Ram tilted his head back. Half shuttered eyelids couldn't hide his amusement. "'Tis no' fornicatin' if we're mates."
"It is if we're not married. Or handfasted. We still have a day and a half to fornicate."
He pressed his face into her neck and talked into her skin. "Then hurry up with breakin' your fast so we can f**kin' fornicate our asses off."
She left gigglin, with him thinking that was another sound he loved hearing.
When Elora returned, it was not with a large coffee in a to-go cup fixed the way Ram liked it. His mother had sent two servants carrying trays: one with a complete silver coffee and tea service, the other with covered plates of soft Irish bacon, scrambled eggs, and halved tomatoes fried with black breakfast pudding and mushrooms in sausage fat.
Elora poked her head in to see if he was decent. He heard the door and stepped out of the bathroom with wet hair, wearing a thick white terry, bath sheet tied around his waist and using a smaller towel to dry his upper body.
With raised eyebrows and a look that spoke volumes Elora said: "We have arrived with full Irish breakfast."
Ram was mildly amused. Elora felt a familiar stir of interest, watching his pecs move as he towel-dried his hair. "Let me guess. My mother," was all he said.
Elora nodded in confirmation and held the door open for the troops. They put the trays down on the large desk. "Sorry. I don't have any Irish money for a tip." The young men just stared at her. "It was a joke?" she offered.
"Aye, mistress." They gave her the same nod she'd received from Aelsblood after their dance, and left.
Ram chuckled and went back into the bathroom to comb his hair.
Elora followed and stood behind him. "So what about the disappearing act?"
He looked at her through the mirror then turned around. "I was thinkin' about our handfastin' cord."
"Uh huh?"
"Come see."
He walked over to the dressing table and retrieved a bunch of greenery tied with a red ribbon. He held it out to her like a bouquet.
"'Tis holly. It grows by the door of the, uh, our huntin' cottage."
Elora looked at the greenery, accepted it into her hands, and was instantly overcome with emotion. Her eyes filled with tears, her ni**les beaded, and fine goose bumps formed all over her body.
"Ram," she said so softly. "You went all that way in the middle of the night? Through the woods in the darkness? Just to bring something from our time there?"
The tears were running down her cheeks and onto her pretty pink linen dress. Ram took a step forward and, in a gesture that had become all too familiar, cupped her face, and pushed the tears away with the pads of his thumbs. He kissed her lips with all the tenderness of an elf who was doubly blessed to be both mated and in love.
"I've never heard of anything more romantic." She looked into his eyes. "I'm the luckiest person alive."
"Oh, 'tis no' so, my girl. That would be myself."
After breakfast, the guests spent the morning in comic pandemonium sorting out who would wear what costume and having them fitted. The women were thrilled. The men were disgruntled about tights and codpieces. Except for Baka who was already two hundred years old when the style came in vogue.
At the end of a lunch break, they dispersed for personal pursuits. In mid afternoon Kay was making his way toward the library bar to see if somebody might be up for a game of cards when he heard Dandie, his sister the firebrand, shouting. He rounded the corner just in time to hear her finishing up a tirade. "Get the hell away from me or my brother is gonna kick your ass."
"Whose ass am I kicking now?" Kay asked calmly as he entered the room to find her staring at Baka with hands on hips.
She motioned toward Baka. "This player thinks he's got a shot at sleeping his way through the Norns. Just last night he was in somebody else's bed and now he's putting moves on me." Smirking at Baka, she said, "Credits for stamina - maybe. Debits for sleaze."
Kay looked at Baka who shrugged and smiled innocently as he walked behind the bar. "I'm making up for lost time." Turning toward Dandie, he said, "Yesterday's lady and I had an understanding."
"No doubt." Kay leveled a meaningful look at Baka. "You need to find something else to occupy your time."
"That's it?" Dandie was incensed. "You're letting him off with a warning?" She shook her head at Kay reprovingly. "Wow. That government job has made you soft, Bubba."
In the middle of pouring a whiskey, Baka stopped at that to bark out a laugh. He turned to Dandie and appeared to agree with her. "That's exactly what I've been saying! Kay, you and those other people you work with are simply too soft." He shook his head as he poured Scotch over ice. "God in heaven, you people are fun." He held the bottle up toward Kay in a gesture that asked, "How about you?"