Roland looked to the east. The sun was just cresting the horizon, casting the winter world in pale yellow light. He could feel neither heat nor cold; the seasons passed and passed again until they were stripped of meaning. Time ceased to have meaning. The lives of the living ceased to have meaning. What was left?
Nell.
His loathing of the Banfield brood and Banfield blood.
“How many sunrises have we seen, my girl?” he said. “How many more before we shall want our own escape?”
“You’ll not leave me, Roland,” Nell said, sitting on his lap, wrapping her legs around his hips and her arms around his neck. “The Grimstone shall not take you from me.”
“Not today, no,” he said. “But one day, one day we might want it so.”
Nell kissed his neck, a smile upon her lips that he could feel. “Not when there are so many Banfield weddings in the air. I’ll not think of leaving this place with so much to excite me.”
“Ever a woman, you are.”
“And why should I be less than what I am?”
“Nay, be a woman, and I shall be a man, and we shall bring in the day with--”
“Benedict!” Mary shouted, running down the path toward the beech. “I am here! I am coming to you!”
“I am going to get that imbecile married if it’s the last thing I do!” Nell shouted, rising up from Roland to hurl herself at Mary. “Ten or twelve babies will take the wind out of her.”
“But who’s the man who’ll marry the wench?” Roland said. “Men aren’t so quick to marry as women like to think.” “Don’t talk to me of marriage, you rogue!” Nell said, after she had pulled Mary’s shawl down so that the girl tripped on it.
Mary, crying, was running back toward Bocka Morrow, wailing Benedict’s name between gasping sobs. Really, who’d want to marry such a gushing girl? A man would likely drown in his sheets.
“Marriage? Who was talking of marriage?” Roland said, rising to the top of the beech. The sun was full up, bright and glowing, the dew on the leaves shining like a thousand jewels. The sky was clear, the birds were singing, and a new day had begun.
All thoughts of the Grimstone, except the necessity of avoiding it, the man and the Banfield girl who had met her destiny, dissipated with the mist. He’d gotten rid of Rose Hambly. Roland couldn’t think of a better way to start another day at Keyvnor Castle.
About Claudia Dain
Claudia Welch/Claudia Dain graduated from the University of Southern California with a BA in English. While there she became a member of Alpha Phi, one of the oldest sororities in America. A two-time Rita finalist, she has won numerous writing awards and honors since her first novel was published in 2000. She has lived for most of her life in Los Angeles, called Connecticut home for a decade, and currently lives in North Carolina with her husband.
Connect With Claudia
www.ClaudiaDain.com
The Castle Keyvnor Collections
Christmas at Castle Keyvnor
Charmed at Christmas
Enchanted at Christmas
Kissed at Christmas
Tempted at Christmas
The Haunting of Castle Keyvnor
Vexed
Bedeviled
Mystified
Spellbound
Enchanted at Christmas (Christmas at Castle Keyvnor Book 2) Page 26