And then Ivo laughed, losing some of his awe, and picked her up in his arms, spinning her around to the delight of the guests, until Briar’s stomach dipped, and she whispered in a soft voice that he had better stop.
“Briar?”
Briar looked into the beautiful, gentle face before her. Lady Lily was everything the rumors promised and more, ethereally fair, with gray eyes that saw straight to her heart. Briar had already stammered her thanks for the dress when she arrived at Radulf’s house, but Lily had brushed her words aside.
“Someone did the same for me when I was wed,” she said, with a little smile. “In my case ‘twas not done with the best of intentions, but still I felt special. I wanted you to feel special, too, Briar. I know what it is to be poor and put upon.”
Now the ceremony was over, and the feast had come and gone. The day was dwindling into night, and still no one wanted to leave. Ivo was reminiscing with his friends, and Mary was leaning against Sweyn as if she belonged there. Jocelyn and Odo had retired long since. Tired, longing only to fall asleep in Ivo’s arms, Briar had found herself a quiet place in a corner to wait until she could retire. It was there that Lady Lily had found her.
She sat down on the bench beside Briar. “Radulf has told me of your troubles,” she said softly.
“Oh,” Briar replied, and could think of nothing else. The familiar guilt roiled inside her as she remembered what she had planned to do to this woman and her husband. Of course, her plan had been doomed to fail from the start because, as Ivo had said, Radulf would never have taken another woman in Lily’s place, not even for a moment. Still, that did not make what Briar had meant to do any less wicked, or make her feel any more comfortable with her own conscience.
Lily was still smiling, but her gray eyes were flinty. “Radulf tells me you hated him for your father’s misfortunes.”
Obviously, Lily did not believe in creeping around the facts. A woman after my own heart, Briar thought wryly.
“My lady,” she said firmly, “I did hate him. ‘Tis true. My father vowed revenge upon Lord Radulf before he died, and I believed that I must take on that vow as my own. For two years I hated Lord Radulf and believed him solely responsible for my family’s downfall. I know now that that belief was false. Lord Radulf was as bound up in Lady Anna’s sickness as my father. I do not hate him. I do not think, on this wonderful day, that I could hate anybody.”
Lily laughed. “I am delighted to hear it.” Then she sobered and leaned closer, her gaze intent. “I wished to give you some advice, Briar, something I have learned over the years. Trust your heart. The mind is so much more insistent, so much louder. But listen hard to the soft whisper of your heart, for ‘tis the heart that speaks true.”
Briar smiled, for she had done just that. Followed her heart. “Thank you,” she said softly. “I will try to do so, always.”
“You will never regret it.” Lily glanced across the room to where Radulf was standing, and as if he had felt the brush of her gaze, he looked up. Their eyes met in perfect understanding.
“Wife,” Ivo murmured into her ear, “are you awake?”
His hands slid around her, to cup her breasts, his body aroused against hers. Briar lay half asleep in the warm, soft bed and smiled. She was perfectly content to allow Ivo to wake her.
His hand slid over her belly, pausing briefly, as if he thought of the child growing there, and down to the soft place where her thighs joined. Briar bit her lip on a groan. She was ready for him, and he knew it now. The game was over.
He turned her onto her back and gazed down with hot black eyes into her own loving ones.
“You are awake, wife.”
“I cannot be. ‘Tis too wonderful to be real, and I do not want to wake and find it has been nothing but a dream.”
He kissed her mouth, his hands caressing her pliant body. “This no dream, Briar. Never fear you will awake and find me gone. I intend for us to grow old together.”
She arched against him as he delved deep inside her with his finger, clinging to his shoulders, her eyes closed. He lifted his big body over her, opening her legs with his hard-muscled thigh. She eased herself against him, enjoying the rough feel of his skin on that most sensitive part of her.
“Ivo,” she gasped, and reached down to take him in her hand.
He shuddered, suddenly on the verge of losing control, and settled himself more fully between her thighs. She guided him, urging him to complete their joining. But Ivo didn’t need urging. He thrust inside her, deeply, feeling the tremors of her body as she adjusted to him.
“Wife,” he whispered, and thrust again.
Briar gasped, and gently slipped over the edge into the warm, wonderful sea of completion. A short time later Ivo joined her, and together they lay entwined, dreaming of a life together.
“My love?”
Ivo blinked, too happy to speak.
Briar came up on one elbow, gazing down into his face, her hair tickling his skin. One breast brushed his shoulder and he reached to fondle it, thinking, This is mine. She is mine. Truly mine. Miles will never hurt her, not while I live.
She gasped as he found her nipple, gently tugging at the swollen flesh with his gloved fingers.
Suddenly he did not feel like sleep, and reached to pull her on top of him. But she held her palms against his chest, firm and unyielding, and surprised, Ivo stared up at her.
