The Dowager Countess (The Saga of Wolfbridge Manor Book 2)

extra festive glow over everything.
Adalyn sighed as she and Daniel bid the revellers good night, amidst jests, insinuations and a fair number of crude comments about their night to come.
“It’s only to be expected,” she laughed, and waved from the landing to those in the hall.
“Yes, but honestly, my love. I refuse to name our first child after Farmer Dowling’s prize bull.”
“Oh no, really?” She raised her eyebrows. “And I was just thinking Arbuthnot would be a perfect name for our firstborn.”
Daniel’s gaze lingered on her low-cut gown. “We have to create that child first. Let’s get to it.” He swept her off her feet, to the cheers of the crowd below.
“We are of the same mind, I see,” she chuckled as he carried her to her room. “However, ’tis fitting you should carry me over the threshold, husband.”
He caught his breath. “My wife. I may need to take a moment to absorb the enormity of it all.”
He set her down and kissed her, a lingering loving caress involving lips, tongue and hands.
She drew back and looked down at his breeches. “I think it’ll take me more than a moment to absorb that enormity…”
He laughed. “Then we must waste no time.” He shrugged out of his coat and unbuttoned his waistcoat as Adalyn removed the pins and flowers from her hair and loosened her cuffs. “Let me help, love.”
He stood behind her and unlaced her gown, easing it from her shoulders and letting it slide to the floor. “It was chilly in the church. Were you warm enough?” His words sounded casual but his touch—ah, his touch lit fires within her, even though they were gentle and merely brushing the bare skin he revealed.
She unfastened the tie of her chemise and felt him push that from her shoulders as well, leaving her naked but for an extra petticoat that had kept her legs warm.
He’d asked a question, but she’d lost track of the conversation when he’d bared her skin.
“Ah, Adalyn,” his breath dusted her spine as he tugged off his clothing. She heard his boots hit the floor and then saw his breeches fly across the room.
His hands were hot, like fire against her breasts as he reached around her and cupped them, rubbing his thumbs over her nipples in the way he knew she favoured.
She let the petticoat fall to the ground and leaned back, seeking his body, doing her own share of caresses as she rubbed her buttocks against his hardness. “Take me, Daniel. Any way you want. I’m yours now. Truly yours. Use me as you would a wife…”
She turned to see the blaze of the fire reflected in his eyes, dazzling her.
He seized her and tumbled them both onto the large bed. “I can’t use you, Adalyn, wife or no. All I can do is love you with everything I am.”
“That’s all I ask…” She stretched beneath him, parting her thighs, offering her body, an invitation he would never refuse.
The look on his face was pure, delightful wickedness. “Arbuthnot…get ready…”
*~~*~~*
“Tired?” Trick kept his arm around his wife’s waist as they walked to the horse tethered in the Wolfbridge stable.
“A little,” replied Jane, leaning her head on his shoulder. “It was lovely to see how happy Lady Adalyn was, though, wasn’t it?”
“Yes, it was. She had a difficult life, I know. And coming here…well it gave her chance to be the person she should have been from the start.”
They were silent for a little while, the light fall of snow cushioning the ordinary night sounds. It had stopped, but the half inch or so covered the ground and the tree limbs in an ethereal coating of softness.
“Trick,” said Jane, “are you…” she paused. “Are you disappointed?”
“In what?” He glanced at her as he pulled her closer. “What could possibly disappoint me at this moment?”
Jane swallowed. “That Lady Adalyn didn’t choose you?”
They reached the stable and Trick walked inside, bringing their horse back out toward her. He closed the door behind him, then they both approached, standing beside a mounting block.
“Jane,” he sighed. “You’re my wife and the woman I want to spend the rest of my life with. I love you. You know that.”
“But?”
“Adalyn was—is—an amazing lady. We all loved her dearly. She gave each of us a piece of her heart in return. But although we shared some special moments, I believe I knew she would not be for me. Am I sad? No, not at all. Am I happy she’s with Daniel? Yes of course. And I’ll tell you something else…I’m relieved.”
He mounted the horse and held out his hand so she could jump up behind him. Settling her skirts, she put her arms around his waist and leaned against his powerful back. “Why?”
“Because Daniel is just what Adalyn needs. He’s very bright, strong enough to say no when it’s absolutely necessary, and he’d die for her.”
She was silent, digesting his words.
“Jane,” he added. “I hope I am strong enough to say no when I need to. And you know I’d die for you, love.”
Her sigh echoed over the soft shushing of the horse’s hooves as they rode off in the snow toward Fivetrees.
“You’re smart too,” she whispered.
His laugh rang out. “You’re smarter.”
“I know,” she giggled. “I wed you. That was the smartest thing I’ve ever done.”
“We’ll make it all work, cariad.”
She smiled at his words; the Welsh endearment slipped so naturally from his lips. “Yes, Trick. We will.”
“Now if you settle yourself early when we get there, perhaps you and I can start working on a new project.”
“We’ve barely moved in,” she answered, confusion in her voice. “And it’s night. Not much we can do until the morrow…”
“Jane, darling Jane. There’s a lot we can do in the darkness.