Chapter Twenty-Seven

He asked for her forgiveness.

Rhiannon's eyes stung with tears as she brought her gaze to his. Mother Agnes had said to fill her heart with forgiveness. Had the abbess known, somehow, what would transpire between herself and Camden?

She startled at the tenderness in his warm blue eyes. "I should be angry with you."

"Furious," he admitted.

She kept her expression neutral, not allowing him past her guard. Not yet. She had to be certain. "As a Ruthven I have grown up with nothing but pain and devastation in my life. For a short while, I had hoped you would offer me something different, something more."

He opened his mouth to speak, but she silenced him with a finger to his lips.

"I came to you in one of the darkest moments of my life." She looked about the hall at the castle residents who lingered there, some talking with the members of the Church council, some watching her and Camden with pensive looks on their faces.

She offered them an encouraging smile before returning her gaze to his. "I never imagined becoming married when I came to you. Later, it did not seem reasonable that you could love me, a Ruthven, your enemy."

"And now?" he asked, his gaze filled with hope and possibility.

"I've learned that good things can come from bad." She held her hand out to Violet who flew to her side.

"I cannot imagine living a single day without your sweet smile to greet me," she said to the little girl.

Violet hugged Rhiannon's legs all the harder before she scowled at her uncle.

Rhiannon forced back a chuckle. Poor Camden. He didn't stand a chance against the two of them.

"And what of me? Will both of you allow me into your lives?"

Violet pursed her lips. "As long as you don't cheat any of us again."

"Cheat you?"

Violet nodded. "Don't cheat me of a mother. Don't cheat Rhiannon of a husband. And don't cheat yourself of a wife."

Camden shook his head, dazedly. "I'm so glad we cleared that up."

Violet nodded, then grabbed his leg, pulling Camden up against Rhiannon. "Please say you'll marry him?" Violet pleaded.

Rhiannon's breath caught at the sensation of his body pressed so intimately against her own. "I'll marry him."

"You will?" Camden breathed. The smile in his eyes contained a sensuous flame that warmed her to her soul.

"I bring nothing into this marriage but myself and my notorious last name."

"Milady, I vowed to give you all that I have. My surname included."

Rhiannon smiled, hiding none of her pleasure. She had wanted nothing more than to change her last name only a few weeks ago. But now she understood that a person's worth was not determined by a last name. She reached for Camden's hands, lacing her fingers through his. "I accept."

"My lady, my love." He leaned forward and brushed his lips against her temple. "I will spend my life protecting you, and making amends for the pain I caused you."

With joy rising where there had once been emptiness, Rhiannon replied, "And as your warrior's lady I look forward to it. Exactly when will these 'amends' begin?" she asked in a sultry tone. She meant to comment further when he pressed his lips to hers, interrupting her words and her thoughts with the most overwhelming kiss of her life.