Page 78 of A Winter Scandal

Thea smiled. “Of course, if you’d like?”

“I’d like very much.” “Very well, then.” She started toward the footbridge over the water. “You have been inside the church, of course.”

“Not in daylight.”

“Then we shall see it first. It will give us a chance to warm up a bit, anyway.”

The snow was still deep enough to present a picturesque view of the church and graveyard. Gabriel pulled open the massive wooden door of the church, and they went through the vestibule and into the sanctuary beyond. As they strolled down the aisle, Gabriel reached down and took Thea’s hand, lacing his fingers through hers. Even through their gloves, Thea was very aware of the contact, and though they touched nowhere else, her whole body tingled at the closeness, alive with anticipation.

She kept up a flow of talk as she showed him the church, relating the legend of St. Dwynwen and its connection to the abbey, more in an attempt to distract herself than anything else.

“And does it work?” Gabriel asked. “Praying to St. Dwynwen, I mean? Have you ever tried it?”

Thea blushed, thinking of her own heartfelt prayer in this chapel only a week ago and the way Matthew’s little blond head had popped up moments afterward, followed soon by the tumultuous entrance of Gabriel himself into her formerly humdrum life. “Perhaps,” she murmured, and slipped away.

She led him out the side door of the church and into the graveyard. It was pristine, the snow unmarked except for a few tracks of small animals and birds. The graves were mounds of white, the stones capped by snow.

“St. Margaret’s was the chapel of the abbey. The remainder of the convent lay that way.” She pointed behind the church toward the ruins, their stark, half-fallen walls softened by the blanket of white.

They started toward the ruins, their hands still linked. Despite the cold, their steps were slow, and they walked close together. In this moment, the world seemed far away, separated by the sea of snow all around them. There was no one to see, no one to hear. Gabriel slid his arm around her shoulders, and Thea snuggled into his side, leaning her head against him.

“It seems almost a shame to make a path here, it is so lovely,” she said. “You see that low wall?” She pointed to their right. “These used to be convent buildings. They were almost completely dismantled and the stone used. This was the herb garden, and beside it, the room where they made their nostrums and tinctures and salves. And beyond that were the sickrooms. Closer, here was the chapter house. And up ahead were the cloisters, where the nuns used to walk.”

She pointed to the arches of stone in front of them. The cloisters were a colonnaded walkway, open on one side except for the columns, and with a wall on the opposite side. A roof stretched across the walkway, and the whole thing was largely intact.

“There are rooms behind the walkway?” Gabriel pointed to a doorway in the midst of one of the cloister walls.

“Yes. The roof’s gone now and some of the walls, as well.” She led him through the doorway and into the partially collapsed room beyond.

Only two walls remained, but they sheltered the room somewhat from the weather. There was even a patch in one corner without snow. Grinning, Gabriel pulled Thea to him, wrapping his arms around her and smiling down at her.

“At last, a bit of privacy.” He bent and kissed her. “I thought I was going to have to kiss you in the church again.”

He kissed her cheek and took her earlobe between his teeth, worrying it delicately. “I keep trying to think of some way to get you alone. I was wondering this morning whether I could steal you away to that cottage again.”

Thea smiled, her face turning dreamy and sensual. “I would not mind returning.”

Gabriel let out a soft groan. “When you look at me like that, it’s all I can do not to pull you to the floor right here.” He pulled her back for another lengthy kiss, and when their lips parted at last, his breath was rasping hard and fast in his throat. “I’d like to send all my guests home.”

Thea let out a little chuckle. “That would be rather rude.”

“Frankly, I don’t care. If I were alone at the Priory, we would have an entire house to ourselves.”

“That sounds inviting.” Thea linked her arms around his neck and went up on tiptoe to plant a light kiss on his lips. “However, I think ’twould be most improper for me to be in your house with you all alone.”

“Propriety can go to the devil,” he growled, and pulled her to him again, burying his face in the crook of her neck. “I do nothing but think of you all the time. I am sure my friends must think I have lost my mind. They talk, and I don’t hear half their conversation, and when they ask me a question, I haven’t the faintest notion what to reply. It is entirely your fault.”

“Mine!” Thea laughed. “Well, I like that!”

“I like this,” he retorted, and came back to take her lips again.

After a long moment, he raised his head, smiling down into her eyes. “I have something for you.”

“What do you mean?” Thea tilted her head back.

He reached into a pocket of his topcoat, pulling out a small box, which he held out to her on his palm. Thea looked down at the box and took a step back, then turned her gaze back up to him. “What is it?”

He grinned. “Open it and see.”