Page 66 of Cadell the Dragon

After staring at her for another moment, Cadell rolled over and came to cage her with his big body. The expression on his face was one of intense possessiveness and love. “Did you really try to tell me something that important at a moment I could not have answered?”

“It’s not my fault,” she protested softly. “I told you I had something to tell you but you didn’t give me the opportunity to finish my declaration. And anyway, it’s no worse than what you did when you proposed to me.”

“Oh, my love.”

The kiss he gave her on the lips was scorching. The kiss he then placed on her stomach was reverent. Johanna took in a deep breath. She had never felt so loved, or so blessed.

Cadell lay back down and drew her against his flank.

“I cannot believe this. Because I, too, have something to tell you. Last night, before I left Castell y Ddraig, Siaspar told me Katherine had just found out that she was with child.” The smile blooming on his face was enough to melt her heart. He was delighted for the man he had chosen as his brother, delighted to be able to share in the joy. “We will both become fathers at the same time, can you believe it? It seems too good to be true.”

It was. The contrast with the year before, when she had thought her husband dead and her life over was enough to make her heart leap in gratitude. Last spring she’d had to face one of the most difficult moments of her life.

Now she was preparing for the best.

“Now, where were we? Ah, yes. Here.” Johanna closed her fingers on Cadell’s shaft, which instantly went from stone to steel. She knew how much he liked to start the day indulging his wicked side. “I had what I needed, but you did not. I think you will have missed me as well this week.”

His smile was carnality itself.

“With every heartbeat.”

EPILOGUE

“Johanna, cariad. Wake up.”

As the beloved voice reached her ear, Johanna’s thoughts slowly started to coalesce. How long had she been asleep? She felt as if she’d being lying underground and was being dragged back to the surface of the earth through a dark tunnel—not the most pleasant sensation.

“How long have I been asleep?” she mumbled.

“It’s mid-afternoon.”

Groaning, she turned to her side. This crippling fatigue was certainly not the best thing about being with child, but she refused to complain when for years she had feared never to know the joy of carrying another babe.

“Forgive me,” Cadell said, stroking her hair in a soothing gesture, “I know how tired you get, and I would have let you sleep for longer but⁠—”

“No, you did well.” She had gone to bed straight after her midday meal. She could not spend her days sleeping, there were things to be done. “What is it?”

“Someone’s just arrived and I think you are going to want to meet them.”

Them? She was not waiting for anyone.

“Who is that?”

“Rhiannon. She’s just arrived with a Scottish man who helped her escape Stanley Manor.”

This was enough to dissipate the fog in her mind. Rhun’s cousin was here? At last?

Johanna sat up on the bed, eyes wide with excitement. “Rhiannon, here? She escaped? Is she safe?”

Cadell smiled his special smile at her, the one proving how much he loved her. “Yes. Yes and yes. She wants to see you. And I think you will want to see her.”

“I will. I do. Oh, Cadell, I’m so relieved. I have thought of her so many times over the last few months, worrying myself sick, wondering where she might be, fearing the worst had happened. To hear that she escaped her stepfather and has actually made it here is wonderful.”

By the time she had finished talking, she was in tears. But no wonder. It had been a blow to hear the previous week that the man Siaspar had sent to England had been unable to find out anything about Rhiannon’s whereabouts. Now, finally, Johanna would be able to set her mind at rest.

“Forgive me,” she said, burrowing into Cadell’s embrace. “It’s the relief. And the⁠—”

“The babe. I know. It’s making you very emotional. And very beautiful,” he finished, dipping his head to give her a kiss. “You’ve never looked better, my love.”