Andrew’s laugh was high and loud.
Sunny offered his arm, and Mantheria took it.His entire body stiffened from her touch—how he’d longed for it!“Do you mind if we stroll outside in the rose gardens while I tell you the story?”
There was no better place on the castle grounds to be private with her, for the rose gardens were enclosed by stone walls on four sides—a romantic location.
“Not at all.”
He led her from the castle into the courtyard and through the north gate that led to the gardens and the Duke of Hampford’s beloved Animal Island: a small river island where he kept his exotic animals that he was unable to reintroduce back into their natural habitats.Sunny opened the gate to the rose gardens, and they walked inside.They were met by the beautiful fragrance of the flowers and the riot of colors of the rainbow.Each rose bush seemed to have its own shade, its own story.He must be besotted, for he was turning poetic.
They walked together to the center of the garden, where there was a fountain.The sound of water was calming.The scenery was beautiful.The rest was up to the two players: Sunny and Mantheria.She was the first to speak.
“I didn’t want to disappoint Andrew, but I believe that you have already told me the story of Odysseus and Penelope and how he had to prove his identity by knowing that their marriage bed could not be moved because it had been carved from a tree that had grown in the middle of their house.”
Sunny grinned.“As always, you have an incredible memory.But I was hoping to tell you about my own odyssey.I didn’t meet any cyclopes or sorceresses, but I did, on occasion, behave like a pig, and I don’t even have the goddess Circe to blame.”
Her lips twitched before her mouth settled into a lovely smile.“I think we all sometimes behave like pigs.”
“That is kind of you to say,” Sunny said, clearing his throat.“But my mistakes and follies are graver than your own.I do not blame you for turning down my suit.I spoke beautiful words, but I did not have the deeds to back them up.It has been just over a month, which I hate to admit is not very long, but I have changed my ways.I have worked hard to be a good landlord, and I will continue to be true to you for the rest of my life.And if it takes twenty years like it did for Odysseus and Penelope to be reunited, then so be it.You are worth waiting for.You are worth working for.I ask only to continue to be your friend until the time that you can accept me as a worthy suitor.”
Mantheria leaned away from him, like she was Daphne running from Apollo, and his heart stuttered in his chest.
“I think that Penelope and Odysseus’s marriage bed not being able to be moved is symbolic.Like the bed, grown in their house and carved by their hands, Penelope remained steadfast in her belief that her husband was alive and that he would return to her.I lied to you.I don’t think that you are incapable of handling difficult or unpleasant things.I think that I am unable to.Sometimes I don’t like to be touched, and intimacy with my first husband did not bring me happiness or pleasure.Perhaps because I was too young, or maybe my own constitution is not particularly physical, but I did not like the marital act.The failure of my marriage was entirely my own fault.I told Alexander to find a mistress, that I didn’t want his kisses.He left that night and did not come back until the next morning.Soon after, I learned that he had taken up with Lady Dutton again, and we never had a real marriage again.So you see, it was all my fault.I failed as a wife.All these years, I let Glastonbury take the blame.”
Her eyes were wide, and her cheeks flushed.He did not know if it was with desire or embarrassment.He did not want to consider the possibility of their marriage being in name only.He had dreamed about making Mantheria his own in every way, more times than he could possibly count.Sunny wanted her physically.He needed her.Mantheria had haunted him for a dozen years, and spending only three days in her company during Andrew’s adventure had taught him how essential she was to his happiness.He’d bathed her and put her to bed.He’d been happy to care for her.Their only shared intimacies had been handholding and hugs.Over the last month, he would have given a fortune for her touch.
Sunny stood silently for several moments, just staring at Mantheria.He loved her with all his heart.He couldn’t imagine a future without her in it, and he wanted so badly to touch her.“May I kiss you?”
She stiffened as if steeling herself.“Yes.”
He stepped closer to her and gently cupped her cheek with his hand.Mantheria closed her eyes and rubbed her face against the roughened skin of his fingers.It felt good.More than good.Then his other hand caressed the opposite side of her face, and his mouth brushed gently against hers, back and forth in a delicious friction.He hoped that she was enjoying it because it was incredible for him.
Sunny lifted his head from hers only a little to look into her eyes.
“Don’t stop,” Mantheria protested.
Sunny’s lips were smiling as he pressed his mouth to hers, harder than before.She responded in kind, and Sunny opened his mouth and gently licked the seam of her lips.Mantheria parted her lips, and Sunny’s tongue entered, both soft and teasing.His hands moved from her cheeks to her shoulders, pressing her closer to him, their bodies flush against each other.
Out of breath, Sunny broke the kiss but didn’t release her.Instead, he let his forehead rest against hers, his breath against her beautiful pink lips.“I don’t know about you, but that was amazing for me.”
“It was wonderful,” Mantheria admitted in a small voice.“But it was only a kiss.”
“I love kissing,” Sunny whispered, and it was true.“If kisses were all that we shared, that would be enough for me, if that meant that I could spend every day of my life next to you.”
She stiffened in his arms.“I am afraid that my frigidity will eventually drive you away from me.It would kill me if you betrayed me, because I do love you, Sunny, more than anything else in the world, and I have guarded my heart so that you couldn’t break it.”
He caressed her cheek and ran his fingers through her beautiful yellow curls.“I am not going anywhere, and I would never betray you, Mantheria.I love you with all the best that is in me.Are you interested in trying more with me?”
Mantheria stepped back from their embrace, her eyes wide like a scared rabbit.Sunny would have to move more slowly with her.He needed her to feel safe with him.“May I hold your hand?”
Words seemed to fail her, so she nodded.
Sunny grabbed her hand and gently tugged off her glove, and then his.He intertwined their fingers.“Tell me all about what you’ve done in the last month.I have missed you every moment of every day.”
They started to walk farther into the garden and then took a seat on a bench in the shade of the roses.
“Mostly I have just missed you,” Mantheria admitted, a pretty pink growing in her cheeks.“But I have worked on my wooden swordsmanship—swordswomanship?And Andrew assures me that when he attacks the Picts, I may be a part of his army, but only as a squire.He intends to begin his campaign when we visit Scotland for the birth of Helen’s baby and a mandatory visit to Hadrian’s Wall.”
“My own sword skills are sadly rusty.I shall begin working on them immediately so that they pass muster for Andrew’s army.”