One Guilty Deed
After the harrowing experience she'd just had, she couldn't bear to be alone. Without words, just a beseeching look, Thomas Lynley seemed to understand. "Don't worry, Barbara. I'll stay… as long as you need me." Barbara nodded her thanks.
Making the effort to shower the muck of the marsh away, Barbara emerged from the shower clean, but greatly weighed down by the events of the evening, and the tragic loss of Carly in whom she thought she had glimpsed a kindred spirit.
Getting into her pyjamas sapped the last of her energy, and she found herself staring off into space replaying everything that had happened. Lynley waited patiently for Barbara knowing she'd want the time to compose herself, but when a further fifteen minutes ticked by with no sound from Barbara's room, he started to worry. Briskly calling her name, he turned the doorknob.
The sight of her – hair still twisted in a towel turban-style with her knees drawn up to her chest – tore at him. Walking over to her slowly, he considered how best to comfort her, and decided on the pragmatic approach.
Staring at him with those expressive eyes – eyes that could by turns flash fire or turn into deep pools of emotion – she made him want to crush her to him until that haunted look disappeared. Instead, he said, "Come on, let's get your hair dry, so you don't catch cold."
Sitting down on the bed behind her, he gently reached up and freed her hair from the turban, rubbing the strands and massaging her scalp until her hair was passably dry. He then took her hairbrush from the nightstand and started running it through her hair. With every pass, she seemed to deflate a little more until the day fully caught up with her and the tears came.
Setting down the brush, he pulled her toward him, all the while mumbling soothing platitudes close to her ear and stroking her arm, "Shhh, it's alright Barbara. I've got you."
And she showed her appreciation by grabbing hold of his hand and pressing it to her chest. And that's how they fell asleep that night, so wrapped up in each other that you couldn't tell where one ended and the other began.