Surrender (46 page)

Each bundle squirmed.

"Ah, 'twas what I expected from Elyne!"
Ranald said. "Twins!"

Catalin bent down to show Graemme a tiny red
face. "Meet yer wee son, Graemme."

Muriele did the same beside her. "Meet yer
wee daughter, Graemme."

Graemme promptly fainted face forward, on the
floor.

Elyne waited impatiently for Graemme to
return the bairns. Ada and Grunda had already bathed, put a fresh
night garment on her then propped her up on clean pillows and
brushed her hair.

Finally, someone cautiously opened the door.
Graemme peeked around the corner, wary of entering.

"Dinna throw yer soiled water at me or
anything of that nature. I have my little army with me," he said
with a look of intense pride.

Elyne's snort was as loud as any man's.

"Ye dimwit! Ye fainted like a dairy
maid!"

"Humph! I fainted from exhaustion. Being an
expectant father is stressful."

Graemme walked as though he was carrying
something he feared he would crush. He stopped beside the bed and
Elyne saw naught but gentleness in his face. How could she ever
have believed he hid evilness in his soul? All because of some
stupid dream of a ravening black wolf!

"Ye'd best get over here afore I snatch ye
bald. Newborns need nursing, ye know."

"Ah, ye're still enticing me with love talk."
Graemme grinned. "If ye think to lure me into swiving ye this
night, I'd best confess I am way too tired from all the trouble
ye've put me through to think of bed sport!"

He kissed each tiny red forehead afore
bending down to lay the bairns in her arms.

"Lout! Ye're tired? Ye lazy Highlander." Her
lips twitched to keep from chuckling at his banter. "If I were not
nursing my bairns, I would skewer ye."

"Ye must surrender yer fierce nature. And ye
must never hit me now. Think of what it will do to our wee son and
daughter to see their fierce mother being cruel to their loving
father."

He stopped and rubbed the stubble on his
face. His eyes lit.

"Mayhap we can have bed sport on the
morrow?"

She was busy getting the twins to nurse with
Grunda's help, but he jumped back when he saw the look on her
face.

"Get near me with a cockstand and I'll cut it
off! I have my blade beneath my pillow, so be forewarned, ye
unspeakable churl!"

"Grunda, is it natural for a mother to be so
unloving after her husband has sacrificed his rest for many nights
to give her two perfect bairns?"

Ada laughed so hard Grunda needed to raise
her voice to speak.

"Lad, if I were ye, I wouldna come back
unless ye have Ranald to hide behind."

He kissed Elyne's forehead and between her
eyes then snuggled his head close to her neck to kiss her
there.

"Thank ye, from the bottom of my heart for
our beautiful family," he whispered.

"And thank ye, my darling, for being so
patient. Kiss me properly now!"

He did. With as much fervor as she kissed
him.

o0o

Look for these intriguing romances
in

Sophia Johnson’s Raptor Castle
Series

Brother Ranald of Raptor Castle, a scarred
monk in Scotland’s Kelso Abbey, has a fearsome temper that causes
objects to fly about, turn still waters stormy and candles to light
with but a look. In the peace of the abbey. He controls his rage
and fights his forbidden desires, but what would he become in the
secular world?

‘Tis his greatest fear when his father
arrives with an army to force Ranald to return to Raptor Castle and
wed. This monk turned man must now become husband and warrior.

Letia of Seton Castle is as beautiful as she
is capable. Famed for her skill at training archers and slingers,
she is used to commanding the castles defenses when needful.
Married to elderly Baron de Burgh, she has never birthed an
heir.

She must protect her castle and people when
Maud and Stephen’s battles throw England into anarchy. She
sacrifices all when her husband devises a plan to save Seton Castle
from ruin when he dies.

‘Twas a simple plan with very few steps to
follow: Capture her enemy, seduce him, bear his child and save her
people. But falling in love was not in the plan.

The Morgan and Gunn clans in the Highlands of
Scotland have been feuding for longer than anyone can remember,
until the chiefs decided to foster their sons with each other.

Before Magnus of Clibrick Castle and Feradoch
of Kinbrace Castle exchanged places when they reached their seventh
year, their fathers ordered them to swear a blood oath that each
would uphold the peace when they became men. Once they are grown
and return to their own strongholds, should either man be felled by
treachery, the other will seek vengeance for the deed.

Years later when the Gunn’s call Magnus to
honor the oath, he never expected to hunt down and hang Muriel of
Blackbriar, a bewitching woman he captured and fell in love with
when he besieged her castle.

In the Taming of the Shrew, Katharine met her
match in Petruchio. She was fortunate not to be in Elyne of Raptor
Castle’s shoes. When Elyne goes toe to toe with Graemme of Clibrick
Castle, he checkmates her every move!

Graemme is not the harsh man Magnus is, but a
vow made is also sacred to him. Elyne keeps one step ahead of him
and leads him a merry and sometimes treacherous race before he gets
the better of her.

But all is not laughter. Someone plots to
kidnap Elyne, and when he tires of her, he will delight in killing
her.

Coming - Not Too
Soon!

This will be Ysabel and Ranulf's story. Can
you picture a beautiful woman, disheveled, wearing a lovely
sleeveless smock standing on cobblestones with blood running
between the stones? She's holding a bloody short sword, its shaft
red and dripping. Her gaze is blank. Shoulders slumped.

Where is Colyne? Instead, a Crusader squats
about five paces away, his face curious yet cautious, studying her.
Ranald stands behind him, ready to protect her, should the need
arise.

Why is she here? What has she done?

For my sweet husband Gil who continues to
feed me every night. Sometimes he has to whistle loud and shrill
when I get too engrossed in what I'm doing to think of being
hungry!

My daughters, Val and Lorrie, are my biggest
fans. They don't mind telling their friends that their mother is a
sensual historical romance writer. I wonder if they'll tell their
grandchildren?

o0o

Thank you, Lori Devoti, for taking time away
from your own wonderful writing to format the Raptor Castle Series,
to Valeri Sperry for editing this tale and Delle Jacobs for
designing covers that give a hint of the mood for each intriguing
story.

Dear Readers,

No reading this before you finish the book!
It'll ruin all your fun if you do.

Finally, Elyne has her own story. Surrender
takes place at the same time as Ruthless. Ranald's little sister
isn't so little any more. In the previous books, he often warned
her that spying on men who bathed at the well would lead her to
trouble.

I had a lot of fun using her paranormal gift
of lucid dreams. In the previous novels, I referred to them as more
of a curse than a gift. She was more than likely to misinterpret
them than to recognize their true warning.

She'd awake in strange places. Sometimes
sitting in the muck of a pigsty, in a horse stall or atop the
tallest wall. Being beneath the apple tree was one of her most
harmless places until Graemme's footsteps alerted her. Of course,
where else could she go but up?'

She couldn't very well balance on the branch
with her hands over her eyes, so she really wasn't spying on him,
was she? And it was only natural that he thought the lass watching
his, er, performance was a serving girl waiting to have a warm toss
between the sheets.

Of course, everything had to go wrong. Poor
wet, nekid Graemme. He didn't know when he pulled the trim ankle
that a beautiful, near nekid lass would fall and send him to the
ground with her atop him. Screaming. When Chief Broccin's very
large feet appeared to near cradle Graemme's head, their fate was
sealed.

They were both too hardheaded to give in
easily. It was tremendous fun to write their sparring with each
other, each determined to win. And Squat added to the fun.

Did you notice Chief Broccin really had a
fondness for the little misshapen dog? You didn't? Pfft! Read the
book again, this time between the lines!

He could have kicked Squat across the great
hall when he peed on his boots, but he didn't. He could have had it
thrown outside the outer gates to fend for itself. Nope. Instead,
he tossed food to the dog. Maybe he was gruff because he didn't
want anyone to know he had a soft spot? Heck, when he said if Elyne
didn't take the dog with her, he'd toss it to the woodland
creatures, I believe he was being gruff to hide the fact he'd miss
the dog's antics when he was gone.

I knew Elyne couldn't cave in and marry
Graemme without a fight. She was mean as a snake when the old crone
didn't scare him off. He wasn't about to let Elyne escape him.
After all, if the handsome warrior didn't marry her, the Chief
promised to, er, take his knife to Graemme's most treasured secret
parts and display them as warning to all. Even with the threat to
his marvelous anatomy, he had a hard time keeping them secret when
they sprang to life every time he thought of her.

The predicament that Graemme and Elyne were
in tickled my funny bone. I couldn't help but have fun with their
arguments. There's a serious side to the story, too. Graemme is as
honorable as Magnus, and he vowed he'd marry Elyne. He had to
overcome obstacles that would make a lesser man run for his
life!

Oh, and I hope you liked the ending.

Let me know what you thought about this
intensely sensual tale.

o0o

Brother Cadfael's Herb
Garden by
Talbot & Whiteman provided information on medieval plants and
their uses. There's a wealth of information in this book.

As in the Blackthorn Trilogy and this Raptor
Castle Series, please keep in mind that it is not always possible
to use only words appropriate to the time. I kept the dialect down
to few characters. If any word puzzles you, check The Glossary
Pages in my web site at
www.sophiajohnson.net
or
email me at
[email protected]
.

I'm always happy to answer any questions.

What can I tell you that won't bore you to
bits like every other profile you read. I'm a woman - you knew that
because I write intense, sensual novels where there's a happy
ending. I was born in and still live in Florida, so I know to be
careful of the sun and bite my tongue when I see people trying to
burn their skin to a crispy brown.

My husband and I are retired. I didn't start
writing until 2000. I do historical romance with history as
wallpaper - that means I don't bombard you with the politics but do
let you know what is the most important thing going on at that
time.

I research to use names and foods, medicines,
clothing and language of the time. You'll not only picture a dining
room table in the middle of a Great Hall when I'm writing but will
get a feel for the way things were done at that time.

The names are the most fun to pick out.
Especially for women. They used ungodly ugly names for women then,
so I always search for one that will give you the picture of the
lovely heroine I'm trying to tell you about. Men's names are easier
because what male wouldn't like to be called Magnus or something
similar. But Magnus wouldn't want to whisper sweet nothings in
Wolfleda's ear. *gag* So she became Muriele. Much better isn't
it?

Enough about books and a little more about
me. My husband and I live with Jamie, our long-coat Chihuahua the
neighbors call "The Terrorist," and a mischievous Papillon named
Konner.

I write every day in my home office, in case
the taxman asks you, and my husband plays golf three days a week
and works in the yard the rest. Oh. And he cooks dinner every
night.

Now, what could get more romantic than
that?

My Tag Line is “Sensual Love through the
Ages,” the theme of my novels.

www.sophiajohnson.net

I have not added reviews of The Blackthorn
Trilogy because there are so many on Amazon.com for
Always
Mine, Midnight's Bride and Risk Everything.
Kensington Zebra
didn't advertise the books as a trilogy because they came out with
the last one first. But I named it The Blackthorn Trilogy because a
trilogy is what it was. The first book, Always Mine, sets the whole
trilogy into motion.

The Raptor Castle Series should be read in
the proper order, because you'll learn the secondary characters
from one book and follow him/her to the next.

Janet "bsmrk" *****

"I didn't think that this was possible to
surpass
Always Mine (Zebra Historical Romance)
an intense
love story or
Midnight's Bride
a love story of delightful
innocence or even
Risk Everything (Zebra Debut)
but with
Forbidden, the first of the Raptor Series, Sophia Johnson has out
done herself. From the first Forbidden grabs you and doesn't let
you go until the end which in itself segues into Seduced so well
and leaves you so anxious to read this next book."