The Bear's Surrogate: A Paranormal Pregnancy Romance Read Online Free Page B

darted across the scrub as a falcon circled overhead.
    Valemon turned off the main road onto a smaller thoroughfare that had small conifers lining it. “It’s just up this lane,” his quiet voice rumbled. 
    Rachel’s eyes widened as she saw an enormous castle loom into view.  Surrounding it was immaculately kept gardens, filled with rose and azalea bushes.   The stone building was green with moss and lichen that clung to its ancient surface.  Towers graced each corner of the castle walls, and a great wooden gate, carved with bears and stags, opened before them.  The grey slate roof of the estate peeked over the great stone walls of the ancient manor house.
    “Welcome to my house,” Valemon understated.  “It isn’t much, but I really am fond of it.”
    “It’s huge!” Rachel gasped.  “I mean it’s just so...”
    “Well I’m a big guy, so I need a big house,” he replied with a grin.  The sun was setting and the orange glow seemed to light his hair aflame. 
    Rachel’s breath caught in her throat as she took in the handsome face of her -- for lack of a better term--employer.  He seemed genuinely pleased that she had agreed to the live-in arrangement.  She felt a tug of attraction to this strange, silent man.
    He pulled up to the ornate front door of the castle and hopped out of the vehicle. Valemon walked over to the passenger side of the vehicle, opened the door and helped Rachel out of the SUV.  He then handed her the crutches, handed the keys to his butler and walked into the large stone edifice.
    The tall butler, dressed all in black, hopped in the vehicle and drove it around back to park it in the garage.  Rachel, not used to such opulence, just stood there on her crutches, gawking.
    “Let’s get you inside,” Valemon said with a sly grin.  “I think the kitchen staff have dinner ready to serve up.”  He took her by the elbow to help her up the stairs.  “Sorry about the stairs, Norway’s heritage society doesn’t want me to install a ramp.”
    “It’s okay, thanks for the help,” Rachel said as she hobbled up the steps of the manor.  Her eyes became as large as saucers as she took in the elegant entryway.  A crystal chandelier hung from the vaulted ceiling and two wooden grand staircases spiraled down from either side of a balcony.   Rachel thought she had stepped into a fairy tale; which type of fairy tale had yet to be determined.
    The butler poked his head from around one of the columns that held up the balcony.  “Dinner is ready, sir,” he announced in his thick Norwegian accent.  The man was very slender and dressed in a black suit. His black hair was neatly tied back at the nape of his neck and his black goatee was trimmed neatly around his chin.  He deftly moved back into the shadow as Valemon escorted his guest to the dining room.
    “It’s not going to be one of those huge formal dining halls with the super long table is it?”
    “No,” Valemon replied. “We have a big hall for formal occasions, when they happen, but we have a cozy arrangement just off the kitchen.”
    “Sweet.”  Rachel’s mouth was watering.  She was famished after all the exertion that day.  “So, how do you, like, pay for all of this?”
    “My family is one of the oldest in Norway, used to be part of the aristocracy for a while, and then something happened a few hundred years ago.  We got drummed out.  My family decided to just abandon all morals and went pirate.  The rear wall is placed nearly against a sheer cliff of a fjord.  There are carved out tunnels that lead to caves where my ancestors hid their long ships while they weren’t pillaging the North Sea.  This castle was impenetrable from the sea, and only able to be approached from land.  During the middle ages, that was a big deal.”
    They entered the small dining room and each took a seat at the small mahogany dining table.  The butler brought out a plate for each of them, comprised of poached salmon coated