“Do you have a firm grasp on them?” Derek asked, positioning his hands on Madeline’s upper body.
Madeline nodded, tightening her grip. This time when she pulled, her feet digging into the ground, her husband pulled with her. Although he could not quite grasp the horse’s hooves yet, he did what he could to help her pull them free.
“There!” As the foal’s front hooves slipped out, the lower legs already visible, Madeline turned to look at her husband, a larger smile on her face than she had ever felt before.
“You did well!” he beamed at her, joy marking his features in a very becoming way. “Now, we do it together.”
Waiting for the next contraction, they pulled on the foal’s legs with all their might, feeling it slide forward until the little nose poked out. Two more contractions later, Milly’s little foal rushed out in a gush of blood and fluid.
For a split second, Madeline found herself wondering if she would faint now, but then a deep smile came to her face as she realised that she was no longer the woman she had thought herself to be. She was not weak. If anything, tonight had taught her how strong she could be…if someone believed in her. She may not be the woman her husband needed by his side yet, but now Madeline knew that she could be…one day.
Watching Derek tend to Milly and her little foal as it tried to stand on shaky legs, Madeline felt truly and utterly at peace for the first time in…forever.
Chapter Twenty-Two ? Temptation
As soon as Milly and her new, little filly were settled comfortably in a dry box, Derek turned to his wife. The shirt and breeches he had given her were drenched in fluid and blood, her hair was in complete disarray, her face flushed, sweat and tears making it glisten in the dim light of the stable, and her arm was beginning to show the bruises that would taint her fair skin for at least a week. She was a ghastly sight!
And yet, her eyes glowed with joy, and a sense of peace and accomplishment hung on her smiling features. In short: she looked radiant! More beautiful than he had ever seen her.
“How do you feel?” he asked as he led her to the trough by the front door of the stable.
Meeting his eyes, she sighed, a soft smile still playing on her features. “Tired,” she whispered, allowing him to scrub her hands and arms clean. “Happy. Delirious somehow.”
Derek chuckled, “You’re euphoric. That’s normal.”
A frown came to her face, and Derek immediately regretted his words. “Are you saying it will pass? That it is not real?”
“Of course, it’s real,” he assured her. “It’s a powerful emotion. It’s the reward for your bravery.” Tears began to glisten in her eyes as she smiled at him. “Have you never felt it before?”
Swallowing, Madeline inhaled a trembling breath, a touch of regret in her dark green eyes. Then she shook her head as though to chase away the dark thoughts he had seen in her eyes, and the earlier smile reappeared on her face. “What will you name the filly?”
“She is not mine to name,” Derek replied, gently brushing his thumb over her bruised hand. “You saved her life. You find a good name for her.”
As she stared at him, her jaw dropped open a little, and Derek read not only gratitude but also pride in her soft gaze as it drifted back to the box where the mare and her filly had settled down for the night. “Are you sure?” she asked, looking back at him. “Maybe Collin would like to?”
“She’s yours to name,” Derek insisted, hoping that in the future the filly’s name would always serve as a reminder of what she had done that night, of how she had faced her fear and met it head-on, of how she had succeeded, won, triumphed. Looking at her, Derek knew it was exactly what she needed.
“Let’s return to the house,” Derek said, taking her other arm and leading her out of the stable. “We need to change out of these clothes.” As the cold night air hit them, Derek wrapped his arm around her shoulders, holding her tight against his body as he guided her to the back entrance of the kitchen.
Closing the door against the cold, he helped his wife pull off her boots, which they left by the door. Then they headed upstairs. With each step, she seemed to lean more heavily on his arm, and her eyelids occasionally fluttered closed. “You’re exhausted,” Derek observed as he opened the door to her bedchamber.
“I’m sore,” Madeline gasped as she clenched and unclenched the hand that had pulled the little filly to safety. “My arm feels as though it’s been beaten all night.”
Derek grinned. “I do believe that’s a fair comparison,” he chuckled, compassion in his eyes as he looked at her. “Wash up and change. I’ll do the same.” He swallowed. “If you want, I have a salve from my days in the field. It should help soothe the ache.”
Lifting her eyes, she met his gaze. “Thank you.”
Derek nodded, then stepped back and out of the room. Suddenly, the easy companionship of the night had vanished replaced by a strange shyness as though they were once more strangers.
Returning to his chamber, Derek changed into dry, clean clothes before retrieving the promised salve from a trunk in the corner. Then he walked up to the door that separated their two chambers and knocked, waiting for her to invite him in.
Instead, she opened the door herself, stepping back to allow him entry. All the while, her gaze fluttered around the room, rarely meeting his. Derek, too, felt oddly nervous, wondering what tonight had changed.
“Here.” Holding out the small cream pot to her, Derek inhaled a deep breath, willing his voice not to betray the emotions that warmed his blood. Watching her, he took note of the delicate nightgown concealing her body, her bare feet on the cold floor boards as well as her raven-black hair neatly brushed back, the scent of lavender soap drifting to his nose. Her face shone red as though she had scrubbed it thoroughly…or as though her own emotions boiled as hot as his own.
“Thank you,” she whispered, her eyes cast down as she took the offered salve. However, as her fingers closed around it, her muscles twitched, and the cream pot would have fallen from her hands had Derek not caught it.
Shaking her head, Madeline stepped back, staring at her hand as though she did not recognise it as her own. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what’s wrong.”
“Don’t worry,” Derek tried to calm her, urging her to sit down on the side of the bed. “Relaxing your muscles after putting such strain on them always shows such a result. It’ll pass.”
“Are you sure?” she asked, looking up at him with doubtful eyes, her arm resting rather uselessly in her lap.
“I’m sure,” he confirmed, his gaze darting to the salve in his hands. “If you don’t object,” he began before his voice trailed off as her eyes rose to meet his. For a long while, they simply looked at one another, and Derek could not say what passed between them. However, in that moment, his suggestion?at its core helpful and innocent?seemed more intimate than if he had asked for a kiss.
As her chest rose and fell with each slightly elevated breath, Madeline remained silent, her gaze everywhere but on him. Could she, too, feel the charge that rested on the air around them? Or was he simply imagining it?
Whatever the reason for her hesitation, Derek knew that she needed his help. “I never thought you were one to walk away from a challenge,” he smirked, keeping his voice light, teasing.
In answer, her head rose, and she met his eyes, an amused twinkle in them. “This hardly qualifies as a challenge,” she retorted, a touch of gratitude in her tone for his efforts to lighten the mood and return the ease that had existed between them before.
“A challenge has many faces,” Derek objected. “However, it is always something that is not easy, that requires courage and the willingness to try.” Holding her gaze, Derek dared her to accept, knowing that she would see it as a weakness to back down.