Quest of the Highlander (Crowns & Kilts #5) - Cynthia Wright Page 0,124
a pie to Papa, then stayed to search his library for something I hadn’t read more than twice before. With Bernard away so much, I’d be lost without books.” She paused, shaking her head in renewed disbelief. “It’s absolutely marvelous to see you! You’re just what I’ve needed, Aimée.”
The older woman heard the hint of melancholy in her friend’s voice, and her heart ached in response. “I’ve missed you, too, Micheline. Thomas has taken our daughters to see my parents, so we have plenty of time for a long talk over a glass of wine.”
Aimée took a chair and watched as Micheline poured Burgundy wine into pewter goblets. She was so lovely and unspoiled, so filled with intelligence and heart-melting warmth. Aimée thought, not for the first time, that all these gifts were wasted in the seclusion of the Angoulême woods. When Bernard and Micheline first married, it seemed a promising union. Micheline’s mother was dead, her father bluff and distant, her brother moved to Normandy; only Bernard appeared to nourish the lonely young girl’s heart. As an adolescent he had been her best friend, teaching her to ride, to swim, and, eventually, to kiss. By the time they wed, at seventeen, Micheline felt as certain of Bernard as she was of the sunrise. Who could have foreseen that he would turn faithless as he grew into true manhood?
Micheline set the goblets on the table and took the hand that Aimée stretched out to her.
“Do you remember when we first met?” Aimée asked softly.
“Yes—of course! It was just before Bernard pledged himself as a knight to King François and went off with the army to Italy. You’d come south with Juliette soon after her birth, and stayed for a month. I don’t know how I should have endured Bernard’s departure without you. You are my most cherished friend, Aimée! You came into my life just as I was learning that I couldn’t rely on Bernard alone to fill my days.”
“And you know how dearly I love you in return,” Aimée replied softly, tears stinging her eyes. “It’s important to have friends outside of one’s marriage—and to nurture other interests, as you have done.”
“Alors,” Micheline murmured, dropping her eyes. “I have always had solitary passions, like these books. I thought when I married Bernard that he would share these things with me. Something…happened to him, though. When he first went away, I told myself that he was helping France. I told myself that his wanderlust would fade. But when he came home, and we conceived a child, he rushed back to court!”
“I remember, cherie,” Aimée whispered. “I was here when you lost the baby.”
“How many times have you been here with me when Bernard has been away? When he finally did return home, he seemed almost relieved about the baby. I don’t think he was ready to become a father.”
“Perhaps that was the case.” Aimée nodded. “And how do you feel now?”
“I miss him! Desperately!” A starry tear clung to her thick lashes. “I’m confused. Sometimes, I feel that we are almost strangers, but when he’s away, it’s the Bernard of years past that I continue to yearn for. I gave him my heart when we were so young! That is the man I wait for. Do you think he will ever come back to me?”
“I believe that the man you married still lives, and always will, in your heart. And I think that he would have returned to you, in time…but that’s no longer possible.” Aimée crouched beside her friend’s chair and gathered her into her arms. “Bernard won’t be coming home. He was killed, accidentally, in a tournament at Amboise.”
Micheline’s exquisite face went white with shock and disbelief. “No! No! Mère de Dieu! It cannot be!”
Holding her near, Aimée stroked her hair. “I’m here, dearest. You won’t be alone. Thomas must accompany the king to meetings with Henry VIII at Calais and Boulogne. You will come home to Château du Soleil with me until he returns. We’ll take care of each other, cherie.”
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Cynthia Wright is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author best known for her Rakes & Rebels series, 13 intertwining historical romances starring the irresistible Raveneau and Beauvisage families. Her other acclaimed series are Crowns & Kilts and Rogues Go West. Romantic Times Magazine hails Cynthia’s novels as “Romance the way it was meant to be.”
Cynthia’s latest releases are RETURN OF THE LOST BRIDE, Book 4 in her Crowns & Kilts series, set in 16th century Scotland, and HER HUSBAND, THE RAKE, a Raveneau Family novella and QUEST OF THE HIGHLANDER (Lennox & Nora).
Cynthia lives in northern California. She enjoys riding a tandem bike and taking road trips in an airstream trailer with her Colombian-born husband, Alvaro and their corgi, Watson. She is also devoted to her two adorable grandsons who live nearby.
You are invited to visit Cynthia’s website (where you can sign up for her newsletter and peruse the Books Page):
(Smuggler’s Moon, The Secret of Love, Surrender the Stars)
RAKES & REBELS: THE RAVENEAU FAMILY 3
(His Make-Believe Bride, His Reckless Bargain, Tempest)
RAKES & REBELS: THE BEAUVISAGE FAMILY 1
(Stolen by a Pirate, Rescued by a Rogue)
RAKES & REBELS: THE BEAUVISAGE FAMILY 2
(Touch the Sun, Spring Fires, Her Dangerous Viscount)
ROGUES GO WEST
(Brighter than Gold, In a Renegade’s Embrace, The Duke and the Cowgirl)
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