Epilogue
The noise took some getting used to. Hammers banging, saws cutting through planks.
Even plaster being troweled, and tiles cut and laid.
It almost made her head ache, but then, she couldn’t fault the men their eagerness in remaking her quiet, lonely manor into something thriving and brimming with life.
Wherever Clara turned, she found one of her pack working on the repairs to her home. Their home.
She stood now in the doorway to what had once been intended for the master’s bedchamber.
Hugh and Gideon were laboring here, enlarging the room so that it could accommodate a sleeping arrangement for all of them.
Currently, it wasn’t possible to share a bed with all five wolves, but in the evenings, after they had exhausted themselves, she would pick one or two or even three of them to sleep with.
She never played favorites, though. Everyone had a chance to spend the night with her.
When she wanted to sleep alone, she could. But that was seldom.
Her days were filled with endless activity. Her nights were also filled with activity, and it left her exhausted, sated—and replenished, stronger than ever.
She read her fairy tales, and her erotic books, but now she read with her pack. She lived it, as well, with men who celebrated what she wanted, and were quite eager to give it to her.
Liam stitched together an expansive mattress that could accommodate six people. It would lie on the floor, heaped with pillows and blankets, a true nest to hold the pack.
Liam’s ability with a needle was something of a surprise, until he admitted that his father had been a tailor. His next project, he’d declared, was new curtains for all the parlors, something bright and cheerful.
Des’s arms wrapped around her waist and he ran his lips over the sensitive area just behind her ear.
“We progress apace,” he murmured.
“As well we should. No renovations were ever carried out with so much enthusiasm.” She leaned back into his embrace.
“Olive asks when we’ll want supper.”
“Poor woman.” Clara sighed. “She’s never had to work so hard. Cooking for me was an easy prospect, but now she has five strapping men to feed.”
“Oh, she’s happy as a spring lamb. Singing to herself and wearing the biggest smile.”
Clara turned in his arms, so that she faced him. “Will it be much longer, you think, the renovations? I’m eager to stop breathing in sawdust.”
“A week, perhaps more.”
“And then…? How shall we occupy our time? Other than me tending to the villagers when they’ve need of a doctor.”
He smiled down at her. “We’ll follow your direction. Though, I’ll say I think the lads feel a little restless. We haven’t held up a coach in a month.”
“That must be remedied. Indeed, the season at Cheltenham will be starting up again, and there will be an abundance of private coaches brimming with wealthy aristocrats. They’d appreciate being liberated from the burden of their wealth.”
“Will they, now?” Des arched a brow.
“Our takings will be shared, of course,” she said. “There are many who have great need.”
“Gideon and Hugh and I had been talking about that, before we came here. We wanted to distribute what we’d stolen. But Cyrus insisted we keep it all for ourselves.”
“That changes now. We’ll have to be clever,” she noted, linking her fingers behind his neck, “making certain no one can trace the robberies here.”
“When it comes to cleverness, my love, there isn’t a soul in England who compares to you.”
She stroked her fingers through the hair at his nape. “You have faith in me. You all do.”
“Of course, we do, sparrow.” He pressed his mouth to hers. “There’s no one we trust more to lead our pack.”
She took his kiss, and gave back with equal measure. This was something of which she’d never tire—someone who desired her, who respected her. Who saw her for all she was and could be.
“I’ve read so many stories,” she murmured against his lips.
“Tales of magic and danger. Books about people unleashing their desires. I’d supposed I could never have it for myself.
I never believed that I was anything like the people in them, securing their own fates through bravery and daring, freeing their genuine sensual selves, and rewarded with their greatest dream. ”
“Sweet bird,” he said, with his warm and wicked smile, “your happily ever after begins now.”
The End