When he reached her, he didn’t speak, but slipped one arm around her shoulder and drew her in close.
“How do you fare?” he asked softly.
“I’m well.” She inhaled his musky scent and closed her arms around his waist. “I’ve done this more than once.”
He moved away just enough to look at her. “Aye.” His smile was tender, his long, honey-streaked hair snapped around his shoulders at the breeze that cooled the air. “I’ve a feeling you won’t even cry out when our babe is born.”
Tanon wanted to tell him that she never wanted to suffer as Adara had today, but the words sounded cowardly as they formed in her head. The feel of his strong, sure embrace, the potent emotion in his gaze, stopped her as well. The idea of bearing his child suddenly filled her heart with longing.
Tomas’ return only fueled her mad desire. With his son swathed in warm linen and clutched to his chest, he approached them.
“Gareth, my son, Deiniol.”
Tanon watched Gareth take the infant in his arms. With one finger, he carefully moved the swaddling cloth to reveal the babe’s face. And then he melted.
“A son,” he murmured on a deep meaningful breath, his smile so wonderfully warm that Tanon’s head felt light just looking at him. “You’re richly blessed this night, Tomas.”
He would love their babe. She knew it by the warmth lighting his lapis eyes. Goodness, she wanted him to love her that much.
Cian and Madoc called out as they approached from the center of the glen, where another great Celebration was already taking place to honor the arrival of Tomas and Adara’s babe. Gareth turned toward them, facing Tanon fully. For one shockingly blissful instant, Tanon imagined that the child he held so tenderly was theirs. He looked more irresistible than ever before.
Cian wiped his misty eyes and Madoc smacked him on the back of the head. But then the usually stoic warrior graced his new nephew with a touching grin and promised to teach him how to fight.
“You will announce him to the others, Gareth?” Tomas asked, taking Deiniol back into his arms. “I may attend Celebration later, but now I want to remain with Adara.”
Promising that he would, Gareth curled his fingers around Tanon’s and nodded when Cian and Madoc told him they would join him later as well. When the three brothers entered the cottage, Tanon leaned her head on her husband’s shoulder.
“Would a daughter be as much of a blessing?”
“Aye.” He turned her in his arms to look deep into her eyes. “Especially if she is anything like her mother.”
He made her feel fevered…and cherished. “Mayhap then,” she tilted her head to whisper close to his mouth. “I shall give you one of each.”
His eyes glinted beneath golden brows, and his mouth curved into that sensual half-grin that turned her kneecaps to honey. “Then let’s get to it.”
*
They didn’t makeit to the cottage until early the next morn. When Gareth stopped the music to announce the birth of Deiniol, his people were eager to hear more about the newest arrival to their large family, as well as the details of the birth, which Tanon simplified by saying, “It went well,” and “Adara was quite wonderful.” This, of course, earned a round of cheers from the people. They sat and ate steaming bowls of lamb stew and washed it down with heavy tankards of freshly brewedBragawd.The mood was joyful and the music, merry. Tanon found herself laughing with Hereward, and even Alwyn shared a few gracious smiles with her. When Rebecca finally joined them, Tanon was pleased to lose Hereward to her. The two laughed and shared a trencher of fruit and sweet cheese. Tanon was certain her nurse had never looked happier.
When Ioan asked her to dance for them, Tanon declined at first, but after two more tankards ofBragawd, she flung away her courtly manners to show him what she had learned so far with Gareth.
She felt her husband watching her in the bronze glow of torchlight. She could hear his laughter mixing with her own. When he finally met her in the center of the circle writhing with dancers, he took her in his arms and swept her off her feet.
*
Madoc stepped outof Tomas’ cottage with Cian and made his way across the glen toward the Celebration. He stopped when he glanced at his cottage, down the hill. Normally, the sight of his door hanging slightly ajar wouldn’t have alerted him to anything out of the ordinary. Cian oft times forgot to close it behind him. But a shadow crossed the firelight inside, and since he shared his home with Cian, and his brother was standing right beside him, there shouldn’t have been anyone inside.
“Cian.” He laid his hand on his brother’s back. “Go on ahead. I’ll join you shortly.” When Cian turned to offer him a questioning look, Madoc pushed him along. “Go now, brother. I won’t be but a few breaths.”
The moment Cian walked away, Madoc dashed toward his dwelling. When he reached the threshold, he paused and slowed his breath before stepping inside.
“What are you doing in here?”
Cedric looked up from a small chair set before the hearth and smiled. “There’s a matter we must discuss.”
“It couldn’t wait?” Madoc demanded, entering and closing the door behind him. “You could have been seen. My brother could have come here instead of me.”
Cedric rolled his eyes heavenward. “I wasn’t seen. Think you Gareth is the only one who learned to be crafty from my uncle? Besides”—he shrugged—“everyone is in the glen. I found it quite easy to enter the village. As for Cian, I would have slipped through the back door had he wandered here. Really Madoc, you insult me.”