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The h&039;s steps slow as he neared the bedchaht It took him but a
"So never fear," she was saying "I&039;ve read the future in the dregs of yer drink and ye&039;ll be happy Ye&039;ll have e Now, I should go below and let yer new husband know ye&039;re ready"
He heard shuffling footsteps move toward the door, and quickly backed up several steps as it opened Eada stepped out into the hall and pulled the door closed
"Is that true?" Hugh asked, uncaring that she would know he&039;d listened in on the conversation
Eada turned froh in question "Is what true?"
"What you said," he explained, irritated with hi the least credence to the woWas it true?"
"Aye But I said she would I don&039;t recallyou at all," the old woman snapped, then relented at his dismayed expression "Ye&039;ll coive her ive her twins the first tih peered at her in horror
"Aye And if ye untangle the riddle of her birth and reer, ye may even live to see them nine months later"
"And if I do not?"
"Death awaits one of ye"
"Which one?"
The old woed "Probably you All I know for sure is that there are two possible endings One is that the two of ye will live a long happy life together"
Hugh was just beginning to relax when she added, "Unless ye s how?"
She shrugged again "Don&039;t know"
"You do not know? Did you not ask?"
Her glance turned irritated "It&039;s not like placing an order with the alewife, ye know I see what I see, and what I see is that ye&039;ll be perched on a precipice If ye choose one way, all will be well Do ye choose the other - " She shrugged "Death"
"Where does the danger lie? Who would kill one of us?" She shrugged again and Hugh shifted i of use" When she merely stared at him solemnly, his eyes narrowed "Know you who her parents were and ished her dead as a child?"
"That is the riddle ye must solve" With those words, she h watched her go, then turned to the bedchamber door His future lay beyond it A future filled with the bliss he kneould find in his bride&039;s ar or short future
Realizing that he was giving credence to the old witch&039;s visions, Hugh gave his head a shake Ithi could not tell the future No one could Feeling better, he opened the door and stepped into the bedchamber
Willa had listened to the murmur of voices outside the door and had wondered what Eada and Hugh were discussing She&039;d had no trouble recognizing the tih she could not quiteShe had wished they would hurry up, however, for she very ard Eada&039;s instructions and take the entire pouch of herbs She was starting to feel quite unwell So ret all the effort she&039;d put into distracting Eada so that she would not again ask about the pouch of herbs The potion was definitely helping her to relax The proble to feel alic and a touch queasy And was the roo, or was that the effect of the potion?
Hoping that sitting up would help the situation, she struggled upright in the bed, not even noticing that the linen dropped away to leave her bare fro a shift to bed, but Eada had assured her there was no need for one as Hugh would no doubt just rean breathing deeply in the hope that it would either clear her head a bit, or ease the queasiness building in her belly It was then that Willa noticed the top half of the linen was pooled around her waist She thought she&039;d best cover herself, but it seemed like too much effort She&039;d definitely taken too much of the potion Much tooreached her ears and Willa h He stood by the door, apparently arrested by the sight of her and she felt relief slide through her No doubt he could tell by just looking that there was so with her Which was a relief, for she did not even seey to speak at the moment But that would be unnecessary He could see there was a probleh didn&039;t knohat he&039;d expected to find on entering the bedchamber His bride all tucked up under the linens, a shy smile on her face, or perhaps even a nervous smile Mayhap even no smile at all, but stark terror on her face Who could knohat to expect froh certainly couldn&039;t He&039;d never bedded one before So finding her lounging in bed in a rather sexy, languid pose that left her beautiful breasts bared to him was not what he&039;d anticipated
"Thank you, Uncle Richard," he breathed,over the fact that he had at first actually protested azed fixed on the teet orbs he&039;d been fantasizing about below stairs His is he could do with the that he asting ti the as he went His surcoat was off in two steps; his tunic hit the floor with his fourth; he undid the points of his breeches and began to shove theht him to an abrupt halt since he had yet to reht around his ankles
Managing to drag his eyes from Willa&039;s breasts, he pulled the breeches back up, lifted one foot to grasp his boot and began tugging it off, hopping aardly It was quite a trick, but he ed it and quickly turned his attention to the other boot With those out of the way, he let his breeches drop again, this tih peered at Willa&039;s face to gauge her reaction to her first sight of his nakedness He felt alarh him at the pallor of her skin and her rather sickly expression He supposed he&039;d hoped that she would be as impressed with his muscular physique as he ith her own shapely curves It hadn&039;t occurred to hiht cause her so how they would ever fit together For a h was at a loss as to how to reassure her; then he took a deep breath, lifted the linen to ease into bed beside her and said, "I a to fear from me I shall ne&039;er harm you My duty now is to protect you and tend to your wants and needs You must trust me in this"
Her hand fluttered on the linens like a wounded bird and her mouth opened and closed without sound Shewhat the hell Eada had said to frighten the girl so, Hugh searched his ic words that would ease her obvious terror about as to come Then he recalled the passion they had shared in the stable and decided that reawakening her desire was his best bet to erase her virginal distress To that end, he smiled and scooted closer to her in the bed until his knee touched her hip
"We have no need of this" He flipped the linen away fro to her body She was beautiful Full and curvaceous and s her with his eyes when a gasping sound drew his gaze back to her face
Willa was trying to speak, but was apparently overconificence Herup and down, then side to side She was obviously too shy to allow her eyes to study his h felt hi hands in his
" &039;Tis all right, my lady You may look at me I will not think you forward" Her eyes seemed to roll then and he almost could have sworn she looked put out when they returned to him He must be mistaken in that, he decided, but frowned as he sahat he was sure was panic and horror flash in her eyes "What is it?"
He leaned forward, using her hand to pull her closer to hi herself, however, and sluainst his chest like a cloth doll
"Willa?" he asked uncertainly, running his hand over her head "Are you unwell? Do you wish to put off the bedding?"
He really hadn&039;t wanted to ask that question, but Hugh was no animal If she was unwell, the consummation would have to be put off Dear God, please let her be well, he prayed God wasn&039;t in the mood to humor hi sound
"A sih whispered, then sed harshly as he felt his gorge rise Dear God, the wo, frozen to the spot by horror Willa, however, hadn&039;t finishedher opinions on the matter known Her body shuddered as it racked with spash peered down at her bent head where he still clasped her close to his chest, alar was terribly wrong She wasn&039;t just ill, she was violently ill
Afraid of his own stoh continued to hold her in place as his ure out what had caused her nausea It could not have been drink that had brought on this attack He&039;d kept an eye on her throughout theshe&039;d eaten then? Nay, that could not be, he decided They had shared the same trencher, eaten the same food, and his stomach felt fine Well, it had before she&039;d spewed her hs and other parts
Was it anxiety then that had brought this on? He had knoarrior once with a nervous stomach who vo? Was she so frightened and nervous that she could not keep her food down? He&039;d heard of frightened virgins, but this was more than he&039;d expected Or - Dear Lord! Had it been the very sight of hih toincreased in violence, stirring Hugh fro quickly away from her and off the bed, he paused to peer down at himself and had to s back the bile that now crept up his throat This was well, frankly it was disgusting, he decided and snatched the top linen off the bed tocleaned himself to the best of his abilities, he hurried around the bed to grab the basin of water there He made a quick detour to toss the water out the , then rushed back to the bed to shove the basin under Willa&039;s face