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child asked worriedly as she put on her leggings and cotehardie.

"Well..." Murie paused and frowned, then suggested, "You could if you were to keep wearing your cotehardie during the day and then changed into the dress for sup."

"Oh!" Juliana grinned. "It would be like being a boy like Frederick during the day and a girl like you at night!" Murie laughed as she carefully folded the gown. "Aye, that it would."

Once dressed, Juliana said, "Thank you, Murie. 'Tis a beautiful dress. I have never owned anything so lovely."

Murie smiled and shrugged. "I thought it would be nice to bring my new sister a gift, to show I am glad to be a member of your family."

"We are sisters, are we not?" the girl said happily. "I think I shall like having you for a sister. I am glad Balan married you." Juliana hugged her quickly and then turned to flee, pausing with a start when she spotted her brother.

"Good eve, Balan. Murie is nice," she announced as she skirted him for the door. "I have to go tell Gatty about my dress." Balan watched his sister go running down the hall with a light step he'd not seen since his return from France. Once she'd disappeared down the stairs, he shifted the trenchers to one hand, closed the door with the other and turned to face his wife. Much to his amazement, she was watching him almost warily. He understood why when she spoke.

"I did punish her. She helped me make the bed and hang the furs and find herbs for the fire," she said quickly. "The dress was a reward for her hard work."

Balan smiled faintly and, moving forward, pointed out: "You commissioned the gown ere you ever met her or knew there would be something to reward."

"Aye, well, I thought she might like it."

Balan paused before his wife and started to reach for her, only to come to a halt when he recalled the trenchers in his hands. He peered at the roast fish with a frown and then glanced at Murie.

"I brought you food."

"I am not hungry right this moment, I - " Her words ended on a gasp of surprise as he suddenly dropped the trenchers on the fur next to them and caught her in his arms, his mouth covering hers, hard and demanding.

Her kindness to his sister had touched him, and as he'd watched he could imagine her with their own children: teaching them, comforting them, mothering them. It had made his heart ache with a sort of yearning that he did not understand but that he wanted to express. He wanted to devour her; he wanted to hold her so tight that she became a part of him he was never without.

Saying so would probably alarm the woman, however, so he expressed himself the only way he knew how. Mouth covering and filling hers, he ran his hands up and down her body, pressing as close as he could get while they were dressed. Of course it wasn't enough, and he soon swept her into his arms and carried her to the bed. Unwilling to be parted from her for even a moment, he let her feet drop so that she hung in his arms and then tumbled them both onto the bed, his mouth breaking away on a shout of surprise. The bed had collapsed beneath them!

Eyes wide, he peered around at the buckled frame and then down at his wife in surprise. She shook beneath him with silent laughter.

Sobering as his eyes met hers, she murmured, "I think we may need a new bed, my lord husband."

"Aye," he agreed on a husky growl. Then he kissed her again, his hands beginning to remove her gown. They could worry about a new bed on the morrow. He had other matters to attend tonight.

Chapter Thirteen

Murie opened her eyes and found herself staring at an empty expanse of bed. Sitting up, she peered around the room. Her husband had already risen and started his day... and without waking her.

Scowling, she pushed the linens and furs aside and climbed to her feet from the collapsed bed. She'd hoped to talk to Balan about perhaps getting some livestock and more servants for the castle, but he'd quite distracted her last night and now had slipped away while she slept. It wasn't a good start to the day. Muttering under her breath, she crossed to her chest of clothes and began pulling out gowns and surcoats