IX
"How do you spend your days usually?"
She smiled, throwing her hair over her shoulder and out of her way as she gazed over at him lying naked in her bed. "You mean when I'm not entertaining gorgeous men in my room?"
"Are there many of us? Should I be concerned about a schedule, perhaps?" he teased.
She laughed, and he still loved that sound.
He was glad she laughed and took his comment in the way it was intended. He didn't want her to think he thought anything unsavory of her. In fact, he believed quite the opposite of what that silly quip might have insinuated.
"This is not the first time I have made love to a man in my bed, but it is not a frequent occurrence. I usually spend my time practicing my magic and doing as the King requests. And sometimes I find someone in court who strikes my fancy, who I think might be an amusing diversion," she said.
"And I'm the next amusing diversion?"
She hesitated. She was telling him too much. She wouldn't ordinarily say things like this to anyone. But of course, Jonathan Hart was so very different to anyone she had ever countered before. And so she told him, "You aren't a diversion, darling. More like an obsession."
A beautiful smile spread over his features and he leaned in to kiss her gently. "Darling. I like that," he murmured.
She kissed him back, her smile matching his until they broke apart giggling joyfully.
"What sort of things do you do for the King?"
He certainly was curious, and she wondered why. It wasn't as thought most men would think to ask her such things. Even if they did think to do it, she normally wouldn't let them. But she didn't mind when it came from him.
A part of her wondered if others might be as curious if she allowed it. There was a reason she hadn't allowed it before now. She hadn't wanted to. So it hardly mattered if anyone else might have been curious about such things. All that mattered right now was Jonathan.
"The King asks a lot of me at times. I am expected to be present when visitors arrive at the castle so I can determine their true intentions. I fix problems when they arise. I advise him upon his request. He asked me to advise about you, actually," she told him.
"Oh? And how did you advise him about me?"
"He wanted to know if it was advisable to bestow a lordship on you. I told him not to."
"Why not?" Jonathan asked, suddenly quite concerned what she might have learned about him to cause her to form any kind of negative opinion.
She shook her head. "You don't need the King. You are successful on your own in part because you are on your own. As a lord, you would answer directly to the King or risk losing your position. Being independent as you are, the King relies on you for prosperity in the kingdom, not the other way around."
Jonathan gave a nod. When Max and others had posed the idea of Jonathan becoming a lord, he had demurred from the concept for that very reason. He didn't want to belong to the King. He did, however, have a burgeoning hope of belonging to the sorceress.
As she gazed at his beautiful face and looking into those sparkling blue eyes, an unfamiliar sensation descended upon her.
He noticed the change in her expression and frowned. "What is it?"
She bit her lip, worried about where this sudden feeling might lead. "I want to tell you something."