Written in the Stars by Patricia Rosemoor, Sherrill Bodine

fireplace.
    “My mother, Maude, was my grandfather’s only child. She and the duke grew up together.
     Fishing in the streams. Playing in the woods. Helping my grandfather gather plants
     for his potions.”
    Will stopped, then sat quite still for a long time, staring into space. Moved by the
     strong emotions flashing through his eyes, she touched his shoulder. The sad smile
     he gave her broke her heart into tiny pieces.
    “They fell in love. Even though my father was betrothed to Carlyle’s mother, promising
     a great alliance which would bring power and more wealth to Dunham Castle, he told
     my mother he would defy the old duke. Alone late one night in the village church,
     my mother and father declared their love and commitment to one another. After their
     night together, my father went to the old duke and told him that he and my mother
     had declared their love before God.”
    Will shook his head. “The old duke would not be thwarted. He reminded my father of
     his lineage. The pride of his royal blood. My father returned to my mother, still
     declaring his undying love but reconciled that he must honor his blood and marry another.”
    A fathomless ache welled up inside her. “What happened?”
    “My mother declared he had betrayed their love and she swore she would never see him
     again. So great was her pride that my father could not sway her. They never spoke
     again until the winter of my fifth birthday.”
    “Then she forgave him at last?” Elizabeth asked, wishing it with her whole being.
    Will’s eyes glistened like blue flames in the firelight. “That winter many were falling
     ill and dying. When my father learned my mother was sick, he came to my grandfather’s
     house. Still she refused to see him. I remember him pacing outside her chamber door,
     pleading with her to let him enter. I remember him holding me tight in his arms, his
     tears wetting my hair. At last on the tenth day she called for him.”
    “Please tell me they had more time together,” Elizabeth whispered, tears pooling at
     the back of her throat.
    Will smiled gently. “My mother never stopped loving my father, nor he her, and so
     they confessed to one another. My father begged my mother to allow him to have a part
     of her in me. He wished to bring me to Dunham Castle. The last time I saw my mother,
     my father had climbed into her bed and she lay cradled into his body as if they were
     one. She died in his arms.”
    Sorrow greater than she’d ever known ripped her apart and she buried her face in her
     hands, sobbing.
    “Elizabeth. Please. No tears.”
    She heard the concern in his voice, felt his touch on her shoulder.
    A portal only he could fill opened inside her.
    She threw herself onto his warm, hard chest, and his powerful arms closed around her.
    “Do not weep, Elizabeth. It happened long ago.”
    “To have had such a love”—she sobbed, swallowing tears—“and to have lost it is a tragedy
     of the soul.” She flung back her head, resting it on his shoulder, and gazed up at
     him. “In God’s eyes you are the duke’s firstborn son. I should be yours.”
    He slid his fingers into her hair, holding her still as he stared into her eyes. “I
     too feel this great power between us. That is why I told you my mother and father’s
     story. So you would understand why I must protect you from such pain when the path
     of honor is not followed.”
    Within her, every feeling exploded in one desire. “Then give me this moment, Will.”
    He held back but she refused to surrender. She pulled him closer until with a sharp
     intake of breath he bent his head, seeking her mouth.
    Her body felt made of hot light, radiant, as their mouths clung together, breaking,
     meeting, again and again.
    Leaving her aching lips, he tasted the tears shimmering on her lashes and touched
     the pulse beating at her warm throat, and returned once more to her open, waiting
     mouth.
    She had waited a lifetime, for surely this moment had been