WolfeBlade: de Wolfe Pack Generations by Kathryn Veque (top 20 books to read .TXT) 📗

he said. “Unless we want a parade of drunken men escorting us to our chamber, for I have seen it far too many times, I will meet you there. Aunt Jemma, will you escort my wife up to our chamber without attracting the attention of the wild throng?”

Jemma’s amber gaze drifted over to the group of de Wolfe, de Norville, and Hage men standing in a bunch over near the hall entry.

“Aye,” she said in her heavy Scots burr. “They willna dare try tae follow me.”

“I know,” Andreas snorted. “That is why I asked. If you will take her through the servant’s entrance, I will find my way out another way. I thank you for your assistance.”

Like a covert operation, they split up. The last Gavriella saw of her husband, he was moving for the entrance where the gang of knights were gathered. Jemma took her by the hand, pulling her away from the dais.

“Come along, lass,” she said. “Hurry!”

Gavriella did.

It had been a day made of dreams and, as she had told Andreas, she still felt as if she were living one. Perhaps she would always feel that way but, at the moment, she was feeling a little anxiety, too. Over the past two months, she’d been told horror stories of how the de Wolfe and de Norville men liked to storm wedding chambers or not allow the newly wedded couple any privacy at all.

But she was coming to think that with Jemma at her side, the men would obey.

It seemed to her that the women in the family had all the power.

Kale Water Castle, or the Wolfe’s Den, was Troy’s enormous fortress on the Scots side of the border just as Wolfe’s Lair was. While Wolfe’s Lair was massive and tall, but rather compact in the amount of space it covered, Kale Water Castle was gigantic simply in the acreage it did cover. It was a rare concentric castle this far north, meaning it had two sets of walls, one within the other, and an inner bailey that could hold thousands.

It was across this bailey that Jemma and Gavriella moved quickly, heading for the keep that was the jewel in the crown of the fortress. It was big, tall, and rectangular, with a wooden staircase leading to the entry on the second floor.

Quickly, they dashed up the stairs.

Once inside, they took the mural stairs up to the floor above where there were four chambers. They went to the chamber on the southwest corner, which was a small sitting room with an adjoining bedchamber, and Jemma opened the door to reveal the warm, comfortable chamber beyond. As soon as they stepped in, Jordan looked up from her sewing.

“Shhh,” Jordan said, pointing to her husband on a chair next to the hearth. “Poppy and the bairn have been sleeping there for about an hour.”

Jordan had referred to her husband as Poppy, the name all of his grandchildren and great-grandchildren called him. Gavriella laughed softly, moving over to William, who was slouched in the chair, his head tilted back and his eyelids closed. He held Storm against his broad chest and the baby was sleeping peacefully against his Poppy. When she bent over to catch a glimpse of her son, William peeped open his eye.

“Do not wake him,” he whispered. “It took him a long time to fall asleep. Matha says he is sprouting new teeth.”

Gavriella smiled at William, a man she had truly come to adore over the past couple of months. “You are very sweet to tend him,” she said. “But wouldn’t you rather be down in the hall with your sons now? You did not have to watch the baby all evening.”

William had a trencher-sized hand on the baby’s back, patting him gently when he started to stir. “I will see them soon enough,” he said. “It is not often that I have a chance to become acquainted with my newest great-grandchild.”

“He loves you, too.”

William smiled at her. They’d become quite fond of one another. The baby was settling back down and everyone was moving about quietly until the chamber door burst open and Andreas appeared.

“They’re right behind me,” he said breathlessly. “Aunt Jemma, I need your help. Can you stand at the door and chase them away? If you do not, I fear they might batter the door down. Uncle Tommy was even talking about climbing in through the windows.”

The baby’s head shot up at the sound of Andreas’ voice and he started wailing. With a heavy sigh, William stood up with the sobbing baby, trying to comfort the little lad.

“I can do better than that,” he said, heading for the door with the sobbing baby. “I’ll get rid of them.”

Gavriella was following him, her arms out because she wanted to take the baby, while Jemma swatted Andreas on the buttocks because he’d woken the baby up so rudely. Andreas truly had no idea why he was being beaten until his grandfather kicked open the door only to find at least four inebriated men standing there, Troy included.

“Do you see what you did?” William hissed at them. “You woke up the baby. Now, who is going to put him back to sleep?”

That moved the group away from the door faster than anything else possibly could have, except for Troy, who took his grandchild from his father and began rocking the baby gently. Properly contrite, he succumbed to his father’s guilt. As William stood there, satisfied with his tactics, Jordan and Jemma headed for the chamber door.

“The babe can sleep with Poppy and me tonight,” she told Andreas. “You two enjoy at least one night without a weepy baby. We will tend to him.”

Andreas looked at his wife, who looked like she was about to weep herself. He could tell she wanted her son, but it was their wedding night, after all. He put an arm around his grandmother’s shoulders.

“I’ll come and get him in a little while,” he said. “I do not think Gavy wishes to be