Page 24 of Midnight Rider

She looked down at the small wet spot just over her nipple and she laughed shyly. “It will,” she said.

He held her by the shoulders, his face dark and quiet and very mature. “You delight me,” he said softly. “Your responses are everything a man could hope for, dream of. We’ll make a good marriage, Bernadette.”

“Yes, I think we will,” she agreed. She hesitated. “You don’t love me, though.”

He hesitated, too. He didn’t want to be this honest with her, but perhaps it was the wisest way. “No,” he confessed. “I’m fond of you. I like your spirit. I love the way it makes me feel when I make love to you. When the children come, they’ll bind us even closer. It will be enough.”

She didn’t know about that. She loved him desperately. And there was that remark about children. She was still terrified of childbirth, even though she felt the same overwhelming desire that he did.

“Stop worrying,” he said when he saw her brooding expression. “Trust me. Everything’s going to be all right.”

“I do hope so,” she said.

He smiled. “Wait and see.”

* * *

ITTOOKTHEMANHOURTOGEThome. Sure enough, as Bernadette had feared, Colston Barron was pacing the area near the stable, smoking a cigar and looking ferocious. He glared at both of them without saying a word while they dismounted and turned over their horses to the boy to stable.

Eduardo took Bernadette’s cold little hand in his and held it tightly as they approached her father, but he wasn’t looking apologetic. In fact, he almost swaggered.

“I’m sending a cable to my grandmother today to announce my forthcoming marriage to Bernadette,” he said, spiking the little Irishman’s guns before he could get the cigar out of his mouth. He held up a hand when Colston started to speak. “There will be protocol to observe, of course, and our relatives will have to have time to make arrangements to attend. My best friend belongs to the House of Windsor, and I would like him to stand with me at the ceremony. You do understand that it will be a gala event, I hope,” he added with deliberate hauteur, “since Bernadette will be marrying into most of the royal houses of Europe.”

Colston looked as if he might swoon. “You mean, you still want to marry her?”

“Of course I want to marry her. I always did. We get along well together. It will be a good marriage.”

Colston wiped his sweaty brow, looking from one to the other. His face hardened a little. “But she didn’t come home last night, and the servants all know it.” He groaned. “They’ll gossip.”

“Not when they know that she spent the night with my cousin Carlita from Mexico City, who was staying with me overnight,” he replied calmly. He let go of Bernadette’s hand and lit a cigar of his own. “I have brought her home this morning. My servants will swear, of course, that this is the truth.”

Colston let out a long sigh. “It’s all my fault,” he said miserably. “I thought you didn’t want her anymore. The German seemed to.” He shifted uncomfortably, avoiding his daughter’s accusing eyes. “I thought she’d get used to him. I never dreamed she’d run away.” He glared at Bernadette. “You could have been eaten by wolves, you silly twit!”

“Don’t you call me a twit!” she shot right back. “Who was it who told me to let that horrible little man do what he liked, all because you wanted a noble son-in-law?”

“Whist, and don’t you be talking to me in such a manner!”

Eduardo stepped between them when he heard Bernadette’s breath begin to rasp. “Arguing about an accomplished fact is a waste of effort,” he said calmly. “We have a wedding to arrange. My cousin Lupe is coming along with my grandmother to visit. She arranged a wedding for the Spanish royal house just recently and is familiar with protocol and tradition. She will take care of the details.”

“And I’ll pay for them,” Colston said at once. He looked relieved yet guilty. He stared at Bernadette as if he were looking for signs of upheaval. “In two months, you said,” he added worriedly with a pointed glance at Bernadette’s slender waist.

“How dare you!” Eduardo burst out furiously when he saw the speculative gaze.

Colston sucked in his breath. “My boy, I didn’t say a word!”

“She was upset, alone, hungry and frightened—chilled into the bargain! Even a scoundrel would hesitate to accost a woman in such a condition, least of all any decent man!”

“I apologize, yes, I do,” Colston said at once. “You must forgive an old man’s suspicions. I know better.”

“Yes, you do,” Eduardo said, a little less ruffled. He stared down at Bernadette. “I assume that the ball hasn’t been canceled?” he asked suddenly.

“Well, no,” Colston began hesitantly. “I wasn’t certain what to do when she didn’t come home,” he added stiffly. “I didn’t know you’d even found her. Anything could have happened. I was just about to call my guests together and make arrangements to send them home.”

“Unnecessary,” Eduardo replied. “Do you have a gown?” he asked Bernadette.

She smiled. “Yes. Papa sent me to town. It’s a Paris original.”

“The color?”

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