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“Oh, English, I can hardly believe it,” she said as she gazed at him deeply, relishing the love and contentment she felt for him. “ ’Tis almost too good to believe with everything that has happened to us. To actually live as man and wife, in our own keep… it is a dream.”
He wiggled his brows. “And not just any keep, love, it’s Castle Questing. Northwood should be so mighty.”
She shook her head in awe. “ ’Tis hard to imagine a fortress mightier than Northwood. When do we leave?”
He laughed at her eager question. “Is tomorrow morning too late?”
“Nay!” she cried. “Jemma and I will pack this night.” Suddenly, her face fell and she looked rather fearfully at him. “Kieran and Jemma will live with us, will they not?”
He put her back on the bed so she would not step on the broken glass. “Aye, Kieran and Jemma, and Michael, Marc, Roan and Deinwald.”
She immediately looked suspicious. “What about Paris? Why not Paris?”
The sadness in his face and voice was evident. “He chooses to stay at Northwood and help Adam run the place. As much as he wants to come with us, he knows he is needed more at Northwood. Believe me, Jordan, ’twas a most difficult decision for him to make and for me to accept. He is my best friend in the world, outside of you.”
She blinked, her eyes stinging with tears. “I will miss him.”
He smiled sadly. “So will I, but I understand his reasons. Yet the majority of my knights, save Paris, Ranulf and Corin, will be with us at Questing. And for that, I am satisfied.”
She gave a brief nod. “Then I am, too. Oh, English, I am excited!”
He gave into her excitement, her joy at moving to their new home. “Me, too.”
They grinned at each other like two children with a giddy secret.
“And Aloria will come with us, too.” She was thinking aloud. “And my Da, and Uncle Matthew and Ian and Cord, and Cala….” Her face suddenly froze. “Callie! We will be taking her from Paris.”
William didn’t look overly concerned. “She cannot stay at Northwood unchaperoned,” he said. “Besides, ’twill give Paris an excuse to visit us every week if Caladora lives at Questing.”
Jordan nodded, liking that idea. He smiled at her now that she seemed satisfied knowing her immediate future. Yet, he still had one more surprise for her.
“Now, change into some clean clothes,” he swept away a clean spot in the floor for her to stand. “We have an appointment for supper.”
“Appointment? Where?” she asked.
William smiled happily. “My brother, Robert, is here at Windsor and is dying to meet you.”
“Yer brother, the earl?” she gasped. “Well, why dunna ye say so sooner? I must bathe and wash my hair and I…!”
He laughed, leaving her to fret and worry. As he passed through the antechamber, he heard his wife yelling for Jemma as well as any battle commander and paused for a moment at the door leading from the apartments.
“I shall be back in an hour,” he called to her.
“Two!” she screamed back.
He laughed again and quit the room.
CHAPTER SIXTY-ONE
Two and a half hours later, Jordan and William stood outside of his brother’s apartments at Windsor. Jordan looked as beautiful as he had ever seen her in a red satin surcoat that revealed plenty of her full breasts. Her freshly washed hair was free and flowing, smelling like an entire field of lavender and William was having a difficult time concentrating on anything other than her.
“English, what if he hates me?” she whispered as her husband rapped on the door.
He gave her a scowl, letting her know just what he thought of that statement, just as the door flew open. Jordan nearly jumped from her skin.
Immediately there was a tall, well-dressed man standing in the archway smiling happily at her, and she knew that it was William’s brother. He was an older version of her husband, with the same golden eyes, with his hair with a bit of gray, but there was no mistaking the resemblance. He tore his eyes away from Jordan long enough to look at William.
“This is her?” he asked incredulously. “My God, William, no wonder you wanted to retreat to Questing with your wife. How in the hell did you manage to marry such an exquisite creature.”
