Forbidden
Page 20
Gradually, his happy shaft curled up in the sticky warmth at her opening. He tried to summon his arms to lift his weight.
“Don’t move,” she murmured.
But a little voice in his head urged him to seek the evidence of his conquest on the linens. “They’ll come early for the sheets,” he rasped, filled with satisfaction at the sight of blood on his tarse and on the linens.
“Sheets?” she said hoarsely, lifting up on her elbows.
The sight of her ripe breasts, the still hard nipples pouting provocatively, stirred renewed interest in his couilles. “They’ll want to run the bloodied sheets up the flagpole.”
She covered a yawn with the back of her hand. “They’ll need two poles.”
He looked at the sheets again. “Two?”
She collapsed back onto the mattress. “Two marriages, two wedding nights, two sets of sheets.”
Rodrick furrowed his brow. Evidently, her first intimate experience had stolen his wife’s wits. “No. You don’t get my meaning. It’s the bloodied sheets. To prove the bride was—”
She raised up on her elbows again and stared at him with those big amber eyes, and the truth hit him as hard as Titus had punched him in the nose. “Grace?”
She said nothing.
Anger surged into his throat. “You mean Victor—Grace—their marriage—”
He came to his feet, filled at once with fury for his sister’s torment that he’d failed miserably to even guess, and elation for Bronson. He raked a hand through his hair. “If Victor wasn’t already dead, I’d kill him myself. Did she tell you of this?”
“No, but I’ve suspected for a while. Things she said, and a reluctance to venture into topics young women who are about to be wed usually discuss. She evaded my curious questions.”
His male pride reasserted itself. He lay back down, gathering her warm body into his arms. “And have I answered the questions to your satisfaction?”
She sighed deeply, snuggling into him, pulling the top sheet over them. “I am more than satisfied. But I have a feeling there is still a lot to learn.”
She reached down to cup him in her hand. “For example, Grace wouldn’t say whether women are allowed to put their mouths on a man.” She pulled back to look at him, a wicked glint in her eye. “Oh! It got bigger!”
“We’ll have to change your name, milady Swan,” he growled. “Saucy Wench is more appropriate.”
Epilogue
April 1155AD, Ellesmere, Salop, England
“The babe in my belly seems determined to make me cast up my accounts this morning,” Swan lamented. “However, I am just as resolved not to retch over our new king.”
Standing beside her in the bailey as they anxiously awaited King Henry’s cavalcade, Grace patted her hand reassuringly. “You’ll be fine.”
“Easy for you to say,” Swan retorted. “You haven’t been bothered by morning sickness. It’s unfair.”
Rodrick tightened his arm around her shoulder. “Lean on me. You’ll feel better.”
She snorted, regretting it instantly as bile surged up her throat. “Tell that to your son.”
Bronson chuckled. “You look pale, sister dear, whereas my bride is the picture of health.”
She stuck out her tongue, but in her heart she was happy for him. Both his wives had struggled with pregnancy, whereas Grace had blossomed. It boded well for the birth of their child. She’d been heard to express an intuition she was carrying twins. Swan wouldn’t be surprised since Grace was a twin and Bronson and Swan’s father had a twin sister, their aunt Blythe in Saxony.
At the insistent invitation of their jovial hosts in Italy, they’d remained in Rome until the end of February. It had given them a chance to rest, recuperate and spend time together before undertaking the long journey home. Swan liked Italy and would have stayed longer, but King Henry needed loyal young noblemen like Rodrick and Bronson in England.
En route, Swan had been the one indisposed in the mornings. She’d begun to doubt Grace was enceinte.
To get her mind off her roiling belly, she thought back over the almost two years since her first visit to Ellesmere. She’d arrived in a state of despair, angry at a social system that had condemned her to life in a nunnery. Now, she was countess-in-waiting of a powerful earldom in a kingdom with renewed hope for peace, married to a man she adored and whose child she carried.
She thanked God and his saints that she and her dear brother had both found happiness, despite the best efforts of the Church to censure their love.
She closed her eyes, chuckling at the vision she conjured of Bronson chasing red-headed twins around the grounds at Shelfhoc.
Indeed, many things had turned out differently from her expectations. But she’d been right about one thing. Henry Plantagenet was King of England.
* * *
If you missed earlier books in the series about the Montbryce family, you can catch up on Volumes 1-4 in a specially priced collection.
Alternatively, you can check out Amazon’s promotional pricing on the entire set of individual books. Forbidden is Book 11, and there will be 12 books in all.
Finale (Book 12) features Barr de Montbryce, the son of Alexandre and Elayne from Jeopardy (Book 10)
The series takes the reader from 1066 AD, the year of the Norman Conquest, to a cataclysmic event in 1170 AD during the reign of Henry II. Each story can be read as a standalone, but once you get to know the Montbryces, you’ll want to read the whole saga.
I’ve also written three books about the Viking ancestors of the Montbryce family, and these can be purchased as a set, Viking Roots.
You’ve already realized the FitzRams play an integral role in the family’s history. Redemption is the story of the FitzRam patriarch, Caedmon, and the love stories of his three children can be found in a set entitled The FitzRam Family Trilogy.
I hope you come to love these characters as much as I do. I consider myself an honorary member of the Montbryce clan!
About Anna
Getting Intimate With History
Thank you for reading FORBIDDEN. If you’d like to leave a review where you purchased the book, and/or on Goodreads, I would appreciate it. Reviews contribute greatly to an author’s success.
I’d love you to visit my website and my Facebook page, Anna Markland Novels.
Tweet me @annamarkland, join me on Pinterest, or sign up for my newsletter.
Follow me on BookBub and be the first to know when my next book is released.
I was born and educated in England, but I’ve lived most of my life in Canada. I was an elementary school teacher for 25 years, a job I loved.
After that I worked with my husband in the management of his businesses. He’s a born entrepreneur who likes to boast he’s never had a job!
My final “career” was as Director of Administration of a global disaster relief organization.
I then embarked on writing a romance, something I’d always wanted to do. I chose the medieval period because it’s my favorite to read.
I have a keen interest in genealogy. This hobby has had a tremendous influence on my stories. My medieval romances are tales of family honor, ancestry, and roots. As an amateur genealogist, I cherished a dream of tracing my own English roots back to the Norman Conquest—most likely impossible since I am not descended from nobility! So I made up a family and my stories follow its members through successive generations.
I am a firm believer in love at first sight. My heroes and heroines may initially deny the attraction between them, but eventually the alchemy wins out. I want readers to rejoice when the power of love overcomes every obstacle and lovers find their soul mates. For me, novels are an experience of another world and time. I lose myself in the characters’ lives, always knowing they will triumph in the end and find love. One of the things I enjoy most about writing historical romance is the in-depth research necessary to provide readers with an authentic medieval experience. I love ferreting out bits of historical trivia and including them in my stori
es.
Escape with me to where romance began and get intimate with history.
I hope you come to know and love my cast of characters as much as I do.
I’d like to acknowledge the assistance of my critique group partners, Reggi Allder, Jacquie Biggar, LizAnn Carson, and Sylvie Grayson, and the invaluable contributions of beta reader extraordinaire, Maria McIntyre.