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Killian wakes up because he had been whimpering in his sleep and he presses his face against the pillow in order to muffle the sound because he is mortally afraid that Emma would hear him and come charging through the door between their rooms.

He is in too much pain to be able to convince her that she had just imagined his cries, and he does not want her to see just how weak and pathetic he really is.

And so he lies there with closed eyes, his fingers massaging his stump until his brain finally gets the message that the hand that is no longer there is not in fact on fire.

The door stays closed and eventually Killian dozes off again, then wakes with a start what feels like a few moments later only to realize that it is almost mid-morning.

Kristoff teases him gently for sleeping in, but Killian is not in the mood and he descends to breakfast as quickly as he is able to find that Emma had already eaten and gone for a walk across the field to visit her mother.

He is a little disappointed that she had not waited to at least ask him if he wants to come with her, but he supposes his wife is a free-spirited lass and he should just get used to it.

He finds that he is still not used to the word wife and the fact that it is attached to a girl he used to consider his best friend.

After a hearty breakfast Killian goes in search of Mr. Humbert, finally ready to face the business side of being a Duke and to show Emma that although he cannot captain a ship or sail the seas any longer, he can at least command his numerous properties.

Killian knocks on the door of Graham's study and enters without waiting for an answer, startling his steward in the process and making him drop his quell to the floor.

"Your Grace!" Graham exclaims and jumps to his feet, hastily offering Killian his chair because there is nowhere else to sit in an overcrowded room. "Is everything alright?"

"You tell me", Killian says and waves away Graham's offer, inviting him to sit back down and asking him if he would prefer to move to the main study.

"You mean your study?"

"You are my steward, are you not? I can take care of my business in the library if need be; there is really no need for you to be spending your days in this cluttered space", Killian says and looks pointedly at all the ledgers littering the floor and every other available surface.

"Your brother installed me here", Graham says sheepishly and Killian chuckles because Liam had always been a bit of a pompous ass.

"And now I insist you move to the library. I will send Kristoff to help you move everything and we shall meet there in an hour; it is time you showed me the books", Killian says and Graham looks pleased, thanking him for coming to inform him about the move in person.

"I do not consider myself to be above you or my valet of anybody else who works and lives in this house", Killian tells him and piles the closest pile of ledgers upon his arm, smiling to himself as Graham watches him go with a stunned expression.

Since Killian had been idle for far too long, now he has a whole mountain of unopened mail that has been waiting for him in the library to get through while Kristoff and Graham transfer all the books from the study, and then Killian and his steward sit side by side behind the big desk and go over some of them.

It is quickly clear that Graham is a competent steward, but he simply does not have the time to go visiting the tenants, which Killian remembers his father doing often and with great joy, listening to their complains and helping all that he could while praising the ones who did well.

"We shall ride out next week so I can meet most of the ones close by, and once that is accomplished I shall relieve you of that duty for good."

"Very well, your Grace", Graham says, still looking a little suspicious, as if he is not quite sure that all this is not some elaborate trap that would reveal him as a bad steward.

"Relax, Graham", Killian claps him on the shoulder and then checks his pocket watch, surprised that it is already almost time for lunch.

He hopes Emma is back but when he goes in search for her, it turns out that it is not so.

Noon comes and goes and Killian begins wondering if his new bride has changed her mind and decided to abandon him less than a day into their marriage, but Mary convinces him that she is still unpacking her mistress' things and that she did not say anything about leaving.

Killian is slightly embarrassed for his overreaction so he escapes to the stables, saddles Cesar and sets out toward the Misthaven property, thinking he would meet Emma on her way back and escort her home, but he reaches the border and Emma is still nowhere to be seen.

His mild worry is rapidly turning into pure panic, and he urges his horse into a gallop, somehow managing not to think of all the possible reasons for her being away for so long and focusing only on getting to her mother's house as quickly as possible.

Hoping that he had not lost his wife before she was even fully his.


Emma spends the entire morning with her mother, trying to cheer her up because it is obvious that she feels abandoned in a big empty house even though she is trying to hide it from her daughter.

"Would you like to live with Killian and me?"

"Absolutely not!" Emma's mother exclaims, her eyes wide as she shakes her head. "I love this house and the very thought of leaving makes me feel unwell.

"Alright, alright, but Mama, if you change your mind, you can come. I am sure Killian would not mind", Emma says and catches herself smiling dreamily when she remembers the way he had been with Owen yesterday and how he had kissed her goodnight before they went to bed.

Or, rather, their separate beds.

"You still have him as wrapped around your finger as you had when you were children, I see", Lady Misthaven says and Emma frowns in confusion because she was always under the impression that it was the other way around.

"Hardly."

"Oh Emma. If you could have seen the way he was looking at you during lunch when you were talking to Elsa, you would not doubt it."

"He thought he would never marry", Emma says more to herself than to her mother, and she is still stunned that he had confined such a thing to her. "I am sad that he was being so pessimistic but if he had not, we would both be destitute now."

"You have known that boy almost your entire life and once upon a time you knew him better than anybody else."

"What are you trying to say?"

"He was not pessimistic, Emma, just realistic."

"I cannot believe that nobody would want him just because he has a hook for a hand and his leg is not working as it should. He is a war hero and the kindest man I know and frankly the most handsome one too, so- Oh why are you smiling like that, Mama?"

"Discussing it is moot, is it not? He has found somebody who wants him after all", Lady Misthaven says and Emma huffs even though her mother is quite right.

The last few days were quite an eye-opener for Emma, but she will be damned if she admits feeling anything beyond platonic love for her husband.

And speaking of her husband, she should really get back to him.

Said husband looks like he is at the end of his rope when she comes through the garden door just as he is tethering his horse to a nearby tree, then sort of leans against its flank when he sees her.

"I am so sorry", she tells him quickly and rushes to his side, hovering next to him while he just looks at her and takes such deep breaths that his chest expands with each of them. "Mama was a little under the weather and I lost track of time."

"I thought…", he trails off and shakes his head, his hand stroking Cesar's flank as if by soothing his horse he is also going to soothe himself.

"Killian, I am alright", Emma tells him because she can tell what this is about, and she feels awful for disturbing him so even if the fact that he cares so much about her warms her heart. "I am not going to leave you."

He looks like he might have another episode any second now and she comes closer, her right hand cupping his cheek and her left covering his hand, their fingers entwining together while she gazes up into his blue, blue eyes and rises on her tiptoes so that she can kiss his cheek.

The sigh that escapes him prompts her to kiss him firmer, her lips pressing against his until he responds, his tongue slipping inside her mouth and sliding against her teeth so skilfully she simply melts against him, the feeling of his firm chest against her softness making blood rush into her head and liquid heat pool low in her belly.

"That was quite an apology, Swan", he says a little breathlessly as they remain standing with their foreheads pressed together, her hand resting on his shoulder, his thumb rubbing circles on the back of the hand he is still holding.

"I did not wish to worry you."

"I know. I do not want to suffocate you", he says and she shakes her head, telling him that he is not doing any such thing. "Shall we walk back, then? I have worked up quite an appetite."

"I would rather ride", Emma tells him and he picks her up easily, his hand and brace on her waist as he lifts her into the saddle.

He hands her the reins and looks at her questioningly when she does not urge Cesar to move, and she is quite impressed with the fact that he is prepared to walk all the way home beside her despite his bad leg.

"I meant both of us riding", she says and scoots as far forward as she can, belatedly realizing that Killian probably cannot mount from this side.

"Gentlemen and ladies do not ride the same horse over open countryside", he says stiffly, confirming her suspicions and Emma feels a brief pang of annoyance swiftly followed with guilt because she would probably be even pricklier under the same circumstances.

"Maybe not, but when have we ever cared much about propriety?" She asks him, her words a clear challenge she knows he will not want to pass up on, and she is rewarded with a quick smile before he walks around the horse and pulls himself up in the saddle behind her.

"You should at least surrender the reins, love", he says, his voice like a caress, his body pressing close against hers.

His hand is resting on the saddle horn and Emma leans against his arm, tilting her head to meet his sky-filled gaze and telling him that she will not.

"I was a Captain once, Swan. I am good at issuing orders, not following them", he says and she reaches for his hand, placing it on her waist.

"Today I am your Captain", Emma says and relaxes against him, turning her head forward and signalling Cesar to start when Killian does not complain. "You can lay your arm across my legs."

"And risk tearing your dress with my hook? I would rather not", Killian says and Emma experiences sudden shortness of breath because his voice is strained and something hard and warm is pressing against her derriere, enticing her and making her feel as if her skin is suddenly too tight for her body.

She had been aware of him physically from the moment she had laid eyes on him in her parents' drawing room last month but they have never been so tightly pressed together before without a way for her to pull away; she supposes she could halt the horse and slide down to the ground, claiming that she wants to walk after all, but she absolutely does not want him to know just how much he affects her too.

"It was nice of you to come for me", Emma says softly, telling herself that there is no need to be so surprised that Killian is making her feel things stronger than Neal ever had.

"You used to make me promise that I would not go anywhere without you", Killian says and she blinks in surprise because she had forgotten that, but it is all coming back to her now.

"I cried for hours when my father came to tell me that you had gone."

"My father would not let me run over to say goodbye", Killian says and prompts Cesar into a gallop because they are nearing the hedge and he obviously has no intention of going around.

Emma swallows a sudden lump in her throat and prepares for the jump, her vision blurry when they sail over the hedge and land safely on the other side.

"Promise me you will not go anywhere without me."

"I promise, Swan", he says, his lips close to her ear, and she looks down to find his hook around the saddle horn and his arm wrapped around her waist so that she is held securely against him.

Her dress survives the ride without a single tear.


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