wiped his brow with the back of his arm. He cast his eyes over the fields, drinking in the sight. And then he saw her and dropped the stalk in his hand.
Willow lowered the tunic from her face, the delight of his scent still painted on her face. He took a step forward, and then another. Willow began to run toward him. And Caleb smiled, opening his arms to catch her up in them.
“I love you,” she breathed into his neck as she fell into him. She only heard a soft moan as his arms caressed her tighter against his beating heart. “I never stopped loving you, Caleb. Not even for a day.”
He spun her around in a circle, then took her face in his hands and smiled down into her loving gaze. “My life has returned to me,” he whispered as the sun met her face, and then heated her heart when Caleb bent to kiss her.
In Willow’s mind, the fields were alive once more, blowing gently all around them, caressing them like a lover’s breath.
Her heart would forever belong to these fields, as Caleb’s did, but not because of their worth, and not because of their beauty. But simply because it was here, in his fields of gold that her noble warrior asked her to stay with him.
Epilogue
Two years later,
Caleb spread his gaze over the sunlit expanse of golden wheat and smiled. It was lusher this year than last. The stalks were thicker and deeper gold. Every year the field grew larger, along with the crops. There were hundreds more irrigation tanks throughout Predaria, built by the people who lived in the cities and villages. The rains were returning. There were less fires and more greenery on the plains. The landscape was changing.
Caleb looked up at the blue sky and then closed his eyes. He said a prayer of thanks to God and praised Him for His goodness.
“Papa!” He turned upon hearing his son’s voice.
Caleb’s heart swelled gazing at the boy in Willow’s arms. Prince Samuel Desai II. The first in his quiver. He held his arms out to him and his wife set the boy on his feet but didn’t let him go. Caleb watched him running on chubby legs through the wheat, laughing as the stalks tickling his face. Samuel loved the wheat fields, just as his father did.
Caleb scooped up his son in his arms and kissed his mop of golden curls.
“The others will be here soon for dinner,” Willow reminded him, smiling as he lifted his face to look at her. The sun shone down on her bronze skin, but the light that illuminated her came from within. She was happy with him and Samuel here in Shondravar. She never looked back or regretted leaving her riches behind. She planted gardens with Samuel and helped build irrigation tanks in Londa and volunteered much of her time to Pastor Joseph and the church. She traveled with Caleb after she had their son, for the roads were no longer plagued by the Catchers. Though Caleb kept his family from the expanse of the plains.
“Did you tell them why we invited them?” he asked her, smiling as he bent to kiss her mouth.
She drew her palm across her belly. He covered her hand with his.
“No. I want to announce it with you, though Shauna might suspect. She’s been through this twice already. She knows the signs.” Willow dipped her brows thinking about it. “Martin also might suspect.”
Caleb smiled. More than half their guests already guessed their news. “Martin might even tell us if it’s a son or a daughter.”
They both laughed while Samuel tried to squirm out of his father’s arms. Caleb wouldn’t put him down. He could get lost in the wheat too easily. For now, Caleb positioned him to lie flat atop his arm, face down, and then moved Sam over the feathery tips.
“When will you begin harvesting?” his wife asked, spreading her gaze over the beautiful gold fields.
“In two more days.” Two more days and they would be ready. He knew because planting was in his blood.
He cut his gaze away from his precious wheat and settled it on Willow. It was where he always wanted to look, who he always wanted to see. “Come, love. Let’s go home.”
They made it to the church when Caleb spotted Jonas riding toward the fields, looking for him.
Caleb knew by his friend’s dark expression that it was something more serious than them being late to their own dinner. “What?”
“Baltrasard,” Jonas told them, his gaze shifting to Willow. “He was killed last night by his enemies in Elan. There are six witnesses.”
Caleb’s drew his wife in as she swiped a tear from her eye.
“I’m all right,” she assured. “He had many enemies.”
Caleb agreed and was glad he wasn’t the one who’d killed her father. He loved Willow too much to do such a thing to her.
“My sympathies,” Jonas said when Willow’s gaze met his. “Would you like to ride my horse back?”
“Thank you, Jonas. No. Is Shauna at the house?”
He nodded, then, “My queen?” his gaze dipped to her hips and a sly smile lifted one end of his mustache. “Are you expecting another child?”
About the Author
Paula Quinn is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling multi-published author of Scottish historical and paranormal/fantasy romance. She has been faithful follower of Jesus Christ for thirty-one years. This is her first Christian romance and the one closest to her heart.
Contact me at http://pa0854.wixsite.com/paulaquinn/contact
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Also by Paula Quinn
William the Conqueror series:
Lord of Desire
Lord of Temptation
Lord of Seduction
*
The MacGregor Series:
Laird of the Mist
A Highlander Never Surrenders
Ravished by a Highlander
Seduced by a Highlander
Tamed by a Highlander
Conquered by a Highlander
A Highlander for Christmas (e-novella)
The Seduction of Miss Amelia Bell
The Sweet Surrender of Janet Buchanan (e-novella)
The Wicked Ways of Alexander Kidd
The Scandalous Secret of Abigail MacGregor
The Taming of Malcolm Grant
A Highlander’s Christmas Kiss
The Scot’s Bride
Laird of the Black Isle
Highlander Ever After
Heart of Ashes
Heart of Shadows
Heart of Stone
Also by Paula Quinn aka Genevra Thorne
The Enchanted
The Beloved