Midnight Shadow (21 page)

She snapped her gaze to him. He’d never used that tone of voice with her before. Despite every fiber in her being urging her to confide in her father, Bria stood her ground. Revelation now would be the death of the Midnight Shadow. “I can’t,” she whispered. “I can’t, Father. Please don’t ask me again.”

Her father sighed. “Why didn’t you come to me with your love for this man, this Midnight Shadow, whoever he is? I could have betrothed you to him.”

Bria wanted to laugh, but couldn’t. This matter had gone far beyond the point of humor.

“Instead, you sneak off into the night to meet with a man I don’t know. I should feel insulted. Betrayed.”

“No,” Bria objected. “Don’t. I never meant to make you feel that.”

“Maybe that’s how you feel about me.”

“No,” Bria insisted.

“I’m sorry I’m such a disappointment to you,” her father whispered.

“No,” Bria repeated, running her hand over his cheek. “Father, you are not a disappointment. I don’t blame this on you. I... I just don’t know what the future holds.”

Her father nodded. “That’s how I felt when I took your mother as my wife.”

Bria stared into her father’s eyes. He’d loved her mother very much. She wanted her life to be like his. She wanted to feel the love he had felt for her mother with her husband. She threw her arms around him. “I’ll do as you wish, Father.”

“This is not as I wish. It is as it has to be.”

***

Bria stood at the altar, staring up at the chaplain. Her palms were sweating, and she had to wipe them on her dress more than once. She half hoped one of the dozen witnesses would find a reason to object to the whole thing, and her eyes darted nervously around, looking for some kind of salvation: the chapel roof, the ornate glass windows, the elaborate statues lining the church like guardians. Finally, she looked at Terran. He was gazing at her with such calmness Bria was taken aback.

He reached out and placed his hand over hers. His gentleness startled her, but his touch soothed her. She turned her gaze back to the chaplain, her anxiety washed away by a simple touch from Terran.

The chaplain finished the uneventful ceremony and blessed the union.

She was the wife of Terran Knowles.

A simple ceremony had changed her life forever, a ceremony she’d once imagined would be attended by all of her friends, by Mary, by Garret, by hundreds of guests, a ceremony sealed by a kiss.

Instead, she didn’t even have a special dress made for the occasion, but wore a simple dark green velvet dress she’d worn a dozen times before. And now the deed was done. The decree in the betrothal papers had been fulfilled. She didn’t know what she was feeling, but it was certainly not the happiness of a new bride. A wife.

What a terrifying word.

In the next whirlwind moment, Terran ushered Bria out the doors of the keep. In the courtyard, a double line of mounted men awaited them, Kenric in the lead. Terran escorted Bria to a waiting horse and helped her mount, then mounted behind her without a word.

She couldn’t help but notice the cart filled with bags of gold in the middle of the line. All these men, all these soldiers were here to guard her dowry.

Terran’s arm swept around Bria, clasping her tight against him as if she were his possession. Before she could register her annoyance, a tremor shot through her body at the touch of his strong arms.

The horse whinnied and reared slightly as Terran took the reins in his hands.

She’d barely lifted her hand in farewell to her father and grandfather, who stood in the doorway of the keep, dwarfed by the massive wooden double doors and looking as forlorn as Bria felt, before Terran kicked the horse forward.

Then she was moving through the inner gatehouse. The speed of the horses quickened as they rode toward the outer gatehouse. People stood at the sides of the castle watching, their expressions a mixture of pity and devastation.

Bria tried to glance back, but could see only Terran’s shoulder. A strand of her long hair had come loose from her braid and Bria had to push it away from her eyes. As she turned back to the path of her future, she saw the last structure of her castle loom before them, the outer gatehouse. Panic flared through her, and she had a strong instinct to leap from the horse and run back to her home, the only life she’d known.

Instead, she lifted her head, letting the wind whip her hair behind her, and faced what the future had in store.

They burst forth from the castle, riding toward the village.

Who would have thought two weeks ago she would be married to her enemy, sitting in his arms, approaching his lands?

My lands, she corrected herself. My people. A calmness washed over her. My people. And I have a vow to keep to Mary. I will see to it they are protected. One way or another.

Chapter Twenty-Three

A
s the entourage galloped through Knowles Village, there were very few cheers, and even fewer happy faces. Terran noticed more than one person shaking his head at the sight of Bria. Were they displeased with her? Not that it mattered.

The sun was beginning to set over the horizon as his castle appeared in the distance, marking an end to a very long day and several very long weeks. It seemed like another lifetime since he’d arrived at Castle Delaney to seek Bria’s hand. Now that he’d secured it, he must instruct Kenric to get on with paying the king’s tithe, paying his knights, and seeing that there was enough food to last the winter and...

... and these were things he knew he really didn’t give a damn about. He steered his thoughts elsewhere. He’d sought Bria’s hand for her dowry, and in the hope that the challenge of gaining her hand would rouse the spirit he had lost. But it hadn’t been the challenge of winning Bria’s hand. Bria herself had roused his spirit. At first her intellect had provoked him. Then it was her secrets.

Bria shifted in his arms, drawing his gaze to the top of her head. Little strands of rebellious curls had freed themselves from the tight braid. He hated that braid and wanted to see her hair freed from its constraints. She was at her most beautiful when her long tresses hung loose and free. Terran found himself leaning into those strands, inhaling deeply the fragrance of lavender. He rested his cheek against the top of her head.

Something else became very apparent. With each of the horse’s steps, her bottom rubbed against his manhood like a lightning strike. He hardened instantly. Just the thought of her tiny buttocks pressing so intimately up against him sent desire spearing through him. He clenched his teeth, trying to get his passion under control, but it was next to impossible. He had to think of something else.

They rounded the hillside, continuing in an arc toward the castle. Castle Knowles rested near one of the highest mountains in the land. Surrounded by cliffs on all but one side, the fortress was virtually impenetrable. But Terran no longer admired its beauty or its strategic defenses as he once did. He’d lived here all his life and was unimpressed by its grandeur.

He needed something else to bring that spark of excitement back into his life. He’d thought he found it with Odella, but he’d been wrong. Fatally wrong.

His arms tightened instinctively around Bria.

They approached the castle head on. Terran glanced behind him at the long line of armored men. He had tripled the number of guards to his entourage, for the dowry was substantial, an amount enough to pay his men and his taxes to the king.

And there was another reason. Terran knew the Midnight Shadow wouldn’t let his lover go. He’d expected some sort of confrontation with his enemy, but their journey had been uneventful.

As the castle walls loomed higher in his vision, his tension eased. The Midnight Shadow wouldn’t be bold enough to attack them in front of Castle Knowles.

Terran glanced down at his bride’s head. He now knew his attraction to her was much stronger than he could have imagined. They could have a good marriage. But could Bria ever let the Midnight Shadow go and let Terran be her husband?

It’s irrelevant, he told himself. She’s mine.

They rode through the outer ward and into the inner ward. Terran eased Bria to the ground and dismounted. He gave commands to Kenric to secure the gold in the treasury. Then he turned toward his castle. He had many things to see to, boring things. His steward, no doubt, had a list of things needing his immediate attention.

As he turned, his gaze stopped upon the small woman standing where his warhorse had been before the stable boy had led him away. Around her, his men were dispersing, but she stood motionless, her hands clasped before her, her large blue eyes trained uncertainly on him. Bria looked so lost that for a brief moment, Terran had the urge to sweep her into his arms and assure her everything would be all right.

He took a step toward her, but suddenly a voice called out, “M’lord!” Terran turned to find a blond woman standing on the stairs to the keep. Every detail about her was impeccable, from her horned headdress to her slippered feet. She was a marvelous woman to look at, and Terran used to love to do that. But now another woman needed his attention.

But the woman came toward him, holding out her slender hand. Terran brushed her knuckles with a kiss. “Lady Kathryn.”

“Yes.” Her haughty blue gaze swung to Bria.

“Lady Kathryn, meet my wife, Lady Bria.” He turned his gaze to Bria and was crushed by her crestfallen expression. But she straightened her shoulders and marched up to them.

“A pleasure,” Bria said, expressing anything but.

Terran stared in confusion at Bria. Her large eyes all but danced with fire as she gazed upon Kathryn. Kathryn’s reaction was just as baffling. Her eyebrow rose in disdain. Then both women turned their gazes on him.

Terran smiled enigmatically, but he’d never felt so burdened and strained before. He felt expected to do something, but he didn’t know what they wanted. “Kenric!” he called out.

His cousin strolled over to him.

Terran’s eyes shifted from Bria to Kathryn and back again. “Show Lady Bria to her room.” Something flashed in her blue eyes like the distant glint of lightning. Was that hurt or anger? She lowered her eyes before he could figure it out.

Terran’s gaze shifted to Kathryn’s, and he saw victory shining in her blue eyes. Strange, Terran thought. He’d never realized before how dull her eyes were. They were pale blue and hard, almost like stones set into her sockets.

Terran stepped past Bria and paused. “I will come to you tonight,” he promised his new bride. Then he took Kathryn’s arm and moved into the keep. Kathryn was aglow as they strolled through Castle Knowles’ halls. She primped for the peasants who watched them, holding her chin high. Terran tried to restrain his impatience.

They turned down a dark hallway, their footsteps echoing. Kathryn was strangely quiet. She could talk for hours about herself, but now her mouth remained shut. Something was wrong.

“What brings you here, Kathryn?” he asked brusquely. Terran paused before the closed door of the room she always occupied when at Castle Knowles, although the last time had been over a year ago.

“My darling,” she cooed, leaning back against the door. “Why are you so cruel to me?” She placed her hands on his chest.

Terran had once found her coy manner irresistible, before Odella. “I’m not cruel, Kathryn,” he said softly. “I just know your games.”

“Games?” She pouted those once sensual lips. But now Terran could only see one pair of lips in his mind’s eye.

“You wound me.” She took his hand and placed it upon her breast. “Deeply.” Her voice took on a husky tone.

Terran leaned forward. “Our relationship is finished. It ended long ago. You know that.”

“Of course,” she said, “when you were marrying Odella.” She arched slightly so her breast filled his palm. “I couldn’t come between you and my sister.”

Terran’s jaw clenched fiercely and he looked away from Kathryn.

“I came as soon as she died,” she whispered.

“I see,” Terran said.

“To comfort you,” she said softly. Her lips were but inches from his now.

“So when your sister died, you came to Castle Knowles to... comfort me,” Terran clarified.

She nodded.

“Only to find me married.” He reached around her and opened the door.

Kathryn almost spilled into the room, but she quickly righted herself. She shrugged slightly. “A mere inconvenience.”

Terran’s eyes narrowed. Bria was his wife now, and the thought of her as a mere inconvenience boiled his blood. He entered the room and lit a candle. “What do you want, Kathryn?”

Kathryn came up behind him to hug his broad shoulders. “I want things to be as they were before.”

Terran grabbed her hands and removed them from his body. “Before what?”

Kathryn lifted her chin slightly and tried to look hurt. “I want you to love me.”