Chapter 13

"S he has changed!" declared the Countess of Alcester. "She has changed greatly." Her voice held a hint of disapproval.

"She has grown up," replied Lady Blackthorn. "Do not forget, Willow, that we have not seen Velvet for two and a half years."

"I am more than well aware of the passage of time, Deirdre, but our sister is not the same girl."

"No," Deirdre had to agree, "she isn't."

"Did you expect her to be?" inquired their mother. Skye looked at her two older daughters. God's nightshirt! Was it actually possible that she was the mother of daughters aged thirty-one and twenty-four?

"What has happened to her, Mama?" asked Deirdre.

"Believing Alex dead, she fell in love with another man. Now her heart is torn between the two. She has no choice in the matter and must return to her husband. It makes the forbidden fruit, in this case the Indian emperor, somehow more attractive, and being an independent girl, she chafes at being forced to a decision. She would like to feel that the choice is hers to make."

"Poor Velvet," said Deirdre, who was a compassionate and gentle woman.

"Humph!" snorted Willow. "If she had stayed where she belonged, instead of running off when she believed Alex was killed in that ridiculous duel, none of this would have happened."

"You are too hard on your sister, Willow," replied their mother. "In your whole life nothing has ever gone awry for you. You cannot know how you would have acted under similar circumstances."

"Well, I most certainly would not have left my husband's burial to others!" Willow appeared to be outraged, but the truth of the matter was that she was made somewhat uncomfortable by her mother's reference to her charmed life. She had, she thought, been born practical, and most of her upbringing had been supervised by Dame Cecily, who had raised Willow to have all the English goodwife's virtues of thrift and loyalty to duty first. She felt secure with her values, and only once or twice in her life had she entertained the thought of a life as filled with adventure and passion as her mother's had been, only to push such a wild notion aside with a shudder. Willow, Countess of Alcester, was the perfect example of a high-minded English noblewoman, and she would have had it no other way.

"Has not Velvet led a charmed life, too, Mama?" she countered. "She has certainly had much more time with you than the rest of us did, and is the only child you really raised yourself."

"That is true," agreed her mother, "but you must remember that both Adam and I were forced to leave her at a time when, as it turned out, she needed us very much. She had no one to really guide her. Be patient, Willow. Velvet has been home only two weeks, and she is very worried about her reunion with Alex."

"She doesn't seem comfortable with us," grumbled Willow. "I told her that I had made her little Johanna's godmother, and she was not the least bit thrilled. All she wants to do is ride that damned stallion of hers from dawn to dusk!"

Skye said nothing more, her eye catching a glimpse of Velvet through the window as she mounted her big-boned chestnut and galloped down the drive. How could she explain to Willow about Velvet's own daughter who was only a month younger than Johanna? She couldn't. Before they had even reached Queen's Malvern , Velvet had insisted that nothing be said to anyone about Yasaman. Pansy had already been sworn to secrecy, as had Daisy and Bran.

"What of Alex?" Skye had queried of her daughter.

"No! If I cannot have my baby, then why should Alex have the knowledge of her with which to reproach me, Mama? I will never tell him of her."

Then they had reached Queen's Malvern , and the family had joyously hailed her safe return, thrusting their new babies upon her to admire. It had not been easy, and Skye had devoutly wished in the days that followed that her children and grandchildren would all depart for their own homes if only to give Velvet some peace. When they didn't, Velvet sought her own solitude upon her horse, feeling no guilt at all in making her escape for she knew that her mother understood.

This particular afternoon, she had eagerly sought refuge from her elder sister who persisted in dandling her youngest child at her. Velvet had tried to enjoy little Johanna, who was a most charming baby, but each time she held her niece it brought her to tears remembering her own daughter. Finally this afternoon she could stand no more and had rudely thrust Johanna back into her mother's arms, snapping at Willow, "Her bottom is wet, and she is drooling all over me! Do not give me the child again unless I ask for her. I dislike being soaked!" Then she had stormed from the room.

Now, as the late-summer wind blew her auburn hair about her face and shoulders, Velvet felt the weight lifting from her. Leaning forward, she kicked her horse into a gallop and raced up into the hills, feeling freer than she had in weeks. It was almost as it had been five years ago when she was yet a child and could not remember the name of Alexander Gordon, Earl of BrocCairn. She had been in such a hurry to grow up. Why was it, she wondered, that children were always in such a damned hurry to get older? Childhood was so very brief. If only children understood that and enjoyed their time in that safe and innocent world. She sighed, then laughed softly to herself. That was knowledge that came only with age.

Reaching the crest of the hill, she stopped and, turning her stallion back for a moment, gazed down upon her home. Queen's Malvern , so called because it had been built for a queen and was situated in the Malvern Hills in an almost hidden valley between the Severn and Wye rivers, sat like a jewel in a perfect setting. She had never thought to see it again. There was a faint late-summer haze over the valley, and everything was so very lush and green. There was peace here; the kind of peace she had never been able to find anywhere else. She would miss it when she went to Scotland with her husband.

Then her eye caught a movement on the road below, and, gazing down, she could make out a large party of men approaching the manor house. Even from a distance she could see they were Scots, their plaids fluttering bravely in the light breeze. Gordon plaid. He had come, and she could not take her eyes away from the scene below. He rode at the head of his men, but suddenly they stopped, and then Alexander Gordon broke away from the main group and headed his horse directly up the hill toward her.

Panic gripped Velvet's heart, and, wheeling her own stallion sharply about, she galloped blindly off. It wasn't long before she heard him behind her, his own horse relentlessly coming onward. Inwardly she cursed herself for being caught like this. In the valley below she was certain she could have outrun him, but here the ground was so uneven and dangerous. Should her mount step into a rabbit hole he would break a leg, and she could break her neck.

Then she felt herself being lifted from her saddle, and, surprised, she didn't even have the presence of mind to struggle.

Bringing his own horse to a stop, Alex lowered her to the ground and then, dismounting himself, asked her in a none-too-gentle voice, "Just what is it about me, madame, that sends you fleeing almost every time we meet?" He towered over her menacingly, his golden eyes blazing.

If he had expected tears or anger, he was totally surprised when, looking up at him, she burst into laughter instead. "I have never thought about it," she said with complete candor, "but I do seem to spend a great deal of time going in the opposite direction from you, my lord."

He gazed down at her. Had she always been this beautiful? He shook his head, surprised at his bemused thoughts, and then said, "Welcome home, Velvet. I've missed ye."

She would almost rather he had shouted and railed at her, but that, she was certain, would come later. "Did you, Alex? Did you really miss me? You didn't wait overlong to replace me in your bed with Mistress Wythe."

"Nor did ye wait overlong to desert me. My body wasn't even cold, Velvet, and ye were hurrying off to India to yer parents."

"Padraic swore you were dead! I was in shock! I was in agony, for I loved you, and you had wagered our future for the false honor of a strumpet in a ridiculous duel! I begged you not to go! I begged you, Alex, but you would not listen!"

"Could ye not at least have stayed long enough to bury me, Velvet?"

"Did you want to be buried on English soil, Alex? I gave orders that you be taken home to Dun Broc because I believed you would have wanted that."

He was surprised again. In the back of his mind he remembered Murrough saying something like that. So she had cared. He was relieved. And yet … "But ye weren't going to accompany the body, were ye, my dear wife?"

"No, I was not! You broke my heart, you bastard! Did you want me to follow you into the tomb, for I would have been dead of grief long before we reached Dun Broc! Would that have pleased you, my lord? Perhaps your little mistress would have done it, but not I!"

"Alanna Wythe means nothing to me, Velvet. I took her to my bed, I will admit, but what of ye? Ye were as quick to replace me."

"Never! I spent a six-month voyage mourning you, Alex. When I was kidnapped and sent to the Grand Mughal I mourned you yet."

"Not long enough, obviously, madame. He made ye his wife in very quick order, I am told."

"Of course he did. It was the polite thing to do, for I was a gift to him from the Portuguese governor of Bombay. It wasn't me he was marrying, it was the gift!"

"Which one of ye did he fuck, Velvet?"

"Ah," she said, "that is what bothers you more than anything else, isn't it, Alex? In your mind 'tis perfectly all right for you to have taken a mistress because your wife ran off and left you; but for me, believing myself widowed, to remarry and love again, that is the crime!"

"Did ye love him, Velvet?"

"Yes!"

She looked straight at him when she said it, and it was he who flinched under her steady green gaze. She had changed, he thought, and he didn't know if he was going to like that change. Still, standing there looking at her, he realized that he still wanted her, perhaps even still loved her. There was a great deal to be settled between them, but only time could accomplish that.

Holding out his hand to her, he said, "I've come to take ye home, lass. Will ye come wi' me?"

He is as unsure of me as I am of him, Velvet thought, and yet he seems willing to try to rebuild the life together we both so heedlessly shattered. Slowly she put her hand into his, and his fingers closed over hers. "Aye, Alex," she replied to him. "I'll come home with you."

Her horse was grazing nearby, and they caught it easily. Giving her a boost, he aided her in remounting and then gained his own saddle. Together they quietly descended from the hills to the gentle valley below. Upon returning to Queen's Malvern , they found that Alex's men had already stabled their horses and were just now trooping into the house. They were in time to witness the reunion between Pansy and her Dugald.

Pansy stood in the doorway to the kitchen, little Dugie holding her hand with one of his own, his other thumb in his mouth as he stared wide-eyed at the troop of men with their plaids and bonnets. There was no doubt whose son he was, and as the Highlanders began to poke each other, chortling with delight, looking from their comrade to Pansy and her child, Dugald stopped and stared, open-mouthed.

Finally Pansy said impatiently, "Well, say something, you big oaf! You're going to scare the lad to death if you don't."

"What's his name?" Dugald ventured, shifting nervously.

"Dugald Geddes, the same as yours," she answered.

"How old is he?"

"He'll be two the day after Michaelmas," Pansy replied.

"But how …" Dugald shifted his feet again.

"Well, if you don't remember, Dugald Geddes …!" began Pansy indignantly, and the other men chuckled.

"But 'twas only once!" he burst out.

"Me ma says once is more than enough!" she answered, and Dugald's companions, unable to restrain themselves any longer, burst out laughing.

"Gawdalmighty, man," said one of them, "ye're not going to deny him, are ye? He's yer spit fer certain, and 'tis true!"

"N-nay, I can see he's my laddie," Dugald said slowly.

"And are you still of a mind to wed me?" Pansy demanded.

"Aye," he answered without any hesitation.

"Then wash your face and hands, Dugald Geddes. Father Jean-Paul is awaiting us in the chapel." She bent down and spoke to the child at her side. "Say hello to your pa, Dugie." But the little boy hid his faced in his mother's skirts, much to Dugald's disappointment.

"He's just shy," Pansy said. "He ain't used to men in plaids and bonnets with bony knees, but you'll win him over soon enough."

Unable to restrain himself any longer, Dugald wrapped Pansy in a fierce embrace.

Watching from his horse, Alex turned to smile at Velvet. It was the first smile he had offered her. "He's missed her very much. Pansy has a good man in Dugald," he told her.

"She loves him," Velvet said quietly. "She had many suitors among the Mughal's best soldiers, but, knowing that Dugald was alive, none would do for her."

Dismounting, he helped her down from her own stallion, and the horses were quickly taken away by two stableboys. They continued together into the house. Seeing them coming, Skye realized that they had already made some kind of peace between themselves.

"Welcome to Queen's Malvern , Alex," she said graciously.

He kissed her hand. "Velvet has agreed to come home wi' me," he said.

"But surely not for a few more days, my lord. We have scarce had time with our daughter these past five years as you well know."

"We would be pleased to remain with ye for a time, madame," he said quietly, and Skye saw that he was anxious to please Velvet.

"I want a bath," Velvet said. " 'Twas hot riding this afternoon. I fear that we will have a storm before nightfall. Can you send Daisy to me, Mama? I don't want to disturb Pansy's reunion with Dugald."

"Of course, my darling. Alex, I would like very much to speak with you, and perhaps while Velvet's bathing would be a good time."

"Have Alex's things put in my room," Velvet said to her mother. "For propriety's sake we must share a bedchamber."

"For practicality's sake." Skye laughed. "All the other bedchambers are filled to overflowing with your sisters and brothers, their spouses, and their offspring. Go along now, my darling, and Alex and I will have a cosy chat." She smiled brightly at her daughter, and Velvet turned and hurried up the stairs. "Come with me, my lord," Skye said to her son-in-law. He dutifully followed her into the library where Adam was already waiting.

Once they were all settled, Skye turned to Alex and said, "You have made your decision then, my lord?"

"We have already talked, Velvet and I. She is willing to come back to Scotland wi' me as I have already told ye."

"Have you thought over what I wrote to you, Alex? Do you possess the patience to love Velvet?"

"I don't know," he answered her honestly. "What I do know is that I want her to come home wi' me. I am not certain that I love her, but I don't want to lose her again."

Skye nodded. She understood his quandary, but Adam was not so open-minded. He glowered at his son-in-law from the depths of his chair and growled, "You'd best not hurt her, my lad. Son of Angus Gordon or no, I'll kill you if you hurt my child!"

"Adam!" Skye gently admonished her husband.

"Nay, little girl, I mean it. She's suffered enough. I'd rather he sue for an annulment than give Velvet a moment's pain," Adam declared.

Strangely, Alex was not offended by his father-in-law's vehemence. "I am trying, my lord, but remember that I have suffered also. Still, given time, I believe that Velvet and I can work out the difficulties between us."

"How long before you leave?" demanded Adam.

"A few days, perhaps a week or more. I don't want to tear Velvet from her family too quickly after this long separation."

"Umm." Adam nodded. " 'Tis wise."

"You see," Skye said, "Alex is indeed going to try to overcome the gulf that divides him from our daughter." She rose from her own chair and, walking over to Lord Gordon, put a hand on his arm. "I know it will not be easy," she said, "but I somehow believe that you and Velvet are meant to be together. Hold fast to that thought, Alex! It will aid you in getting over the hard spots."

He stood and smiled down at her, thinking as he had thought those long years ago when he had first become betrothed to Velvet that his mother-in-law was an incredibly beautiful woman. But then so was his wife, and he wanted to go to her now. "I will try, madame," he promised.

"I know you will," she said, reassured. "I will have a servant show you to your apartment, my lord."

When she had sent him on his way, Skye turned back to Adam. "Let them be, my love. You cannot make this all right for Velvet any more than you could the other matter. She must work this out with her husband, and there will be bad times before it is all settled between them. Was it not that way with us?" She settled down into his lap, resting her head upon his shoulder.

"I always hated it when you were hurt as well," he grumbled.

"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 at Dun Broc but 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 a very unusual 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. He had forgotten 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?"

"Once I did, Alex." She made no further promises, and he felt angry and rejected.

"Ye left me, madame," he said through gritted teeth. "I awoke in a stranger's house, weak from loss of blood, with yer name upon my lips, but ye were not there, Velvet. When they finally told me that ye had left England to find yer parents, I couldn't believe it."

"I didn't leave you, Alex. Not that way. When Padraic told me that you had been killed, I thought I would go mad. All my worst fears had been realized, for I had not wanted you to fight that duel. The pain was so terrible that, like the child I still was, I sought my parents to be comforted. I ran, not from you, Alex, but from the horrible reality of your death. What was left for me here in England without you? We had no children that might comfort me. We had nothing in common but three months of marriage and several months before that time when we fought each other almost constantly."

"I courted ye in those months before our marriage!"

She laughed. "Nay, Alex. You stormed me like a castle to be taken, and take me you did, but you know nothing of courtship."

"Did Akbar?" His look was angry and piercing.

"Yes," she answered him quietly, "but that has nothing to do with us here and now, Alex. That part of my life is over and done with, and I should as lief not speak of it any longer if we are to rebuild our life together."

"Are ye afraid, Velvet?"

"Aye," she said slowly.

"So am I," he answered her in a burst of candor. "Let us go home to Dun Broc in two days," she said suddenly.

"What?" He was mightily surprised.

"Queen's Malvern is filled to overflowing with my relatives, and as long as we are here they will be here, standing about, looking at us with anxious looks, their children underfoot. Let us reassure my parents that we do not intend to murder one another, and then let us go home to Dun Broc. You're still of a mind to get yourself an heir, aren't you? We have lost several years, Alex. Why should we wait any longer?"

"But ye do not love me, Velvet. Ye have said it."

"Ours was an arranged marriage like so many others, Alex. How many marriages have the luxury of love between the mates? Once we loved, and we may do so again when the strain of our reunion is past, and we learn to know each other once more, but as long as we are surrounded by my well-meaning family, what chance do we have?"

Thinking about it, he was startled to realize that everything she said made perfect sense. "Ye're far more a woman than when I last knew ye, lass," he said seriously.

"Aye, Alex, I am," she answered.

Her reply, he felt, had more meaning than the simplicity of the words she spoke, but her gaze was a steady one as her emerald eyes locked on to his amber ones.

"We'll leave in two days' time then, lass. 'Tis a good time of year to go north."

They announced their decision at the huge family dinner that evening, and, as Velvet had anticipated, her parents and siblings were not anxious for her to go so quickly. She overrode their objections calmly and firmly, and Skye could see that her youngest child meant what she had said to her mother just a few days back.

"If a woman is weak, Mama, then she offers herself as prey to those who feed upon weakness. I shall never be a victim again in this life. Never! I shall be strong, for if I am not, the next time I shall shatter completely."

Adam grumbled, throwing his son-in-law of BrocCairn black looks, but Velvet said, " 'Tis what I want, Papa. Alex is most willing to abide here, but I am anxious to see Dun Broc."

Skye put a gentle hand upon her husband's arm, and with a sigh Adam ceased his arguments. "I'll miss you, poppet, but you're right. Tis past time you went home. Go then and know that you have our blessing and our prayers."

"Thank you, Papa," Velvet replied softly.

The air cleared, the family gathering proceeded, beginning with a wonderful feast that almost brought tears to Velvet's eyes, for it had been a long time since she had seen many of the wonderful dishes. A side of beef had been packed in rock salt and roasted to a turn. It dripped its juices onto the huge charger that contained it as it was carried into the room by four serving men. There was a large pink ham that had been glazed with honey; a roe deer; ducks stuffed with plums and peaches served with a sauce of cherries; and several lovely meat pies with delicate golden crusts, steam rising from the decorative vents in the pastry.

Alex had contributed to the feast in a wonderfully unusual way. Several of his men had led pack animals all the way from Scotland that had carried small barrels filled with cool water containing two live salmon apiece. Now the beautifully poached salmon, settled decoratively amid beds of cress upon silver platters, were presented to the de Marisco family.

From the manor farm came carrots, spinach, scallions, radishes, and lettuces. There were egg-glazed loaves of soft white bread, sweet butter, Normandy Brie, and a particularly fine paté of goose liver. The goblets were never empty of the excellent dark Burgundy that came from Velvet's grandparents' vineyard at Archambault in France.

For the last course there were, as a special treat, pears stewed with cinnamon sticks, fat purple grapes from France, early apples up from Devon, a cake soaked in marsala, and dainty sugar wafers.

Afterwards, Skye's children entertained the rest of the family, which tonight included Sir Robert Small and his sister, Dame Cecily, with a musicale. Velvet was accomplished on the virginal, Deirdre on the harp Padraic on the oboe, Murrough on the drum. Willow, of all Skye's children, had a clear, sweet voice, which she now raised in song. Soon she was joined by the rest of the gathered guests, and the old hall of Queen's Malvern rang with happy voices.

Afterwards, as their elders sat at the high board enjoying the last of the wine, the younger folk and their children joined in games of blindman's buff, hide-and-seek, and hide-the-slipper. There was much laughter and squealing. Watching, Skye smiled with pleasure. She enjoyed having her family about her, although it frankly amazed her that at almost fifty-one years of age she was a grandmother to twenty-seven children. No, she amended to herself silently, twenty-eight, if she counted Velvet's little daughter in India. At this moment fourteen of those children were in her house, and she suddenly realized that, despite the fact that she loved each and every one, she would be mightily relieved when they all went home. She laughed softly, and Adam raised a questioning eyebrow.

"I adore them," she said softly. "but I'll be glad when they've scattered again."

He nodded, smiling, but Dame Cecily, who had fox-sharp ears despite her age, mourned, "It'll be like a tomb."

"Deirdre has begged you to go and stay with her," Skye reminded her old friend. "She never feels happier than when you're with her."

The elderly lady preened with pleasure. "Well, perhaps," she allowed, "I might pay her a short visit. I do enjoy the children so very much."

"I suspect, although she has said nothing to me yet, Dame Cecily, that Deirdre is breeding again. You could be an enormous help to her," Skye said.

"I will speak to her, Skye, for she will tell me if I ask, and if there is a new baby coming in the spring then I shall most certainly be needed at Blackthorn Priory for many months to come."

Skye put her hand over Dame Cecily's and smiled warmly at her. "Yes, my dearest friend, we most certainly will always need you. You have been our rock these many years, and I pray that you will always be here with us."

Dame Cecily squeezed Skye's hand. "Not always, my dear. That is not possible, but for as long as the good Lord will allow. Remember that I was seventy-six this past May. If the good Lord will permit that I see Velvet's first child, then I shall count myself ready to leave this earth."

Skye looked across the room at her youngest child. Velvet sat quietly with her husband by the fireplace. When two of her little nieces, Cecily and Gabrielle Edwardes, tried to draw her into their game of hide-the-slipper, she refused, giving them a shake of her head and a wan smile. Yes, thought Skye, it is better that she go off to Scotland as soon as possible. Her child's loss is still too open a wound. She needs to begin her new life quickly. She should have another baby as soon as possible. Dear God, let her conceive quickly!

Velvet felt her mother's gaze upon her and felt uncomfortable. Standing, she said to Alex, "I am tired and want to go to bed now."

She looked so drawn that he was suddenly concerned for her. "Are ye all right, lass?"

"Just tired," she repeated.

"I think we can leave the hall without causing undue attention," he replied, putting his hand beneath her elbow.

Watching them slip quietly from the room, Skye prayed again for her daughter; prayed that she would be happy at long last, that her life would finally be a calm and contented one, and most of all that she would learn to love her husband once again.

Gaining their apartments, Velvet and Alex found Pansy and Dugald awaiting them, and Velvet was struck with a sense of déjà vu. While Alex and his serving man went into the smaller bedroom, Pansy helped her mistress to disrobe. Taking her gown away, she brought her mistress a basin of warm water scented with gillyflowers and a cake of Velvet's hard-milled soap.

"The jasmine is almost gone, m'lady, and we can't get it here in England."

"Don't use it," Velvet ordered tersely. "Put it away somewhere, for I don't want to be reminded of India."

"Yes, m'lady," said a subdued Pansy.

"Are you happy, Pansy? And what does Dugald think of little Dugie?"

"Proud as a peacock, he is, m'lady! You'd think he'd done it all hisself, and he's anxious to have another, he says." She chuckled. "Easy for him to say, ain't it?"

Velvet smiled. "He's a good man, Pansy, and I can see from the look in his eyes when he gazes at you that he loves you. Take good care of him, girl."

"Aye, m'lady, I will, for as God is me judge I never thought to see him again! 'Tis lucky I am!"

The little maid worked efficiently, taking her mistress's undergarments, stockings, and shoes and hurriedly putting them away. Picking out a gossamer silk night rail the color of apricots, she started to lower it over Velvet's head, but her mistress pushed it away.

"No," she said. "I am chilled, Pansy, and I will freeze in that gown. Give me a plain, white silk night rail."

Pansy raised her eyebrows but said nothing, instead obeying her mistress and handing her a simple, white silk gown with long, full sleeves that tied with blue silk ribbons at the neck.

Velvet bowed the ribbons prettily and then, having cleaned her teeth with a mixture of pumice and mint leaves, got into bed. "Leave me now, Pansy, and you needn't come until I send for you in the morning. I may sleep late, and 'twill give you time with your husband and child. Good night."

"Good night, m'lady, and God bless you!" Pansy curtsied and was gone from the room.

Velvet reached for the chamber stick on the table by the bed and blew it out. The low fire would light Alex's way. She snuggled down, drawing the covers well over her shoulders and head until only her nose was visible outside the coverlet. Still, she was cold, and she shivered. Then she realized it was not the late August night air that chilled her, but rather fear. She was afraid, and it fretted her to admit to it. She was no virgin bride awaiting her husband. She was a woman who had accepted two men as husbands in her short lifetime and had borne a child. Hearing Alex come into the room, she closed her eyes tightly and breathed slowly and evenly. Perhaps he would believe her to be already asleep.

She felt the cool night air as he raised the coverlet, and the bed sagged with his weight as he entered it. She stiffened slightly as his long, lean body moved next to hers. When he reached out to draw her against him, she panicked completely and cried out, "No!"

For a moment Alex was shocked. She was his wife, not some captive wench about to be ravished. His first instinct was to be angry, then he felt her shaking and said gently, "Velvet, lass, I only want to hold ye. It's been so damned long! If it distresses ye, however, I won't."

"I'm sorry," she whispered, but she did not deny him and gradually her trembling subsided to the tiniest of quivers.

He lay there in the darkness, for the fire had become only a small orange glow, his wife against him, spoon-fashion, obviously terrified that he would demand his rights , and he realized in a great burst of clarity the source of her pain. For two and a half years Velvet had been very much alive to him, while he had been dead to her. While he was biding his time amusing himself with Alanna Wythe, she had built a new life with another man, only to be torn brutally from that man and that life. She had great courage. He had already heard her praises sung by the usually taciturn Dugald, who had told him a wild tale of how Velvet had saved the lives of both Pansy and little Dugie.

"She's a great lady, m'lord! A great lady! She'll breed up fine sons for BrocCairn!" Dugald had said.

Alex smiled to himself in the darkness. There could be no sons unless Velvet's heartbreak healed, and he must be the one to heal it, for his stubborn pride had been a prime factor in breaking that brave, young heart. "Don't be afraid of me, Velvet," he said to her softly. "I understand. I truly do."

"I feel so foolish," she answered him, "but I am not yet ready for this part of our marriage, Alex. Please be patient with me. I am trying, I swear it!"

"I understand," he repeated. "I was dead to ye, but Akbar is not."

"Yes."

"Then I must woo ye from him, lass, and I will try to do so. I am not a man for the lute and love songs. I cannot compose a verse to save my soul, but I will show ye that I love ye in other ways if ye will give me the chance. Will ye, lass?"

She was silent a moment, and then she said, "Aye." Nothing more, but she turned in his arms so that she faced him, and, taking his head between her hands, she kissed him on the mouth before turning her back to him again.

Alex's heart soared! He felt like a young lad with his first lass. It would not be easy, he knew. He must swallow his pride to win back his wife's heart and soul from another man, but he would do it! He wanted her! Oh, how he wanted her, and whatever he had to do, it mattered not as long as Velvet would smile at him again with love in her eyes as she had those two and a half years ago. Pushing her thick hair from her neck, he placed a quick kiss on the soft skin at the nape. "Good night, lass," he said.

"Good night, my lord," was her reply.