Jarrod was indeed waiting with four horses. He realized what had happened immediately and managed to obtain a small cart within minutes. They loaded Jack into it and he laid back smiling up at them gingerly. “Do not worry. The bleeding has nearly stopped.”
Taking this as a good sign indeed they mounted with better humor, Christian taking Helwys up behind him. All the while Isabelle remained uneasy at what she knew she must do before too many miles had fallen behind them.
When they had traveled some distance down the road from the gate, Isabelle stopped. Simon, who had been galloping beside her, brought his own horse to an abrupt halt swinging around. She could see the anxiety in his beloved brown eyes as he said, “What is it, Isabelle?”
She looked to the others who had now stopped as well a short distance ahead of them. She spoke softly. “You do not have to take me with you to Avington.”
He sucked in a harsh breath, waving to the others to go on as he slid to the ground and moved to stand looking up at her. “Oh, but I do.”
She shook her head unable to speak around the lump in her throat. If only he was doing this because he truly wanted her.
He frowned. “Why are you fighting me?”
She closed her eyes. “I know you are aware of my feelings for you and that you are a good man and must feel you owe me something because I love you.” Isabelle knew she was rambling but could not seem to stop herself. “Although I have realized that there is no need to hide my feelings, I do not expect, nor want you to take me out of pity.”
The silence that followed made her open her eyes again. The amazement on Simon’s face could not have been more apparent. “Out of pity?”
She felt a strange flutter of hope in her breast. “You are not taking me to Avington out of pity?”
He shook his head.
She bit her lip. “But you had made it clear that you did not want to be married to me.”
Simon raised his dark brows high. “That was before we made love. You knew how I felt about any child we might create together, that I intended to be a father. The marriage was for life when I took you to my bed.”
She looked down, her throat and chest tight. “I do not want you to keep me out of duty. It is not a good enough reason for a marriage, Simon. Nor is the fact that I have learned my father is not truly my father. I have devised a plan to go to Normandy where my mother’s sister is from. She came to see me once not long after my mother died and though my father sent her away, I have realized she must be a kind person to have come all that way. I have some hope that she might care for me, and Helwys and…”
He barely noted that pause as he suddenly realized why she had hesitated to come with him. It was not because of Kelsey at all but because she was uncertain of his feelings. Joy rose up inside him as he looked into those beautiful lavender eyes. “Is love enough reason?”
For a long moment she only stared at him. “Aye, love would be enough. Are you saying that you…?”
He reached out his arms. “I am. I love you, have loved you from the beginning and will continue to love you to the end.”
She came into his arms, throwing her own about his neck as she raised her mouth for his kiss. And kiss her he did, with a thoroughness that made her head spin.
She pulled away to look up into his eyes, “To think that I thought you would be angry with me for sending for Jarrod and Christian.”
He grimaced, though he did not release her. “And did I say I was not? You must learn, Isabelle, that though I may become unhappy at something that has happened I will never stop loving you, nor will I treat you cruelly.”
A tear slid down her cheek as she leaned her head against his shoulders. “Oh Simon, I never knew such love, such joy existed in all the world.”
His heart filled with a tenderness so rich and deep that for a long moment he could not have spoken had he wished to. How he had longed for her to believe in him, in life. There was no holding back in her this time. She was well and truly his.
He kissed her again.
At long last she pulled back, her eyes bright with passion and happiness. “There is one more thing you must know, my love.”
Simon’s arms tightened around her. “What more could life have to offer me than this?”
She took his hand and placed it on her flat belly, her expression filled with love and meaning.
“Do you mean…?”
She nodded.
Tenderness such as he had never felt or even dreamed of swelled in his chest, making his heart feel as if his chest could not contain it. He fell to his knees pressing his lips to her belly, feeling the hot sting of joyful tears behind his lids as he whispered, “So beautiful, my own perfect Isabelle. My dear.”
She held him close against her. “I love you, Simon.”
He stood and kissed her again, feeling the passion that had been between them from their first meeting burst to aching life inside him. Isabelle felt it, too, for she said, “How I want you, my love.” Simon slid his hands down her back to mold her pliant body to his.
A shout made him look down the road and he realized he had forgotten where they were. It was Jarrod and he called out, “Are you two coming?”
Simon wrapped his arms about his wife. “Aye, but we must stop and make camp very soon.”
A hoot of laughter was the only reply as Simon helped Isabelle mount and they made their way down the road to their future. Her father, the man she had thought was her father, had said she took nothing of her dower with her.
He was wrong. Her true father had left her something more valuable than lands. Her dower was love, the love she had felt for him and he for her. The love she now felt for Simon and their child.
ISBN: 978-1-4603-6005-7
DRAGON’S DOWER
Copyright © 2002 by Catherine J. Archibald
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**Velvet series
*Seasons’ Brides
†The Brotherhood of the Dragon
Dragon's Dower Page 25
