Amanda Scott - [Border Trilogy Two 02] (35 page)

“I do have more to tell you, sir, but pray do not ask me to explain all of it now,” she interjected quickly. “In return, I will tell you who it was.”

“No bargain, sweetheart. It was Tom, and clearly, there were consequences. Is there a child hidden away somewhere that I ought to know about?”

Tears sprang to her eyes again. “No, my lord, there is not.”

When she caught her lower lip between her teeth, doubtless to avoid saying more, or in hope of stemming her tears by biting down hard, Garth was just sorry to see the tears again. He was even sorrier she was trying to put distance between them by using the formal title. He believed her account, and he doubted that he needed to know more about the incident, although his curiosity still burned, as did his rage.

But he knew that he would be wise to dampen both.

He could not kill her brother, so he would just have to wait for nature to take its course. Such a scoundrel would surely come to an unhappy end. In the meantime, Garth could make Tom’s life miserable just by telling him he knew what he had done and warning him to keep well out of his way.

For the present, he said only, “I won’t press you any more tonight, sweetheart. And if I don’t get back in time to take you to Elishaw for Sir Iagan’s burial, perhaps it will be just as well. I doubt that I could meet either of your brothers without wanting to punish them for all they’ve put you through.”

She said nothing, but she did dab her eyes dry with a bit of the coverlet.

As if he had not noticed, and hoping that if he kept talking, he could ease the strain of her sorrows, he said matter-of-factly, “I must meet with Archie first. He will doubtless go at once to intercept Fife at Elishaw, but you cannot ride there with his horde of Douglases. That
would
cause a stir, even with me along. But after I talk with him, and one man he is bringing with him, I’ll come back to fetch you. Then we’ll go to Elishaw together if you still want to, even if it is too late for the burial.”

“I don’t know yet if I’ll want to,” she said. “What will you do about Tom?”

Realizing with distinct satisfaction that she could not imagine he would do nothing, he said with a slight smile, “I’ll let him know that I know; that’s all.”

She tilted her head, frowning, her gaze searching his. At last, she nodded. “If that is so,” she said, “I warrant we shall see little of him.”

“We won’t see him at all at Westruther,” he said. “Now, come here to me. This is, after all, still our wedding night, and things were going well for a time, so at least your experience has not put you off sex altogether. Or has it?”

He hesitated, realizing with a jolt that such an experience might well have turned her against coupling forever.

Her smile was still watery but nonetheless real. “I thought it had,” she admitted. “I thought I could not bear any man to touch me. But now I suspect I worried more that a husband would send me back to my father in disgrace than I did about what a husband might expect of me.”

“You have never objected to my touching you,” he said softly.

“I did once,” she retorted.

He smiled then. “You said I was as loathsome as Boyd, aye. You should pay a little penance for that gibe, I think, if you will not object to my touch now.”

“What sort of touch?” she asked suspiciously but without fear.

“This sort,” he said, drawing her into his arms again and holding her close. “Do you think we can recall where we were before our talk?”

In response, she snuggled against him.

Amalie snuggled close, savoring his strength and his warmth for a time until her thoughts drifted back to what he had said about where they had been before. They were not exactly as they had been, because her shift was between them now. She missed the feeling of his bare skin against hers.

As if his thoughts again followed the same track as hers, his hand moved to the side of her breast and, brushing the nipple, to the ties of her shift. His fingers dealt more swiftly with them this time, but when they were loose, his hand stilled.

“Art sure, Molly-lass?”

Smiling, she pressed herself harder against him and moved a hand to his chest, her fingers toying with the soft curly hair she found there. “I’m sure.”

His touch remained gentle at first as he stroked her, warming her all over, then it grew more teasing, still gentle but sure and playful. His lips played with hers, and then his tongue teased hers and she teased back, astonished and delighted that she could feel playful with him.

His hands moved over her body, slipping her shift up and off her. And then he began caressing her with his hands and his lips, and invited her to touch him.

She learned quickly, because his responses were open and his enjoyment clear. He seemed in no hurry, content to let her explore him as he found more ways to let her know how delighted he was with her.

After a time, she realized that he had begun to tease her senses more and more, to the point of torment. It was pleasant torment, but before long her hunger for him grew unbearable. His hands and lips moved lower then until one hand gently touched her between the legs and began to tease her there.

She gasped.

“If you want me to stop, tell me,” he said. “I don’t want to hurt you or do aught that you do not like.”

“Do as you please,” she said. “But for mercy’s sake, don’t stop now.”

She thought she heard him chuckle low in his throat. Then he took her hand and moved it to himself, silently urging her to take hold of him.

Without a qualm, she did, rubbing herself against him until he said, “Lass, I cannot hold out much longer. I want to be inside you.”

“I want you there, too,” she said, guiding him.

He was gentle until he could be gentle no longer, but she met every thrust. She had not known what an agreeable thing coupling could be.

When they lay back, sated at last, he said, “You are mine now, sweetheart, in every way. I would defy anyone to say otherwise.”

“Aye, sir, and you are mine,” she said. The deep satisfaction she felt at those words astonished her.

Webbed in chains and shackled to a damp stone wall in pitch darkness, as if in a dungeon so deep that light could not penetrate, he hung from his shackles. But he felt no pain even when he shook them, trying unsuccessfully to break free.

If there was a floor below or a ceiling above, he had no sense of either, only of the web. Then a tiny white dot appeared in the distance like a pinprick in the blackness. It began slowly to grow into a circle of light, and as it grew, shapes formed inside until he could discern blue sky, puffy white clouds, and Amalie.

She wore the claret-colored velvet cloak she’d worn when he first saw her, and she stood atop a high, sheer cliff. A breeze stirred her flowing hair and her skirts. As the circle grew, he saw that the cliff rose far above a river valley, perhaps the Dale of the Tweed, although he knew of no cliff so high in all the Borders.

She turned her head until she seemed to see him, and smiled. Her smile froze as the wind blew harder, then harder, until she was leaning tensely back against it.

It continued to strengthen even then until worry filled him, and fear. Then helpless terror enveloped him as the wind scooped her up and blew her off the cliff.

Garth awoke with a gasp, shaking, to see Amalie by the window in a pale blue, silky-looking robe somewhat too long for her. She gazed out at what was either early dawn or a later, overcast morning. It did not matter to him which it was. He was just glad to be awake and out of his chains, and to see her safe.

“Good morning,” he said huskily.

She turned with a smile. “It is going to be a fine day when the sun comes up,” she said. “Tam and Sym rode out a short while ago.”

“Then they should make Dryburgh in two hours or so, and Hawick by noon,” he said. “You were not thinking of going downstairs to break your fast, were you?”

“I had not even thought about dressing yet,” she said. “I found this robe of Isabel’s in that kist by the bed, but I don’t know if anyone has told Bess that I am in here, or if Bess would dare to enter whilst you are with me.”

“I think we will ask them to bring us food here,” he said. “I’d as lief not subject either of us to more of Fife’s company yet, or your brother Simon’s.”

“I’ll put my head out then and see if I can find someone,” she said.

“There is no hurry,” he told her.

“Are you not going to get up?”

“I would rather get to know my wife better,” he said. “Come here.”

Her eyes danced. “And if I do not?”

“Then I will get up and fetch you. But doubtless you will shriek if I do, and the lady Averil will rush in to see who is attacking you.”

She chuckled. “I think I would rather she did not come in.” With that, she slipped the robe off her shoulders and walked smiling to the bed.

He held the covers back as his cock stirred to welcome her.

An hour later, Amalie stirred sleepily on hearing a solid click. Coming wide awake, realizing it was the door latch, she looked first to see that Garth was covered and then at the door as Bess peeped around it.

“Be ye awake then, mistress?” the maid murmured. “Princess Isabel said I should tell ye that if ye like, she’ll ha’ someone bring food up for the pair o’ ye.”

Her eyes shifted toward Garth and widened when he turned over and sat up.

“Sakes,” he said. “What is the hour?”

“Nigh onto Terce, sir,” Bess said. “Me lord Fife and Simon Murray be near ready to go. The princess said to ask ye did ye want to bid them farewell, m’lady.”

“No, Bess,” Amalie said. “I shall see them both again soon, so I mean to be lazy this morning. Prithee, do tell the princess we will gratefully accept her offer of food to break our fast and will be downstairs shortly afterward.”

“Aye, m’lady, I’ll tell her. The lady Sibylla were asking after ye, too.”

“Thank you, Bess,” Garth said.

With another startled glance at him, the maid fled.

“I did not expect to fall asleep again,” Amalie said.

“Nor I,” he agreed, smiling lazily. “You must have worn me out.”

She felt heat rush to her cheeks, remembering. Somehow, things she had hitherto thought about only with embarrassment and fear seemed natural, even fun with him. He made her feel desirable and beautiful, and his body fascinated her.

He encouraged her to explore him while he explored her. And although she felt quite daring in some of the things she had done to and with him, he seemed to delight in all they did. He had even revealed some secrets of her own body to her.

Remembering that he had to ride to Hawick to meet Archie Douglas, she put aside thoughts of more sex play, and got out of bed. As she slipped Isabel’s robe back on, she hoped Bess would remember to bring her some fresh clothes.

Garth got up and swiftly donned the clothing he had taken off the night before. “I must go to my chamber and fetch the things I mean to take with me, lass,” he said. “I’ll be only a few minutes, though, if your brother and Fife are safely in the hall or in the stableyard.” He was gone on the words, leaving her alone.

Bess returned before he did, bearing a tray with a basket of rolls, butter, jelly, two mugs, and a pitcher of ale. “It be all cold food, m’lady,” she said as she set it carefully on a side table. “The princess did say, though, that she’d send someone up with a platter o’ warm sliced beef, too. Shall I fetch your clothes to ye here?”

“I would like them, aye, the green kirtle and tunic, I think,” Amalie said, wondering what Garth would say if she offered to ride partway with him.

“No, sweetheart,” he said when he returned. “You’d do better to stay here.”

“But I’d like to go,” she said. “Is aught amiss that makes you forbid it?”

“Just a nightmare in which the wind blew you away,” he said with a rueful smile. “I’ve had others in which I fall into a web. But in this last one, I was webbed in chains and as helpless to stop the wind as I’d be to aid you with any trouble you might meet, riding back without me.” Stroking her cheek, he kissed her and murmured, “I don’t want anything to happen to you whilst I am away.”

His concern warmed her as it always did, but she said, “Why should anything happen? I was safe here for months before you entered Isabel’s service.”

“Aye, well, it may not have occurred to you yet, but we made a dangerous enemy last night by blocking Fife’s scheme. Whilst he is anywhere about, I want you to stay right here.” He gave her a look. “Don’t defy me in this, lass. I want to know that Isabel and Sir Kenneth are keeping you safe until I return.”

She did not argue, and twenty minutes after Bess reported that Fife, Simon, and Sir Harald Boyd had crossed the Tweed with Fife’s men, she went with Garth to the stableyard. Six men-at-arms were already mounted and waiting for him.

Nodding at them, Garth touched her cheek one more time, flicked another glance at the men, and mounted his horse without a word. Then, smiling warmly, he said, “I’ll be back as soon as I can be, sweetheart.”

Having a strong feeling that he had nearly warned her again to behave herself but had thought better of doing so before the other men, she said demurely, “I hope you will. But which way do you go, sir? Isabel says the best road south from here is the one through Kelso to the Jedburgh road. I think that is how Father went.”

“Aye, she told me,” he said, his eyes twinkling as if he knew she had read his thoughts. “If I were riding with a large party, I’d take that road. But Fife and Simon are going that way to Elishaw, so I’d liefer avoid it, and I can reach Hawick quicker by riding south from Dryburgh Abbey. The tracks we’ll take are rougher than drove roads, but I’ll have only these few lads with me. We’ll travel swiftly enough.”

She knew he could not travel swiftly enough to suit her.

She missed him the moment he was out of sight, and her mood was sober when she joined the other ladies in the hall. That each was aware of her marriage, and that not all were happy about it, did not surprise her.

Lady Susan shot her numerous, narrowed-eyed looks as they attended their duties, but Amalie ignored her. Lady Averil remained her usual, placid, well-bred self. If she disapproved, Isabel’s heartfelt approval had silenced her, but Averil would not lavish good wishes on one of her charges in any event.