“Oh, Andrew.” She reached up and tentatively touched a finger to his cheek. “Nothing could have made me happier. I never suspected that you thought of me like that.”
His smile was sad and small. “How could I not? You have grown into such a lovely woman. I love you, Abigail. I have always loved you, and now it has become so strong that it absorbs me.”
Her eyes slid closed, and she settled against him. “I, too, wish our lady had not waited so long. Perhaps if I had already been your wife, Jason would not have approached me.”
“Even if we were only betrothed, I would have had the right to do something about this.” His voice was hard now, as if he barely had control over his anger.
“Or if we were betrothed and he did not care, I could be stoned.”
“No.” Andrew pulled back a little, face set. “You would have called out.”
“Would I? I do not know if that is true. Jason is not an easy man, Andrew, nor a weak one. If I had called out, you would have come, and if you had come, you would have fought him. But if you had raised a hand against your master, he would have killed you.”
The way his lips parted proved he understood it was not only of the hypothetical problem she spoke, but what she had actually done. “So you gave up your life to preserve mine? You would not let me protect you so that you could protect me?”
Abigail bit her lip and glanced up at him. “It would seem that I love you as much as you say you love me.”
He swallowed hard, but still his voice came out low and rough. “I will wait for you, Abigail. I want no other. I do not care that he has had you. I love you, and you will be my wife. I heard him refuse to marry you; but he will grow tired of the pressure his parents put on him to do that, and he will be done with you soon. And when he is, I will be here waiting.”
She opened her mouth to respond but was halted by the sudden noise of more quick footsteps, heavy and hurried. Andrew barely had time to drop his arms from her before Jason burst into the room. He halted just inside the kitchen and surveyed the situation with a frozen gaze. His face was impenetrable.
With a few quick movements, he had advanced on them and shoved Andrew into the worktable, holding Abigail back with one hand while the other gripped the front of Andrew’s garment.
“You will never have her,” he swore in a hiss. “I will see to that.” He released him and turned to Abigail, pulling her against him and covering her mouth with his in a show of possession and force. Breaking the embrace, he demanded quietly, in Latin, “Do not disappoint me, Abigail.”
A moment later, he had let go of her, too, and had stormed from the house altogether.
Shaken and dazed, Abigail stood where he left her. She jumped when Andrew put a gentle hand on her shoulder.
“Go to our mistress. She will need you.”
Chapter Twelve
Abigail entered Ester’s chamber silently. She watched her mistress for a moment as the early sunlight caught the tears streaming down her cheeks and turned them to liquid diamonds. Abigail’s heart clenched up and pounded so forcefully that she thought it would burst from her chest. This was the woman who had nurtured her most of her life, who had taught her and helped her grow, who had shown her what it meant to be a woman of virtue and strength.
And she had failed her. The one person in the world she never wanted to disappoint, and she had.
Feeling more base than she had the day she was sold into slavery, Abigail moved forward and fell to her knees at Ester’s feet, bending over until her forehead touched the ground in supplication.
A gentle hand settled on her head. “Rise, my child. I know you are not at fault. My son is not the kind of man to give you a choice.”
Abigail sat up and did not object when Ester eased her head into her lap and stroked her hair.
Ester sighed. “I would ask you why you did not come to me, but I already know the answer. You were ashamed and afraid, and I cannot blame you. I would not have confided in anyone, either. I only hope that you can forgive me.”
“Forgive you?” Amazed, Abigail raised her head and looked with confusion at her lady. “You have done nothing to need forgiveness, Mistress.”
“I have failed you. I was so busy trying to decide what to do about your marriage that I failed to see that my son would share the interest I knew you would evoke in others. I did not realize that just because I thought of you as a daughter, he would not see you a sister. I should have.”
Abigail kept her eyes on Ester’s only because she knew the woman willed them there. “You could not have seen, my lady. He has been careful to hide his interest. He knew you would not approve, so he kept it from you.”
Ester pressed her lips together and let her eyes slide shut. “How long?”
She wished she had an answer Ester would like more than the truth. “A month.”
Her mistress groaned. “If I had answered Cleopas about Andrew when he first brought it up, you would not be in this situation.”