Amanda Quick - Mystique

Hugh looked into her eyes and caught a glimpse of their future together. It was filled with the promise of love and happiness. "We are even, then. I never believed in the alchemy of love until I met you."

Alice's smile was glorious. "Love, sir?"

"Aye." Hugh grinned, happier than he had ever been in his life. "Love."

On a warm day in late fall, Hugh took his infant son up onto the walls of Scarcliffe Keep and showed him the lands that would one day be his.

Hugh cradled the babe in one arm and gazed out at his prosperous fief with a sense of deep pleasure. The harvest had been good. The wool was of excellent quality this year. And there was always the income from his spice business.

"There is much for you to learn," he said to the babe, "but your mother and I shall be here to teach you everything you need to know."

Little Erasmus drooled happily and gripped his father's large thumb.

"Do you see those lands over there to the east? They belong to Rivenhall. Sir Vincent's son is learning to manage them. Young Reginald is your blood kin. Never forget that."

"Your father is correct, Erasmus." Alice emerged from the top of the watchtower steps. "Family is very important."

Hugh frowned at her. "Are you certain that you should be out here?"

"I am quite fit, as you can see. Indeed, I have been nicely recovered from childbed for several weeks. You are overconcerned, my lord."

She did appear healthy, even radiant, Hugh decided. The birth of his son had driven him close to madness, but Alice had gone through it with the aplomb of a skilled warrior going into a joust.

"Have you told Erasmus about the Stones of Scarcliffe?" Alice smiled down at her son.

"Not yet. There are more important matters he must learn first," Hugh said.

The infant gazed up at him with boundless interest. Hugh was convinced that he could already detect a keen intelligence in his son's eyes.

"Well, then," Alice continued, "have you told him about the legend of Hugh the Relentless?"

Hugh groaned. "Nay. That is a very dull subject. I would sooner instruct him on the spice trade."

Alice laughed. "Very well, sir, I shall make a bargain with you. You shall instruct him on matters of business. I shall teach him what he needs to know of family legends. Agreed?"

Hugh looked into her loving eyes. He thought back to that dark night in her uncle's hall when Alice had offered him the bargain that had bound them together for a lifetime.

"You know that there is no one with whom I would rather strike a bargain than you, my love," he said.

Amanda Quick, a pseudonym for Jayne Ann Krentz, is a bestselling, award-winning author of contemporary and historical romances. There are over twenty-five million copies of her books in print, including Seduction, Surrender, Scandal, Rendezvous, Ravished, Reckless, Dangerous, Deception, Desire, Mistress, Mystique, Mischief, Affair, With This Ring, I Thee Wed, Wicked Widow , and Slightly Shady . She makes her home in the Northwest with her husband, Frank.

Visit her website at www.amandaquick.com.