Love's Reward (28 page)

Joanna pulled her shift over her head, blushing furiously. She felt helpless and hot and filled with desire.

Fitzroy’s gaze ran over her body. She glanced down, burning. Her hair drifted across her breasts, skeins of black silk against her white skin. His breath caught. There was no sarcasm or mockery there now. He was as open and vulnerable as she was.

As she saw it, the last shreds of her hesitation melted away to be replaced by a clear, blazing certainty.

This man was her destiny and the love of her life.

I give you my soul to dance upon, if you like.
He had meant it.

And freely, freely, she was prepared to give hers to him in return. Feeling as proud and unfettered as a pagan princess, she smiled at him.

Fitzroy smiled back. “Joanna, I love you with all my heart. You are my now and my future. The past no longer matters. You are my wife, sweetheart. Unless you demand your freedom. In which case, though it break my heart, I should see that you have it.”

Lifting the sheet she slid into the bed next to him, careful to avoid the bandages, letting him slip one arm about her to pull her into his strong embrace.

“How can you possibly talk such fustian, Fitzroy?”

Joanna moved against him, feeling the delectable touch of his fingers, and his lips in her hair. Her blood blazed in a clear, unequivocal response.

“I love you,” she whispered. “I don’t ever want to be free of you. I want to paint your portrait.”

He smiled again as he touched her mouth with his.

“And I yours,” he said.

The nursery rhyme about Cock Robin dates from at least the fourteenth century and is probably much older. It was well known during the Regency, and had been used in 1742 as a satire during the downfall of Robert Walpole’s ministry. Some scholars believe it may originally have been a folk retelling of the myth of the treacherous killing of Balder, Norse god of sunlight, beautiful, wise, and favored by all the gods.

Yet “Cock Robin” in Regency slang simply meant a kind, easy-going fellow.

I am told by a generous member of Britain’s Royal Racing Pigeon Association that the sport of training carrier pigeons was far more developed in Belgium than in Britain at the beginning of the nineteenth century. However, a few Englishmen kept and flew pigeons as a private hobby, and it was close to this time that pigeons were first used by professional news agencies. So perhaps Fitzroy saw the potential for these courageous birds to exchange messages with Belgium. (We may assume he visited there either before or after Waterloo.)

Modern pigeons fly at approximately forty-five miles per hour with no wind resistance, and can fly distances of five hundred miles in twelve hours without stopping. So it would have been no problem for Fitzroy’s birds to cross the Channel to deliver the message that saved Wellington from my imaginary plot. In the spring of 1816 the Iron Duke’s headquarters were indeed at Cambrai, which is close to the Belgian border, as Europe continued to adjust to Napoleon’s final defeat.

Love’s Reward
, which won the prestigious RITA award for Best Regency, is the sixth and last title in my
Regency Reward
series, which began with
Scandal’s Reward
, winner of the Award of Excellence. The Acton family first appeared in my second Regency,
Virtue’s Reward
. Each of the older siblings earned their own story, as well, as you may discover in
Rogue’s Reward
and
Folly’s Reward
.

I hope you enjoy all their adventures.

My eight long historical romances (every one a
Romantic Times
“Top Pick”) will be e-published next, under my alternate author name, Julia Ross.

Please visit me at www.jeanrossewing.com or www.juliaross.net to find out more.

Thank you, readers!

Copyright © 1997 by Jean R. Ewing

Originally published by Zebra Books (ISBN 978-0821758120), October, 1997

Electronically published in 2016 by Belgrave House/Regency Reads

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

No portion of this book may be reprinted in whole or in part, by printing, faxing, E-mail, copying electronically or by any other means without permission of the publisher. For more information, contact Belgrave House, 190 Belgrave Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94117-4228

     http://www.RegencyReads.com

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This is a work of fiction. All names in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to any person living or dead is coincidental.