“I know that, but you and I made a great mistake with Velvet. We spoiled her, and we overprotected her. She is a strong girl, Adam. Away from us she not only survived, but she saw to Pansy’s safety. She will triumph in this matter also if we will but let her.”
“ ’Tis not Velvet I worry about, but Alex,” Adam grumbled.
“He is trying, my love, but he is not you. In his own way he has been sheltered, too. Do not forget that when we first met I had been widowed thrice, and you were a man who had grown up in both the English and French courts. Most of Alex’s life has been spent atDun Brocbut for the years of his university schooling. He’s a Highland chieftain, and the thought that his wife has lain with another man must be maddening to him. I am frankly surprised he is being as reasonable as he is.” She leaned over and kissed her husband’s cheek.
Adam turned his head and, finding her loving mouth, kissed it passionately. “The only thing that ever mattered to me, little girl, was that you were finally mine,” he said.
She smiled. “You, my darling, are a very unusual man.”
Adam de Marisco grinned wickedly at his wife and fondled her breasts. “And you, madame, are averyunusual woman.”
“Sir!” she teased him with mock outrage, “we are grandparents! Will you ever stop being such a randy old billy goat?”
“Never, madame,” he answered her, and, tipping her from his lap, he moved across the room to lock the library door. “Not as long as I have you, sweet Skye, to warm my bed.”
Their eyes met, and then Skye threw her arms around her husband of nineteen years. “I am so happy with you, my darling! You did not lie to me when you promised to slay all my dragons and keep me safe.”
“If I could but slay Velvet’s dragons,” he said, “but that is for Alex to do now.” Then he bent his shaggy dark head and kissed her, far happier with his lot than his son-in-law was with his own right now.
Alex mounted the stairs almost reluctantly. Velvet had agreed to return to Scotland with him, but he fretted as to what kind of marriage they would have now. She had made no secret that she had loved Akbar. Did she love him still? Would she ever love him again? Could he love her again? Or had he never stopped loving her? Alex sighed deeply, hesitated for an instant as the footman opened the door to Velvet’s apartments, then went in. As he closed the door behind him, he could hear voices in the bedchamber.
“May I come in?” he called politely.
Velvet, seated in her oaken tub in the next room, raised her eyebrows delicately. What had come over Alex? He was treating her as if she were made of fine crystal. “Come in, my lord. I am finished.”
“Not until I get the back of your neck, you ain’t,” said Daisy.
Velvet laughed. “This is Pansy’s mother, Alex,” she said when he had entered. “Daisy, my lord of BrocCairn. Your man, Dugald, is now safely wed to my tiring woman, Alex. Pansy wasted no time.”
“Considering the size of me grandson, it was none too soon, and I expect Bran and me will be grandparents again by those two before another year is past,” Daisy said proudly. “Past time for you to have your own babies, Mistress Velvet. Now that you’ve been reunited with your fine husband, I expect you’ll be starting your own family.”
For a moment Alex thought the briefest shadow of sadness clouded Velvet’s eyes, but when she spoke he decided he must have been mistaken. “Indeed, Daisy, it is past time for us to have a child,” she said. Then she rose and climbed from the tub.
Alex caught his breath. Hehadforgotten how extraordinarily beautiful she was. Her creamy skin and rounded breasts! Her arms and long legs that were, he thought, fuller and fleshier. There was no boldness about her, but she was no longer the skittish child-bride he remembered. She never even gave him so much as a coy glance as Daisy dried her, powdered her, and finally wrapped her in a silken chamber robe of apple-green silk.
“Go along, Daisy. I will see to my own hair now.”
“Pansy will come to dress you for dinner, Mistress Velvet.”
“Nay, let her have her time with her bridegroom, if that is all right with you, my lord.” Alex nodded his assent. “Just send me one of the undermaids to help, Daisy.”
“Very good, Mistress Velvet.” Daisy bobbed a curtsy and departed from the room.
For a long moment Velvet and Alex stood looking at each other, and then she said, “Let us sit by the fire, my lord. The day has grown chill, and the rain I predicted has already begun to fall.” She waved a graceful hand toward the window as she seated herself in a chair. “It only rains in ‘season’ in India, and then it is as if someone had cut a large hole in the sky, so heavy is the downpour.”
“What is it like?” he asked curiously.
“India?” She smiled. “A green, gray, and brown land. The sun would shine for months on end until I thought that if I did not see a cloudy day I would die from the wanting. I never knew that the weather could get so hot. One rarely wore clothing to bed. The heat hovered over the plains so that you could actually see it. It was better when we moved to Lahore. Still hot, but at least there I had gardens and greenery. Still, I missed the green of England.”
“Scotland is green, and the sun will not shine for weeks on end until you will long for those sunny days,” he said quietly.
She nodded. “I will not mind, Alex.”
“Do ye really want to come home wi’ me, lass?” he asked.
“Alex, what else is there for us? We are married. I should like to tell you that nothing has changed, and that we can pick up our lives from where we left them long ago on that snowy February day two and a half years past, but I cannot. I thought you dead. I have loved another man with my whole being. He filled my heart, and his touch made my body ache with joy. I cannot deny these things, and I will not, not even to please you, my lord. I know that the truth is hurtful to you, but if I lied to you, you would know it, sense it, and there would always be an element of doubt between us.”
“Do ye love me, Velvet?”
