Read Online Sweet Madness: A Veiled Seduction Novel by Heather Snow - Free Book Online Page B

leaves and dead grass beneath them, echoed by Carter’s heavier footfalls from behind.
    Blood hummed in Gabriel’s veins. It could simply be dread over what she might have planned for him today. Or it could be that Penelope was by his side. But either way, he couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt this invigorated.
    Or this much his old self.
    With every breath of fresh air that pumped through his lungs, that feeling grew.
    “Did you know that emotion can be directly tied to motion?” Penelope asked after a time. Her voice had a breathy quality to it from the exertion. “If you observe someone who is lost in their melancholy, for example, you notice that often their shoulders are slumped and their movements are sluggish. Their breathing is shallow and slow. Have you ever noticed that?”
    He glanced sideways at her. “Not particularly, no. While I’ve experienced some melancholy since the wars,
my
madness is more of the raving sort, wouldn’t you say?” he returned dryly.
    His big bad she-wolf gave him a decidedly sheepish look. Still, she persisted. “Define ‘some melancholy’ for me. Do you mean occasional sadness? Or do you ever experience periods of extended despair?”
    He heaved a sigh. “So, you brought me outside to interrogate me.”
    “Yes.”
    He stuffed his gloved hands into the pockets of his coat. “Takes some of the joy out of the morning, I’d say.”
    “I
am
sorry.”
    He let her apology linger in the air for a few steps. “Wouldn’t it have been simpler to talk in my rooms? Warmer, at least.” He glanced back at the sullen attendant, shuffling along some paces back. “Carter would have thanked you for it.”
    “I imagine he would,” she agreed. “However, I care naught for Carter.”
    Implying she did care for
him
? Suddenly Gabriel no longer felt quite so surly about the whole thing.
    “As to bringing you out here, my reasons are many. First, the emotion-to-motion connection I mentioned earlier seems to work both ways. On one hand, the melancholic’s despair depresses their body systems, hence the sluggishness and shallow breathing. However, if that person were to
consciously
choose to stand straighter, take deep breaths or engage in some vigorous activity, oftentimes their mood is improved just by those simple physical motions. I’m not certain why it works, but that has been my observation.”
    “Hmmm,” he said, just to let her know he didn’t disagree. He did feel quite the thing after only a quarter hour’s walk.
    “Second, the soldiers I know are men of action and they are most comfortable on the move. I thought you might feel more yourself out here.”
    As he had from the moment they met, Gabriel marveled at Penelope’s gentle intuitiveness. “You were right,” he confirmed, breathing the crisp air through his nose.
    “Most soldiers I’ve treated spent the majority of their time out in the elements. Days and nights, for months—sometimes years—at a stretch. Assuming your military experience was anything like theirs, it is only natural that you would be most at home outside.”
    It seemed Penelope’s natural instincts were now borne out by her experiences helping other soldiers. He was still getting his mind around that.
    His eyes scanned the rugged winter landscape that comprised Vickering Place’s grounds, but in his mind’s eye he saw the colorful autumn foliage of his home as it had been when he’d last been there. “My servants complained that they couldn’t catch me indoors,” he admitted. “Sometimes I had legitimate reasons to remain out. Surveying the fields, visiting tenants. But other times, I just couldn’t bring myself to stay inside.” Those days had been when he’d felt his best. Even before his current madness, being outside and active had done more to keep his wartime nightmares away than anything else had.
    Yet, since these more frightening bouts of mania had taken hold, he’d imprisoned himself indoors . . . hidden