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“The bed is not large enough for both of us.”
His shirt and trousers came off quickly enough. “I’ll have clothes brought down tomorrow. But once all of this is settled, I’ll expect you and Antonio to move to the hilltop with me.I believeyour father might enjoy the return of Las Colinas.”
“You expect wrong. This is my home.”
“Your father will have possession until he passes.”
Roman crawled into bed, pulling the covers to his waist. He slid his hand across her stomach. He braced his arm beneath his head and stared at his wife’s face. How thankful he was to be home, wherever home was, wherever Shelene was.
She must have felt the intensity of his gaze. “Why are you still thinking about him?”
“Not him specifically. I am wondering how one man can be so lucky. Not that I believe in luck. And if it’s not luck, then that means he is smarter than I am, and I have a very hard time believing that.”
“You’ve never before admitted how prideful you are.”
“I thought it was obvious.”
She laughed then ran her hand from his shoulder, down his arm. “I think it will be easier to expose him than you think. We do have a grand party coming up. He will not want to miss it.”
“No. We are neither going to Cadiz to buy horses nor will we have a celebration while we are on the cliff of a catastrophe.”
“Not even if one might prevent the catastrophe by doing so?”
“I think the king’s cavalry regiment will be here before then. Or more likely, your uncle will have heard the cavalry is on the way and will be long gone.”
“It all seems so unreal.” She glided her finger down his chest. “To have you here. To think that I was to marry another man. To have my uncle be the villain everyone has always believed him to be. But mostly you.” She rolled toward him and rested her head on his forearm. He pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Aside from the first summer we met, this is the longest we’ve been together, yet it feels like forever. When Uncle told me you were dead, it seemed as though fate had played its final cruel joke on me.”
“If it’s any consolation,Iknew I was never dead.”
She laughed again, then peeked up at him. “Are you happy to be here? Instead of England?”
“My dear wife, I have waited over fifteen years for such a day. It is hard for me to explain and, I’m sure, even harder for you to understand my reasoning, but there are things one must do in one’s life. For purpose, for meaning. Or even knowing one has a skill that few others possess.”
“I’ll always feel that I wasn’t enough for you,” she whispered.
He sat up. “Oh my God! You mustn’t say that. Or feel it. If you were a lesser woman, I would have felt compelled to be to be the Englishman who sits behind an oak desk to manage his estate, counts his sheep and sends his sons off to boarding school at Eton to maintain the British class system. What a bore of a life. If I had been in Adam’s shoes, I would have rebelled under the constraint. And you? Was I to tie you to such a life when you wanted to be free, riding the hills of Las Colinas? Controlling your own life? And don’t try to tell me your mother and father were that strict with you. They gave you every freedom. I could do no less.”
“So much time has passed for us. Time we should have been together.”
“But we weren’t. There is no reason to regret it, because now we are married, we are together, and we have Antonio. Now our life together is only going to be richer and more rewarding.”
“If only Spain does not destroy itself and us in the process. When we’ve only just started? Maybe that would be fate’s last laugh.”
He lay flat again. Shelene rolled into him, stretching her leg over his groin and wrapping her arm across his chest.
“There are too many factions. No serious challenge will be made against the king, at least for now. If we can keep the valley prosperous, keep adequate loyal laborers and vaqueros, even make sure our neighbors get help when they need it, we should survive and thrive.”
“Most families settled in Andalucía over hundreds of years. They will fight for her, for their homes, for as long as they draw breath.”
“Does that not give you courage that all will be well?”
“I pray so, for Antonio’s sake and for that of any other children we may have.”
Roman gripped her ass and pulled her across his body. Her legs opened over him and she braced her hands against his chest. He reached between them and grasped the root of his cock, stroking between her wet folds.
She lifted then sank, taking him and gasping when she was fully seated. How many times had he dreamt of her as his lover, his wife? She cupped his face. He pushed up, bracing one hand against the mattress. He twined his fingers through her hair and leaned in to kiss her, opening his mouth over hers and tasting of all the good things in his life.
He teased at her lips, and she opened her mouth to him, then battled, tongue to tongue. Kiss to kiss.
She lost all her resistance, wrapping her arms about his neck, running her fingers through his hair and continuing to surge over his cock. Finally. Finally giving him everything.
“I love you, Roman,” she said against his lips. “I will always love you.”
“And I you. Forever.”
He released, pleasure coursing through every part of his being. Shelene went limp in his arms. He leaned back pulling her over his body. This was what he had fought and served for, what he now lived for.
