Epilogue

Epilogue

Not far from Leith Harbor, six weeks later

Over there," Rob said, pointing toward a series of rock formations that overlooked the Firth of Forth. "Behind that outcropping is a shelf where we'll be out of the wind, with a patch of grass beyond it where our horses can graze."

The shelf was wide enough for comfort. And at the rear, the sloping rock was pleasant to lean against, as Rob remembered from many excursions there as a lad. It had been his secret place, the place he had gone to be alone. He had liked the privacy, and watching for boats. It seemed right to share it with his lass now.

With a sheer drop to the waves below and a sunny blue sky above, dotted with drifting puffy clouds, when they sat and leaned back, it felt as if they were warmly suspended in a world of their own between the sea and the sky.

"Do you like it here, sweetheart?" he asked.

"Aye, it's very pleasant," Adela said. "But I feel guilty coming out here like this, Rob. They may arrive at any moment, and we should be there to greet them."

"You've thought of nothing but their comfort for a fortnight," he said. "Thanks to Henry's man of affairs, and my own colossal efforts, we now have our own steward, bail-lie, and a decent security force. Moreover, Fife is safely in the Borders, pretending to be helping the Douglas keep the English out of Scotland. And," he added as a clincher, "we know Tam Geddes was not stealing from us. Henry's man said my father just managed his income badly."

"We'll manage better," she said.

"Aye, because I was fortunate enough to marry a lass who knows exactly what she is doing in running a large household even when I do not. And although I've had more training as a warrior than as a farmer or man of affairs, I am rapidly learning what I need to know. So I have earned a peaceful afternoon with my wife."

"But what of our guests!"

"Our guests will be astonished at all we have accomplished."

"The countess is never astonished."

"Aye, well, that's true. And I warrant Lady Clendenen will have all manner of suggestions to make for improving the castle."

"Sorcha will, too. Do you truly think she and Hugo will reach Leith today?"

"He said they would."

"They won't know about the Stone. Will you tell them?"

"I think we must. We've so many related secrets together now that keeping all the bits separate would be impossible. Moreover, we must seek help from other Templars to move it."

"Fife will be watching Henry's ships, will he not?"

"Aye, but we'll find a way," he said confidently.

"Hugo won't know to look for us here. Should we not go to the harbor?"

"Nay, sweetheart. We'll have had our fill of company by suppertime, I warrant, and they all mean to stay with us for a fortnight. I want an hour with my wife now. And I want her to relax and forget all of her duties, save one."

She smiled. "And that one would be what, sir?"

"To honor her husband, and cherish him."

"I do," she said softly. "You know I do."

He sighed. "I remember that you told Fife you cared deeply for me."

"And you knew I meant that, too," she said.

"Did I?" He pretended to ponder the matter. "As I recall, you were a bit peevish with me at the time."

"You deserved that I should be."

"Perhaps, but now I deserve cherishing."

"Very well," she said, relaxing against him. "I won't mind feeling the sun and the breeze on my face for a short time. I think I'll just close my eyes."

She was silent, and he leaned back, too, feeling comfortably warm and enjoying the lazy flight of gulls overhead. When he turned to look at her, her eyes were still closed, her lips slightly parted. She looked deeply contented.

The sun had brightened the natural color in her cheeks, and her upper lip showed tiny beads of perspiration. She breathed evenly, deeply, her soft breasts rising and falling, enticingly near.

She looked innocently childlike one minute and seductive the next.

He felt overwhelming hunger for her, but something more, and he knew at last what it was that she satisfied in him. He had thought he just needed someone to care about, a family of his own. But it was more than that. He had needed love, both to give and to savor.

He raised himself on one elbow. The pain from his injury was long gone, and he looked his fill at her, watching the faint pulse in her throat until his gaze drifted back again to her soft breasts. He leaned closer, his lips nearly touching hers.

Her eyes opened, and she gazed back at him.

"You didn't jump," he said quietly.

"Nay, not with you," she murmured. "Never with you. I love you so."

"I know," he said. "I feel it every day."

"And you?"

"I think I fell in love with you when I first saw you at Orkney," he said.

"You did not."

"Well, if it wasn't that first moment, I did when I heard you'd doused Hugo with a basinful of water."

"You jest, sir, but love is serious business."

"Is it, sweetheart? I own, I had thought never to know much about love."

"Aye, well, you know now, and there must be no more secrets between us."

"No more," he said.

"I have a one of my own to tell you," she said.

His heart swelled within him, for he did not have to ask what she meant. "A child, lass? Art certain?"

"Nearly so," she said. "My maid is certain, in any event."

"Then it must be so," he said, kissing her lightly.

The minute his lips touched hers, his body took fire, and he was lost. He wasted no further time. His hands moved swiftly to unlace and unhook, and her hands were as eager as his.

Her arms slid around him and held him tight before she relaxed back against the slope and he opened her bodice and unlaced her shift to feast on those soft breasts of hers. He imagined a child suckling them.

Her nipples were hard, the skin of her breasts like silk. He savored them, kissing and sucking them, stroking her until he ached for her.

Adela watched him, stroking his hair as he eased down-ward to kiss and fondle her breasts, enjoying the sensations his lips and fingers ignited through her body as it began to respond to him. Briefly, then, her thoughts shifted to Ardelve.

Whether he had died naturally or not, they did not know, but she was glad she could remember him fondly and with a certainty that if he could see them from where he was, he would cheer her marriage to Rob. He had been a good man, and she had cared for him. But loving Rob as she did, she knew she had been a fool to think she could be happy marrying for no more than kindness and comfort.

Looking out at the water, she saw a distant boat and asked him if he thought people on it might see them. He didn't answer, but he smiled and stroked her belly, his hands moving tantalizingly lower. Then he moved her skirts out of his way and stroked her between her thighs, and all thought of anything else ceased.

She'd murmured something about passing boats, but he paid no heed. And when she responded, arching to meet him, emitting endearing little cries as she did, and clearly having no more concern for boats or anything but him, he touched her where he knew she was most sensitive, stimulating her more and more until she found release. Then he slowed his pace, wanting to savor their time together in that peaceful place for as long as he could.

He pulled her close and began kissing her again, his hands moving over her delicious body at will, gently at first, then more possessively, his mind forming pictures of what the babe she carried might look like.

Would it be a boy that looked like him, or a wee beautiful lassie like herself?

His contrary imagination produced a wee lassie waving a sword in one hand and a dirk in the other, making him chuckle.

"Why do you laugh?" she murmured.

He told her, and she shook her head at him. "The others will surely be there by now," she said with a sigh. "We should go soon."

"Your mind should be on your husband, madam. Kiss me, and do it properly, or I shall have to punish you. As I remember, you once admitted being ticklish."

She laughed and obeyed him with every sign of willingness. When his body leaped to life again, he decided Hugo and the others, even the countess, could wait another hour … or two.