WINDWEEPER by Charlotte Boyett-Compo Read Free Book Online

over the years. His touch was gentler, calmer, less hurried than in the past. His lovemaking seemed more tender than it had ever been.
    And if there was sadness in his azure eyes, then surely time would replace it with happiness when their next child was conceived. Saying a quick prayer to the Goddess, Liza asked that such happiness would not be long in coming for her love.
    It was a little more than ten months later that their daughter was born.
    * * *
    He sat on the beach, staring out to sea. He had been there all day and Liza watched him. There was something disquieting about the way he just sat, his knees drawn up into the safety of his arms, his eyes on the farthest reaches of The Sinisters where the fog was the thickest. Her gaze had gone to him time and again during the day even as she turned away offers of intervention from among the natives and his men.
    "He seems to want to be alone," she told them. "Let him." In her heart, she knew if he had wanted her company, he would have invited her to the high rock promontory where he kept his vigil.
    Near time for the evening meal, she handed their daughter to Gezelle, took a deep breath, and headed up the winding oyster-shell pathway to the place where her husband sat. He didn't turn his head as she approached, but she knew he was aware of her presence. Hiking up her skirt, she sat beside him and laid her head on his shoulder.
    "Worried about me?" he asked, his gaze on the sun as it sank gracefully toward the water.
    "No."
    He looked at her. One thick golden brow slanted upward.
    "Well…maybe a little, Milord." She snuggled under his arm so that he held her against his side. "Is something wrong?"
    His attention returned to the sea. "I've been having this feeling all day."
    "What kind of feeling?"
    He seemed to be weighing his words before he spoke. "I'm afraid."
    Her forehead crinkled. "Of what, Milord?"
    "That's what concerns me the most. I don't know. It's as though something is warning me to stay here, not to leave tomorrow."
    "If you want to stay, we will."
    "I can't, Liza. My place is in Serenia." He turned away. "But I fear in my heart that, if we leave, I will wish we hadn't."

Chapter 5
----
     
Liza watched as Conar stood facing the wind, his ripe wheat-colored hair blowing wildly about his head. He had a firm stance on the rolling deck beneath his bare feet. One sun-bronzed hand gripped the tall spar that rose beside him. He had left his shirt in the cabin when he had gone out earlier that morning, and a fine glistening of salt spray clung to his torso, mingling with the fine hair between his taut, manly breasts.
    He threw back his head and gazed at the sun. Liza wondered why he didn't seem to feel the chill of the late fall day as she did. The smile on his upturned face told her he felt little save the warmth of the love they had found once more.
    As though her thoughts had touched him, caressed him with their intensity, he looked at her. His smile deepened. He removed his hand from the spar, extending it toward her.
    Coming eagerly to his side, she snuggled into his arms, inhaling the sweet fragrance of salt spray, the aroma of the cinnamon scent he wore, and the pleasant smell that was entirely Conar. His strong arms enclosed her and she was content to feel the strength that held her securely to him. His lips brushed the top of her head before he laid his cheek where he had kissed her.
    "Is she settled in?" he asked, rocking her gently.
    "Aye, she is. Fed, changed, and being spoiled by whoever happens to go by our cabin." She smiled and chuckled.
    "Who would spoil her, Liza?"
    She looked up at him. "Who, indeed, Milord?"
    "I've not spoiled her, Liza," he retorted. "Now, Storm and Sentian and Thom and Marsh and Gezelle have spoiled her, but not me. I will never spoil her. I will be wise and gentle and caring to her, instructing her in the courtly ways, teach her what not to do and say around boys. I will be—"
    "Putty in her hands."
    He grinned. "That,