Rexanne Becnel (43 page)

The tide had started to come in, but she knew that even had a storm driven the waves shoulder high, Rylan would come for her. He had done it before.

He spurred his destrier on, leaving a plume of water in his wake. Then, when he was almost upon her, even before the horse could stop, he flung himself down and into her arms.

“By damn, but I have missed you!” he muttered into her hair as he dragged her into his embrace. “It’s been a year!”

Joanna laughed in complete joy and tightened her arms around his neck. “It’s only been three weeks.”

“A year,” he insisted. Then he silenced her laughter with a hungry kiss. When they broke apart his eyes were alight with a familiar desire. “God, but I have done naught but dream of this moment.”

“And I as well,” Joanna confessed. “But what of King John and the agreement he made with the barons?”

Rylan once more stilled her words with a kiss, stirring and urgent. “We can speak of him another time. Tell me, did you miss me? Did Adrienne and Graham miss me?”

“Yes. And yes and yes. They’re here now, but they’re asleep.”

With one arm about her waist, Rylan guided her toward their children. She leaned her head contentedly against his shoulder when they stood to look down upon what their love had made.

“They’ve grown,” Rylan said in a voice suddenly gone low and hoarse.

Joanna nodded, for she understood the quick emotions that had caught in his throat. Then she turned and, with a hand on each of his cheeks, drew his head down to hers.

“I love you,” she whispered, gazing up into his beloved face. “You can never know just how happy you make me.”

Rylan tightened his arms about her. “I know.” His dark eyes seemed to plumb the depths of her soul. “My sweet little dove, I know.”

Rexanne Becnel is the author of more than twenty historical romance and contemporary mainstream novels, many of which appeared on the
USA Today
bestseller list. With the publication of her first novel,
My Gallant Enemy
, Becnel won the Waldenbooks Award for Best First-Time Romance Author and the
Romantic Times
Award for Best Medieval Romance by a New Author. While growing up, Becnel lived for a time in Germany and England, where she became fascinated by medieval history. After studying architecture at the University of Southwestern Louisiana, she worked as a building inspector for the Vieux Carré Commission, the agency of the City of New Orleans charged with protecting and preserving the distinct architectural and historic character of the French Quarter. Becnel lives in New Orleans with her husband and two children.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this ebook onscreen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 1993 by Rexanne Becnel

cover design by Julianna Lee

978-1-4804-0956-9

This edition published in 2013 by Open Road Integrated Media

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