“All is well?” Cree asked with a scowl when the door fully opened.
Wintra tried to hide her heated face against her husband’s arm, but there was no hiding her red cheeks against his white shirt.
“All is fine,” Torr said, taking his wife’s hand.
Cree looked at his sister’s flushed cheeks, then to Torr and shook his head. “I do not want to know.”
“I had no intentions of telling you,” Torr said.
Cree had to remind himself that Torr was Wintra’s husband. But to Cree Wintra would always be his little sister and he would always want to protect her. He pushed away thoughts of ringing Torr’s neck and focused on the present situation.
“Kellmara?” Torr asked.
“Frantic to find Wintra.”
“Then it is time he did,” Torr said.
“What are you saying?” Wintra said her eyes turning wide as she stepped in front of him. “We are staying here tonight where we will not be found and can be alone.”
Torr took her hand and stepped close to her, planting his nose not far from hers. “We are going to sleep in our own bed tonight, though I cannot guarantee how much sleep you will get.”
Wintra blushed, turning her head to look at her brother.
His scowl was deep and his eyes had narrowed.
“It is time for you to leave,” Torr said to Cree.
Wintra was shocked by Torr’s demand.
“Now!” Torr said with a strength that sent a shiver through her.
“You are lucky that you are her husband,” Cree said with an angry growl.
“And you are lucky that I have not spirited her away to my home by now.”
“But you would be wise to remember that you are presently in my home,” Cree warned.
“And I have respected that, but Kellmara being here changes things and you need to respect that.”
Cree nodded. “I am glad to know that my sister’s husband is a courageous warrior.” He walked to the door and turned. “But do not tempt my patience too much.”
“Wait,” Wintra called out and walked over to him. She stared at him a moment, not knowing what to say or perhaps not knowing how to ask the questions that troubled her. Then suddenly, as if it came to her, she threw her arms around him and hugged him tight.
Cree did not hesitate to hug her back. He had missed the hugs she had given him when she was a little girl. He recalled how tiny her hand had been in his and how her little fingers would curl around his one finger and squeeze tight. And now she was all grown, little no more.
She looked up at him with teary eyes.
He knew she was looking for an explanation of why he and their mum had lied to her. “Tomorrow?”
“Tomorrow,” she confirmed. They would talk tomorrow and she would have her answers then.
Wintra looked to Torr after Cree left. “Nothing I can say will change your mind?”
“Nothing,” he said adamantly. “I will not cower to Kellmara’s demands whether he is your father or not. And if it turns out to be that he is your father, I will not have him thinking he can dictate to me. I do, however, appreciate the extent you went to keep me safe.”
He walked over to her and leaned down to brush his lips across hers. “But I want nothing more than at this moment to cart you off to the cottage and make love to you.”
“We can get there faster if we both run,” she said with a smile.
He pulled her close. “And is it the cottage you run to or Kellmara you run from?”
Her smile faded. “I would be lying if I said I did not care if we met up with Kellmara. It is a worry to me that will not go away anytime soon.”
“Since I would prefer spending the rest of the night with you rather than arguing with the man who just might be my father-in-law, I will promise you that if at all possible we will avoid him.”
Her smile returned and she threw her arms around him, gave him a quick kiss, and then pushed him away and ran to the door, calling out, “I will beat you to the cottage.”
“Waiting naked for me?” he yelled and chased after her.
Wintra was laughing as she rushed down the keep steps. She had made it out of the keep before Torr, and thankfully Kellmara was nowhere to be seen. A few short steps and she would be at the cottage.
“Wintra,” she heard Torr shout and ran faster, wanting time to undress and be waiting in bed for him.
His second shout had her turning, since he sounded as if he warned and that’s when she saw one of Kellmara’s warriors headed for her and another warrior going straight for Torr.
She thought fast and grabbed a log from the woodpile by the door and swung it as he came upon her. The blow stung her hand and sent him stumbling, though he did not fall over as she hoped he would. She did not wait until he righted himself, she ran toward the warrior still several feet away from Torr and tossed the log at him. It hit his knees and sent him stumbling, though he got up faster than she expected.
Torr caught up with her and shoved her behind him, ordering her to stay put.
That did not happen. She gathered snow in her hand and stepped in front of Torr to through a snowball at one of the warriors, catching him right in the face.
“Enough!” Kellmara shouted.
The warriors immediately stilled and Torr once again shoved Wintra behind him, this time with a much stricter warning. “Stay behind me or I will beat your bottom red.’
Her eyes rounded like two full moons. “You would not.”
“Try me,” he said through gritted teeth and turned to face Kellmara.
“Why was my daughter running from you?” Kellmara demanded.
“I was not—” Wintra clamped her mouth shut when Torr turned a murderous glare on her.
“I owe you no explanation since it has yet to be proven that you are Wintra’s father, but I will not cause you unnecessary worry until this matter can be settled. She was not running from me. She was trying to beat me to our bed.”
Wintra grinned. His comment said so much about the both of them.
Kellmara turned an angry glare on him. “You dishonor my daughter with such a shameful remark.”
“The truth that we love each other so much that we hurry to share our love is shameful to you?” Torr asked anger in his sharp voice. “Or what of the truth? Would you not prefer to know that your daughter is happy with the man she is wed to?”
“Until I can determine that for myself you have been ordered to stay away from her,” Kellmara said with the authority of a man used to being obeyed.
“I will not be kept from my wife,” Torr warned him.
“Then I have no recourse but to see that you are.”
“So you will do to me what was done to you—forcibly keep me from the woman I love and who loves me?”
Kellmara took a step back as if Torr had slapped him in the face.
“What goes on here?” Cree demanded as he came to a stop between Torr and Kellmara.
“It seems that the man my daughter wed is more a ruthless warrior than I thought,” Kellmara said. “Tomorrow, Wintra, we will talk.” He signaled to his warriors who had grown in number around him, and they followed as he walked away.
Cree turned to Torr. “Is this done for the night now? I will not be summoned again?”
“If you are summoned again it will be because I killed whoever disturbed me this time.”
Cree brow knitted and Torr grinned.
With a shake of his head, Cree walked away.
Torr took Wintra’s hand and hurried to the cottage before anything else could happen and lowered the latch behind him. When he turned he saw Wintra standing by the hearth, her head downcast, and staring into the flames.
He went to her, lifting her chin. “I would not beat your bottom red.”
“I know you meant to scare me silent.”
“Not an easy thing to do, though heavy thoughts seem to have hold of your tongue. What is wrong?”
“Do you think it is true that Kellmara was forcibly kept from my mother?”
“So he says, though how he has not gone mad with the thought of being kept from the woman he loved is beyond me. I would do whatever I had to—kill whoever I had to—to make my way back to you.”
“I think I will speak with him tomorrow, though first I will talk with my brother.”
“And with that settled—” He kissed her.
The kiss quickly turned hungry and they were soon stripping each other’s garments off as they made their way to the bed in the other room.
He tossed aside the last of her clothes and nibbled kisses along her soft neck before whispering. “I’m going to touch and kiss every single part of you.”
Her eyes widened in alarm. “I’ll come before you finish.”
“Then I’ll make you come again.” Torr chuckled. “As you know by now, there are no restrictions on climaxes.”
Wintra frowned.
“Why doesn’t that make you happy,” he said surprised by her response.
“I worry that I will wear you out.”
Torr laughed and scooped her up in his arms. “Oh, Princess, I do love you.”
He placed her on the bed, going down beside her, then leaned over and kissed her while his hand began to roam over her soft skin. He loved the way her body responded to his touch, moving in welcome with it. It wasn’t long before his tongue followed where his hand had been, wanting to taste as much of her as he could.
It didn’t take long before she was shouting out his name.
He lifted his head and grinned. “You will bring your father down on us and I do not think he will approve of what I am doing to you.”
She clamped her hand over her mouth.
His grin grew as he returned to lovingly tormenting her, and it wasn’t long after that they burst together in climax.
They lay spent beside each other.
“I believe the King knew what he was doing when he brought us together,” Torr said.
“As long as he does not tear us apart.”
He tucked her close to his side. “How many times must I remind you that I am not going to let that happen?”
“How can you stop it? He is the King and his word is law.”
“The King’s emissary is the one who will decide our fate, not Kellmara. And he will see how happy we are together, and once he realizes that there is a good chance you are with child, then he certainly will not grant an annulment. And I am going to make certain that he knows that you most likely are.”
Her hand went to her stomach. “Our babe. How wonderful that would be, though I think speaking with Kellmara may also help. Dawn suggested that I should. She feels that if he truly is my father, he would want to see me happy. And the only way he can do that is if he got to know me.”
“My sister is wise beyond her years.”
“I do not know how she does it, not being able to speak, and yet she does not let it stop her. And she is favored and respected by the villagers. She is truly a remarkable woman.”
“She is and I am so glad that my father and I found her, especially after losing my sister Teressa. She was much like Dawn.”
“She could not speak?”
Torr had not thought about discussing with her the affliction that plagued the women of his family. But she had a right to know, so he did not hesitate to tell her. “It seems that most of the women in my family are born voiceless like Dawn. No one knows why. It simply happens.”
“So we could very well have a voiceless daughter?”
“Yes. How do you feel about that?”
Wintra let out a hefty sigh and drifted off into thought for a few moments, to Torr not a good sign.
“I will need to learn more about how Dawn gestures so that I may teach our daughter if she should be born that way, though she will have a strong voice just like her Aunt Dawn. I will also make certain she learns how to defend herself as Cree has taught me, though you will also see that she knows how to handle weapons. And, of course, we will have many sons to protect her, though if we have more daughters than sons, then we will teach them to protect one another.”
Torr hugged her tight. “God, Princess, I was blessed the day I met you.”
She kissed his cheek. “Fate was certainly on our side that day.” She yawned.
“You should get some sleep.”
“I could use some sleep,” she admitted, her eyes growing heavy.
They drifted off together, sleeping the night through.
Wintra woke to see Torr getting dressed. “You leave me?”
“I thought you could use some rest.” He leaned down and kissed her quick, not trusting himself to linger.
She frowned when he hurried away from her and to the door though her mind had a quick thought and she laughed and jumped out of bed naked, extending her arms out to him just as he was about to step beyond the curtain. “Are you sure we do not have enough time to—”
Torr turned and had her on the bed and on her back in an instant. And he was inside her just as quickly, all the while cursing himself for not having enough strength to leave when he should have. But then he would have missed sharing the explosive climax they shared.
“You tempt me much too much,” he said lifting off her and standing to adjust his garments. “But then you satisfy me like no other.”
“Truly?” she asked eagerly.
“Yes, truly.” He gave her a quick kiss and headed once again to the door.
“Torr.”
He stopped though did not dare turn to look at her.
“I love you.”
He turned then. “Not as much as I love you.”
Before she could argue, he hurried out the door.
~~~
The Earl of Kellmara’s head shot up as Torr entered the Great Hall.
Cree motioned for him to join them at the dais. Torr nodded and took the seat next to Cree, not trusting himself to sit beside Kellmara.
“The King’s emissary will speak to both of you today so that we can get this settled immediately,” Kellmara said.
“My wife and I are eager to talk with the emissary. I am sure he will see what you refuse to that Wintra and I love each other and are happy together.” Torr said in a tone that left no doubt he meant it.
“The emissary will be the judge of that,” Kellmara said.
“Enough!” Cree commanded. “My sister will not be going with you, emissary’s decision or not, until I have a chance to speak with the King.”
Dawn entered the Great Hall then, a smile on her face and her hands gesturing.