Whispers at Midnight
Page 32
“It is there, I think. Inside the head. He is the guardian. Ezra knew,” she added sadly. “He must have told us hundreds of times.”
“Really, Amanda. Come back to bed. You are lightheaded to think . . .”
“No, Ryne,” she answered excitedly. “It is here. I know it. Watch him. When the light strikes his eyes, press them in.”
Ryne did as she said, mostly to humor her. He was worried that the shock had affected her badly. When the king’s head opened up and gold coins spilled out of a rotted bag, he shouted his surprise. The hall was littered with gold, streaming and glistening in the morning sun.
“How did you know?” he asked incredulously.
“Something told me.”
“Something?”
“Someone. Jubal. He has been here all along looking for Evelyn. Whispering her name and sometimes mine. He tried to warn me.”
She went down the stairs with Ryne and picked up a handful of the shiny coins. Somehow Amanda knew Jubal would not mind her having them or the ruby, not now that he had found his Evelyn again. She suspected too she would not hear the whispers anymore.
***
The fragrant water in the marble bath lapped at Amanda’s shoulders. She felt as if she were really in the lovely mosaic garden pictured on the wall and was more tranquil and peaceful than ever in her life.
But it was with a serious face that she looked at Ryne. “I suppose you will not object to taking a rich wife?”
Ryne laughed lustily. “Not if you do not object to a rich husband.”
Amanda gave him a pained glance. “I thought you had lost your money.”
He grinned. “I could match your fortune twice over, my sweet.”
Amanda, her lips pouted, splashed a handful of scented water on his chest.
“Liar. You told me you could not even afford to let a room. I suppose Gardner has wealth too.”
“Enough that he would not have to weasel trinkets from a poor little sprite.”
“But I heard him arguing over a debt he could not pay,” she responded.
“The debt was that of a workman. He interceded to protect the man,” Ryne told her and ended the last of her worries.
She leaned lazily against the edge of the marble tub and let the warm water cover her to her neck.
“Why did you tell me you had no money?”
He cupped her breasts and brought the rose-crested peaks above the surface of the water as he gave her a taunting look.
“You would not have let me stay at Wicklow otherwise.”
“Oh, you!” she stammered. “I believe you are a worse schemer than Cecil Baldwin.”
“And I believe, my lovely lass, that you should let me give you another scrub. I would have sworn until last night a woman could not wear so much dirt and still stand.”
“Do what you must,” she whispered as he covered her with the perfumed lather of jasmine-scented soap.
Her body tingled with delight that gave way to abandon as his caresses grew more and more intimate. She would never tire of his touch or of the power he had to make her forget anything beyond his nearness. She sighed and joined his play as he bathed her with rapture, knowing and loving every satiny part of her. And when they were both sated, she clung to him, still enjoying the glow of their passion.
“Amanda,” he whispered, his lips making a soft, warm ripple of air at her ear. “Will you do a special thing for me?”
She sighed. What could she refuse him, this man who had saved her from a horrible fate? This man who had taught her the bliss of a lover’s touch and shown her the wondrous dimensions of passion.
“Anything, love.” Her eyes shone like oceans of green lit with starlight. She kissed his lips, his throat, her hands sweeping in slow delight over his naked flesh.
“Come with me, love, to Greylock Chapel.” He was on his feet, a sardonic grin spreading over his lips. “There is a wedding we must attend.”
“Gardner’s?”
“No, love.” He pulled her to her feet, the blue heat of his eyes savoring her soft curves and shimmering damp skin. “Ours.”
About the Author
Andrea Parnell is the award-winning author of ten novels, short fiction and articles, with more than one million copies of her books in print. Her works include Gothic, Western, and other historical and contemporary romances. Several of her books have been set in her home state of Georgia. Andrea has received both the Maggie and Romantic Times Reviewer's Choice awards for her writing, and is a member of Novelists, Inc. (NINC) and past president of the Georgia Authors Network. She is fond of cats, travel, overgrown gardens, and old houses with lots of crooks, crannies, and interesting shadows. Please visit her website at AndreaParnell.com.
Andrea at Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/AndreaParnell
Follow Andrea on Twitter: @andreahparnell
Also by Andrea Parnell
From Trove Books
Dark Splendor
Lovely young Silvia Bradstreet comes from London to an isolated estate off the coast of colonial Georgia to be an indentured servant. But a far different fate awaits her. Clothed in finery and pampered like a queen, she finds herself a pawn in the devious schemes of Wilhelm Schlange, master of Serpent Tree Hall, as he manipulates the family members who hope to inherit his vast fortune. Haunted by ghostly dreams and threatened by the island's deadly secrets, Silvia cannot trust her own senses, much less anyone around her. Most of all, she dare not trust her growing passion for Schlange's nephew, handsome sea captain Roman Toller. His lips move like a hot flame over her flesh and draw the very breath from her body. Can Roman offer Silvia an escape from her dark fate--or is he leading her closer to destruction?
“This is an entertaining blend of eerie shadows and romantic interludes. An excellent gothic romance.”
—Publishers Weekly
“A beautifully written, lyrical—almost poetic in the narrative—book! . . . If you appreciate a great story and the true beauty of words that are put together the way they should be, you will love DARK SPLENDOR.
—Rendezvous
“The grand Gothic Romance could never be better represented than in DARK SPLENDOR.”
—Affaire de Coeur
“A tantalizing blend of suspense and sensuality, with all the thrills and chills that lovers of the Gothic enjoy.”
— Romantic Times Rave Reviews
Delilah’s Flame*
Wild Glory*
My Only Desire*
Devil Moon*
Small Town Secrets*
*coming soon