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CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

W ith Romney in bed, Emberley moved back into her chamber and made sure to bolt the door that led out to the corridor. The room was lit only by a glowing fire in the hearth, casting dancing shadows on the walls, as she made her way back over to the bed where Gart was stripping off his sweaty, dirty tunic. Lady Emilie had lain out the lamb’s wool shift and delicate yellow robe and she fingered them distractedly, thinking on her son.

“He has so many questions,” she said quietly. “When I hear him speak to you, I am reminded of the time you told me that he wants very much to become a man. He is trying so hard to grow up.”

Gart nodded as he unlaced his breeches and slid them off his big frame. “Indeed he is,” he replied. “I told you that you must let the child become a man.”

“I am trying.”

“I know you are.”

As Emberley pushed aside thoughts of her son and began to inspect the quality of the shift, Gart made his way over to the tub. He climbed into the big copper pot and sloshed water over the sides. Emberley gasped when she saw what he was doing.

“The water is cold,” she pointed out the obvious. “Do you not want hot water?”

He began splashing water over his head and neck, sputtering when it ran over his mouth. “This will do,” he held out a hand. “Will you please give me the soap bar?”

She went over to the table and picked up the lumpy bar that smelled of flowers. “You are going to smell like a woman.”

“It is better than smelling like a rotted corpse.”

She giggled as she put the soap in his hand. “Very well,” she said. “But if men start flirting with you, I will only laugh at your misfortune.”

Eyes still closed, he grinned as he lathered up his scalp and neck. “You are a cruel woman.”

She giggled as she made her way back to the bed, dropping the big linen towel in favor of the lamb’s wool. It fit her snugly but comfortably, and she donned the yellow robe over that. Lady Emilie had left a large bone comb as well as a few other toiletries, and she ran the comb through her hair repeatedly as she watched Gart bathe. Now that he was here, she was fully calm and settled. The situation was feeling normal again, alone in a world with no Julian, only Gart. He was the center of everything.

She took a stool by the hearth and combed her hair to dry it against the heat from the fire. When Gart finished soaping and rinsing, he opened his eyes to find her sitting there, looking like an angel in her yellow dressing gown and silky, blond hair. The glow of the fire behind her gave her a halo appearance, glowing all around her body. Rinsing off the last of the soap, he smiled at her, feeling so incredibly fortunate to have her with him again.

“I have missed you, kitten,” he said softly. “Every minute of the days and nights that we were separated were filled with thoughts of you. Have you been well?”

She returned his smile as she combed through her hair, the color returning to her cheeks in the warmth of the blaze. “I have been very well but I have missed you terribly,” she replied. “The boys were lonely for you also. They had no one to play with.”

He chuckled softly, looking around for the big, linen towel and seeing that it was draped neatly on a chair near the bed. He stood up, water sloshing off his big body and onto the floor as he climbed out of the tub in his quest for the damp towel that Emberley had used.

“You would not tell me what they did to Lord de Lara,” he grabbed the towel and began rubbing it across his legs. “I would suspect he served well in my place as an object of their aggression.”

She smiled in agreement but that smile soon faded. “I miss my babies,” she responded. “They were terribly frightened when Julian’s escort came for us.”

Gart wasn’t going to bring up the subject of the escort just yet, but since she did, he took her lead.

“Do you want to tell me what happened?” he asked gently.

Her smile faded completely. “I am not entirely sure,” she said honestly. “I know that Lord de Lara keeps the gates open and people come in and out of Trelystan all of the time. I suppose the escort entered just like any other party. I truly do not know. All I know is that they were suddenly standing there as I crossed through the bailey.”

He pondered that explanation a moment. “How is it that only you and Romney managed to go with them?”

She shrugged. “As we ran for the keep, I was captured. Orin and Brendt took Lacy up to our chamber and bolted the door, but Romney stayed behind to protect me. They captured him, too. The only reason they were able to take us from Trelystan was because they held a knife to my throat and threatened to kill me if Lord de Lara showed any resistance.”

It all made a great deal of sense to him now. He thought of Romney standing against armed knights, attempting to protect his mother, and it made him proud and sick at the same time. His jaw ticked as he dried off his chest and arms, looking between his task and Emberley’s rosy face.

“That is how you got that gash on your neck,” he rumbled.

She nodded, hearing the hazard in his tone. “Aye,” she admitted. “I tried to fight back and ended up goring myself on the tip of the knife.”

He sighed heavily. “But that is the only injury you received? You are well otherwise?”

“I am well.”

“And the baby is well?”

She rubbed her belly. “He is.”

He tossed the towel aside and went to the bed, yanking back the coverlet. He didn’t want to talk about her abduction from Trelystan anymore because he could feel himself growing increasingly upset over it. He didn’t want to spend the first night with her in weeks upset over something that was a waste of effort. Focusing on the comfortable mattress before him, he waved her over.

“Come to bed now,” he told her. “We will speak more of this tomorrow.”

She obediently rose from the stool, feeling that her hair was mostly dry and setting the comb down on the table as she moved to the bed. In silence, she braided her hair into a thick single braid and removed the yellow robe, clad only in the lamb’s wool sheath.

Emberley climbed onto the mattress and Gart climbed in after her. He pulled the coverlet up around them, enclosing her within his powerful arms. The moment Emberley felt his flesh against hers, the safety of his embrace, the tears began to come.

She snuggled up against him as close as she could go, settling in, feeling his body envelope her. Gart’s hand was against her face, cradling the side of her head, and he could feel the warm tears drip onto his flesh.

“What is wrong, kitten?” he kissed the side of her head. “Why do you weep?”

She shrugged. “I have no idea why,” she whispered. “Only that I have missed you terribly and that I am frightened. Frightened that Julian will find where I am, frightened that your liege will arrest you for saving me from Julian’s escort, frightened that….”

He cut her off with gentle gruffness, rolling her onto her back and looming over her. “The only thing you should be worrying about is bringing our son safely into the world,” he said softly. “You must trust me that everything else will work out. I am depending on that faith. It keeps me strong.”

She gazed up into his handsome face, a soft hand coming up to stroke his cheek and watched him kiss the palm of her hand.

“I do have faith,” she murmured. “I love you so much, Gart. I dream of the day when you and I can live free from Julian and his terror.”

“As do I.”

Both hands came up as she gently touched his face. “Tell me where we will live when all of this madness is over.”

He kissed her hands when they came close to his mouth. “It seems that things have changed somewhat,” he admitted. “It seems that Albemarle has another heir, a young son I was unaware of, so the inheritance I was going to solicit from him is no longer mine. But there is still inheritance on my mother’s side. I intend to go to France and seek that as soon as Julian divorces you.”

She looked surprised. “Julian divorces me?”

His green eyes twinkled. “It would seem that we have a powerful priest on our side that will help persuade him,” he kissed the tip of her nose. “He has heard Julian’s confession as well as the queen’s, as they attend him regularly. The priest has agreed to tell Julian and Isabella that the penance for their sin of adultery will require Julian to divorce his wife. If everything happens as it should, Julian will come to you very soon with a request for a divorce. As soon as it is granted, you and I will be married.”

Emberley was shocked. “Is that why he sent an escort for me? To speak to me of divorce?”

Gart shook his head, feeling the familiar heat of desire fill his veins as he kissed her cheek, her forehead. “Nay,” he murmured. “He sent an escort for you because the queen has apparently focused her attention on another man and Julian wants to make her jealous by showing attention to you.”

Emberley lay there, struggling to absorb all he was telling her. But then Gart’s lips drifted over hers and she responded hungrily, distracted from her thoughts, as his big hands snaked underneath her shift and lifted it over her head. Their hot, nude flesh came together and Emberley wrapped her arms around his neck, giving herself over to him completely as his big body overwhelmed her.

His mouth was on her neck, her breasts, carefully kneading her flesh and suckling her nipples. He was everywhere, his hands and mouth, tasting her flesh, feeling her heated response against him. As his mouth moved to the pink folds between her legs and he pushed her legs apart, he began to whisper to the child she carried, his mouth against her slightly rounded belly, telling the child how welcome he was. His fingers were inside her, stroking her as if trying to touch the life they had created together.

Emberley listened to his soft whispers, tears of tenderness filling her eyes, loving the man more than words could express. When he finally lifted himself up and thrust into her eager body, the words he whispered in her ear were purely of his love for her.

It had been weeks since he had last felt her against him, around him, and Gart savored every movement, every stroke, listening to Emberley’s soft gasps of pleasure. They were like music to his ears. It wasn’t long before he felt her powerful release around his throbbing organ, driving him mad as she wept with pleasure.

When he finally took his pleasure deep inside her body, he held her hips firmly, grinding his pelvis against hers and feeling her release around him again and again until she was absolutely exhausted. With one hand to her breast, gently fondling her, he kissed and nuzzled her until he grew hard again and then he resumed making love to her, feeling the wetness he put into her, feeling their bodies as they joined.

They were heavily into lovemaking when a knock on the door startled them both.