Woman Beheld by Tianna Xander Read Free Book Online Page A

appalled him. “Until you accept my proposal, you are a guest in my home. Guests do not work.”
    “But you’re doing this for my children.”
    “It doesn’t matter,” Daffyd said with an imperious wave of his arm. “You’re a guest here and everyone will treat you as such.”
    “Yeah. Right up until they realize that I’m the woman that you’ve chosen to grow old with, and then what?” Elle crossed her arms and gave him a level glare. “Do you really expect them not to treat me like one of the family, your family?”
    “That isn’t it at all.” He turned toward her, ran a long finger down her nose, then leaned forward to press a quick kiss on her lips. “I expect them to treat you like a woman who has almost had her babes before their time. Every one of my people know that you almost gave birth to your babes three nights ago. Whether I tell you yea or nay about working in this nursery, they will see to it that you spend your days doing nothing more strenuous then lifting a cup filled with tea.”
    Well, that figured didn’t it? He’d set the entire household to watch over her like some recalcitrant child. “And if I insist?”
    “I have no idea what will happen if you insist,” he said with a smile. “I only know that when my parents grew old, their people wouldn’t allow them to lift a finger beyond doing what they loved best. My mother gardened and my father helped her, because where she was, was the only place he wanted to be.”
    “Did she take his shadows away?” Elle asked, borrowing her maid’s idea.
    Daffyd thought about that for a minute. “I believe she did in her own way, yet there always seemed to be something missing in their relationship.”
    “That’s too bad.”
    “Yes. Yes it was. I wish they both could have been happier.”
    Elle wished the same thing. She didn’t want to settle. She’d had love the first time around and didn’t want to settle for anything less.
    “Is there anything else I should know about your people?”
     
     

Chapter Ten
     
     
    As Daffyd led Elle around the room, he took pride in showing her how her children could live on his world. They would have so much when, according to her, they would have so little back on her home world. They way he saw it, she had more reason to stay here with him than to go back to her old life. Yet, according to his father’s tales, some women chose a life of hardship over that of a being defender’s mate, though he had no idea why one would do so.
    “Our children will grow up here in this room together until they reach an age where we must give them a room of their own. Usually, it’s around twelve years of age.” His people called it the reckoning. It was the year when the child, or children, decided they wanted privacy more than the company of their siblings. The time varied with each child, though usually, it happened by the time they reached the age of thirteen summers.
    “After that, they will have a room of their own in this castle?”
    “Of course.” He glanced at her with a frown. “Where else would they stay?”
    “Well…” She paused to clear her throat. “Long ago, on my world, they practiced a sort of child exchange called squiring. It usually consisted of sending the child off to another family to train to be a man. I guess it was said that a father would not be as hard on a son, where he would not hesitate to be so on another man’s son.”
    “Never will our children leave home for an extended period of time for something so barbaric as that.” Daffyd couldn’t imagine a man who could send his children to live with strangers based on the fact that someone else would treat them with less compassion. Hers was a barbaric world, indeed.
    “If our children need any training, you can rest assured that the proper tutors will be employed and they will stay right here with us.”
    “That’s good to know.” She smiled. Her expression grew pensive for a moment and she licked her lips. “I do have