Sapphire - Book 2 (13 page)

“Well, for as long as I can remember, this
field of flowers has bloomed from late spring well into autumn. I
think that perhaps because it is so well protected in this cove is
the reason the flowers fare so well.”

He put his arm around her as they strolled
through the field.

“Well, I feel like one of these fragile
flowers being protected by you - my own personal cove.”

“Believe me, darling, I’ve seen you at your
best and you are far from fragile.” He reached out and wrapped his
arms around her waist and she reached up and put her arms around
his shoulders.

“I am so pleased by not only the annulment,
but also my betrothal to you. I am so happy, that I could just
scream.”

He reached down and kissed her then, and she
felt herself melting in his embrace. Thoughts of their night
together in the pub flitted across her mind and her body responded
in excitement.

“If you are going to scream, I’d rather give
you a better reason for doing it,” he said.

“Oh?” she asked playfully. “And what would
that be, my lord?”

“Would you like to find out?” he asked,
scooping her off her feet and into his arms.

“I would love to find out,” she laughed.

He kissed her again and then turned in
circles with her in his arms, causing her to become dizzy.

“Stop it,” she laughed, kicking her feet
playfully, then laughed uncontrollably as he took his fingers and
tickled her under her arm.

“I can’t stop,” he teased her, acting as if
his spirals were out of control.

“I’m getting dizzy,” she shouted and he
dropped to the ground with her atop him, both of them laughing
until they felt drained. The flowers were high on all sides of them
as well as the tall grass, enclosing them in a private nature
chamber of their own. The scent in the field was magical and the
blue skies above them were so vibrant with a few puffy white clouds
that she felt as if she were truly in the land of the fae.

“No one can see us hidden in the flowers,”
he said in a sultry voice.

“Are you suggesting we make love right here
out in the open?”

“No one will see us, sweetheart, if you are
really that modest. And if you haven’t noticed the hall is full of
people sleeping together every night and no one thinks twice of
stopping an urge even with everyone around. ’Tis a way of life and
naught to be ashamed of at all. But I will respect your decision,
as I know how modest you pretend to be.”

“I don’t pretend,” she said, laughing and
pushing herself up onto one elbow. “I
am
modest.”

He grabbed her arm and pulled her down atop
his chest. Once more the flowers closed in around them, making a
private curtain.

He lay on his back, looking up toward the
sky and she was atop him, facing him.

“Kiss me,” he said. “I have not been able to
stop thinking of that night in the pub ever since it happened. You
have no idea how hard it was for me not to touch you lately, since
I discovered you were married.”

“You did touch me,” she reminded him. “Or
have you forgotten that kiss we shared when you were bathing?”

“I could never forget a kiss from you, my
little lark. And that just goes to show that when I’m around you I
am totally out of control of my senses. I am a man with needs,” he
told her. “And I am here for you and your needs as well.”

“I have a need to love and be loved in
return,” she told him. “I know it is not common to find love in a
marriage, but my sister has it, and so did my parents. Did your
parents love each other, Roe?”

“I suppose so,” he said, pulling her next to
him and cradling her head from the ground with his arm. They stared
up at the blue sky and white clouds as they talked. “But I really
don’t understand my mother marrying Henry. My uncle was the reason
I stayed away so long.”

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“Well, I never really like Uncle Henry since
the day I went to his manor house to be trained as a page.”

“Was he mean to you?” she wondered. “Or
perhaps did he beat you the way the baron did to me?”

Sapphire felt his grip tighten when she’d
mentioned the beatings, and the muscles in his arm beneath her head
turn rock hard.

“I’ll never let him harm you again,” he
vowed. “And as for my uncle – he didn’t beat me but I always felt
as if money, or the thought of having money and possessions ruled
every choice he made. Sometimes they weren’t always ethical either.
So when he lost his manor house when the king decided to give it to
his baron of the Cinque Ports instead, my father let him come to
live at the castle. I always felt as if he were after everything my
father owned. And when my father died, you see he was right there
to sweep in and claim my father’s fiefdom as well as my
mother.”

“But he thought you were dead, Roe. You
can’t blame him.”

“No, I only blame myself for that, but I
don’t really believe he thought I was dead. While I didn’t send a
missive home, nor did he try to find out what happened to me
either.”

“You sound as if you think he married me off
to the baron when he knew you’d be returning someday.”

“Well, it isn’t entirely impossible.”

“But why would he do such a thing?”

“I’m not sure, and I beg you not to say
anything about it. But I don’t think Henry is being honest about
everything. There is no way he did not know the baron was already
married when he gave you to him. I just don’t believe it.”

“Your mother seems happy with him.”

“Yes, I suppose. But I think he just reminds
her of my father, and that’s why.”

“Do you have any siblings, Roe?”

“I had a brother, that’s all. A younger
brother by two years, but he died when the plague swept through the
land. My father almost died then too, but it seems it wasn’t the
plague that affected him. But ever since then he’d been sickly. I
do miss both of them, Sapphire. Immensely.”

“I know how you feel,” she said, laying her
head on his chest. “I really miss my mother as well as the baby
brother I never knew. Even tho I was only four at the time of their
deaths.”

“Yes, you mentioned. And it had something to
do with those jeweled daggers.”

“My father thought they were to blame, but
actually it was my mother’s fault she died.”

“How can you mean that?” he asked, pulling
her closer and kissing her atop the head.

“Well, she told us she’d been greedy and
deceitful. After she bought four daggers, she tried to steal a
fifth from the blind old hag.”

“Whatever for?”

“She wanted as many children as possible. I
guess that’s where I get my love for children.”

“You want many children?” he asked.

“At least a dozen.”

“A dozen?” His head came up with his eyes
wide, making her laugh.

“I’m jesting with you,” she said. “I don’t
need as many children as the queen. I think four or five would be
nice though.”

“That, I could see,” he said. “But a
dozen?”

She laughed again. “Anyway, my mother bumped
into a beggar boy and she dropped the stolen dagger. The stone
cracked. It was a black stone with an orange line running through
it. The blind hag realized what was happening and she accused her
of stealing it. I guess my mother must have pushed the beggar boy
away four times because she told us that the blind hag cursed her
by saying since she pushed a boy away, all her children would be
girls.”

“Sapphire, do me the favor of never pushing
a beggar boy away because I really want a son someday.”

“I promise you, I won’t. And I want sons as
well as daughters.”

“Then what happened?” he asked.

“Well, she also told my mother she’d pay for
what she’d done. The hag said she’d not only lose a boy child but
also her true love. She lost the baby boy she’d birthed and also
died that day.”

“I’m sorry, Sapphire. I know how hard this
must be for you.”

“Not only for me, but also my sisters and
especially my father. That’s why it’s so important to me to have
them present at our wedding.”

“I promise you, Sapphire that we won’t be
married until they arrive. But just please don’t make me wait to
make love with you again until then. Three weeks is a long time for
a man to take cold baths and try to ignore his manly needs.”

“Well, though I agree that a woman has needs
as well as a man, I don’t think we should stay in the same
bedchamber until after we’re wed. It just isn’t proper.”

“But everyone already knows you’re not a
virgin, sweetheart. And they realize we are to be married.”

“Still, just the same, I think it would look
better if we didn’t.”

“Then we’ll have to sneak away to fields of
flowers and have trysts to hold us over until the wedding, or I’ll
go mad from want.”

“Don’t fool yourself to think you’re the
only one who’ll go mad from want. I think most men don’t realize
that women have the same needs as men.”

“Then let this be our secret spot where we
can both find the release from our manly and womanly urges,” he
told her. He pulled her atop of him and her long hair fell across
his face.

“Sapphire?” he said from under her hair. “As
much as I love your long locks, I do think when we have our secret
trysts it might be advisable to wear it up so I don’t suffocate
beneath you.”

“You wish will be granted, my lord. But for
today, our tryst will have to happen with you holding your breath I
guess.”

“Do you mean it?”

“That you’ll have to hold your breath?” she
giggled.

“Nay. About the tryst?”

She turned her head and looked around and
realized being behind the hill and also down low in the flowers
they were pretty much hidden from site. “Well, I think we’d better
hurry before anyone comes looking for us,” she suggested.

“Sapphire, you really are not modest, no
matter what you say.”

He reached up and kissed her, pulling her
gown from her shoulders in the process. His hands caressed her
breasts while her hands undid his belt and found their way under
his tunic.

“Let me help,” he said, all but ripping off
his hose and braies, not bothering to remove his tunic. Then he
pulled her back atop him, lifting her skirts in the process. “What
is this?” he asked in surprise when he found she wore no
undergarments.

“I have no undergarments thanks to the baron
burning them all,” she told him.

“Then I’ll make certain to have some
constructed for you at once. No wife of mine will be walking around
half-naked.”

“Well, then enjoy it today, as you’ll never
see it again,” she teased him.

He pulled her legs astride his body and
settled her atop him. “You are so beautiful, sweetheart and I look
forward to making many babies with you.”

She bent down for a kiss and when she did,
he slipped his length inside her. A surge of heat rose through her
body and she felt the instant stirring of her inner core that she’d
felt that night in the pub.

“Roe, I’ve never done anything so reckless
as this,” she said in a breathy whisper, rocking her hips atop
him.

“Yes you have,” he said, matching her with
his thrusts. I’d say dressing like a tart and making love with a
man you’d never met tops this, wouldn’t you?”

She felt herself climbing, higher and
higher, and she threw back her head in elation and squealed in
delight as she started to reach her peak.

“I like being on top,” she told him, riding
him as if she were sitting atop a stallion.

“Don’t get to used to it,” he warned her. “I
like being the aggressor, but today I give up that right as I would
not want you to soil your gown in the dirt.”

Their dance of love became faster and faster
and a wisp of air flitted across her bare skin from the late summer
breeze. Never had she thought she’d be making love in a field of
flowers and that it’d be so exciting. She’d found a part of her
lately that she didn’t know existed, and she loved the idea of
coupling in unconventional places. Her body vibrated, pulling him
inside her warmth and though still partially clothed, she felt as
free and wild as the flowers that grew without reservation across
the ground.

She felt as if she were one with nature as
the scents from the flowers engulfed her. Through partially closed
eyes she saw the vibrant purple and red of the flowers and the blue
of the sky, and as she reached her peak the colors seemed to
intensify.

“Let yourself go,” he told her through
ragged breathing.

“I feel like I want to shout out,” she said
excitedly.

“Then do it.”

She didn’t need him to coax her further as
it felt so wonderful that she threw back her head and shouted into
the breeze. She’d found her release and he did as well, throwing
caution to the wind from beneath her as he cried out his passion
too.

She fell to his side and laid her head upon
his chest and together they regained their breathing to a steady
pace.

“Did we just really do that?” she asked in
amazement.

“You are not modest, honey. Now do you
believe me?”

They laughed, wrapped in each other’s arms
and Sapphire realized that perhaps she didn’t need her jeweled
dagger after all. Because she was sure she’d just found in Roe, her
one and only true love.

* * *

“What was that?” asked Baron Lydd, standing
in the shadows of a tree and straining his eyes toward the field
just beyond the castle. “It sounded like passion, and laughing.

“I didn’t hear anything.” Lord Henry looked
around nervously, not wanting to be discovered by anyone as he met
in secret with the baron.

“I see two horses across the field,” said
the baron. Then he looked closer. “That looks like Roe helping my
wife mount the horse. I’ll have his head for even touching her like
that.”