Reckless Rakes - Hayden Islington
Page 22
“I am going to need you, Jenna.” Hayden said softly. “Not just for the planning and the house, but me. I am going to need you. I love you. This deed proves it, as does this.” He reached into his pocket for the second item he’d stopped for on the way back. “I was hoping you’d be awake to open the box yourself, but since you’re not… ” His voice trailed off as he opened the small black velvet box. He gently took out the ring, a simple gold band with three small diamonds, and slid it on her finger. “I mean for you to marry me, Jenna, and this ring proves it.”
He leaned over her and kissed her eyelids, her nose, her mouth. “Wake up and marry me, Jenna. Wake up and have a life with me on my new old farm,” he whispered.
To his amazement she did. Her eyes opened, her mouth smiled. The old Hayden, the glib celebrity, would have had a witty comeback for this moment like ‘Sleeping Beauty awakened by true love’s kiss.’ But the new Hayden, the man he’d become since meeting Jenna, savored the awe of the moment in silence, letting his eyes, his body speak for him. He held her tight, reveling in the feeling of her against him. “Did you hear me?” he whispered at last.
She nodded against his shoulder. “I thought I was dreaming, but then you just went on and on about Old Man Sutherland and I knew I wasn’t.” Her voice was hoarse. He poured her some water and held the glass for her.
“I’m sorry,” Hayden said, still too in awe to think straight.
“No,” Jenna’s eyes were bright with tears. “I loved every minute of it. You don’t ever have to stop.” She looked at him, her eyes starting to spark with some of their old vitality. “I thought you said something about a ring.” she prompted.
Hayden took her hand and held it up. “It’s right there.”
“Where it belongs.” Jenna moved into him, wrapping her arms about his neck.
“And I am where I belong.” Hayden murmured. “With you.” He kissed her again, this time full on the mouth, holding nothing back. It was true, the bigger the risk, the bigger the thrill. He’d always known that. But this was something entirely different. Nothing equaled knowing she was his forever.
Epilogue
December 31, 1838 near midnight at the shore of Lake Kendal
Hayden grabbed a bottle of champagne from the snow bank where cases had been unloaded for chilling. Around him, others were doing the same, popping corks and pouring glasses for their friends. 1838 was on its way out within minutes.
“Hurry, Hayden, or we’ll miss it!” Jenna encouraged laughingly as he worked the cork and poured the golden liquid into flutes, making a bubbly, fizzy mess of it. Logan and Carrick teased him for his efforts but Hayden didn’t mind. He was glad to be with them again, glad they’d come to help him usher in the New Year and to celebrate the soon to be annual Lake Kendal ice festival which would kick off on New Year’s Day with an ice race and continue through January sixth for Epiphany. The date was new and new activities had been added to the agenda, making it a most ambitious undertaking. He and Jenna had worked on promoting and planning the festival since spring.
“Here’s to new beginnings.” Logan raised his glass for a toast and the little group clinked flutes. “1839 promises to be a grand year.”
“And to endings.” Hayden added, his eyes on Jenna, who looked radiant tonight in a warm wool ensemble of deep holiday green liberally trimmed with fur. “I’m a little sorry to see 1838 go, it was a very good year.” It hadn’t started that way. He had entered the year restless and reckless, but he’d ended the year, married, settled, a man with a place, a man with direction. His riding business was a success, morphing with the seasons to take advantage of the flow of wealthy men and their families through the Lake District. He still raced but only at venues close to home. It added, he discovered, to his cache. If you wanted to race the sport’s founder, you had to come to him, to Kendal. But more than that, he’d ended the year with love; knowing what it was like to be loved and to give love.
He poured another round of champagne for his friends, his arm wrapped around Jenna, drawing her near as a voice in the crowd took up the final countdown. “Five, four… ”
“I love you,” he whispered at her ear, three words to end the year on for her alone.
“Three, two, one!” The crowd roared around them, Logan and Carrick pounded one another on the back, raising great, loud howls of glee to the midnight sky but Hayden heard only the whisper of Jenna’s words as the new year rolled in. “I love you, too.” If his words had been the best to end the year, these four were the best possible to begin with.
Hayden drew her close for a kiss, long and deep and full of promise for the night, for the future until Logan and Carrick began their catcalls and whistles.
“You’re just jealous you don’t have anyone to kiss.” Hayden lifted his head long enough to respond. “Don’t worry, you’ll find someone, eventually. The single life is alright for some.” Hayden looked down at Jenna. “But I prefer the married life.” The married life, the family life, all of it. He liked being a brother of sorts to Daniel and a son in-law to Julius, a husband to Jenna, and a father to Michael, a month old yesterday, born nine months and two weeks after the wedding.
Jenna kissed his cheek, her own cheeks flushed with cold and passion. She pressed close, unbothered by Carrick and Logan’s teasing. Her body melted into his as the fireworks went off over the lake, sprays of rose and silver in the night sky. She and Michael were proof of how much he’d reformed his thinking in this last year. He’d once believed there were two great thrills in life. Now, he quite vehemently believed there was only one that mattered; waking up to his beautiful wife, going to sleep beside her every night or as beside her as he could get these days. Quite often there was a one-month old bundle between them. He didn’t mind. He knew the truth: There was one great thrill in life and he lived it every day: the thrill of loving.
Author’s Note
Dear Readers,
I hope you are enjoying Hayden’s story. This is the first in a three book series that has a Regency ‘X-Games’ theme to it. In this book, Hayden is an ice-racer (he races horses on ice, that means frozen lakes). It’s definitely not a thrill for the faint-hearted! I was inspired to do an ice racing story when I read the 1835 poem, “The Rider and Lake Constance.” I didn’t have to make much up. Even today, ice racing is an annual event among the rich and famous. There’s a snow and ice racing festival yearly at Saint Moritz that’s been going on for over a century.
I do want to point out two areas of license that I did take with the story, however, because at the end of the day, it is a work of fiction and imagination. First, there is no lake in Kendal. If you were to travel to Kendal today, you will see the mills and the river and even some of the streets that are mentioned. But you would not see the lake. That is purely an invention of my own. Second, if you research ice racing, you will note that it really hits its ‘stride’ in the later Victorian period, so our story bumps that up a few years. This is not a major issue. Ice racing was around in the 1830s and the technology for horseshoes that provide traction on snow and ice had been around even longer and Scandinavians had certainly been waxing skis before the advent of our story, so it’s a very small historical infraction.
I hope to see you at my webpage www.bronwynnswriting.com and I’d love to hear from you about Hayden’s story. Look for two more in the series. Reckless Rakes: Carrick Pierce and Reckless Rakes: Graeme Logan!
Bronwyn
Coming soon from Bronwyn Scott …
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Bronwyn Scott
Hi All!
I hope you’re enjoying the latest Bronwyn Scott series. I’ve loved every minute of crafting sexy new heroes and spicy heroines to match! It’s always an exciting challenge to come up with new twists and ideas for stories. I love writing and it’s a thrill to get to write for ‘work.’ However, I also wear a couple other hats. I am a tenured college professor in the Pacific Northwest where I teach communication studies and currently head
the department on my campus. This keeps me busy year round as does being a full time mom to three great kids. Between ballet, swim meets and horse shows, there’s never a dull moment around the house. It’s no wonder that a few of my heroes like to take a swim to relieve of the stress of being rakish and a few of my heroines over the past have been bruising riders.
I love hearing from my readers, so stay in touch through my blog at www.bronwynswriting.blogspot.com or my webpage http://www.bronwynnscott.com/ Readers can follow me on twitter for updates about new releases and give aways.
About HarperImpulse
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