A Knight's Vengeance (40 page)

He saw her hand stretch toward him, but he still flinched when her fingers trailed the length of his scar.
'Twas not a hasty examination, but one of careful study.
She seemed to be committing each puckered ridge and lump to memory. He tried to pull away, but she did not let him go.

"Tell me about this," she said.

"Are you certain you wish to know?"

Her blue eyes were moist but steady as they met his.

"
Aye.
"

"'Tis not a pretty tale."

Her gaze shadowed. "This wound almost cost your life."

Geoffrey closed his eyes and tried not to heed the tenderness in her tone and touch. No words could express the full extent of his injury—the endless months of agony as his flesh fused, and the emotional torment that accompanied his healing. He wondered at the risk he took telling her. To dig into his past would make him vulnerable. If he gave her insight into the man he once was, he gave her a weapon to wield against him.

Part of him no longer cared.

"You got this on Crusade," she pressed, and linked her
fingers through his.

He nodded. "I still remember the day as though 'twere yesterday."

When she stared up at him, her gaze expectant, he said, "It happened over a year ago, at Acre. The city was still ruled by the infidel. King Richard wanted to free it and the hundreds of Christians imprisoned when the Saracens took control."

"I have heard of Acre," she murmured, interest brightening her expression.

"King Richard and the French king had decided to launch a fierce attack. The city, though, was well fortified and situated by a sea harbor."

"Did they plan a siege?"

"Aye.
King Richard and the French king agreed to concentrate forces on the city's gates, which were the weakest point in the defenses. My brother and I were assigned to the division that would swarm inside once the gates fell. King Richard knew of my skill with a sword and placed me at the front, where—"

Elizabeth raised her free hand. "Wait. You have a brother?"

"Had."
He could not keep the pain from his voice. "His name was Thomas."

Sympathy softened her eyes. "I am sorry."

"As am I."
He stared down at his fingers, joined with hers. In the farthest reaches of his mind, he heard his comrades' coarse laughter, smelled sun-baked sand, and tasted
the breeze blowing in from the eastern sea. "The first of our fighters attacked," he began. "The rest of us awaited the king's orders. All of a sudden, we heard a terrible noise behind us, yells, screams, and beating drums. It sounded like the demons of hell had come for our souls.

"Hundreds of Turks flew upon us, shrieking like mad men. Soldiers fled in panic. Even knights, like I, who had sworn fealty to God and King within the hallowed walls of the church, deserted King Richard." He shook his head. "I knew if I ran, I would be no better than the infidel who threatened to bring an end to Christendom. I would die rather than break that sacred oath." A rough laugh warmed his lips. "I doubt I could have done aught else, for the Turks surrounded me."

"Go on," she whispered.

"I had sworn to protect my king," he said, caressing her wrist with his thumb. "I stood at his side and honored that vow. I killed any Turk who came near, as did my brother. King Richard managed to escape to safety. By then the ground was covered with blood and corpses, yet I kept fighting.

"Somehow my brother and I became separated. I found myself fighting beside a man who had joined the king's Crusade to free the holy city of Jerusalem from the Turks."

A startled smile warmed her face. "Dominic de Terre?"

"The same.
I saved his head twice, for which he feels indebted to me. As you have seen, I did not survive unscathed."

"What happened?" She sounded horrified, yet also fascinated. Her gaze dropped to his scar, and he shuddered, remembering.

"Three Turks singled me out. They surrounded me. I killed one, a young man. He was a careless fighter. He must have been the son of one of the other Turks. As he fell, dying, the older Turk screamed and lunged while the other circled to my back. I saw the one behind me raise his blade. I turned and tried to deflect it, but"—he flinched, reliving the pain—"I could not escape the sword that cut my chest."

"Dominic saved me. I do not know how, but he got me to the Knights Hospitallers. He told me my brother died soon after I fell. Thomas had tried to avenge me."

Elizabeth's eyes closed. She seemed to be internalizing his anguish.
"How awful."

"I spent months in the Hospitallers' care," Geoffrey went on, the words pouring from him like water loosed from a dam. "King Richard sent a missive in which he expressed his gratitude for my bravery and ceded Branton Keep to me. Yet I held little hope of ever returning to England."

"Why?" Elizabeth whispered.

"The physicians did not expect me to live. I suffered fever and was delirious. When at last I awoke, the physicians told me even if I did recuperate, I would never again be able to hold a sword, a sentence worse than death for a knight." He swallowed. "I wished I had perished and not my brother."

"Oh, Geoffrey."
Elizabeth squeezed his hand.

"I grieved for my brother and blamed myself for not protecting him. I had failed. I had not saved my father's life, and had lost my brother as well. Soon, my pain became rage, an anger so intense it gave me a reason to live. I wanted blood spilled for their blood. I wanted vengeance." He tried to steel the bitterness from his tone, but could not. "If your sire had not besieged Wode, if my father had not been murdered, my brother and I would not have joined King Richard's Crusade."

Elizabeth tensed. Geoffrey fought for calm, for the strength to tell her his entire wretched tale, so that mayhap, just mayhap, she might understand. "'Twas a long while before I could sit up, or feed myself, or leave my bed," he said. "I would have gone mad, were it not for the other wounded men under the Hospitallers' care.

"One of them, Pietro Vicenza, was the son of a rich Venetian merchant. He had been returning from the fairs at Champagne when the Turks attacked his wagons laden with cloth. All but he were slaughtered. He had been stabbed and left for dead, but somehow crawled to find help."

Geoffrey smiled. "Pietro entranced me with the riches of the merchant trade. He sat by my bed and told me of the spices his father Marco bought from the Eastern ships that docked in the port of Venice—saffron, coriander, cumin— spices so expensive just a few ounces cost most men a year's wage." Geoffrey's voice softened. "He told me of the jewels, gold, and bolts of cloth. Silks so luxurious, he said, they were the envy of all the courts of Europe. He said 'twas easy for a man with good friends to make a fortune. The idea appealed to me, for without a sword arm, I could not be of use to my king.

"When I was able to leave the hospital, Pietro took me to Venice to meet Marco, his mother, and his three brothers. I learned how to pick out the finest fabrics and barter the best price. I even worked with Marco for a while, lifting barrels and hauling bolts of silks as I strove to regain my strength."

Elizabeth's brow creased into a frown. "What of Dominic? You have scarce mentioned him in your story."

With a chuckle, Geoffrey kissed her cheek.
"Patience, damsel.
I have not forgotten him. He visited me at the Hospitallers'. The king had dubbed him a knight the day after the Saracens agreed to surrender Acre and hostages. As I said, he felt he owed me for saving his life. He felt he must help me recover."

"As I grew stronger, his visits became more frequent. He encouraged me to work on strengthening my arm. He berated me when I despaired, and boosted my desire for revenge when I did not have the will to live. The day I left the Hospitallers, I could hold the weight of a sword in my right hand, but only for a short while.

"Dominic came with me to Venice. He sparred with me each day, and I grew stronger. The night we saved Marco from a murderous band of thieves, I knew I was strong again. Marco felt so indebted to us he offered us whatever we wished from his stores, whenever we wanted it. To this day, he sends me the best silks off the ships that sail into the port of Venice."

Elizabeth's gaze turned thoughtful. "If you could live as a rich merchant in Venice, why did you return to England?"

With careful fingers, Geoffrey stroked wispy hair from her cheek. "That life was not in my blood. Dominic and I traveled back to England so I could take tenure of Branton Keep, but I knew this fortress would never compare to Wode. I wanted what I should have inherited. What was denied
me.
"

She sighed, and her breath cooled his skin. "You could be happy here. Once you have repaired Branton—"

"I will build a cloth empire in England, but I will have it at Wode."

Her lips tightened. "And revenge."

"
Aye,
and revenge."

Sadness shadowed her gaze, and she looked again at his hideous scar. "Why can you not see that your desire for vengeance is wrong? You are not a merciless rogue. You—"

He silenced her with a finger to her lips. He
laughed,
a wicked sound. "I have told you too much. Indeed, I am tired of talking."

She shivered. Her lashes fell, and she covered her breasts with her arms.

A grin tugged at his mouth. She interpreted his words as a dismissal. Did she believe he had grown weary of her? How very foolish.

"You wish me to leave." Her body rigid, she sat up, flipped her hair over her shoulder, and peered over the bed to find her garments.

He caught her around the waist.
Tossed her back against the silk pillows.
Hovered over her.

"Did I tell you to go?" he growled against her cheek.

"I thought—"

He smothered her words with a kiss, one so blatant a blush stained her cheeks. Her eyes glowed. Her face looked luminous against the black silk of her hair.

"What do you desire now, milord?" she murmured.

Geoffrey grinned.
"You."

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"All is ready, Lord Brackendale," Aldwin said. "The men await your command."