The minced lamb pie, squash, and potatoes were three of Gabriella’s favorite dishes. The others were Calbernan specialities she’d never tried before. Though Dilys did not push her to do so, she accepted a small portion of each of the Calbernan foods. Each time she did, a surge of warmth whispered through her veins. It took her a few minutes to realize the sensation was coming from Dilys—that she could physically feel his pleased approval flowing into her. It felt... nourishing, invigorating. Like rain falling after a long drought.
She wanted to accuse him of working some sort of enchantment on her, but whatever this was didn’t feel wrong. It felt right. So incredibly right she didn’t want it to stop. The tension that had wound her up so tight this last week was flowing out of her.
She took a bite of the first of the fish dishes, a lightly battered snapper in a delicious three-flavor sauce. The combination of sweet, sour, and spicy flavors, coupled with the crispness of the batter and the moist flakiness of the mild fish, was a complete delight to her taste buds.
“This is gorgeous.” Her praise won her one of Dilys’s wide, approving smiles and another surge of melting warmth.
“I am very glad you like it. I chose only foods I thought you would enjoy.”
“You chose? You mean Ingarra didn’t prepare the menu?” She was surprised. Ingarra was quite particular about who she allowed in her kitchen, and even more particular about the dishes she would and would not prepare.
“She chose the soup and salad courses, but for the main course, I wanted to give you a taste of Calberna. We use many different foods and spices than you do in the Æsir Isles, but I selected the ones I thought you’d find most appealing based on the local cuisine you seem to enjoy most. The selection of your favorites I included in case you weren’t feeling adventurous.”
“You chose well,” she murmured after giving all the other new foods a try. “It’s all delicious.”
Waves of warmth lapped against her senses. “It is my pleasure to give mylianahappiness in all things.”
“I’m not yourliana,” she retorted. But for the first time, the rejection felt more like a flimsy lie than an unshakeable truth.
“You will be.”
A choked laugh barked out before she could stop it. “Are you always this sure of yourself?”
He smiled, golden eyes gleaming like a great hunting cat’s. “I am Calbernan.”
“Ah... yes. Calbernan is the Sea Tongue word for arrogant, isn’t it?”
His low, husky chuckle rolled across her skin, making her shudder. “As I’ve told you before, I have spent every day of my life since I was five learning the skills necessary to protect and provide for a wife.” One long finger flicked out to brush a long, soft curl of black hair behind her ear. His voice dropped to a sensual purr. “And every skill necessary to keep her happy in all ways.”
Her mouth was suddenly parched. “Truly?” Her mind filled with all manner of images of Dilys keeping his woman—keepingGabriella—happy in all ways. If what had happened between them in the grotto was anything to go by, he had mastered those lessons. Color and heat flooded her cheeks. She cleared her throat, shoved the erotic images out of her mind, and tried to force the conversation back on a safer path. “You’ve trained every day since you were five?”
“As do all Calbernan boys. The day after my fifth birthday, I moved from the home of my parents to the training villa on our property and I resided there, under the care of my instructors, until I went to sea at age twelve.”
“What sort of training did you receive?”
“The usual. Military, naval, and survival training, of course. Hunting, sailing, fighting, land- and sea-based military strategy. Basic business skills such as how to read and negotiate contracts. How to use my seagifts. One day of every week was devoted tomyeriasu,the arts of courting and caring for aliana.How to converse with her, how to put her at ease. How to understand what she needs and provide it for her.”
Gabriella cleared her throat again. “When did you have time to be just a boy?”
He shrugged. “There was plenty of time for that in the first five years of my life.”
“That’s horrible.”
“Far from it. I enjoyed my training, and excelled in every discipline.” A mischievous light entered his eyes. “Including my training in the erotic arts, which began when I reached seventeen years of age.”
She blushed—violently—and quickly looked to see if the servants were close enough to have overheard his last remark. They weren’t. In fact, there weren’t any servants around at all. At some point after serving the main courses of the meal, they had disappeared, leaving Dilys and Summer alone in the garden.
The sun was still several hours from setting, but it had descended far enough to cast this part of the garden in the shadow of the palace. The dining table beneath the arbor suddenly felt so much more intimate than before. Much more like a stage set for seduction.
And though she’d unbent enough to share this private meal with him, she wasn’t ready for a repeat of what had happened in the grotto.
“Sealord Merimydion—” she began.
“Dilys,” he interrupted, his tone pleasant but insistent.
She sighed, then decided this was one battle not worth fighting and surrendered. “Dilys, then. If you’re going to attempt to seduce me every time we’re together, I will make certain all our future meetings take place in the company of my brother-in-law.”
He pressed a hand to his chest. “Ah,moa kiri,you wound me.”
