She looked around. “We can’t stay out here… like this.” High color stained her cheeks.
“Why not?” Ellis sat up, his cock already standing to life. “It’s my family’s land. Our land. If I want to be naked under a tree all day with my bride, why can’t it be?”
“Well… we just…” she paused. A cute frown furrowed her brow. “I’m not sure.”
“Fine then,” he retorted. “And after I make love to you again, we are going to eat this bloody picnic… and then I will probably make love to you…again.” He rolled on top of her.
Callie looked up through long lashes and hooked her hands around the back of his neck. “I thought men had to… I was told… men, wait awhile between…” Her blush deepened.
He kissed the tip of one rosy nipple. “Sometimes that’s true.” He let out a deep chuckle. “Let’s just say, I’ve saved up for quite awhile. I love you, Callie.”
“I love you, too.”
Epilogue
Four years later….
Ellis motioned for his brother to lift his son into his waiting arms. He took the squirming little boy and sat him on the saddle in front of him. “Hold still or I shall drop you.”
Thomas complained. “Stop, Daddy. I want to ride with Katie!”
“The two of you can play as soon as we get to the stables.”
He waited until Clarke mounted his horse. Adeline handed Katherine to her father. Katherine was six months older, but both children were almost the same in size and height.
Callie seemed apprehensive as she laid a hand on Ellis’s leg. “Are you sure about this? I’m not sure about learning to ride at such a young age?”
Ellis drew his large wool coat around the boy and slipped the buttons closed until all that peered out was the boy’s little face. Thomas looked up at him; his eyes were as blue as the sky. As blue as the eyes of his beautiful mother, Callie.
“Let’s go Daddy. Don’t listen to Mummy. I want to see our ponies.”
“You heard the boy.” A rumble of laughter shook his chest. “He’s a Garrison. You will not be able to keep him off horses, so you best give up your attempts now.” He cupped her cheek with his gloved hand.
“They are so young,” she repeated.
“And you worry too much,” he said.
“Look at both children.” Clarke motioned to Katherine in his coat and then to Thomas in Ellis’s. “They are trussed up like turkeys for a Christmas feast. There is nowhere for them to fall.” He slid back and forth on the saddle to demonstrate his point. Katherine squealed with delight.
“Fine.” Callie stepped back. “I will give you an hour alone with your son. Then I am coming to make sure neither you nor the boy have broken your heads open.”
“I appreciate your concern for our well-being and I want you to come to the stables in an hour.” He leaned down and said quietly, “Then I will send Clarke home with both children and assign tasks to the stable hands. We can have the place to ourselves. Fresh hay has just been delivered and it will make a fine bed whereas to make love to you.”
She slapped the leather of his riding boot. “You are incorrigible.”
“You would have me no other way.” He grabbed her hand and kissed the palm.
As they rode off, he noticed his brother smiling. “What are you so happy about?” he asked.
Clarke reined in his horse to a halt. “Funny. That is exactly what I am. After the war, I could never have imagined this day. You and I married… let alone with children. But here we are.”
“Spencer was right. The war changed us, but maybe those changes were our destiny. Father has passed, have you reconsidered taking your rightful place as Earl of Garrison?”
“And deal with horses day in and day out? Good God, no.” Clarke faked a shiver. “I will stay in the shipping trade, thank you very much.”
“I would never force you into anything you hate so thoroughly as ‘dealing’ with our prized horses. Speaking of horses, after Callie’s work with Liber, he has turned into our top carriage horse and stud. I guess there is hope for all of us that are broken.”
“There is always hope,” Clarke agreed. He looked out over the field. “How about we race to the stable?”
“Yes, Daddy. A race!” Katherine exclaimed.
“We won’t tell our wives,” Clarke said with a devilish grin. “But what about the children? They will talk the second they see their mothers.”