The world that would become theirs.
Perhaps they would find love in it, after all.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Arcmare Castle
Several weeks later
The fire crackled softly as River entered the chamber, very aware that it was just an hour or so before dawn and not wanting to wake his sleeping wife. He could barely see from the low embers in the hearth, so he felt his way over to the bed, removing his shoes as quietly as he could. He ended up dropping one of them, freezing in position and watching the bed to see if Emerald stirred.
There was no movement.
With a grin at his hard-sleeping wife, he removed his other boot, his tunic, and his breeches, carefully putting everything on the nearest chair before creeping his way over to the bed. The moment he started to climb under the coverlet, however, Emerald stirred and rolled over.
“And how is yer brother?” she asked sleepily. “It must have been quite a conversation for ye to remain with him most of the night.”
River laughed softly as he climbed into bed all the way, pulling his wife into his arms as he pulled the coverlet over them.
“It was,” he said. “Falcon made it back to Arcmare with a wife in tow before I did.”
“I know. And I’m sorry.”
He peered at her. “For what?” he said. “I would not have changed the past few weeks for anything in the world. He may have the title, but I have ye. I have the jewel.”
Emerald snuggled up to him, feeling more love for the man than she could possibly express. Every day saw her love for him grow stronger. It had been an unexpected but wholly amazing happenstance, something she’d hoped for but hadn’t really expected. Now, she couldn’t imagine her life without the man who had taken her to the Roman house in Carlisle and to so many other places. He’d opened up the world for her as she could never have imagined.
But he’d lost an earldom in doing so.
Even if he didn’t regret it, Emerald knew she would always feel some guilt for it.
“Tell me what ye discussed,” she said after a moment.
“Now?”
“Ye woke me up. Ye might as well tell me why.”
He chuckled. “Very well,” he said. “The conversation with Falcon and my father went quite well, actually. Ye’ll be happy to know that my brother loves his wife almost as much as I love ye.”
She craned her head back to look at him. “Did he tell ye that?”
“He did.”
“Then I am glad for him. I met Maerwynn briefly. She seems like a lovely lass.”
River grunted in agreement. “I am looking forward to knowing this woman who stole my brother’s heart,” he said. “But meanwhile, Falcon and I had a long discussion without my father and we have come to an agreement. Although Falcon will hold the title, he and I will rule jointly. We’ll split the lands between us, so each brother will have something that belongs only to us. However, we’ll make decisions over the earldom together. Falcon and I have always done well as a team; I believe this arrangement can only make Drumburgh stronger.”
“And ye’re satisfied with this?”
“Very.”
He sounded happy about it. Emerald rolled onto her back, putting her hand on her naked belly. “Did ye tell him about this?”
River knew what she meant. She’d only recently begun to suspect she was pregnant, fairly convinced of it, and he put his big hand over hers, cradling the life beneath it that they’d created together. He’d told Duchy once that all he needed in a woman was breasts and a seed cave, but he’d regretted those words the moment he’d married Emerald.
As it turned out, he needed much more than that when it came to a wife.
“Not yet,” he said quietly. “We had enough to discuss tonight without bringing up the fact that ye’re with child. But I will tell him soon enough.”
“If the child is a lad, and yer brother has no male offspring, he will inherit Drumburgh.”
“I know. But we have our entire lives ahead of us. Falcon and Maerwynn could have many sons.”
“Then what will our children inherit?”
He kissed her on the forehead. “To the west is a small outpost called Miramar,” he said. “It used to be an ancient outpost and the name means Wall of the Sea, or something like that. My father keeps a small contingent there to protect against the pirates who sometimes try to invade our land, but now the outpost belongs to me, as does all the land from Arcmare to the east and Bowness to the west. That is my agreement with Falcon. He keeps Arcmare and all the lands to the east, all the way to Longburgh. Our children will inherit Miramar because I am going to build it into a fortress to rival Arcmare. My brother isn’t the only one who shall have a powerful castle.”
Emerald smiled in the darkness, still hearing that great competitive nature in his voice when he spoke of his brother. Even though they adored one another, and had agreed to rule jointly, the fact remained that they would always have a competitive nature with each other.
It was part of their charms.
“I am looking forward to it,” she said, rolling onto her side again and back into his embrace. “It seems to me that even though ye lost the earldom, ye still won in a sense.”
He pulled her close, his lips on her forehead. “I won yer heart,” he murmured. “I’ve said it before – that is the greatest prize of all. The earldom cannot hope to compete with what I feel for ye, Emmie.”
She snaked her arms up, around his neck. “It was fortunate for ye that I trapped ye that day,” she said, kissing him sweetly. “Ye can tell Duchy that the next time ye see him that ye found a bride that day, which is exactly what ye set out to do.”
River let out a long, heavy sigh. “I saw Duchy tonight, in fact.”
“Ye did? He’s here?”
“He’s here,” he said. “It seems that he spent a few weeks with yer mother and sisters after we fled.”
“Is that so? As a prisoner?”
“Nay,” he said. “As a guest. Evidently, he is very fond of yer mother and has proposed marriage.”
Emerald’s eyes widened. “He did?” she gasped. “Did she accept?”
“She did, on the condition that he find husbands for yer sisters first.”
“Then they may never marry.”’
“I believe that is what Duchy is counting on. But he can still visit yer mother and drink all of her ale without consequence as long as she thinks he’s finding husbands for yer sisters.”
“What a tricky old man.”
River started to laugh. “It matters not to me what he does,” he said. “He can marry yer mother, any one of yer sisters, or not at all. All that matters is that I got what I wanted. ’Tis ye I love, lass. And I always will.”
Those were words that fed her soul. Emerald slanted her mouth over his, feeling his instant response to her, a response so easy and fluid that it was as natural as breathing. Something flowed between them that was as innate as the moon in the heavens, the natural order of things. What they shared was something men dreamed of but seldom found. As his hot hand closed over her bare breast, Emerald whispered against his mouth.
“As will I.”
* THE END *
The companion novella, The Siren’s Kiss, by Emma Prince
About Kathryn Le Veque
Medieval Just Got Real.
KATHRYN LE VEQUE is a USA TODAY Bestselling author, an Amazon All-Star author, and a #1 bestselling, award-winning, multi-published author in Medieval Historical Romance and Historical Fiction. She has been featured in the NEW YORK TIMES and on USA TODAY’s HEA blog. In March 2015, Kathryn was the featured cover story for the March issue of InD’Tale Magazine, the premier Indie author magazine. She was also a quadruple nominee (a record!) for the prestigious RONE awards for 2015.
Kathryn’s Medieval Romance novels have been called ‘detailed’, ‘highly romantic’, and ‘character-rich’. She crafts great adventures of love, battles, passion, and romance in the High Middle Ages. More
than that, she writes for both women AND men – an unusual crossover for a romance author – and Kathryn has many male readers who enjoy her stories because of the male perspective, the action, and the adventure.
On October 29, 2015, Amazon launched Kathryn’s Kindle Worlds Fan Fiction site WORLD OF DE WOLFE PACK. Please visit Kindle Worlds for Kathryn Le Veque’s World of de Wolfe Pack and find many action-packed adventures written by some of the top authors in their genre using Kathryn’s characters from the de Wolfe Pack series. As Kindle World’s FIRST Historical Romance fan fiction world, Kathryn Le Veque’s World of de Wolfe Pack will contain all of the great story-telling you have come to expect.
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The Jewel's Embrace: A Medieval Romance Novella Page 6
