The Harem Bride (31 page)

The eyes above the veil gazed at him quite
steadily. Calmly. Coolly. Assessing his veracity, his understanding
of what was happening.

“
Look at me, Jason,” she said. “Tell me
what you see.”

The Earl of Rocksley, once the heroic but
unrealistic boy known as Lord Lyndon, had learned a great deal in
the last few months. He had no difficulty at all interpreting his
lady’s question. “I see Penelope Blayne Lisbourne. My wife,” he
returned as steadily as her query. “I see the woman I love, the
woman I wish to have for the mother of my children, the woman with
whom I wish to spend all of my life, cleaving to her and no
other.”

“
And Gulbeyaz?”

A trickier question—the little minx!—but
Jason thought he could manage that as well. “The White Rose will
always be with us,” he told her, “the mistress I do not have to
seek outside my marriage bed.”

And, with that, the Earl and Countess of
Rocksley forgot the sun was still shining, forgot the servants
breathlessly waiting below, forgot the ribald, if good-natured,
jokes being passed around at O’Shea’s Pub, and tumbled upon the
bed, pledging with fervor their devotion to each other.

Their supper, which Noreen finally set down
on a tray outside their door before going off to O’Shea’s to
recount the final happy ending of this long, convoluted tale, was
found still there, unnoticed, the next morning.

“
May the Saints preserve us,” O’Donnell
murmured to herself. “Sure, and it must be true ‘tis possible to
live on love.”

~ * * * ~

Acknowledgments:

This book could not have been written
without reference to the following:
Harem:
The World Behind the Veil
by Alev Lytle
Croutier;
Dreams of Trespass: Tales of a
Harem Girlhood
and
The Veil
and the Male Elite
by Fatima Mernissi;
The Elgins, 1766-1917
by Sydney
Checkland;
Lord Elgin and the
Marbles
by William St. Clair.

1About the Author:

Although I’m best known for my
traditional Regency romances, I love to venture into other genres
and have written historical and contemporary romance, romantic
suspense, mystery, and futuristic. At the moment I’m working on my
first steampunk. Coming soon:
O’Rourke’s
Heiress
, a saga incorporating characters from
both
Tarleton’s Wife
and
The Sometime Bride
.
For a list of my books currently available online, please see
below.

In addition to making my backlist
available online, I plan to upload some new works in the
not-too-distant future. I’m always delighted to hear from my
readers. I can be contacted at
[email protected]
And please visit my
blog at
http://mosaicmoments.blogspot.com/

Blair’s books currently online:

Mistletoe Moment (Nov. 2011)

The Sometime Bride

Paradise Burning

Shadowed Paradise

The Captive Heiress

The Courtesan’s Letters

The Temporary Earl

The Harem Bride

A Season for Love

A Gamble on Love

Lady Silence

Steeplechase

Tarleton’s Wife