Page 285 of Historical Hotties
“You deserved it.”
“And dragged away to face Henry.”
“You verymuchdeserved it.”
She giggled as he moved his body weight off her, lying down beside her with his arms still around her.
“I am sure that I did,” she said. “But I am glad you did not give up. Your persistence has given me more happiness than I can comprehend.”
He gave her a half-grin, looking at her beautiful profile. He loved the way her nose tilted upward, and there were times when he would gently drag his finger down the slope of her nose, tracing the outline of it. There were times when he watched her sleep and couldn’t believe his life had turned out the way it had.Everything had happened so quickly. A marriage, a title, a castle, and a love he wouldn’t trade for anything on this earth.
It had been thirteen days since their arrival at Stafford Castle. Thirteen days of coming to know his wife, his wife’s daughters, of becoming familiar with his property. Thirteen days of watching Caledonia realize she was no longer the outcast and finding her role amongst people who wanted her to succeed.
It was amazing what a little love and support could do.
But it was also thirteen days of discovering just how badly the inhabitants of Stafford Castle had suffered under the de Lucera cousins and Madam Madonna. Thor really hadn’t planned on remaining at Stafford because he wanted to visit Edingale Castle, but it seemed that Stafford needed him at the moment.
For the first few days, servant and soldier alike had been afraid to speak up, to tell of their experiences under Cristano de Lucera, but once they started to, terrible stories came out. Stories that had Cristano stealing from his men, selling off servants to other castles for the money it would bring him, of selling the fine horses that Robert de Tosni had collected, and of relegating the soldiers and servants to eating gruel or anything they could hunt and kill while he and his cousins and Madam Madonna lived like kings.
But Thor was determined to change that.
The Stafford soldiers had lived so long with the de Lucera cousins that having a liege who actually cared about them was a shocking concept. But Thor was very much like his father, a man who was concerned for those he commanded, so as the days passed, the soldiers seemed to grow more comfortable with him. He and Clayne and Darius and Truett formed a powerful quartet, and together they worked to convince the Stafford soldiers that not all commanders were terrible men. Some of the soldiers even sent word to those who had abandoned their service to Stafford, and over the past couple of days, former soldiers began floodingback to Stafford Castle, eager to return to their posts and willing to give the new Earl of Tamworth and Stafford a chance. Since no one had much liked de Tosni or de Lucera, Thor didn’t really have to worry about their loyalties.
They were willing to go on a little faith.
The same could be said for Caledonia’s daughters. At least the two younger girls had quickly warmed up to their mother, who had spent the vast majority of her time sewing clothing for them and initiating lessons. Nicola had been a great help when it came to the clothing and the lessons, and even though she had been a rather flighty student herself in her younger years, she was very smart and helped Caledonia tremendously.
Janet, the middle child, was the one most eager to learn. The child had spent thirteen days being bathed and fed on a regular basis, having her hair combed and braided so that it was nice and neat, and spending a few hours every day learning letters and also words from the Bible. That was the way both Caledonia and Nicola had been taught, learning words that were printed in the Bible and then translating them to a language they all spoke. Janet had learned quickly and already could write her name and several other words. She was also learning her numbers and could already write the first five. After that, she still got a little fuzzy, but it had only been a few days.
Caledonia was very proud of her progress.
Joan, the youngest, was a little more of a challenge. Since Madam Madonna had forbidden anyone from talking to her, she was a little more than an infant when it came to communication. Caledonia had been trying for thirteen days to break her of eating dirt and grass, hoping it wasn’t just a habit but simply because she had been hungry enough to eat anything. That meant that the child always had a piece of bread or cheese in her hand, for if she wanted to eat something, it would actually be food and not foliage. As a result, she was getting quite ahappy, round belly on her, which, given how skinny she was, was wonderful to see. She was starting to fill out, and as of the past couple of days, as long as she had bread or cheese or some other type of food in her hands, she wouldn’t resort to eating the dirt.
But both Caledonia and Thor watched her closely to make sure of that.
Jane, however, had proven to be the real challenge. She had been so conditioned by Madame Madonna that it had been difficult to break through. Both Caledonia and Thor tried, but she was still quite wary of her mother. Darius even tried because she seemed to like him quite a bit, and he was under the impression that the child had been so frightened by Madam Madonna and her doom-and-gloom message that she was torn between wanting to disbelieve what she’d been told and terrified of what would happen if she did.
It was heartbreaking for Caledonia to not be able to break through to her own child, but they were all working on it and trying to help the little girl understand that her mother was not a devil and that Madam Madonna had been lying to her. Nicola spent time with Jane in an attempt to break through to her, and out of all of them, she probably had the best chance because she was young and slightly immature and seemed to be able to understand Jane better than the rest. She had more patience with her, and Jane was starting to respond to that.
Slowly as it was.
In all, Thor and Caledonia felt as if their thirteen days at Stafford Castle had been productive and eye opening. Everyone was learning what their new role at the castle would be, and when Caledonia wasn’t with her daughters, she was learning the ins and outs of how the castle was run. She caught on quickly. One of the biggest problems at Stafford was the filth factor—it was everywhere because no one had taken decent care of the keep in years—so several days ago, Caledonia had instructedthe house servants to start scrubbing floors and cleaning out cobwebs. It was a major task that was still going on, even today. In fact, that was where she was heading when she had been sidetracked with her magnificent husband.
Not that either one of them minded.
That was what Thor thought as he gazed at Caledonia’s profile. Reflecting over the past thirteen days made him smile. It was as if he’d been thrust into another world, one where he was wildly happy. Happier than he’d ever been with a woman he’d never wanted to marry.
There was a hell of a lot of irony in that.
“Are you truly happy, Callie?” he asked softly. He’d long since softened his stance on only calling her by her full name. “Honestly?”
She turned her face so that she was looking at him as they lay there, side by side. “Of course I am,” she murmured. “Can you not tell?”
He reached out, gently stroking her cheek. “I can,” he said. “I just need to hear it. I do not know about you, but I feel as if this entire marriage has been something of a dream.”
She smiled weakly. “It feels like that to me, too,” she said. “But a very happy dream. I’m here, with you, and I am coming to know my daughters. There is nothing that could make me happier.”
He smiled in response, gently rubbing her chin with his thumb. She had an enormous dimple in it, and he loved that. “I was thinking of something,” he said. “Something that may shock you.”
