She turned back to her dressing table as she unwound the braid around her head. “If there is lavender on the bed, it will mean a daughter,” she said. “Rosemary on the bed means a son.”
He suddenly grabbed the linens and shook them violently. Lavender bits flew out all over the floor.
“Remove that rubbish from my bed immediately,” he said. “I’ll not have those weeds touching any part of me.”
Mira started laughing as he finished shaking the lines and charged toward the chamber door. “Wait,” she said. “Where are you going?”
He yanked the door open. “To find rosemary!”
Her laughter grew. “Stop,” she said. “Douglas, shut the door and bolt it. Surely you know that lavender or rosemary will not determine the sex of the child. It is just a silly superstition people have. It means nothing.”
He wasn’t so sure, but he came away from the door and bolted it as she’d asked. Stomping vindictively on the little bits of lavender as he came back into the chamber, he began to remove his clothing.
“I hope it means nothing,” he said. “If our first child is a girl, then I know you have lied to me.”
Combing out her blonde hair, Mira laughed at him. “I have never lied to you and I never will,” she said. “But I cannot control the sex of our child any more than you can. It is in God’s hands.”
Douglas didn’t like the fact that he wasn’t in control of something, but he knew she was right. He pulled off his tunic, his boots, and finally his breeches, climbing between the linens and making sure there were no remnants of the lavender. He lay back on the pillows, an enormous arm folded behind his head, and watched Mira as she finished brushing her glorious hair. When she stood up and saw him in bed, a seductive expression on his face, she fought off a grin.
“You are so eager that you did not realize I need help out of this dress,” she said. “Get up and help me get this off or your wedding night will not go as planned.”
He flew out of the bed, stark naked, and Mira caught a glimpse of his semi-erect manhood. She’d truthfully never seen a naked man before, and in the months they’d been courting, he’dnever revealed his organ to her because she’d never asked to see it. He’d been very careful about not exposing her to something she was unsure about, or didn’t ask about, but now she had no reason not to be curious about it. When she got over the surprise of seeing it, intrigue took hold.
“The ties in the back,” she said, moving her hair aside so he could get at them. “Douglas, may I ask you something?”
He was so eager to loosen the ties that he accidentally broke one and didn’t want to tell her. “Anything, my love,” he said, wincing with guilt as he held up the broken tie. “What is it?”
“You know I have never… done this before,” she said. “We’ve only talked about it in theory, of course, but you’ve never told me—haveyoudone this before?”
He froze, eyes wide. “Why do you ask?”
“Because if neither one of us has done this, it may be a bit awkward,” she said. “I’ve seen dogs mate, of course, and Lady Isabel was very factual in the way she told us about the joining of a man and a woman, but she had never done it before, either, to my knowledge.”
He resumed loosening the last of the ties. “What makes you think that?”
“Because she was unmarried, of course.”
With the ties completely loosened, he began to help her off with the dress. “Sweetheart, surely you know that a woman does not have to be married in order to copulate with a man,” he said. “Isabel and Eric loved one another very much. I am certain Eric bedded her from time to time.”
Mira turned around to face him so he could help her pull off the sleeves, her eyes wide with the thought of Isabel and Eric banging it out in bed. “Do you really think so?”
“I would bet money on it.”
Her expression was full of contemplation as Douglas pulled off one sleeve and then the other. “They did love each other agreat deal,” she agreed. “Have you ever loved anyone enough to do what we’re going to do?”
He stopped undressing her and looked her in the eye. “You know I will not lie to you,” he said. “Surely you must know that you do not have to love someone in order to mate with them.”
“I know,” she said. “Well?Haveyou?”
He sighed heavily. “Aye, I have, but not with anyone I loved,” he said. “That, my darling, has been reserved only for you. What we do tonight is out of love, not physical need or just because we want to. There is far more to it.”
Mira had known that’s what his answer would be, but it was difficult not to feel jealousy for the woman, or women, who touched Douglas before she did. She finished removing the sleeves that he had started.
“I do not like the idea of another woman touching you,” she said, sounding unhappy. “I have saved myself for you, after all.”
He fought off a grin. “And you wanted me to save myself for you?”
She knew that sounded silly. It simply wasn’t the way things were done, a man saving his virginity, so she made a face and turned away to finish taking the gown off.
