"As will I."
"But you promised. If we give up on the guns, what will I have to—"
"I didn't say I was giving them up. I have a plan. Kill two birds with one stone, eh? Or in this case three."
"If you mean that bugger Parks, he's gone."
"He'll be back, I'm sure." Fitzsimmons smiled wolfishly. "In fact, I'm looking forward to it."
"Very well. If your orders are to give the word, I'll send to London now, tell them all to assemble for three weeks from today, the twentieth."
Fitzsimmons nodded. "Perfect. If everyone keeps their heads, it will go like clockwork. This will be one holiday season Ardmore will never forget."
But as the winter frost settled in, Ardmore looked back. Looked back and remembered. And gathered its strength for the next great pagan festival: the winter solstice.
Chapter Thirty-three
"What is it about the cold weather that makes me feel so lazy, yet so alive?" Elizabeth asked as she pulled herself from the bed, tugged on her flimy wrapper and stretched.
Her husband ogled her scantily clad body happily. "I don't know. I suppose because it's a time of rest, recovery, until all the excitement of spring. It only looks frozen at the minute," he said as she moved to gaze out the window. "But underneath it all there's teeming life just waiting for the right spark to get it going."
He came up behind her and pulled her to him, resting his hands on her belly.
"Yes, love, you most certainly had the right spark."
He smiled. "So did you."
She sucked in her breath as his hands travelled lower, through the folds of her delicate nightdress to the bare flesh underneath which always seemed to cry out for him.
"Darling, we need to get up and dressed. Everyone will be here soon and-"
"I'm most certainly up. And you're dressed, at least."
"This hardly counts--"
Her sob of urgency as he peaked her nipples with his other hand choked off any other half-hearted protest.
He filled her to the hilt as she braced her hands against the window frame. Her knees began to buckle, but he held her up by her belly, caressed her whorl of desire, and drove into her delightedly until she tightened around him and squeezed him unmercifully with her tight inner muscles.
They both exploded, and Will laughed throatily.
"There, you see, never even needed the bed."
"We rarely do these days. You're insatiable."
"Hah! Which of us was the one who kept me in our room at the townhouse in Dublin with naught more than a bit of bread and water to feed me for three whole days when we were supposed to be Christmas shopping?"
She blushed. "I can't help it. The baby--"
"In which case I shall keep you filled with children until we're too old to manage."
"Promises, promises." She turned to face Will and kissed him long and hard.
"At least we did get all our shopping done and pay calls in the end. I also seem to recall there was some fresh cream to go with that bread and water that you had some very interesting uses for."
Will actually blushed too. "So did you," he accused.
"Yes, but the marmalade was even better."
Will cupped her rump with a laugh. "I love you no matter what foodstuffs you'd like to tease me with. This is what I dreamt of. A love with no qualms, reservations, no hiding in the shadows, no shame. I can't tell you what it means to me."
"To me, too. But if we don't get bathed and decently clad, we will never-"
"Oh drat," he sighed.
"What?"
"My present to Vevina. We were supposed to pick it up at Waterford yesterday, but the weather was so awful we never got there."
She sighed. "Well, you need to get it, I suppose."
"But everyone is coming."
"I'll stay here."
"But--"
"Really, it's only for a few hours." She kissed him warmly.
He sighed. "I could send a servant, but--"
"It's all right. I could use the time to get your gifts all wrapped and do a bit of mending. I really don't mind."
"What if they all arrive very early?"
She shrugged. "We're all friends. I adore Parks and Monroe, and I'm sure Vevina and Stewart and Mitchell and Baines will be over as soon as they hear Parks hallooing through the County like Tony Lumpkin."
They laughed happily, and went to have their bath.
A short time later, dressed warmly in one of his dark suits, Will took his leave of her.
"I'll see you this evening, dearest."
"If the weather's bad, you ought to stay overnight at an inn."