The Longest Night: Fantasy Romance (Nvengaria Book 4) by Jennifer Ashley

Author:Jennifer Ashley [Ashley, Jennifer]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781941229385
Publisher: JA / AG Publishing
Published: 2016-12-12T18:00:00+00:00

Chapter 7

Mary woke in the morning with Valentin in her bed. She opened her eyes to find herself nose-to-nose with him, his blue irises wide with that otherness he had.

Without dismay, Valentin smiled. His face was creased from the pillows, his hair pleasantly rumpled. He was so handsome, loving, and desirable, that Mary tightened in sudden panic.

“Will it come true, do you think?” he asked softly.

She blinked. “Will what come true?” She couldn’t remember anything they’d discussed before he’d come to her through her window last night, to hold her, kiss her …

Valentin lifted a curl from her face, his strong touch gentled. “The legend of the Longest Night. Will the lady I spent it with be with me for the rest of my life?”

Mary struggled to sit up. “Not if someone finds you in bed with me. I’ll be utterly disgraced.”

“I locked the door. And what if they do discover us? Do you care so much what these English people think of you?”

She didn’t, not at this moment. Mary put her hand to her hair, finding it warm and tangled. “Some of the people are Nvengarian. Your people.”

“Who would not find it surprising that I want to be with you.” Valentin smiled the heart-melting smile that made anything he said sound reasonable. “If you are forced to flee the country, you can always come home with me.”

Mary wanted to laugh with him, but her heart beat faster. If a maid did try to come in to stir the fire and found her here—she would be talked about, and Julia could be caught in the gossip. She’d be pointed at as the young lady with the scandalous chaperone, her reputation speculated about as well. Not fair, but that was the way of the world.

“We shouldn’t joke,” Mary said quickly.

“No? Come home with me anyway, Mary. It is nothing to be ashamed of.”

“Perhaps not in your world, but mine is a different place,” she said in worry. “If we are discovered, I will be the entertainment of the ton—talked about, laughed at. The matron who fell for the young, handsome foreigner with the enticing eyes.”

A crease appeared between Valentin’s brows. “Are you so ashamed then? Of what we did? Of who I am?”

“Of course not!” Mary’s anger rose—both at the easily shocked English and the altogether too-permissive Nvengarians. She was Scottish, neither one, but she felt pinched between the two worlds. She wondered if Egan had felt like this when he moved from Scotland to Nvengaria and back again.

No, Egan did as he pleased and damned what everyone else thought. Egan had traveled the world, playing the Mad Highlander, entertaining everyone he met. Mary had always wished for her brother’s gift of easy charm. Perhaps then she’d be able to fall into Valentin’s arms and let him take her away from her old life and everything she knew.

The trouble was, she didn’t hate her old life. Her marriage had been a failure, and now she was lonely, but she had Dougal, her family and friends, and her home at Castle MacDonald.

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