“Found another bolt-hole,” he announced and smiled at the way Callum swore.
“Where is this one?” Callum demanded. “And will it mean that I will have to wash again before going to see Peg?”
“Nay, washing will nay be required,” Harcourt assured him. “’Tis a verra weel-built, surprisingly clean tunnel from the cellars to the stables and from the stables down to the burn.” He handed Callum the keys. “It opens in the castle behind some old chests in the storage area opposite Geordie’s cell. That is the part that leads to the stables. In the stables, Dunnie can show ye where the second part is and ye will need him. The guard o’er that part is a mean beastie of a gelding called Biter.”
“Do ye wish it closed?”
“Nay as ye mean. I want it sealed against anyone entering from the outside, nay at least without sounding some alarum of some kind. Ye will understand when ye see it.” He pushed Geordie toward them. “Now that I think on it, just take him. He kens the way and then settle him with Nicolas. Geordie here is our new archer.”
Annys stepped into her bedchamber, her body aching from all the work she had done, but she was completely satisfied with, even proud of, all she had accomplished. Then she caught sight of the large bathing tub set near the fireplace, steam rising from the water, the soft lavender scent from her bathing herbs filling the air, and large drying clothes hung on a rack near enough to the fire to make them warm for when she was ready to use them. Someone had even set her best lace-trimmed night shift and robe at the end of the bed.
She did not think she could get her clothes off fast enough. Finally naked and a little surprised she had not torn something in her haste to shed the clothes, Annys stepped into the bathing tub, one large enough that she could submerge her body, covering it with the heated water and soothing the ache in what felt to be every muscle in her body. She rested her head against the lip of the tub, grateful to the kind person who had softened that edge with several folded-over drying clothes. A deep sigh of pleasure escaped her and she closed her eyes.
It was the scent of food that pulled her from her light sleep. Annys opened her eyes to find Harcourt kneeling by the tub, dipping a corner of the washrag into the pot of soap. When he started to wash her arm, she blushed, finally awake enough to be all too aware of her nudity, of being in her bath while a fully dressed Harcourt looked on. Then she told herself not to be so foolish. They were lovers now. She had no secrets from him.
“I am nay sure this is such a good idea,” she said when he nudged her forward so that he could wash her back.
“I would love to turn this into something more than a bath,” Harcourt said, smiling faintly. “And I suspect I will pay dearly for my good behavior, but I mean to gently tend to my woman tonight.”
“And I am your woman, am I?” She caught her breath at the warmth in the intense look he gave her.
“Aye, and I am inclined, verra strongly inclined, to keep ye as my woman for a verra long time.”
“That wouldnae be an easy thing to accomplish.”
“But one I am giving a great deal of thought to.”
“I am nay sure I can be naught but a lover ye visit now and again.”
“Not my plan. I dinnae want that, either.” He tugged her arms away from her breasts to wash them. “I want more than a lover, Annys. I want a partner, a wife, but there are things which must be sorted out and I am trying to give ye no promises until I ken for certain that I can keep every single one of them.”
“For now, ’tis enough to ken that ye want to.” She rose up enough to brush a kiss over his mouth. “Now, to keep us from misbehaving and allowing that food I smell to turn cold, tell me what ye did today.”
Harcourt told her about the tunnel he, Geordie, and Dunnie had found. Her interest and bursts of amusement over the tale he told helped him keep hold of his control as he finished bathing her. It was not as easy to hang on to his control as he dried her off and dressed her in her night shift, but he kept reminding himself that he had a plan.