chuckled. "And would taste like them, I fear. They need quite a few weeks more to be at their best, and then they would taste nothing like the grapes of Guyenne." Somehow, without letting her go, he nuzzled around to kiss the corner of her mouth. "For the grapes of Guyenne are plump, sweet, and juicy, just like you."
Though she knew she shouldn't, she turned her head a little so her lips were more accessible to him. She was struggling not to cry with relief.
He hadn't gone.
He hadn't given up the siege before she had a chance to surrender. She'd known for days that she wanted to surrender, but if he planned to woo her some more, she certainly wasn't going to object.
"Thank you for the flower," she murmured, her mouth moving against his.
"Is this kitchen love, then? Just gratitude?"
She thought of protesting the word lave, but then let it lie. It was true. "I'm trying to see beyond the gift."
She turned just a little farther, so her lips were almost entirely available to him.
He completed the alignment and kissed her quickly, but openmouthed.
"And what do you see, my Jimena?"
His Use of that name set her heart fluttering. "A man who seems to want me very much indeed. I'm not sure why."
His brows rose. "Do you doubt that you are worthy of love?"
"No."
"Then why question it?"
Because I worry that whatever draws me to you might fade, and then where would I be?
Abandoned, in the vineyards of Guyenne.
After a moment, she found the courage to tell him her fears.
He leaned back a little to study her. "Aline, Aline! Why would you think such a thing? How can your nature, your self, your spirit, ever fade? These, above all, are what I love."
She couldn't think what to say, because she didn't entirely believe him. Oh, she believed he spoke the truth as he saw it, but was it the truth of his heart?
He let go of her, placing the bunch of grapes in her hands, and opened the pouch at his belt to extract a vial. "Water," he said. "There is no sierra in England to hold the snows of winter, but I found a place where the water rises pure and cool from the chalky downs." He took out the stopper and tasted some. "It is very like. Taste, Aline. It is as pure as my love for you."
She let him put the vial to her lips and tip it so a little pure water ran onto her tongue. "It is good," she said, licking a trace from her lips, realizing that he had searched southern England for these items for her. Like El Cid un- dertaking quests to win his Jimena.
"And," he said, looking into her eyes, "if you want a year to think about this, I will be faithful to you for that year. Even though it'll probably ruin me for life."
She bit her lips, fighting a giggle that she knew would be like a flag of surrender.
"So," he asked, and something in his eyes told her he wasn't fooled. "What else do you want, my lady fair? The pelt of a white bear? Sugar crystals from the East? Rubies from Asia . . . ?"
Aline looked down and plucked a green grape off the bunch, lifting it to her lips to taste it. Then she spat it out. "It's worse than gooseberries!"
"Aline . . ."
"But just unripe, you said. In time it will be sweet. I was unripe, Raoul.
Even a few days ago I was still green and sour. I think I'm growing riper and sweeter by the day.. .."
"Aline," he said in a different tone entirely, reaching for her.
But she raised a hand. "You asked what I wanted."
"Yes?" Suddenly he was wary. And worried. That worry made her want to cry, for Raoul de Jouray was never worried. But they'd be tears of happiness.
"I want a part of the income from my dower property here in England to be placed, for my use alone, with a certain Ingelram, an English wine merchant in Bordeaux."
His brows rose, but he nodded. "I agree. Anything else?"
"Two maids from Brome or Heywood among my women, if they will come."
"Of course. You must choose your women as you wish. Anything else?"
"Well," she said, "if you insist on finding me sugar crystals from the East . .
."
He pulled her into his arms, a fierce flare of joy in his eyes. "You are sweet enough already." After a crushing silence he said, almost hesitantly,