His eyes wild with feverish longing, Ruy trailed a path with his predatory tongue down to her breasts, where he left the peaks of them wet and taut, then moving from her cleavage down the middle of her, kissing and murmuring words that were unintelligible now, his hot breath fanning the fire that already scorched her satiny flesh as he sought the burgeon of her need.
‘I want to take you in my mouth, I want to taste your sweet nectar, savour each bit of you until you lose your mind,’ he whispered roughly as his hands continued their decadent journey over her sensitized breasts, moving with teasing caresses over her slender waist and tracing her quivering curves as his head worked its way downwards.
Then he found the engorged heat between her thighs. Again and again, waves of pleasure flooded over her as he inched her many times to the brink, making her cry out his name and rave and squirm, responding like a puppet under the command of his masterly, wicked tongue.
As her hands fisted in his dark hair, Ruy suddenly rose up and pinned her wrists above her head, eliciting from her a fresh gasp of surprise and pleasure. The molten look in his eyes told Luna that he could no longer contain himself. He slid over her and positioned himself between her already parted thighs. With one smooth glide, he thrust into the slick opening of her body, burying himself to the hilt in her velvet heat, making her cry out. She moaned in sensual delirium as he pushed deeper and longer into her and her hips rose to meet him, knowing their mutual hunger was building with a galloping momentum, the heat coursing through their veins as they devoured each other, body and soul, giving and taking in perfect unity.
At last, letting go, he drove them both to a rapturous climax, staggering in its raw potency as an astonishing deluge of pleasure surged through their bodies, splintering their senses and leaving them exalted.
Ruy pressed his forehead to Luna’s, panting for breath. ‘You’re all mine. Te amo, mi hermosa esposa, I love you, my beautiful wife.’ Her arms curled around his neck, tears springing to her eyes.
‘Te amo, mi marido querido.’
* * *
A few hours later, after they had made love many times over and basked in the pleasure of each other’s bodies, Ruy and Luna finally dressed and left the sanctuary of their bedroom to explore the grounds of Olivar together.
They went down to the part of the garden that was bordered by a lake, which Luna had talked about with such emotion. It was a day in which mere existence was a delight and they sat on the grass, leaning against the gnarled bark of an olive tree heavy with summer foliage. As they breathed in the pure air, Ruy and Luna gazed in silence over one of the most magnificent prospects the eye ever looked upon, asking themselves if they were not in some kind of wonderland.
A smiling, green and fertile valley stretched to infinity with line after line of silver-green olive trees and the deep, dreamy Guadalquivir River scintillating like a necklace of blue diamonds under the azure sky. The outlines and undulations of the hills and slopes, which rose and fell boundlessly to the horizon, were lit by the incandescent smile of the bright sun.
Ruy broke the silence. ‘I bet you can’t guess what I found when I first came here to look at this place,’ he whispered in her ear.
‘No, tell me.’ Luna turned her head and met the twinkle in his eyes. ‘What did you find?’
‘Come, I’ll show you.’ He helped her up and led her towards the house, walking around to the back. The previous owners must have kept a few chickens because there was a broken-down coop; there was also what appeared to be an old kitchen garden, almost entirely overgrown.
‘Gitano-Negro would like it if we kept birds, I’m sure,’ Ruy chuckled, crouching to pull at the wire netting as he peered into the cage.
‘I remember this,’ said Luna, wide-eyed with delight. ‘We used to steal cherries when no one was around. They had an old gardener, who was a bit of a terror, I seem to remember.’ She smiled at the memory, her gaze travelling around the rambling potager.
‘But look over here,’ said Ruy as he straightened up, gesturing towards an area next to where they were standing. Surrounded by a dry-stone wall, the emerald-green patch was alive with a profusion of herbs. ‘Mint, verbena, rosemary, thyme, echinacea, chamomile … they’re all here.’
Luna breathed in the heady fragrance. ‘That smell is heavenly. Oh Ruy, we can have our very own herb garden!’ Her eyes danced with excitement.
‘That was exactly my thought, too. We can plan it together, tend it together. I inherited the other herb garden from La Pharaona but it never felt truly mine. We can take cuttings and plants from it, anyway. You know, maybe in time we might create something as wonderful as the famous, seventeenth-century Chelsea Physic Garden in London.’
‘Just think how many of your beloved infusions we can make,’ said Luna, laughing.
‘Did your friends tell you the legend of the olive tree?’
‘If they did, I can’t remember it.’
‘When I bought the grove, I did a bit of research. The legend says that Zeus promised to gift the peninsula of Attica to the god who would bring to him the most valuable and useful present. Poseidon, god of the sea, and Athena, daughter of Zeus and goddess of wisdom, both came to present their gifts. Poseidon struck the earth with his trident and produced a horse, which was considered a powerful instrument of war. With the touch of her spear, Athena brought forth an olive tree, a symbol of hearth and home, vital for cooking and light, health and fertility. With this more peaceful gift, Athena beat Poseidon and, from that moment on, the humble olive tree has represented peace and prosperity.’
‘I do feel so safe and peaceful here,’ Luna whispered with a tremulous sigh of contentment, as she leaned back against her husband’s firm chest.
He smiled down at her, hugging her into the warm circle of his arms.
She trembled slightly and they sat in silence for a few moments, both lost in reverie, reflecting on their happiness and the sway of fate.
The atmosphere was full of love: Luna’s and Ruy’s love. From the undergrowth, a few cicadas chirruped lazily. Somewhere on the lake came the pleasant sound of rushing water – the cascade was soothing and gave a sense of coolness after the day’s heat.
‘Isn’t this perfect?’ she said, snuggling deeper in his embrace.
‘It’ll be even more perfect once we’ve filled this place with the laughter of children.’ He spread his palm over the flat plane of her stomach lovingly. ‘One day, not too far off, we’ll be sitting here with our little Rueda de Calderón heir, the fruit of our precious love.’
She looked up at him, her amber eyes glittering with excitement. ‘Then let’s make a baby tonight.’
He buried his face in her fragrant hair and chuckled. ‘Always impatient, querida, ey?’
But Ruy didn’t need a second invitation. His lips closed over hers with tender passion. After all, why not? It seemed the most fitting culmination of their whirlwind romance.
A letter from Hannah
Dear Reader,
Thank you for reading Legacy. I hope that Luna’s and Ruy’s story of truth, dreams and desire fires your blood as much as it did mine.
If you did enjoy the story, I’d be eternally grateful if you would write a review. Getting feedback from readers is incredibly rewarding and also helps to persuade others to pick up one of my books for the first time.
For news of my next releases, please come and visit me at my website – www.hannahfielding.net or join me on Facebook or Twitter @fieldinghannah.
Best wishes,
Hannah
Q and A
with Hannah Fielding
Viva España
What is it that inspires you about Andalucía?
In my lifetime, I have been fortunate enough to travel to all manner of places around the globe, but Andalucía remains one of my favourites. That sultry, sunny Spanish region so fired up my imagination that I set my Andalucían Nights Trilogy there.
There are so many things I love about it: for one thing, how peo
ple come together, often over food … what amazing meals I’ve had in Andalucía! The spirit of the people is also captivating. I found a real sense of ‘fiesta’ in the places I visited and an intensity; as Salvador says in Indiscretion: ‘Everything we Andalucíans do, we do with intensity.’ Andalucía is an autonomous community, so there are many people who are very proud of their Andalucían nationality.
The art and architecture have always drawn me to the region and it’s a place where the Moorish influence, in particular, has left its mark. My favourite example is the Alhambra, the amalgamation of fabulous Arabesque palaces and a fortress complex built by the Moors on a steep wooded hill during the mid-fourteenthth century in Granada. It’s straight out of the exotic tales of The Arabian Nights and is startling in its beauty.
The stunning scenery is another thing: I love the colours of the landscape. Andalucía is known for its Pueblos Blancos – white villages – and the sky and sea are so beautifully blue. The temperate climate makes for such a wonderful life, enjoyed in the warmth of the Mediterranean sun and beneath glorious blue skies (the dry area of Andalucía enjoys some three hundred days of sunshine per year!).
Family is an important theme in the trilogy (the title Legacy hints at this) and so where better to situate the story than in a place where roots are a source of great pride – and, sometimes, friction. For me, Andalucía is the heart of Spain. The opening of the trilogy begins with: En la sangre hierve España sin fuego – ‘In Spain, blood boils without fire.’ The proverb says it all: this is a land of deep passions, the perfect setting for fiery, dramatic romance. Olé!
Flamenco features prominently in the Andalucían Nights series. How did it inspire the romance and passion in the trilogy?
Flamenco is an integral aspect of the Andalucían culture and is so ardently passionate. As I wrote Indiscretion, Masquerade and Legacy, I listened to flamenco music and found myself transported to the south of Spain. It is so vibrant, evocative, stirring and soulful.
You never forget your first flamenco show. I remember how I felt, in my early twenties, entirely captivated by the strumming guitars and raw vocals, the shoes tapping in time to the rhythm of my heartbeat. I remember the mesmerizing grace of the dancers, their stunning sensuality, their naked emotion and the sheer spectacle of it all: the swirling, vivid colours of the beautiful costumes.
I adore the fashion of flamenco; the beautiful red-and-black dresses the women wear, in particular. What young woman isn’t intrigued upon discovering a new fashion? When I saw my first traje de flamenco (flamenco costume), my first thought was: ‘Wow – beautiful!’ My second: ‘I want one!’ The flamenco attire I saw was novel at the time and alluringly exotic to me. Nowadays, flamenco fashion is big news, capturing the imaginations of fashion designers the world over.
Most of all, I love the music – what Federico García Lorca called ‘the weeping of the guitar’. In Masquerade, the hero Leandro is of gypsy decent: the history and culture of his people and their home, Andalucía, define him. So it stands to reason that he is a talented and passionate guitar player. In Legacy, Ruy inherits his father’s ability and develops it even further, becoming an impressive musician who can move between mandolin playing, flamenco and classical guitar. Both Leandro and Ruy in their own ways embody the wild and beautiful spirit of flamenco. There’s no other music like it in the world, and no other music so raw and moving.
Would you say Luna Ward is the most complex of your heroines so far?
Absolutely. Luna is the least adventurous of the three women in the Andalucían Nights Trilogy, but she is the one who probably has the longest way to go to reach emotional maturity because of the baggage she carries. Therefore, she is definitely the most complicated of my heroines, compared with Alexandra and Luz, who both share a reckless propensity to follow their passions. Like Alexandra, however, Luna knows what it is to have tragedy and division in her family, and that unspoken connection is, perhaps, what instinctively draws these two women of different generations together when they meet in Legacy.
With Luna, her intellect often obscures the intensity of her feelings and she finds it safer to maintain the façade of a cool, proficient, level-headed scientist. She is an idealist and that’s why she accepts the controversial assignment she is given and remains in it until she is convinced her assumptions are wrong. Self-reliant where her work is concerned, her self-confidence wavers when it comes to men and love, though. Luna is deeply scarred by a traumatic childhood experience, which colours all her reactions to the opposite sex; and this is the challenge that Ruy must face with her when he helps her to conquer her internal demons.
Independent, orderly and reserved – almost an introvert – Luna is nevertheless courageous and passionate once she decides to trust and her emotions are unleashed. When she finally accepts her feelings for Ruy, her love has no bounds and she gives herself without restraint, liberating herself from her ‘tunnel vision’, as Ruy calls it, as well the fear of her past.
You seem to be fascinated by the idea of fortune telling – where does this theme come from?
I have long been intrigued by fortune telling. When I was a young woman, I visited plenty of fortune tellers and became quite persuaded that some people really do have the gift to see into the past and future. My experiences set me on a path to finding out about divination across various cultures and throughout history. Although the methods of divining the future are varied and fascinating – from tarot cards and astrology to palmistry, rune-casting and crystal balls – I have always found pyromancy wonderfully evocative; imagine telling the future by staring into flames – so dramatic!
Including fortune telling in my books allows me to build on three key themes.
Mystery: confusing and troubling the heroine until all is revealed at the climax. Control: each of my main characters is independent and strong, and wants to feel a good measure of control over her life. In Burning Embers, Indiscretion and Masquerade, in particular, the heroines are asserting their right to equality with men, testing their wings in worlds with expanding freedoms for women. Falling in love can feel like losing control and each heroine must work to establish her own identity while surrendering to love’s course. Taboo: fortune telling is frowned upon by some. It is taboo and, in any love story, what is forbidden can be powerful – and attractive. By bringing in this element, I test the heroines. Will they stick to what they feel they ‘should’ do and think or will they follow their hearts into the risky unknown?
Packing Up My Suitcase
Who/what inspired you to travel?
When I was a little girl, my parents took my sister and me on trips to Europe, which were magical and inspirational for a romantic like myself. But after the 1956 war in Egypt, almost everyone was stopped from travelling. As I grew through my teens, the desire to travel boiled up in me. I don’t think I ever recovered. Two or three times a year I reach for my passport and we’re off.
Which passport stamp are you proudest of?
Most definitely the Swiss stamp I was given on arrival in Geneva in 1968. My family had been forbidden to travel for ten years under the regime of the time, and this was my first trip abroad since I had been a child.
Which passport stamp would you most like to have?
I am compulsively nomadic – there are so many countries I have still to visit. The romance of travel will never fade for me. I think China is calling next. My father was a great collector of Chinese porcelain and I love it too; and I have always been fascinated by Confucius and his philosophy.
When and where in your travels have you been happiest?
Travelling with my teenage children and a whole bunch of their friends on skiing holidays to Courchevel and Méribel in winter, and to a rented villa in the hills of the south of France, where we eventually bought a house.
A Writer’s Life
What is the best piece of advice you could give to someone who wants to get into writing?
First and foremost, write from the heart. Be tr
ue to yourself and don’t compromise to please the market. Markets change, fads come and go; your work will remain.
Research your facts thoroughly. A writer today has no excuse for not getting his/her facts right. Use all the tools available to you. Travel, internet, books, films, documentaries: they’re all there to enrich your experience and make your writing journey easier.
Plan your novel down to the smallest detail. This will make your writing so much easier and, therefore, so much more enjoyable. A writing plan is your map. Would you set out on a long journey by car without a map?
Read, reread and reread. Edit, edit, edit. Go through your manuscript again and again and edit it. I know that it will break your heart to delete a phrase or even one word you have spent time agonizing over but, sometimes, less is more. Not easy advice to follow but, in the long run, it does work. If you can leave the manuscript alone for a few weeks and revisit it at a later date, reading it as if it were someone else’s, then that’s even better.
Do not get discouraged. Continue to write whether you think your work is good or bad. There is no bad writing. There are good days and bad days. The more you write, the better at it you get.
About the Author
Hannah Fielding is an award-winning romance author, who grew up in Alexandria, Egypt, the granddaughter of Esther Fanous, a revolutionary feminist and writer in Egypt during the early 1900s. After graduating she developed a passion for travel, living in Switzerland, France and England. After marrying her English husband, she settled in Kent and subsequently had little time for writing while bringing up two children, looking after dogs and horses, and running her own business renovating rundown cottages. Hannah now divides her time between her homes in England and the South of France.
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