Alice hesitated. "Frogs, my lord?"

Hugh scowled at the phrase. Damn Julian and his poor script. "Uh, ferns. As small and delicate as the unfurled fronds of small ferns." He hastily rerolled the parchment. That last had not been the easiest phrase to utter.

"Aye, of course. Ferns. Pray continue, my lord."

"Uh, well, that is about all that occurs to me at the moment." What was wrong with Alice today? She was not responding in her usual manner. Hugh wondered if Julian's skills were deteriorating.

"What of my eyes, sir? Do you think they are as green as emeralds or are they more in the nature of malachite?"

Hugh shifted restlessly. What if it was not Julian's skills that were slipping, but his own? What if he was not repeating the compliments in the proper fashion? "Emeralds, I believe. Although malachite is a very nice shade of green also."

"Thank you. Now, then, what of my breasts?"

Hugh swallowed. "Your breasts?" He generally saved that sort of compliment for the bedchamber.

"Would you say that they are still as delicately curved as ripe peaches?"

"Most assuredly."

"And what of my waist?"

Hugh narrowed his eyes. "Your waist?"

"Aye." Alice put aside the gray stone and picked up a darker one. She still kept her face averted. "Would you say that my waist is as dainty as the stem of a flower?"

There had been something about flower stems and small waists on Julian's last list. Hugh was about to repeat the old compliment when it struck him that Alice was a bit more rounded in some places today than she had been a few weeks ago.

He very much liked her this way, he decided, but he was not certain that she would be pleased to hear that she was a bit more plump.

"I, uh, had not given the matter of your waist much thought," he said cautiously. "But now that you mention it—" He broke off to study her form more closely.

It was not his imagination, he concluded. Silhouetted against the sunlight, Alice was not quite as slender as she had been when he took her from her uncle's hall. He remembered the pleasant shape of her beneath his hands last night and sighed.

"Well, my lord?"

"In truth, madam, I would not say that your waist is as narrow as the stem of a flower, but I find the new shape very appealing. Indeed, you look quite healthy and fit with a bit more meat on your bones." He paused, appalled, when he saw that her shoulders were trembling. "Alice, you must not cry. Your waist is exactly the width of a flower stem. I vow, I will challenge anyone who claims otherwise to a battle to the death."

"Very gallant of you, my lord." She swung around to face him. Her eyes were aglow with laughter, not tears. "But I much prefer you to be absolutely honest in such matters."

"Alice?"

"You're quite right. My waist is no longer as small as the stem of a flower. And, to be truthful, my breasts are a bit larger than summer peaches these days. And for a very sound reason. I am with child, my lord."

For an instant Hugh could not move. She was pregnant. With his babe.

"Alice." Joy surged through him with the force of bright sunlight after a storm.

Hugh freed himself from the fragile spell that Alice's simple words had placed upon him. He swooped down on her and scooped her carefully, gently off her feet.

She put her arms around his neck. "Do you know, my lord, I never placed much credence in legends until I met you."

Hugh looked into her eyes and caught a glimpse of their future together. It was filled with the promise of love and happiness. "We are even, then. I never believed in the alchemy of love until I met you."

Alice's smile was glorious. "Love, sir?"

"Aye." Hugh grinned, happier than he had ever been in his life. "Love."

Chapter 22

On a warm day in late fall, Hugh took his infant son up onto the walls of Scarcliffe Keep and showed him the lands that would one day be his.

Hugh cradled the babe in one arm and gazed out at his prosperous fief with a sense of deep pleasure. The harvest had been good. The wool was of excellent quality this year. And there was always the income from his spice business.

"There is much for you to learn," he said to the babe, "but your mother and I shall be here to teach you everything you need to know."

Little Erasmus drooled happily and gripped his father's large thumb.

"Do you see those lands over there to the east? They belong to Rivenhall. Sir Vincent's son is learning to manage them. Young Reginald is your blood kin. Never forget that."

"Your father is correct, Erasmus." Alice emerged from the top of the watchtower steps. "Family is very important."

Hugh frowned at her. "Are you certain that you should be out here?"

"I am quite fit, as you can see. Indeed, I have been nicely recovered from childbed for several weeks. You are overconcerned, my lord."

She did appear healthy, even radiant, Hugh decided. The birth of his son had driven him close to madness, but Alice had gone through it with the aplomb of a skilled warrior going into a joust.

"Have you told Erasmus about the Stones of Scarcliffe?" Alice smiled down at her son.

"Not yet. There are more important matters he must learn first," Hugh said.

The infant gazed up at him with boundless interest. Hugh was convinced that he could already detect a keen intelligence in his son's eyes.

"Well, then," Alice continued, "have you told him about the legend of Hugh the Relentless?"

Hugh groaned. "Nay. That is a very dull subject. I would sooner instruct him on the spice trade."

Alice laughed. "Very well, sir, I shall make a bargain with you. You shall instruct him on matters of business. I shall teach him what he needs to know of family legends. Agreed?"

Hugh looked into her loving eyes. He thought back to that dark night in her uncle's hall when Alice had offered him the bargain that had bound them together for a lifetime.

"You know that there is no one with whom I would rather strike a bargain than you, my love," he said.

About the Author

Amanda Quick, a pseudonym for Jayne Ann Krentz, is a bestselling, award-winning author of contemporary and historical romances. There are over twenty-five million copies of her books in print, including Seduction, Surrender, Scandal, Rendezvous, Ravished, Reckless, Dangerous, Deception, Desire, Mistress, Mystique, Mischief, Affair, With This Ring, I Thee Wed, Wicked Widow, and Slightly Shady. She makes her home in the Northwest with her husband, Frank.

Visit her website at www.amandaquick.com.