Cleopatra’s eyes widened as she listened to Jude speak. “In my house, a victory was never celebrated in such a manner. My father detested such events. Called them wasteful and negligent.”
“Did ye nae have any happiness there?” Jude asked. Cleopatra could feel the sorrow seeping from his voice and it only added to her own. She shook her head and pursed her lips.
“The little cottage you found me in, that was where my happiness resided.”
“Ye were alone there,” Jude said as his eyebrows twitched with curiosity.
“Yes, but it was peaceful. The birds and creatures were my friends. I cared for the animals around the manor.”
Jude dropped his head as he drew squiggles in the dirt with a stick. Noticing the dreariness in his face, Cleopatra reached out and rubbed his back.
“Now it is you who looks melancholic. What is troubling your mind?”
Jude sucked in a deep breath and appeared to force a smile on his lips. “You remind me of someone I lost a long time ago. She had a kindness to her, one that I sense in you. It pains me to hear how poorly ye have been treated by those ye call family.”
“There is nothing you can do about the family you are born into,” Cleopatra said.
“Nay, but ye can escape from that life,” he said with enthusiasm. Her eyes widened as he stared at her.
“And where would I go? With you? Are you asking me to stay with you? And what would your wife say about you bringing a ward back with you?”
“She would say nothin’,” Jude said. “Me wife left many years ago. Gone to heaven, but I believe she would have wanted me to pluck ye from yer dreadful, uncarin’ life and bring ye with me.”
“How did she die?” Cleopatra asked as she swallowed the lump forming in her throat. Jude pressed his lips into a tight line and shook his head.
His silence spoke volumes. She nodded as she dropped her eyes from him. “Is it the same reason you refuse to leave me here alone to go hunting with the others?”
Shock flicked over his face and he nodded. “Aye. She was attacked, much like the way ye were near the river.”
“But you didn’t get to her in time,” Cleopatra said as guilt rippled through her.
Everything makes sense now. Why Jude saved me from those vile dogs and why he has been keeping such a keen eye on me this whole time. Am I his redemption for a life he lost?
“Nay, I dinnae,” he whispered, and Cleopatra noticed the memory swirling around in his mind. It pulled him under the turbulent currents of guilt and remorse. Sighing, Cleopatra rose to her feet. Jude glanced up to her and kept his eyes locked on her as she walked around him.
“I may be a woman,” Cleopatra said, “but I am not weak.”
“Ye’ve proved that. Merely by holdin’ yer own. Never once did ye complain about yer leg achin’. Nae once did I hear a peep from ye about yer lot in life. Nay, yer nae weak.”
“Then please,” Cleopatra kneaded her fingers into his shoulders as she spoke. “Do not concern yourself with me. I can handle myself.”
Jude reached up and grabbed her hand. He pulled it down over his shoulder and to Cleopatra’s surprise, kissed the tender skin of her wrist.
“Ye are me concern now,” Jude said. “Ye and Hugh.”
Cleopatra’s heart raced as Jude continued to caress her wrist. She felt a fire burning throughout her. It seemed as if Jude’s kiss touched more than just her flesh. It was as if he reached into her soul and embraced every part of her.
Glancing down, she stared at Jude. With his eyes closed, he breathed in deeply causing his shoulders to rise and fall. Lowering herself to him, she was compelled to kiss him. It was as if her very spirit longed to be connected to his in some shape or form. After all she had been through, she knew parting from him would be a mistake for she could not survive alone out in the wilderness.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered as he dropped her wrist.
Cleopatra gasped and tried to push aside her desire that had billowed in her chest. Rejection washed over her as Jude rose to his feet and stepped closer to the fire.
She pulled in a deep breath to steady herself and shook her head. “It’s all right.”
He turned with his brow scrunched and tilted his head. “Do ye think I’m sorry for kissin’ ye?”
Confused, Cleopatra nodded. “I figured you were just so caught up in the moment,” she forced a tender smile on her face trying to block out the fact that she wanted his attention.
“I’m nae sorry for that,” he said, turning to the fire and poking the stick into it. Flames shot up into the air as black smoke billowed out.
“Then what?”
“I shouldnae have taken ye from yer home,” he said.
“Are you letting me go then?” she asked as a sinking feel took over her. Her legs wobbled at the thought of having to face her father’s ire. She knew that her father would find some reason to scold her and pin her for Jude’s faults.
“I figured this would happen,” she said lowering herself to the ground. “It makes sense.”
“What are ye goin’ on about?”
Cleopatra forced the corner of her lip to curl up as she stared at Jude. Pain boiled under her words as she locked eyes with him. “My father doesn’t want me at his home. I knew it would only be a matter of time before you shunned me as well.”
“How can ye possibly ken yer faither doesnae want ye?” Jude asked.
“Because I killed my mother, his beloved wife. She died giving me life and my father…well…he hasn’t forgiven me for the act. He’s told me several times how he wishes to be rid of me. How I remind him too much of the woman he loved. And here you are, professing to me, that I remind you of someone
