Authors: Carol Finch
Rose Blossom would have been proud of her son and of the bewitching young beauty who had stolen his heart, Lyndon thought. Then, in a silent toast, he sipped the fine French wine and savored memories of another time and of a young Crow maiden who had given meaning to his life. What he and Rose Blossom could not share, Hawk and Rozalyn would. Lyndon sighed contentedly. He knew what Hawk would be feeling while he waded across a clear mountain stream with Roz one step behind him or when, camped in the plush meadows, he fell asleep with his woman in his arms. Lyndon had known the joys of love. And now it was time for his son to begin his life, a life that had been incomplete until Hawk had met the free-spirited sprite with lively blue eyes and shiny raven hair.
Aubrey
DuBois
trudged
up
the
steps
to
Lenore Rabelais' home, as he had every night since he'd returned from rendezvous. The conflict between them had evaporated when the
grande dame
had learned that her granddaughter had wed Dominic with Aubrey's blessing. Although Aubrey found a certain comfort in taking up Rozalyn's task of visiting the beldame, he was always assaulted by the same question each time he ventured to the mansion. Tonight would be no different, he predicted.
"Well, have you any news?" Lenore asked the moment Aubrey set foot in the door. "Here I am, practically on my death bed and that inconsiderate granddaughter of mine has yet to return from the mountains. I knew she would be content in the wilderness, but I didn't dream she would neglect her own family! My last wish is to see her and that handsome husband of hers before I retire from this life."
Biting back a grin, Aubrey arched a taunting eyebrow and poured himself his usual drink. "Oh? I thought your last dying request was to hold your great-grandchild. Have you decided to settle for merely laying eyes on Rozalyn after her two-years absence?"
Grumbling, Lenore snatched away Aubrey's drink and downed it herself. "They promised to return to St. Louis a month ago and I have yet to see them walk through that door. I am prone to believe they sent the message only to frustrate me."
"Perhaps you should send word that you may not last another month, that ploy almost worked the first time you concocted it," Aubrey teased, planting himself on the sofa beside his fidgeting mother-in-law. "As I recall, you had Rozalyn convinced that you had reservations on the heavenly chariot and she was willing to do anything to pacify you."
"I was desperate," Lenore muttered, annoyed that Aubrey was mocking her in her present mood. "That child needed a husband to control her.
Mon dieu
, nothing else seemed to hobble her wild ways. And now that she is wed, I have yet to see . . ." Her voice trailed off when she heard the rustling of skirts and quiet murmurings in the hall, and the color gushed form Lenore's cheeks when she swiveled around in her seat to see her long-lost granddaughter appear at the door. "Oh, my . . ." Lenore's breath came out in a rush when she glanced from Hawk's and Rozalyn's beaming faces to the tiny bundle nestled in his father's arms.
"The lad has his great-grandmother's disposition," Aubrey declared, and he snickered when the infant squawked and squirmed in Hawk's arms.
"Pish-posh," Lenore flung at Aubrey before she sprang to her feet to unveil the fussing infant.
While Lenore doted over her great-grandson, Rozalyn looked up into Hawk's handsome face. There, in the colorful depths of his emerald eyes was the warm flicker of love that stirred her soul. She melted against him when he slipped his arm about her and hugged her close, but merely being cuddled in his protective arms was not enough. Their journey down the Missouri upon a cramped keelboat had allowed them no privacy, and Rozalyn had been deprived of his tender touch and passionate kisses during her recuperation from childbirth. She could tell by the expression on Hawk's face that he was suffering from the same deprivation that plagued her.
"Do you suppose
Grand'mere
would notice if we slipped away to spend a few moments alone?" she whispered against Hawk's cheek.
A grin of roguish anticipation stretched across Hawk lips, and his wandering hand mapped the shapely curve of Rozalyn's hips. "She didn't notice that I was seducing her granddaughter right before her eyes, why would she notice our absence when she is so distracted by her great-grandson?"
"Why indeed?" Rozalyn purred, already aroused by her husband's skillful touch.
When they had sneaked upstairs and closed the door to one of Lenore's spare bedrooms, Hawk wasted no time doffing the stylish clothing he had donned for his visit to the
grande dame
.
"Really,
monsieur
," Rozalyn taunted, her gaze flitting over his sinewy torso. "You are much too eager. A gentleman would find a more refined tactic for luring his lover to bed."
Stark-naked, Hawk strutted across the room and snatched Rozalyn to him, his nimble fingers making fast work of unfastening the stays on the back of her pink silk gown. "A gentleman never did stand a chance of getting anywhere with a fesity nymph like you," he growled seductively. "And although I have been everywhere with you, there is one place we have been forced to avoid these past few months." Scooping Rozalyn into his arms, Hawk made a beeline for the bed. "I am not a patient man when it comes to seeking what I want. And what I want at the moment . . ."
Thought deserted them when they tumbled onto the sheets, their bodies eager to express a love that had not dimmed. Their gnawing hunger drew them together in a passionate embrace, and they almost devoured each other. Tenderness returned in the aftermath of love-making, however, and though time had flitted by, Hawk was in no hurry to fly from his nest and return downstairs. Perhaps he was being inconsiderate in keeping Rozalyn to himself when Lenore had not seen her granddaughter for more months than she cared to count, but it seemed forever since he had nestled in the loving circle of her arms.
"We should join my father and grandmother," Rozalyn insisted, her voice heavy from the aftereffect of passion.
"We should , . ." Hawk agreed, bending to press his lips to her sweet mouth. "And my father will be arriving shortly."
"He is probably already here," Rozalyn commented between feathery kisses. Impulsively, her arm looped around Hawk, bringing his body into intimate contact with hers. She wasn't certain she could drag herself away from the magic circle of Hawk's arms just yet.
"Let them all wait," Hawk growled in mounting frustration. "I can't seem to get enough of you. And until I do, I won't be worth a damn at conversation."
When his lips engaged in something far more stimulating than discussion, Hawk forgot that a houseful of people awaited them. He had always been a man with an insatiable appetite where Rozalyn was concerned and his need was not yet curbed. As flames of passion engulfed him, Hawk felt he was flying into the sun, into a heat so intense he feared he would not survive it.
It has always been like this, Hawk reminded himself. Rozalyn stirred such deep emotions in him that he had not been the same since they'd met. This free-spirited woman had taken a firm hold on his heart, and she had given him a son. Hawk had found a meaning to life that was worth more than all the riches in the mountains. Home was in the glorious blue depths of Rozalyn's eyes, in the sparkle of love in them.
"Don't ever stop loving me," Rozalyn murmured, as she surveyed the ruggedly handsome face hovering just above her. "I couldn't bear it now that I know how wondrous life can be."
Raw emotion tugged at the string of Hawk's heart as he blessed her with a gentle smile. "Never doubt my devotion,
amie
. Without you, I would be only half a man. Ah, how I love loving you ..."
While Hawk and Rozalyn were entangled in each other's arms, their young son was being entertained by three adults who were cooing at him. Not to be outdone, each of them made faces to gain the infant's undivided attention and to entice him to break into a smile. However, impatient with their childish games, the lad let out a squawk and then found himself cuddled on his great-grandmother's shoulder while she lovingly patted his backside.
"You silly old fools," Lenore grumbled, glaring at Aubrey and Lyndon. "See what you've done. You've frightened the poor child."
"You were making idiotic faces at him as well," Aubrey pouted, his hands folding about the small bundle so he could take his turn at comforting his grandson.
But before Aubrey could nestle the lad in his lap, Lyndon snatched him away to bound him on his knee. The tiny tot gave up his attempt to secure peace and quiet when the threesome crowded around him and again tried to coax him into a smile. This time he gave it. What else could he do? His persistent grandparents would not let him be until he had given each of them a glance and a grin.
"He smiled at me first," Lyndon boasted, swelling with pride.
"Old fool." Lenore sniffed and then turned her attention on the wide-eyed infant. "That one was meant for his grandmother. You just got in the way."
"Give him back," Aubrey grumbled. "It is my turn to hold him."
By the time the tot had been passed among them, he was very nearly exhausted. Wondering at the strange habits of adults, he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep while his parents renewed the vows of love that had brought him into the world. The young lad slept in first one pair of arms and then another. While he was on the lap of one of his grandfathers, Lenore insisted he was being squeezed too tightly. When she was cuddling him on her shoulder, the men complained that she was smothering him.
Into that scene, Rozalyn and Hawk walked. "I don't think they even realized we were gone." Rozalyn said as they paused by the parlor door.
A wide grin lightened Hawk's dashing features and he arched a rakish brow. "Don't you think it would be most impolite for us to disturb them?"
Rozalyn returned his provocative smile, "I have been so long in the mountains that I had almost forgotten my manners." Her gaze strayed back to the staircase they had recently descended. "I think it only proper to leave them be."
"My thoughts exactly," Hawk concurred, and he ushered Rozalyn back to the stairs. "Besides, there a few more matters I wish to discuss with you while we have the opportunity."
"Do go on,"' Rozalyn encouraged as she untied Hawk's cravat. "I am hanging on your every word."
"My word?" Hawk's dark eyebrow arched higher when Rozalyn brazenly unbuttoned his shirt on the landing of the stairs. "It seems you are hanging all over me! Shameless wench . . . mmmmmm ... do that again." Hawk purred like a gentled mountain lion when her roaming hands glided over his bare chest, and when he glanced down into a pair of dancing blue eyes, he wondered if he and Roz would show their faces before the sun rose ... or their young son roused to demand the bedtime snack he was in the habit of taking before he settled in for a long night's sleep.
"I intend to," Rozalyn promised huskily as she grasped Hawk's hand and led him down the hall. "Just as soon as I get you alone."
And when she did, she did!