“That works for me,” he said and raised their clasped hands to kiss the back of her fingers.
Thinking of a wedding brought some other ideas together in her head, and Johanna said, “You know, we never discussed children.”
“Children? I’d like some. How about you?”
“Oh, yes. Two, at least.” As she said the words, she remembered the photo of his first mate and their son that he carried. “Saxt, what if we have a good copy made of the photo of Maddy and Robby like the one in your wallet. We can add it to the photos in the den.”
He was silent for a moment and answered in a low tone, “I’d like that, but only if the one of you and Billy that you used to keep on your dresser is there with it.”
“That’s a wonderful idea.” She’d have a new one of her and Saxt on the dresser in this room. She knew she’d smile every time she saw it.
They were both silent again, and the magic flowing through their palms settled into a pleasant rhythm. Johanna let herself drift. She was warm and cozy, she was snuggled up with her soul mate, and everything was right with the world. She felt, in fact, absolutely marvelous.
Absolutely marvelous. She hadn’t used that term in years. Not since Billy died. Maybe it was time to start thinking in those terms again. She smiled, her center hummed, and the little zings from Saxt purred.
It was barely light outside when she woke again. Saxt was sitting up next to her and stretching.
“Good morning,” she said and rubbed her hand up his back.
Grinning, he settled down next to her, propped up on his elbow. “Good morning to you.”
She ran her hand through his hair, soothing it into a semblance of order. Hers was probably a greater mess. Then she noticed the expression on his face, the one that caused her insides to heat.
“I love you, Johanna,” Saxt murmured and gave her a small kiss. “I can’t tell you how happy I am to have found you.”
“I love you, too, my unexpected mate,” Johanna answered.
“What do you say, we start on our family this morning?” He nuzzled her neck and kissed his way down her shoulder to her collarbone while his hand roamed up to her breast. He said between kisses, “Although I’d like to think we might have made a baby last night. No chance of that, of course, with your active birth control spells.”
“Hmmmmm,” she said as she melted from his touch.
Then his words penetrated her fog, and she reared back against the pillow and pushed at his shoulders. “Wait! What?”
He raised up. “What’s the matter?”
She stared at him as his words and the reality of the situation collided in her brain. “Oh, my God!”
And she started laughing like a lunatic.
“What’s the joke? Tell me so I can join in.” Saxt let her sit up and braced her with his arm. “Talk to me, honey.”
Johanna managed to control herself after a minute of laughing, coughing, and wheezing, all at the same time. She put her arms around his neck and gave him a kiss. “You know how we were talking about all the unexpected events?”
He frowned at her warily. “Uh-huh.”
“I have another one for you. We may have a quicker wedding than I thought. I forgot completely about birth control spells. I haven’t used them in years. No need to. We might really have made a baby last night. How’s that for unexpected magic?”
The End
Books by Ann Macela
The Magic Series
The Oldest Kind of Magic
Do You Believe In Magic?
Your Magic Or Mine?
Wild Magic
Unexpected Magic
Legendary Magic
Windswept, a contemporary romance with a historical twist
All are available as e-books.
About the Author
Hi, I’m Ann Macela, and I write enchanting, smart, and sensual contemporary romance and contemporary light paranormal romance. Sometimes with a touch of humor, sometimes with a little sorrow, always with passion and emotion.
My award-winning Magic Series is about a group of people who can cast spells to help them with their everyday jobs. Wouldn’t you like to have an ability that would help you type faster, make accurate change, fix the plumbing, or grow flowers and vegetables? Or whatever it is that you do? And these people, who call themselves practitioners, are guaranteed to find their soul mates. Ready or not, and whether or not they want one at that particular moment. As the series progresses, the magic gets more complicated and so do the relationships. Included in the series are the last two in the series, never before published.
Windswept won the Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Award for Best Romance, Small Press, 2008, and several other awards. Writing this standalone contemporary with a historical twist took me back to my first love, the study of history, and it definitely shows off my Texas roots. There’s a terrible secret in the papers of the Windswept Plantation …
I’m a native Gulf Coast Texan, now living in The Frozen North of Chicagoland. I started life reading mysteries, then sci-fi and fantasy. When I discovered romances, I saw a way to combine all the aspects of books that I liked into my own stories. And what a welcome difference from writing computer manuals—my old job and which has no magic about it at all.
Let me know what you think of my stories. Contact me either at ann@AnnMacela.com or AnnMacela@msn.com
My website is www.AnnMacela.com and you can find me on Facebook, too.
Table of Contents
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
Chapter Thirty-Seven