As I approached, Bess heard me, turned, put her finger to her lips and then she lifted her hand and waved it toward herself urgently, her face smiling.

I smiled back and moved toward them, glad to have something to take me away from my thoughts. When I arrived at their huddle, I got close to Bess on the end and looked over the railing to see what held their attention. I scanned the somewhat cleared area around the house, saw nothing then I caught it.

Thad had Jocelyn pinned against the side of the stable, her arms were around his shoulders, his hands were at her ass and they were going at it, hot and heavy.

Whoa.

When did this happen?

“When did this happen?” I whispered to Bess.

“He took her last night,” Bess whispered back. “Her room’s next to mine. They were noisy.” After she imparted this information, she giggled and tried (unsuccessfully) to stifle it as I heard Alyssa giggle and unsuccessfully try to stifle hers too.

“I heard it as well so I went to Bess’s room to listen,” Alyssa whispered like Jocelyn and Thad were five feet away rather than yards away and my eyes went around them to look at Esther at the other end who was looking at me and rolling her eyes. As for me, I couldn’t help it, I was smiling. “He has stamina too,” Alyssa finished and my smile got bigger.

“Lots of it,” Bess added on a huge grin.

I turned my smile on them both before I teased, “You two need to get yourselves some so you won’t be up in Jocelyn’s business.”

Alyssa’s eyes wandered to where Max and Stephan were standing chatting to each other some ways away from the goings on with Thad and Jocelyn and she said wistfully, “You’re indeed right about that, Finnie.”

“So right,” Bess added, also wistfully, her eyes had wandered to where Orion was dismounting from his horse close to the lake.

I looked around them again to Esther who was not looking at me, Bess, Alyssa or any of Frey’s hot guys but at Thad and Jocelyn and I saw her face was thoughtful.

My head tilted to the side before I looked back at the couple only to see Thad had Jocelyn by the hand and he was leading her into the stables.

“Someone’s going to get their skirts tossed up in the hayloft,” Alyssa muttered then giggled again.

Bess giggled with her then stated, eyes still on Orion, “My turn next,” and she moved away from the balcony with a quick wave, a big smile and a, “Farewell, ladies.”

Hmm. It seemed Orion was about to get lucky.

“Not a bad idea,” Alyssa murmured, gave me a wicked grin and both Esther and I a wave as she also moved away, saying to me, “Please don’t need anything for, say… a few hours,” her wicked grin got more wicked when I nodded to her request then she sashayed down the balcony and disappeared inside.

Now Max or Stephan was going to get lucky.

Or whichever of Frey’s men Alyssa ran into first for I didn’t think Alyssa was all that picky. Then again, all of Frey’s guys were hot and nice.

I grinned to myself even as I wondered if this was all a good idea, for Frey’s men were Frey’s men, my girls were my girls, it was likely this would always be the way and we didn’t need a soap opera unfolding around us. I moved to Esther who, I was thinking as she still looked deep in thought and her eyes were still directed at the stables, agreed.

“You okay?” I asked when we were close, she started, her eyes came to me and I watched her force a smile.

“I am fine, Finnie,” she answered.

“You don’t look fine,” I observed, her fake smile faltered and her eyes slid back to the stables so I got closer and enquired gently, “Is this going to be bad, you girls having dalliances with Frey’s men?”

Esther’s eyes came quickly to me, her brows drawn then her face relaxed and she shook her head. “No. It is usually fun and games, the heart isn’t involved. Dalliances occur often and those involved move on with no ill-will, even to friends of the men or women involved.” She explained this but hesitated, her eyes drifting back to the stables and she muttered, “But…” and then she trailed off.

“But what?” I prompted and she looked back at me.

Then she got closer and took my hand before saying softly, “But our Jocelyn, she admires The Drakkar’s Thad and not just because he is a tall, hearty lad with broad shoulders and pleasing eyes. But because he has a quick wit, an easy smile and, she’s noted on more than one occasion, a soft heart. And I fear,” her eyes went back to the stables, “hers is involved but his,” her eyes came back to me, “is not.”

I bit my lip for this might be true. While we were in Hawkvale, I wrote to my girls and they wrote to me. Mail took for freaking ever to get where it was going so there wasn’t a lot of communication but we’d managed to exchange a few letters and Jocelyn’s contributions asked after Thad. Her tone was casual but a forced casual that I thought, at the time, was kind of cute.

Now, thinking about it, all the time my girls had been amongst Frey’s boys and they switched favorites nearly daily, Jocelyn’s attention had always been taken by Thad and never strayed. Thad, on the other hand, I knew, unlike Ruben, did not have a steady woman and, indeed, like all of Frey’s other men, had a steady stream of women.

Ho boy.

I let my lip go and squeezed Esther’s hand, promising, “I’ll have a word with Frey and see if he’ll have a word with Thad to, um… assess the situation. If he won’t or if he will and the news is not good, then I’ll have a word with Jocelyn just to see where she is and give her a little, um… guidance.”

Esther’s eyes went soft and she nodded, “This would be good, my princess.” I nodded back, she squeezed my hand, her eyes going intense, she paused as if uncertain and I waited until she said quietly, “We all, well…” she hesitated. “We miss Sjofn.”

We hadn’t talked of it but all my girls knew I was expecting (though they were surprised I was for they said the powder was usually very reliable) and all of them knew what that meant which was the fact that their friend wasn’t coming back. And I knew all of them were sad about this but I also knew they were all trying to hide it from me.

I held her hand tight and whispered, “I know, honey.”

“But, we’re all also glad you are so sweet.”

I smiled at her and, still whispering, said, “Thank you, Esther. That means a lot.”

She returned my smile before her eyes wandered back to the landscape, stopped on something and she muttered, “I best move, I don’t want to left out,” then she squeezed my hand again, let it go and hurried away.