Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 91416 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91416 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
She let her audacious manner solve the problem for her. “I’m good.” She slipped off the bed. “I like the feel of his seed on me and the scent isn’t so bad either.”
“Good Lord in heaven, Dru!” Mother Abbess exclaimed, crossing herself. “You embarrass your husband.”
“Nay. I am pleased she will not mind me resting there often,” Knox said with a hint of a smile.
Dru grinned from ear to ear. “Then I will be round with child before you know it.”
“Aye, often since I want a gaggle of bairns.”
Mother Abbess smiled. “At least a gaggle of bairns will keep her too busy to get into any trouble.”
“I wouldn’t count on that,” Dru said, hurrying past them both to the door. “Let’s eat. I’m starving.”
Mother Abbess shook her head as Knox waited for her to exit before him. “I will set a day of prayer aside for you, my son. You are going to need all the prayers you can get now that you are wed to Dru.”
Dru was exhausted, the long day having caught up with her. She was eager to drop into bed and sleep, but how did she sleep when she had to share the bed with her husband?
Her husband.
Never had she planned on that, and it was something that needed to be rectified.
“It’s not big enough for the two of us,” she said, pointing to the bed after sharing a good meal with Mother Abbess and the nuns. Mother Abbess was pleased she behaved well. It had been strictly out of necessity. Dru had been too busy eating to engage in conversation. It had been a full day since she had last eaten, and she had begun to feel it. If she had some food in her, she might have just gotten away from Knox at the loch. She’d noticed that Knox had been quiet as well, listening more than participating.
“We’ll manage,” Knox said, stretching his shoulders back after ridding himself of the sword he wore strapped to his back that now rested against the small table and the daggers at his waist sat atop it.
Dru looked from Knox, tall and broad, a giant of a man to her small stature, to the narrow bed and back again. Impossible. No way would they fit there unless they were mashed against each other.
“You’re safe with me,” he said, hurrying his boots off and going to stretch out on the bed.
“You barely fit it,” Dru protested, scrunching her brow as his big body consumed the whole bed. “You’re far too large.” She wondered if he wasn’t used to smiling since she spotted only a hint of one, barely recognizable, when he spoke.
“I never heard that from a woman,” he said, sounding amused and patted the narrow spot beside him. “Join me. We need to discuss our situation.”
While she would have preferred to stretch out, she sat instead, not sure how she felt about sleeping beside him. Though more than likely she’d probably find herself sleeping snug in his muscled arms and plastered against his thick, muscled chest. She had never seen a man built as solidly and with such defined muscles as he was.
“You made it quite clear to me what you think of Lord Torrance, but he offered me something I never thought I would have—a piece of land of my own, a place I can call my own, something that has been a dream of mine.”
“And you want a gaggle of children to fill the place?” she asked but had no idea why she would want to know.
He nodded. “I do. I want a woman strong enough to stand with me and to give me several children I can pass the land onto.”
“So, you’re looking more for a broodmare than a woman to love,” Dru said, confirming that he would have no interest in her since she didn’t fit what he needed. Again, a relief, so why the nagging annoyance?
“Love doesn’t exist, so I will settle for a woman who will tend to her tasks and duties, as will I. But before I can even think about that, I must find Lord Torrance’s half-sister, Autumn.”
Dru didn’t agree. Love did exist, though it was rare and only found by a lucky few, and she definitely wasn’t one of the lucky ones.
“Lord Torrance is a notorious liar. How do you know he will honor this pledge?”
“I don’t know, but I do know that if I don’t try, I will always wonder if a missed a chance at my dream.”
She learned early on not to dream or hope, both always ended in disappointment. Instead, she learned what it took to survive.
“Do you not care what plans Lord Torrance has for his half-sister?”
“That doesn’t concern me. I was offered a task and a reward well worth taking.”
“So, if he means Autumn harm, you do not care?” she challenged.