Conquering the Dark Axe (35 page)

As though she knew she was being thought of, the
siren's violet eyes flicked in her direction and Alexa bit back the smug grin
that threatened to burst upon her lips when the woman stumbled. Alexa’s breath
came fast as the siren bowed before Rourke, waiting.

He’d yet to utter a word.

He stared at the woman as if he were seeing a ghost.
Not a trace of warmth lay in his icy cold glare.

The woman repeated his name again with too much
familiarity for Alexa’s liking. 

"I came as soon as I heard of my father's
death. I wanted to come sooner but…" she paused and removed a long purple
glove from one slender arm. "I am so sorry for what my father did to you.
To us."

"
Jacqueline
."

Alexa winced at Rourke’s response. His tone sounded
hoarse, full of pain and something else that caused uneasiness to pool in her
gut.

The siren stared up at him with a beseeching look in
those violet pools. "There is much to say. The time is long past, but I hope
it is not too late to set things to right.”

It was Alexa’s turn to make a sound. All eyes except
Rourke’s turned on her.  Alexa stepped down from the high table with a
quick prayer for sure footing on her wobbly legs and held her head high. Angry
at her tongue tied husband, she approached the siren, who gave her a nod and
addressed her.

"Baroness Alexa Thorsson."

Alexa frowned, her eyes darting quickly to Rourke.
His eyes narrowed on the woman even more.

Alexa’s thoughts whirled.  They’d never met, how
did this woman know who she was when she did not know of her? Anger and hurt
sparked in her and she heard herself saying, "I fear I am at a
disadvantage. Who might you be?"

"Lady Jacqueline Denis and this is my husband,
Lord Reginald Denis of Beaumont. I am a very old acquaintance of your husband,
baroness. Please, I’ve come to seek audience with the baron to discuss past and
recent unfortunate events. 'Tis past time to do so."

Alexa swallowed hard and looked to Rourke. He still
did not look at her and she felt a pang in her chest at his dismissal. Her
heart thudded wildly in her chest, and then the anger she held started to slip.
He was not looking at this woman as if he desired her. Nay. The look on his
face was of many, but the one that shown through the most, more than the
others, was hate and murder. 

Rourke fisted his hands at his sides to control the
tremors of shock and rage pumping through his veins.

Jacqueline looked even more radiant and beautiful
than she had when he’d last seen her before that fateful evening when she’d
destroyed his world and dried up the last bit of love inside him.  All the
things he’d wanted to scream and yell at her after that evening seemed less and
less important now. Hearing Alexa’s voice cut through the old memories was like
water on a raging fire and finally when he was able to tear his eyes away from
Jacqueline his eyes dropped to Alexa.

The pain he’d suffered after losing Jacqueline
seemed insignificant to the love he felt for his hellion.

What once was no longer ensnared him in its dark and
painful clutches.

It was because of Alexa his tremors slowed, coming
to a halt and he was able to breathe again. It was because of Alexa and what he
saw reflected in her amber depths that he was able to utter a controlled response. 

Fight and passion gleamed in his hellion’s eyes and
he was proud of her. She did not hide her jealousy well. But it was the flash
of hurt that he glimpsed that ripped through him that drew him to her side. He
wanted to take her into his arms, but he knew now was not the time.  He
could see the stiffness in her shoulders as she tried to keep her composure and
he felt it when his arm brushed her back.

“You have my attention,” he told Jacqueline in a
firm voice. “Come we will discuss what you feel needs discussing in here.”
Rourke pressed a hand to Alexa’s lower back and he felt a deep ache when she
jumped under his touch, yet she allowed him to steer her from the room as their
guests followed.

Once in the other room, Rourke refused to sit as the
couple took a seat on the bench across from where they stood. Alexa fidgeted
nervously next to him, her self-worth suddenly nagging at her as she watched
Jacqueline.  Not a hair out of place. She had to admit the woman was
striking. She also noticed the woman’s hands shook each time she took a sip of
the wine Rourke had a servant bring in. Her smooth regal bearing and dainty
hands and movements were so lady like, so much different than her own rough and
fast gestures. Her husband had been in love with this woman and now, he was
incapable of loving another after her. Rourke’s voice drew Alexa back to him.

“Now that we see clearly you did not die, have your
words over and done with.”

Alexa winced at his words and her mouth went dry
when Jacqueline explained the ruse of her death in order to escape their
betrothal so she could run away to France and marry the man she truly loved.
Her husband, Lord Reginald.

After a moment into her story, Rourke interrupted
her. His words were angry. “But we searched for you...your body on the rocks.
Only your scarf was found.”

This time Lord Reginald answered. “Planted there
earlier by me and soaked in the sea. I tied it to the branch to keep it there
so it would be found.”'

“But the blood…”

“Forgive us,” Jacqueline said beseechingly, “'Twas
animal’s blood we spilled on the rocks. We had to make it seem as if my body
had washed out to sea. Never, Rourke did I imagine the horrors that would
follow for you afterwards. I know now, too late, how selfish I was then to see
past naught but my own needs. For that I am truly sorry and ask your
forgiveness. I will understand if you do not wish to grant it. It is your
right.”

Rourke watched her and her husband. Had it been
before Alexa he was sure he'd probably have killed them both or taken them
right to William. But now, the pain she'd caused him seemed like a vague
memory.

Alexa’s uneven breath next to him confirmed the why
of it and Rourke reached behind him and took her stiff hand in his. 

Jacqueline continued, “We’d had a small craft
waiting. My father never loved my mother. The love he poured into me I guess he
thought would make up for it. But it did not. His hatred for Normandy was too
great. He was not the honorable man he led others to believe.”

Rourke closed his eyes at the revelations. At the
truth. He should have been furious, but he was not. What was done was done. He
could not go back and change anything. He simply wanted it over.

“I see why and understand now why you went to such
lengths to cover this affair. Your father was very unstable.” Rourke stated. He
would not mince words nor apologize.

Jacqueline nodded in agreement. “You only speak the
truth. I know coming here I placed my life and my husband’s at your door. But I
could not live with it anymore, especially after word reached me about what my
father had done to you. Whatever punishment you see fit, Rourke, we are…”

She choked on a sob into her husband’s hand that she
clutched.  Tall and fit with pleasant enough features the Frenchman kept his
eyes on his lady wife, worry marred his own brow.

Alexa trembled with a mix of emotions. Rourke would
turn a blind eye to this woman's ruse that had changed so many lives. Had it
not ruined him? Anger sparked in her that he could so easily brush aside what
Jacqueline had set in motion by her actions. Then she thought did she truly
have a place to suggest judgment. After all it had been before her time. This
was between her husband and Jacqueline.  Alexa watched them all but mostly
Rourke. Her heart bled for him hearing Jacqueline’s story. But it also bled for
herself.

He had loved this woman so much he'd carried her
around for all these years. He was fond of her, this Alexa knew. But he did not
gaze upon her the way he'd done this dark-haired beauty. Even now she could
feel the emotion pouring from him and she fought back the sting of tears as her
heart broke.  She nearly jumped out of her skin when his long fingers
touched her hand.

She uncurled her own and let him slide his between
hers. And she was glad as she swayed into his back and used a hand to support
herself lest she fall from the weakness in her knees. The gesture of comfort
only made her heartache more prevalent.  She was so caught up in losing
him; she failed to see that he'd turned all the way around to her. Embarrassed
at how she was behaving, Alexa wanted to run from the room. Hearing Jacqueline
beg for his forgiveness had been too much. She had to get some air.

“Alexa,” his soft whisper snapped the last thread
and traitorous tears welled in her eyes.

“Hellion,” he whispered low and tipped her face up
to his. His large body blocked her from their guests view and she was glad. She
did not want that witch to see how hurt she was. Bad enough, Rourke had seen
it.

Meeting his gaze, Alexa gasped. The emerald pools
she’d come to love and know gazed at her with what she felt for him in her
heart. Love. She was almost afraid to hope. But when he leaned down and pressed
his lips to her brow with a whisper. She knew she'd read him right. “There is no
other for me than you.”

With that he faced their guests again with an arm
around her waist. Alexa barely heard what he told them as she could only stare
at him.

“The only good fortune out of this is...had you not
done it, neither of us would be where we are now. And if I’m not mistaken, I
would say the both of us are rather quite content with our current situation.
Seems we both ended up with partners that suit us better.”

He finally sat and went on to talk of her father’s
crimes, the lives lost but those crimes lay at her father’s door and his
cohorts in crime.

Later after the couple had left and they lay
together in the chamber, Alexa listened to Rourke as he told her the words
Jacqueline had spoken to him that day so long ago.

“She told me she’d rather die a thousand deaths than
have to suffer the touch of a hulking and scarred beast of a Norman like me
rutting on her.”

“Well now we know that was obviously not the truth.”

The look he gave her was strange. “Did you not think
and say the same thing when we first met? I remember your eyes when I first
undressed in front of you, Alexa.”

She slid a hand over his scar. “I hated you for
being a man coming to take all I had. You could have been anything other than
Norman and I may have still hated you. I had lost all I loved. I wished death.
That night you undressed, Rourke, it was pleasure that stole my breath, not
hate. I just knew it not then.” She leaned down and kissed his mouth which had
opened in surprise.  When she sat up again he was as breathless as she and
his hands slid down to squeeze her buttocks.

“Still I must tell you, you did not deserve to be so
ill used by me.”

Alexa cupped and caressed his cheek and said softly,
“The blame does not fall wholly on you. I made it hard for you too.”  His
fingers massaged her some more and she squirmed against his thigh.

“‘You amaze me still, Alexa.”

“Let’s hope it stays that way.” She told him.

Rourke pulled her against him tighter, a grin split
his face. “I’ve no doubt it will.”

“How long have you known about the babe?”

His hand cupped her breasts. “These spill out of my
hand. Telling enough. I was waiting for you to speak it, but you did not.”

She flushed and let out a moan when his thumb
brushed over her hardened peak. “I-I was waiting for the right moment. I am
glad you know.”

“I am overly pleased and look forward to watching
you grow ripe with my seed.”

Alexa pulled away from him a little. “So, the words
you spoke in the room to Jacqueline and her husband of us, did you mean it?”

He pulled her close and rubbed his cheek against
hers in that way he knew drove her mad with want and him just the same. 
Pulling back, he was not disappointed, the fire of desire burned brightly in
her eyes.  “I have always loved you.”

“Nay, you lie. You have not.”

“Aye, Alexa.  Shortly after we met. Do you
remember when-“he stopped at the sharp intake of her breath. 

Alexa waited for him to finish.  But he said no
more. She shoved at his chest and he fell back with a laugh taking her with
him.

“Do not tease! Tell me.”

She was serious and Rourke cupped her face in his
hands. He had teased her enough.  “‘Twas the day I kicked the bed. I just
did not know it then.”

Her mouth dropped open, eyes wide and he could tell
she was thinking back to that day.

Rourke could not resist the inviting sight and
leaned up to plant a kiss on her mouth.  When she was able to breathe
again, Alexa choked out, “Truly? The-The first time?’  Rourke wiped away
one of her tears.

“Truly.’ He said and more tears spilled down her
cheeks. He groaned. “Still not sure I like this howling side of you. I prefer
my feisty hellion.”