The Frost Maiden's Kiss by Claire Delacroix

Author:Claire Delacroix [Delacroix, Claire]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9781927477397
Barnesnoble:
Goodreads: 20657277
Publisher: Deborah A. Cooke
Published: 2013-12-31T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

Catriona was fearful as she seldom had been. She waited in the solar, unable to rest even though she laid abed. The hour was late. Her lord husband had yet to come to her. Her mouth was dry and her hands were trembling, and it seemed the night would last forever.

Vera had brought Avery to be nursed, then taken him to the other chamber, insisting that a couple must be alone on their wedding night. As irksome as the older woman’s chatter could be, Catriona found the silence worse.

It gave her fears time to breed.

The masons had been paid that day, and all had gone well. The masons had drunk well of the ale when it arrived from Kinfairlie and saluted their host. Compliments had been exchanged, then most of them had loaded their carts and left.

Ravensmuir seemed oddly silent without the sound of their camp, and the fields looked bare without their tents. Catriona had the odd sense that she was not the sole one awaiting something in the night.

She heard a tread on the stairs then and burrowed beneath the covers. She felt a coward when she feigned sleep, but she did not know what else to do. She heard her husband wish Vera a good night, then he came into the solar. He did not bring a light. He shed his boots just inside the portal and Catriona struggled to make her breathing sound slow and regular.

She could not imagine why she troubled herself. If he had desire for her, surely he would simply awaken her. Or maybe he would just take what he desired. She prayed for strength in this moment, knowing that her son’s future hung upon her fulfillment of the laird’s expectation. Any nuptials could be put aside, if the match were not consummated. What would happen to Avery then?

She heard her husband shed his garments, his tabard and undoubtedly his chausses. She heard the straw pallet rustle as his weight settled upon it, and heard his breathing close beside her. She squeezed her eyes shut as his hand eased beneath the covers and landed upon her waist.

“I know you are awake, Catriona,” he murmured, drawing her back against his warmth. Catriona let him do as he would, though her entire body was so tightly clenched that he could not be unaware of that. “And you should know that I would demand only two tokens from you this night.”

She turned to look at him, uncertain.

He held up two fingers. “First an answer.”

That sounded simple enough. Though Catriona feared what he might ask, she nodded.

He indicated her cross. “I was surprised by this treasure today, for I had thought you penniless or near to it.” Catriona’s chest tightened as he met her gaze. “How did you come by it?”

“It was given to me by my mother.” Catriona frowned. “She put it in my hand when she was upon her deathbed.”

“Was she a noblewoman as well as a midwife?”

Catriona frowned, for she had wondered as much herself.

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