Page 171 of Veiled Hearts
Each of them kisses me, caresses my face, or presses his forehead against mine.
“Shall we start trying right now?” Tynan’s hand slides between my legs.
Laughing, I lift it away. The fire crackles and snaps, as if it wants in on the action.
“Which one of us have you picked?” Zogar’s brow furrows, and his lips shift, making me nervous that he’s not going to like my answer.
“When we’ve talked about children, each of you claimed that you’ll love any babes I bear, no matter whose seed takes root.” I pause and make eye contact with each of them, seeking reassurance.
“But…” Nerves flutter inside me again, making me think the food in my stomach might rise, as it has some morns this past month. “Each of you has also, not-so-subtly—” I shake my head. “Each of you has also given me your reasons why children, fathered by you in particular, would beextraspecial.”
Saxon chuckles, Zogar frowns.
Tynan shrugs. “I’ve only stated the obvious. I’m the best looking and the youngest. Imagine how beautiful our babes will be.”
“It’s your choice, ma chérie,” Saxon says.
Zogar nods, and Tynan squeezes my thigh.
I drag in a long breath. “Just as I couldn’t choose only one husband—” I look between them “—I couldn’t choose just one of you to plant your seed.”
“So…” Tynan tips his head to the side.
“I stopped taking Courtesan’s Tea four months ago, and feel quite certain that I will have a child in less than six months.”
“I thought it took nine—” Tynan’s eyes widen. Then his gaze drops to my belly. “You’re already with child?”
Smiling, I nod, and then turn to look at the others. All three men are beaming, as if they could not have heard better news. Each of them lays a hand on my belly and reverently kisses me, carefully, as if their lips might hurt the precious cargo growing inside me.
“You don’t mind?” I turn my attention to each of them again. “I thought perhaps I should have discussed it with you before I stopped taking the tea.”
Saxon rises to his knees and cups my face in his hands, and my belly flutters for very different reasons as I drink in the sight of his handsome, rugged face, his thick golden and chestnut hair.
“Ma chérie. Having a child with you—as many as you desire—gives me unbounded happiness. But whether or not you bear any child isyourchoice. Not ours.”
He kisses me softly, and when he sits back, I look at the two men sitting at my sides, and they nod their agreement.
Tynan kisses my cheek and then says, “I wager it’s mine. As the youngest, I’m the most virile.”
A hard chuckle bursts out of Zogar. He takes my head in his huge hands and presses a soft kiss against my forehead. “I will love this child. I will be its father—one of its fathers—even if he or she comes out with a mane of golden hair, or a cocky smirk.”
Tynan laughs. “Or a dragon-sized cock.”
All the tension that’s been wound up inside me releases, and I laugh as I look between my three handsome husbands. And I drink in our perfect family of four, that’s soon to be five.
“How long until we can have sex again?” Tynan asks. “Seven months? Eight?” He looks as if he’s in pain.
“Women can have sex when they’re with child.” Saxon runs his hand over my leg.
Frowning, Zogar looks between the other two. “But we must take care.”
“I talked to Surath about this,” I tell them. “She said that she and Xendus…” I reconsider my words. “Let’s just say they did not hold back while she was carrying our niece.” My cheeks heat.
“Surath already knows?” The pain in Zogar’s eyes knocks me back.
I stroke the side of his face. “I only talked to her first, because I know so little about carrying a child. I wanted to talk to a woman?—”
He smiles. “Don’t worry, my love. I understand.”
I touch each of their faces in turn, loving how I can see their reactions and the love in their eyes as my palm contacts their skin.
These past years have been the happiest of my life—by far—but at this moment I’m absolutely certain that my happiest years are yet to come.
