Sweet Taste of Love (The FitzRam Family Medieval Romance Series) by Markland Anna

Author:Markland, Anna [Markland, Anna]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: BleuBelle Press
Published: 2012-07-22T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Aidan had to admit he was content to be home. Ragna fussed over him. He wondered how long that would last! She seemed determined to sate his appetite, but he didn’t object. It was good to have a full stomach again. His hands were healing well.

He’d overindulged in bathing too, ordering a tub every day and luxuriating in the joy of being clean. Leofric jested he was in danger of washing himself away.

He could not wash away the memory of Nolana’s anguished face. Whenever he remembered his first sight of her at the market his erection grew rock hard. He’d never ached for a woman as he ached for her, though they had barely spoken ten words to each other. Was he bewitched?

She was now beyond his reach. He may as well have stayed in the monastery. Such thoughts brought on more feelings of guilt. He’d forsworn his pledge to atone. However, the notion of returning to Lindisfarne filled him with dread. He could never don the hated robe again. He was too fond of good clothes and the way they made him feel. Why had he believed he could be a monk?

He wandered around the house, remembering many happy times spent with his parents and siblings. One day he summoned enough courage to enter his parents’ chamber, undisturbed since their deaths. His hand fell upon the journal his father had kept during the Crusade. Parts of it had been read to them over and over when they were children—they knew it by heart. He clutched the worn and tattered book to his chest, grief rising in his throat.

The house was quiet. Ragna was napping and Edwin had gone out. He settled into a chair and unfastened the bindings. The parchment was brittle, the ink faded after five and twenty years, but the sight of his father’s firm hand relating the horrors he’d survived reduced him to tears. He sobbed uncontrollably until he could sob no more. Curling up, he hugged the book to his chest.

When he woke the light was fading. It was supper time and Ragna would be wondering where he was. Somehow he felt better. It came to him he’d never wept since receiving news of the shipwreck. At first there’d been endless days of hoping his parents might have survived somehow. Then came the bitter despair as the unavoidable truth had sunk in. A Yuletide of unbearable grief. Aidan had shouldered the responsibility of consoling Ragna and Edwin, sending messages to Blythe and Dieter in Saxony, and to the Montbryces in the Marches and Normandie. He was the eldest son. He had needed to be strong.

The codex had fallen open to an entry which described a dream. Worn out and wandering in Asia Minor, Caedmon FitzRam had not known if he would ever see his Agneta again, and was unaware she’d borne him twins.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.