Page 39 of To Hunt a Ruby Remedy

“My mother is now fine. We’re going to take care of Gideon together, and then he won’t be a threat to either of us. But what do your mother and sister have to do with it?”

“I’m the odd one out. I enjoy my solitude and living far from everyone. Mother and Rosalia couldn’t get away fast enough. They felt stifled out in the cottage. Even Grandmother spends days at a time in Ortfel more often than not. How could you be happy living in isolation with only me as company? You deserve a life full of people and laughter.”

“Only you?” she repeated incredulously. “Do you really think you aren’t enough? What do I care for being surrounded by people if none of them are the man I love?”

“You love me.” The words were half a plea, half a question.

“So much. I didn’t want to force myself on you, but leaving was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I want to stay with you, Ranulf. Nowhere else will ever feel like home.”

It only took a single step for me to stand in front of her. “Are you certain? I don’t want you to ever feel trapped.”

“I don’t see the cottage as trap. It is a haven.” She smiled, a hint of playfulness peeking through. “Besides, I’ll have my very own dragon to carry me whenever I want to visit Wulfkin.”

I sighed, trying to sound long-suffering, but in truth it was relief. “I already told Hilde I can fly you down if you wanted to accept her job offer.”

Scarlette’s lips parted. Then she surged up from the bed, wrapping her arms around me. “You’d do that?”

“Scarlette, I’d do anything for you.” I tucked her closer against me. “I love you. I lived my life in a fog, not knowing what I was missing until you came and cut through the gloom with your brightness. If carrying you to Wulfkin every day was what it took to keep you happy and with me, then I wouldn’t hesitate.”

She looked up at me, her eyes bright. “I’m not sure I want to spend every evening away from you. But maybe . . . a delivery of bread every other day might be a nice compromise. Master Weslet is an excellent cook, but not the best baker.”

“Whatever you want, Scarlette. I’m sure Hilde would be overjoyed to get even a single loaf of your bread each week.”

“And maybe . . .” She trailed off, no longer looking at me.

I twisted to catch her gaze once more. “Maybe what?”

She shook her head. “It’s not important. We should focus on more critical matters. Like how to handle Gideon.”

“What matters to you is important, Scarlette. Gideon can wait.” She pressed her lips together, and I couldn’t resist leaning down to kiss her, a quick peck before I forced my lips into the semblance of a scowl. “Tell me.”

“Well, it’s just that Mistress Weslet doesn’t truly need my help in the tavern every night, but I’m sure she would appreciate a little extra help, and I think she and my mother would get along well, and Wulfkin is far closer to the cottage than Graenod—”

I cut Scarlette off with another kiss. “Wanting your mother to move here is certainly not nothing. We can talk to Hilde about it in the morning. You can write to your mother, too, and Thalia will get the letter delivered.”

Suddenly Scarlette was the one kissing me, her hands fisted in my shirt. Her lips moved from mine to my cheeks, my chin, then the column of my throat. Between each kiss, she spoke. “I. Love. You. How could you think you wouldn’t be enough for me? You. Are. Everything.”

I pulled her back to my lips, then toppled us both onto the bed. “Only for you, Scarlette. My Scarlette.”

My Scarlette.

My hands fumbled with her laces, the need to show her how much I needed her burning through me.

She shimmied out of her skirt and petticoat. “Don’t stop talking. I love your words.”

For her, I found more words. “You are everything I didn’t know I was missing. Everything I need.”

Clothes fell to the floor. Somehow, I maintained enough of my wits to pull the enchanted disc from my pocket and activate it, braiding it into Scarlette’s hair with trembling fingers. I moved against her, touching every inch, determined to brand myself into her skin as she was branded into my very soul. “You are the reason for every breath I take.”

She moaned and dug her fingers into my back. “Ranulf, I need you.”

“You have me, love. I’m yours.”

Her hips arched up, and I positioned myself at her entrance. “I love you, Scarlette. As long as the sun and stars shine and fires burn, I’ll love you. You are my everything. My always.”

I thrust into her as I spoke, claiming her with my body as I gave myself to her with my words. She held me close and met my pace, her eyes locked on mine. “My always,” she repeated, shuddering around me as her release washed over her in waves.

I kept moving, drawing out her pleasure as long as I could before succumbing to my own.

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