painful history with Michael that she realized could make reason less than relevant. She wished she hadn’t mentioned it.

He ran his fingers back into her hair, holding the sides of her head as he kissed her. She pulled back.

“Why did you take Nadine with you this afternoon?”

“Who?”

He leaned toward her again. She pulled back. “Nadine. Remember her? The woman in the tight dress?”

“Oh, that Nadine.”

She poked his ribs. “So, you noticed her dress.”

His brow drew together. “Did you think there was something different about it, today?”

“Oh yes, there was something different about it. So, why did you take her with you?”

“Because she’s a healer. She’s not an evil person—she has good qualities. I thought that as long as she was going to be here, she might as well make herself useful. I thought that that might make her feel better about herself. I had her check that the men were making the quench oak tea properly, that it was strong enough. She seemed happy to help.”

Kahlan remembered Nadine’s smile when Richard had asked her to go with him. She had been happy, all right, but not simply to help. The smile was for Richard, as was the dress.

“So,” Richard said, “you think Drefan is handsome, as all the other women do?”

She thought his trousers were too tight. She pulled Richard into a kiss, hoping he wouldn’t notice her face flushing and misunderstand the reason for it.

“Who?” she breathed dreamily.

“Drefan. Remember him? The man in the tight pants?”

“Sorry, I don’t remember him,” she said as she kissed his neck, and she nearly didn’t. She ached for Richard and nothing else.

There was no room in her mind for Drefan. Almost the only thing in her thoughts was the time she had been with Richard in that strange place between worlds where they had been together, truly together, as never before or since. She wanted him that way again. She wanted him that way now.

With the way his hands were slipping down her back, and the urgency of his lips on her neck, she knew he wanted her the same way, and just as badly.

But she also knew that Richard didn’t want to even appear to be like his father. He didn’t want anyone to think she was no more than Darken Rahl’s women had been: an amusement for the Master of D’Hara. That was why he always let the women on the staff so easily keep him at bay; despite his frustrated objections, he never overruled them when they shooed him away.

The three Mord-Sith, too, always seemed to be protecting Kahlan from being seen as less than the true betrothed to the Master of D’Hara. Whenever she and Richard thought to go to his room at night, even just to talk, either Cara, or Berdine, or Raina was always there, asking some pointed question that seemed to keep them apart. When Richard scowled, they reminded him that he had instructed them to protect the Mother Confessor; He never countermanded the orders. He was trying to rekindle their morals. He would be a hypocrite if virtue didn’t apply to him.

Today, the three Mord-Sith were scrupulously following his orders, and when he had told Cara and Raina to guard him from around the corner and down the hall, they had remained there without objection.

With their wedding so soon, Kahlan and Richard had decided to wait, even though they had already been together once. That time seemed somehow unreal—in a place between worlds, in a place with no heat, no cold, no source of light, no ground, and yet they could see, and they had lain in dark space firm enough to support them.

More than anything, she remembered the feel of him. They had been the source of all heat, all light, all feeling, in that strange place between worlds where the good spirits had taken them.

She was feeling that heat, now, as she ran her hands over the muscles of his chest and stomach. She could hardly get her breath with the feel of his lips on her. She wanted his mouth everywhere on her. She wanted hers everywhere on him. She wanted him on the other side of her door.

“Richard,” she whispered in his ear, “please, stay with me tonight.” His hands were making her lose all sense of restraint.

“Kahlan, I thought…”

“Please, Richard. I want you in my bed. I want you in me.”

He moaned helplessly at her words, and at her hands.

“I hope I’m not interrupting,” came a voice.

Richard jerked up straight. Kahlan spun around. With the thick carpets, they hadn’t heard Nadine’s silent approach.

“Nadine,” Kahlan said, catching her breath. “What…?”

Kahlan self-consciously clasped her hands behind her back, wondering if Nadine had seen where they had just been. She had to have seen where Richard’s had been. Kahlan felt her face going red.

Nadine’s cool gaze moved from Richard to Kahlan. “I didn’t mean to interrupt. I just came to change your poultice. And to apologize

.”

“Apologize?” Kahlan asked, still gulping air.

“Yes. I said some things to you earlier, and I guess I was a bit… out of sorts at the time. I thought I may have said some things I shouldn’t have. I thought I should apologize.”

“That’s all right,” Kahlan said. “I understand how you felt at the time.”

Nadine lifted her bag and her eyebrows. “The poultice?”

“My arm is fine for tonight. You could change the poultice for me tomorrow, though.” Kahlan sought to fill the dragging silence. “Drefan did some of his healing on it earlier… so it’s fine for tonight.”

“Sure.” She lowered her bag. “You two off to bed, then?”

“Nadine,” Richard said in a restrained tone, “thanks for checking on Kahlan. Good night.”

Nadine regarded him with a cold glower. “Don’t even plan to get married first? Just going to throw her down on the bed and lay claim to her, like some girl you come across in the woods? Seems a bit crude for the high and mighty Lord Rahl. And here you were pretending you were better than us common folk.”

She glanced down at Richard and then turned her glare on Kahlan. “Like I said before, he wants what he’s shown. Shota told me about you. I guess you know about what pushes men off the fence, too. It seems you would do anything to have him, after all. Like I said before, you’re no better than me.”

Bag in hand, she turned and marched off down the hall.

Kahlan and Richard stood in the uncomfortable silence, watching the empty hall.

“Out of the mouths of whores,” Kahlan said.

Richard wiped his hands back across his face. “Maybe she has a point.”

“Maybe she does,” Kahlan admitted reluctantly.

“Well, good night. Sleep well.”

“You, too. I’ll be thinking about you in that little guest room you use.”

He bent and kissed her cheek. “Not going to bed right off.”

“Where are you going?”

“Oh, I thought I’d go dunk myself in a horse trough.”

She caught him by the wide, leather-padded band around his wrist. “Richard, I don’t know if I can stand this much longer. Are we ever going to get married before something else happens?”