Total pages in book: 108
Estimated words: 98745 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 494(@200wpm)___ 395(@250wpm)___ 329(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 98745 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 494(@200wpm)___ 395(@250wpm)___ 329(@300wpm)
“Perhaps they do not think of it as arguing, perhaps being boisterous is simply their way of speaking, connecting with each other. A friend of my da’s who would visit occasionally spoke in a loud, angry tone. I asked him one day why he was so loud and angry.”
“Of course, you did,” Noble said with a soft chuckle.
“How else was I to find out?” Leora said. “Besides, I was only ten years and tired of sticking bits of cloth in my ears when he visited. Anyway, I remember he looked at me with such a shocked expression that I thought I had said something terribly improper. I was surprised when he told me, while sounding as if he scolded me, that he did not speak loudly and he was not angry.”
“He must have been a relative of mine,” Noble said, unable to stop himself from laughing.
She poked him in the arm playfully. “The point is he did not realize how others heard him. To him, he spoke like everyone else. It could simply be your parents’ way.”
He cringed at the suggestion. “But not my way and you would need more than a few bits of cloth not to hear my family when they are together. Thankfully, you will not have to suffer a visit from them. They live a distance away and I have not seen them in years, and that is fine with me.”
Leora found her husband less a stranger as she learned more about him, especially hearing about his family. She had only known him as a fierce Gallowglass warrior, leaving her with a bit of fear of him and rightfully so after seeing him fight. He killed fast and without regret, but then the Gallowglass was not known for mercy. However, talking with him, hearing about his family, made him appear more like most people, not some elite mercenary. That led her to believe that the man she was discovering beneath the façade of the fierce warrior was a man she could possibly love.
Leora yawned, unable to stop it.
Noble turned to his side. “You’re tired and rightfully so. It was a journey fraught with unexpected perils and wounds. You need to sleep.”
Leora was enjoying their talk and didn’t want it to end, not yet, but she could feel the tiredness in her body and sleep creeping ever closer.
“I am glad I came to your bedchamber and we talked. I feel I know you a bit better now.”
“And we will learn more and come to know each other well and share a good life together,” he said, letting her know it was possible if they took the time to make it so.
He hadn’t planned on kissing her, just the opposite. He planned on avoiding it, but he could not resist with her lips so close to his. Their plump softness made them ache to be kissed. He brought his lips to hers and kissed her gently. But it wasn’t enough, so he kissed her again, thinking that would do, but, of course, it didn’t. His hand went and gripped the side of her face, holding it as he turned their kiss more intimate.
Leora had wanted him to kiss her, had hoped he would, and she wondered if that was what had truly brought her to his bedchamber. Strange yet pleasurable feelings had been racing through her all day, especially when her husband had innocently touched her by taking her hand or touching her arm or wrapping his arm around her or pressing his hand to her back. She did not quite understand it, but she wanted to learn more about it.
But now that she was here, sensations building in her that she ached to explore, she wondered—was this wise of her? Was she selfish in not seeing Sky safe before she found any pleasure for herself?
The thought had her ending the kiss, easing her mouth off his when she wanted desperately to continue kissing him. “I should return to my bedchamber.”
“Nay, wife, this is our bedchamber and here is where you will stay from this night on,” Noble said with a firmness that left no room that it would be any other way. He saw confusion in her eyes. “We will continue this another time. You need to sleep.”
Confusion remained in her eyes, but relief reared its head as she nodded.
She turned away from him hugging the side of the bed and he wanted to pull her into his arms and sleep wrapped around her. But something had disturbed their kiss and he planned to find out what it was so that it never happened again, since the next time he kissed his wife, he planned on sealing their vows.
With full bellies from last night and even more so with this morning’s meal and a renewed hope in their hearts, people wore smiles as they eagerly helped Noble’s warriors with the many chores needed to restore the village to its prime. Praise, from young and old alike, for their new chieftain was heard everywhere as busy hands worked.