Marrying the Marquis (27 page)

Ross smiled. “Yer sister is an expert tormentor.”

“Our stepmother schooled us on tormenting men,” Blaze told him. “Raven was her star pupil.”

“Let’s sleep in your bedchamber tonight,” Ross suggested, “and we’ll take Kyra home in the mornin’.”

“Is there any dinner left?” Blaze asked. “My baby wants food.”

“Tinker,” Ross called. When the majordomo appeared in an instant, he said, “Fetch my wife somethin’ to eat. We’ll meet ye in the dinin’ room.”

“What shall I serve you, Lady MacArthur?”

“No meat, no fish, no poultry.”

Eleven Months Later

“Here we are,” Blaze said. “Clean, fed, awake, and smiling.”

Holding her stepdaughter’s hand, Blaze led a small parade into the drawing room. Kyra’s nannies, Morag and Jean, carried the twins. Dodger followed behind, carrying a tray of refreshment.

“Kyra, you sit here with Papa MacArthur,” Blaze said, and the six-year-old climbed on her grandfather’s lap.

Blaze lifted one of the twins out of Nanny Morag’s arms. “Papa, you hold Baby Colin.”

“Jamie, our grandson resembles you more and more each passing day,” the Duke of Inverary said. “Look at those black eyes and hair.”

“Aunt Bedelia, you hold Baby Bedelia.” Blaze lifted the other twin out of Nanny Jean’s arms and passed her to her aunt.

“Baby Bedelia inherited your red hair,” the Duchess of Inverary said.

“I’m old, Roxie, not blind,” Aunt Bedelia said. Then, “Dodger, ye forgot the whisky and Puddles’s cookies.”

“Come on, wife.” Ross walked into the drawing room. “Juno is waitin’ to show ye her foal.”

Blaze rolled her eyes. “How do you know?”

Ross winked at her. “She told me.”

“Colt or filly?”

“A chestnut red colt.”

Ross and Blaze left the drawing room and walked downstairs. Leaving the mansion, they headed down the path to the stables and paddocks. The nearest paddock to the stables had Juno and her son, the MacArthur stables’ newest addition.

“You have a handsome son,” Blaze praised Juno, standing at the fence. The colt veered between wobbly legs, spurts of energy, and the security of leaning against its mother.

“I want ye to name him,” Ross said.

“A champion needs a special name that commands respect,” Blaze said. “Give me a couple of days to consider it.”

Blaze stroked Juno’s face and then turned to her husband. “Our company is waiting.”

“Family isna company, darlin’.” Ross put his arm around her shoulders and steered her away from the paddock. “I’m glad we named the twins Colin and Bedelia.”

Me love
.

Blaze stopped short. When her husband looked at her, she placed a finger across her lips for silence. Had she imagined those two words?

Me love
.

Turning around, Blaze walked back to the paddock. The colt stood at the fence beside his mother. Blaze stared into its eyes.

Love Peg
.

Me love
.

Blaze laughed, even as tears streamed down her cheeks.
Love Peg
.

Me love
.

“What is it, darlin’?”

“Pegasus has returned to me.”

“Huh?”

“Pegasus is here.” Blaze gestured to the colt. “Juno’s son is Pegasus. He told me.”

“The twins keepin’ ye up at night isna good for mental alertness,” Ross said, managing to get her away from the paddock. “Company is waitin’ for us.”

“Family isn’t company,” Blaze said, glancing over her shoulder at the colt. “We’ll need Bender and Rooney. I wouldn’t trust anyone else.”

“Jeez, I’m livin’ with a madwoman.” Ross rolled his eyes. “Horses canna come back from the dead.”

“I’d know Peg anywhere,” Blaze insisted.

“Even if a horse could come back,” Ross said, “Pegasus was female and the colt’s male. Females canna be males.”

“Jeez, I’m living with a spiritual brick.”

Ross yanked her into his arms and kissed her. “I might be a brick, but ye love me as much as I love ye.”

“I do love you,” Blaze said, “but the colt is Pegasus.”

“If ye say so.”

“I
do
say so.”

Ross put his arms around her shoulders and ushered her down the path toward the mansion. “Did I ever confess aboot lyin’ to ye?”

Blaze stopped walking. “You lied to me?”

“I didna save Beau from a beatin’,” Ross told her. “I bought the donkey and concocted the fairy tale to impress ye.”

“Your rescuing Beau did impress me.” She gave him a seductive smile, an invitation in her eyes. “I was more impressed the first time you dropped your breeches.”

“The old folks can care for the twins,” Ross said. “Let’s sneak up the servants’ stairs and hide in our chamber for a while.”

“I’m game,” Blaze said, and started walking down the path again. “Do you think Baby Pegasus will balk at holes?”

“Men dinna balk, darlin’.”

She smiled. “If you say so.”

Ross pulled her into his arms, his lips hovering above hers. “I
do
say so.”

And then he kissed her.