Page 89 of The Moonstone Governess
“I am being sensible.” She turned to glance up at him with a kissable purse of her lips. “It is a matter of the tides. It is high tide, Daire.”
He kissed the curve of her neck again. “Stop reminding me. You are not to be sensible about it. Those moonstones are going to glow for us with a brilliance never seen before.”
“You love me that much?” She gave a lilting laugh.
“Yes, I do,” he said with an ache and a joy he felt to the limitless depths of time. “How can I not? You are beautiful beyond description. That body of yours is going to fit perfectly to mine. But this is not merely about my finding a desirable wife. You have given me something I never imagined possible. Peace, happiness. A true family. Matthew, despite throwing the occasional childish tantrum, is no longer that scared, battered, angry boy.”
Brenna nodded. “He is happy.”
“Yes, but most important is that he has learned to trust and to laugh. To smile. Most of all, never to fear me. I want him to know that if I ever raise my hand, it will never be to hit him.”
“He will, Daire. He does.”
“I hope so.” It was no small thing, for Daire was determined that no Claymore going forward would ever suffer the rages or beatings he and Matthew had suffered. “Look, little dove. The moon is now rising.”
She sighed and rested against him as the night breeze swirled around them. “It is a full moon, so big and silver. We’ll need its light to make our way back to the manor.”
“Greggson will have torches lit for us. We’ll only need to walk toward them to find our way home. Here we go, darkness falling.”
They stood together in silence.
Brenna burrowed against his chest while his arms remained circled around her. He breathed in her light lavender scent along with the salt of the sea carried on the cooling breeze. The grass was also cooling beneath his feet, and the poppy petals were furled.
“Oh, Daire. It is high tide.”
“Have faith, love. Be patient.”
“All right. I cannot believe you are the one reminding me to be patient,” she said in jest.
But the minutes passed, and Daire began to think he had approached this matter with his typical bullheadedness and demanded the impossible.
Yes, it was high tide. And he had not taken Brenna to bed yet.
Was this something he should have done first? Made her his own?
What did it matter? She was already so deeply etched in his heart.
And then they saw it. No more than the slightest glimmer of light, at first. Then a sparkle.
And more sparkles.
Each little burst of light shone as a different color beneath the dark water. “Little dove, look.”
“I see it, Daire. Oh my. It’s beautiful.”
The sparkles of colored light now dazzled as they danced beneath the water.
Brenna began to hop excitedly. “Oh, Daire! You were right.”
“See, you ought never doubt your stubborn husband. I knew it would happen for us. It had to happen, for no one but you could ever claim my heart.”
“This is momentous,” she said in awe.
He cast her a wicked grin. “Indeed, it is. I am about to have the best sex of my life.”
Chapter Seventeen
Brenna had notneeded to see the moonstones sparkling to know she and Daire were to have a good marriage, but she found it nevertheless heartening to have the confirmation. After all, it was not every day that a former schoolteacher turned governess married a duke, especially one as handsome and perfect as Daire.
