The Royals Collection. Rebecca Winters

my arms is the best thing in the world for me.’

      She smiled as she used her hidden muscles to grip him tight.

      ‘That’s what I like about you,’ Tyr whispered against her mouth. ‘You’re never at a loss for something to do.’

      She laughed with him, loving the way they were so close now, and when Tyr lost control this time, he called out her name and told her he loved her.

      ‘I can never get enough of hearing that,’ she whispered when Tyr rolled onto his back.

      ‘You shouldn’t be so amazing,’ he confided with a smile.

      ‘Is sex the only reason you love me?’

      Staring deep into her eyes, Tyr grew serious. ‘The sex is just one wonderful part of it, of you.’

      ‘Cue violins?’ she murmured, smiling back at him.

      ‘Must I punish you for making light of my protestations of love?’

      ‘You can do anything you want to me when your mouth looks so sexy when you talk. In fact, just speak to me, just tell me that you love me, over and over again. I’ll never get enough of hearing it.’

      ‘You’re in luck, Princess,’ Tyr said as he drew her into his arms. ‘You’re going to be hearing me tell you that I love you quite a lot.’

      * * *

      The sky over the desert at dusk had turned a sultry violet tinged with gold. A big ivory moon hung low in the sky as Jazz and Tyr watched the villagers fly their kestrels. The sky was so clear, Jazz could see the blackened craters on the face of the moon, and the huge dark shadows on its cream-cheese surface. The villagers had been so thrilled to see them, they had immediately handed Tyr the best bird.

      ‘Here, Jazz, you take him,’ Tyr offered.

      She smiled up into the eyes of the man she loved, thinking how Tyr had changed, but then so had she. He was relaxed now, as well as open and tender, while she was a woman in love.

      Tyr handed her the gauntlet to protect her hand from the kestrel’s talons, and then passed the beautiful bird over. The kestrel was quite calm as it was still wearing its intricately embroidered hood.

      ‘It’s a long time since we’ve done this,’ Tyr observed as they admired the bird.

      ‘Another time, another world,’ Jazz agreed. Which was why she wasn’t surprised by the weight of the bird on her hand, which was almost literally as light as air, thanks to its hollow bones. ‘But this is the prize falcon and you’re supposed to be flying this one.’

      ‘They’re bringing another bird over. And be warned, it looks as if my silver lady is around twice the size of your male.’

      ‘But not half as determined.’

      ‘Should I be jealous?’ Tyr asked as Jazz stroked her bird’s feathers.

      ‘When my male bird wins, you can be pleased for me—even relieved that I’m prepared to accept that there might be the odd occasion when a male can prove himself superior to a female.’

      Tyr laughed; then someone blew a horn to alert the bait man who was standing on a bluff almost half a mile away. His job was to throw up the meat that the birds had been trained to catch before bringing back their prize to the person flying them.

      Tyr and Jazz loosed the cords on their kestrels’ hoods at the same moment, and with their keen sight restored, the birds soared high into the air. Tyr and Jazz watched until the kestrels had disappeared from sight. The villagers were taking bets on which bird would return first, but as Jazz stood leaning her back into Tyr, with his arms around her waist, she sucked in a deep breath of desert air and thought, All bets are off. I love this man, and everything else we have to face, we’ll face together. The only thing that matters is that we are together, and so close in every way.

      Excited shouts went up in less than a minute. The birds had been spotted. They travelled fast, and it was only a matter of seconds before they returned. They could travel at over ninety miles an hour, Jazz remembered.

      ‘The male’s back first,’ Tyr noted, grimacing as he stared up at the sky. ‘Small and fast.’

      ‘But caring too.’ Jazz laughed as the male bird she was flying hovered instead of landing on her hand, as it should have done. It continued to wait in the sky until the female had landed safely on Tyr’s gauntlet. ‘You win,’ she conceded.

      ‘Only because your bird waited for his mate before he came in to land,’ Tyr observed as they rewarded the kestrels with tidbits before replacing their hoods. ‘They mate for life.’

      She flashed a look at him. ‘This I know.’ Her cheeks warmed as her heart filled with love for Tyr. For the first time since their marriage ceremony, she really did feel like a young bride on the brink of a new life and a lifelong adventure with the man she loved.

      ‘And now there’s only one thing left to do,’ Tyr remarked as they watched the villagers start to pack up and leave.

      ‘And what’s that?’

      ‘Make love to my wife.’

      ‘I have to agree,’ Jazz said softly as they joined a group of villagers heading for home.

      Linking fingers, they walked in silence, their steps in perfect harmony until the pavilion came into sight, when they started to walk faster. Jazz hoped that no one noticed they were practically running now. If anyone had noticed, they were far too polite to mention it.

       EPILOGUE

      THEY RENEWED THEIR vows in a very different land from Kareshi. In Skavanga beneath an ice-blue sky, where the heat of their love threatened to melt the tundra, along with Tyr’s three sisters, Britt, Eva and Leila, who attended this very special ceremony of dedication and renewal of their marriage vows with their husbands, Sharif, Roman and Raffa. Leila and Raffa brought their twins along, as well as their newborn baby boy, while both Britt and Eva were heavily pregnant, though even in the last months of her pregnancy Britt had gone the extra mile to work her usual magic on the party.

      The ceremony was being held in the open air on the shores of the frozen lake, outside the cabin that had been in the Skavanga family since that first prospector had followed his dream and slammed his pickaxe into the icy ground. Back then there had been no facilities to speak of at the cabin, but each generation had made improvements, and now it had been transformed into a twinkling haven of warmth and welcome: a cosy nest amidst the snow, with flowers of the desert arranged around the door, and around the wedding arbour outside, beneath which Tyr and Jazz would stand.

      ‘I’m happy to get you off my hands,’ her brother teased Jazz as he kissed her warmly on both cheeks.

      ‘No more wedding plans to make and break?’ she teased him back.

      Sharif’s eyes were warm with amusement. ‘I knew this would happen before you did, but if I’d said anything...’

      ‘My stubbornness would have held things up even more,’ Jazz suggested wryly.

      ‘So long as you’re happy, Jasmina.’

      ‘You can see I am, Sharif.’

      ‘Yes,’ he agreed. ‘I can. And as my wedding gift to both of you,’ Sharif said in a louder voice so everyone could hear, ‘I am happy to announce that I am going to hand over control of home affairs in Kareshi to my sister, Jasmina, and to her husband, Tyr—my dear and trusted friend, who is like a brother to me. I do this because I know you will both put the interests of our people above your own, and I hope this edict will allow Jazz to continue with the work she has already started so successfully in Kareshi.’

      ‘Just hearing you call me Jazz is a great step forward.’ Laughing, Jazz threw herself into her brother’s arms and hugged him tight. ‘Thank you. Thank