Through The Leaded Glass (21 page)

“
Alex, please tell your stable
master that despite my spill yesterday, I do know how to ride a
horse.”

Alex sat at the table, staring at something in
his hand. He closed his fist around it and looked up.
“Why?”

“
I want to head into the village.
I’m not used to sitting around doing nothing, leaving my fate in
others’ hands. And yours are full with trying to figure out who’s
out to get you. You don’t need this added burden, but time’s
running out. I have to do something.”

“
Your last horse ride didn’t
convince you that it’s dangerous? And Farley. The man’s desperate.
You can’t go, Kate. It’s too dangerous.”

“
It’s too dangerous for me
not
to, Alex.” The long violet sleeves of her gown made her
arm-flouncing all that more dramatic. “I have to find that window.
I need to go back. I’ll steal the damn horse if I have to, but I
can’t just sit here doing nothing. Now, are you going to make this
easy or difficult?”

Alex tossed a ruby and emerald necklace onto
the table.

“
What’s that?”

“
Calista’s necklace.”

“
I thought Farley said it’d been
stolen?”

“
And planted on my bed. I found it
after his departure.”

Cold slithered down her spine and she sank
onto a chair. “The villain?” she asked, though she knew the
answer.

“
Obviously. And obviously he’s not
Simon. The bastard was here the whole time, heard the entire
exchange. Set it up.”

“
Or Simon did to make himself look
innocent.”

Alex shook his head. “I’ve considered it, but
his position outside the gate all morning proves he didn’t.” He ran
the jewels through his fingers. “There’s a murderer, Kate. Walking
around, unchecked, within Shelton. That’s why I can’t permit you to
leave.”

“
Maybe I’d be safer away from
here.”

Alex rubbed a hand over his mouth. “If he
moves like a phantom within my home—where people should
notice—don’t you think he’d be
less
visible in the village?
He could follow you and slit your throat with no one the wiser
until you hit the ground.”

“
But no one’s found him, Alex. No
one knows who he is. He could do the same thing here.”

Alex tucked the necklace in a bag on his belt
then leaned close to her. “Kate, don’t you understand I’m trying to
keep you safe? You can’t just go about the countryside, opening
yourself up to danger.”

“
So I’ll take some
bodyguards.”

“
I’m
your bodyguard, Kate.”
He ran a fingertip along her forearm. “Didn’t I prove it when
Farley threatened you?”

Alex’s tenderness was a dangerous thing. Maybe
even more so than Farley’s sword, because it took her guard down
and made her want things she had no business wanting.

Or maybe it was the testosterone that was
undulating off him in waves, or the scare of a madman walking
around Shelton—hell, maybe it was the fact that she hadn’t been
with anyone in over a year, but whatever it was, her damn knees got
wobbly and her heart rate kicked up a few dozen notches.

“
Do you understand,
Kate?

No, she didn’t understand one damn thing
anymore. Why she was here, what she was supposed to be doing, how
she was going to get home, and why this man, this exacerbating
fifteenth-century alpha male, turned her thoughts—and her knees—to
jelly.

Eyes on the prize, Kate
. And, no, that
wasn’t Alex.
Emma
was the prize.

She leaned away from him. From his touch.
“Yes, Alex, I get it. Stay here and wait for my knight in shining
armor to rescue me. Do you know how much I hate that Cinderella
analogy? Do you have any idea of how it subjugates women? I swore
I’d never go through that again, yet here I am smack dab in the
middle of an era where knights in shining armor really exist. Well
then, damn it, rescue me! I need my window—now. My appointment is
in approximately thirty-six hours. Either I’m there or life as I’ve
planned it will cease to exist. And that can’t happen, Alex, it
just can’t.”

Damn, she was going to cry. She bowed her
head. She hated crying almost as much as she hated admitting he was
right. She’d do herself and Emma no good if some medieval madman
used her for target practice.

She was so tired of this. Tired of the
uncertainty, the strain, the constant effort to fit in, and the
tremendous inner strength to push panic away as the hours crept
by.

Alex tilted her chin and wiped her traitorous
tears away with his thumb. “Don’t cry, Kate,” he whispered. “I will
get you your window. I promise.”

His promise was her undoing, and when he drew
her closer, she let him. Allowed herself this moment in time
because she needed this. Needed someone to tell her it would be
okay. Needed the panic to disappear if only for a few
minutes.

Which it did when he feathered his fingers
along the side of her face, tracing the pulse in her throat, and
gliding down to the low-cut neckline of her dress, and he drew her
to her feet, closing the space between them with a few soft
touches.

And then he kissed her. A full-on,
tongues-meeting, teeth-clacking kiss.

And when his hand closed over her breast, his
thumb unerringly finding her nipple, they were right back at the
wall scenario. Passion rose hot and quick between them and Kate
couldn’t get enough.

She melded her chest to his. Gripped his
biceps so if her knees gave out she’d stay upright.

He moved then, sliding his leg between hers
and she clenched it, reveling in the perfect pressure and the growl
he made against her throat. Then his tongue swirled over her
collarbone, his thumb mimicking it over her nipple, and she had to
move. Had to ease the ache, cut the tension, the wanting… God, it
felt so good…
He
felt so good.

She couldn’t stop. She didn’t
want
to
stop and she’d worry about the ramifications later. After all, she
was a modern woman. She was allowed to enjoy her sexuality, and
whoa boy, was she enjoying it.

She ran her hand down his chest, wanting to
feel his skin, wanted to run her tongue over the hard angles and
planes, but his shirt was in the way. She tried to brush it aside,
work her hand beneath it, when she accidentally (and maybe on
purpose) stroked him.

Alex groaned as his shaft jerked against her.
“No, Kate. Not like this. When I come this time, I want you naked
beneath me, tight and hot and wet around me.” He pressed her
against his thigh. “As you are now, aren’t you?”

“
Yes, Alex. Yes. Please… don’t
stop…” She ran her palm up the length of him.

“
God’s breath, Kate, what you do to
me.” He cupped her face and her body pulsed with the desire she saw
there. “I want you.”

“
I know.” She flexed her
hand.

He sucked in a breath. “And you want
me.”

“
Yes.”

“
Then let’s—”

“
Alex, where are you? I need to ask
you—” Nick strode into the room. “Oh. Sorry. I, uh—I’ll come back.
Later.”

Kate jumped off Alex’s thigh, grateful that
her knees decided to cooperate. “No, Nick, that’s all right. I, um,
have something to do. In my room.”

Alex touched her arm as she passed. “That you
do, Kate. And I’ll help you.
Later.
”

That word held so much promise.

***

“
What do you want, Nick?” Alex
didn’t attempt to take the bite from his words as he returned to
the table. His balls ached, his cock throbbed, and the last thing
he wanted to do was listen to more of Nick’s surliness.

“
I need to borrow some
gold.”

“
How much?”

Nick named an amount that surprised
Alex.

“
I thought Caversham was
solvent.”

Nick’s lips became a thin line. “It
is.”

“
Then why?”

“
Will you lend it to me or
not?”

Nick’s refusal to answer was as out of
character as the rest of his recent actions. “Do you owe someone,
Nick? The king perhaps?”

Nick snorted. “In a manner of speaking. Look,
Alex, will you lend it to me? I’ll pay you back with the rents. You
know I will.”

“
Of course, Nick, but does this
have anything to do with Isobel?”

Nick’s shoulders fell and he rubbed his
forehead. “Yes.”

“
You love her.”

Nick snorted. “For what good it does me.
Without your help, I’ll never have more to offer than
Wexham.”

“
Hence the gold.”

Nick nodded.

“
Fine. And I’ll speak to Henry on
your behalf.”

Nick dropped his head in his hands. “I
wouldn’t normally do this, Alex. I mean, can you believe it? Me?
Borrowing—
begging
—for a woman? Wanting one like
this?”

Alex knew exactly how he felt.

He sat back. No. This thing with Kate, it was
just physical. That was all. Any attractive woman would
do—

Liar
.

He
was
a liar. She already meant more
to him than she should. And he would be a fool to waste what little
time they had left—because Kate
would
go home, if he had to
go looking for the damn window himself. He would do that for her,
no matter how much it killed him to do so.

He cleared his throat. “Nick, you’ll have your
gold on the morrow. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have matters to see
to.”

Chapter
Seventeen

The light from the crescent moon cut through
the narrow arrow slits as Alex took the stairs to Kate’s chamber
two at a time, the night air doing nothing to cool the blood
pounding through his veins.

He was shaking with want of her. And while he
didn’t want to feel this, he was not about to deny it—or her—any
longer.

He put his fingers against her door and
pushed.

It slid open and she stood there, wrapped in a
bed fur, backlit by moonlight. Waiting.

“
Alex.” The way she said his name
touched his heart and firmed his resolve to find that
window.

It also firmed something else.

“
Are you coming in?”

He kicked the door shut behind him. “Oh, yes,
Kate. I’m coming in.” Divesting himself of his sword, key ring, and
the pouch with Calista’s necklace, Alex strode over to her and
pulled her into a kiss that left no doubt how “in” he wanted to
be.

She groaned, the sound igniting a fire in his
blood. He pulled her closer, wanting her hips against him, cradling
him, easing the driving ache Nick had interrupted.

“
Ah, Kate,” he whispered, tasting
the smooth skin of her throat. “You’re beautiful.”

“
You’re pretty spectacular
yourself,” she murmured as his hands slid to her nape, angling her
head.

He traced the seam of her lips with his
tongue, then thrust inside to tangle with hers in a prelude of the
movements his body clamored to make. He threaded his fingers
through her hair, caressing its silky softness, every quick breath,
every whispered sigh only edging him higher. He wanted to take her
now, where they stood, but this time, he would be inside her, feel
her pulse around him as she came.

He shoved the fur from her shoulders and
dragged her gown up her body, running his hands over the smooth
skin of her thighs, her derrière.

She moved between his legs, her belly pressing
against his cock, and Alex growled. “Have a care, Kate, or I can’t
be responsible for the consequences.”

“
There won’t be any consequences,
Alex.”

“
True, Kate. I’ll protect
you.”

Her mouth lifted at a corner and that breathy
laugh he liked escaped. “Oh, really? Is Trojan your middle
name?”

“
Trojan?”

She shook her head. “Never mind. Second
millennium joke.”

She skimmed her fingers through his hair and
Alex would never admit to anyone that his knees wobbled. Not even
to himself.

“
We’ll be all right, Alex. I won’t
get pregnant.”

That word robbed him of his breath. Kate.
Pregnant with his child.

He sucked in air, needing to breathe. The
image… it was…

God’s blood, no. It could not
happen.

“
So you
are
a
sooth-sayer?”

“
Funny.” She tugged his hair. “No,
just some twenty-first century medicine. Do you really want to
discuss this now?”

“
No. Talking isn’t on my mind at
the moment.” But a baby—

He hauled her up against him, needing the
distraction.

And the feel of her body in his arms was
definitely a distraction.

“
What I want, Kate, is—” He wrapped
her sleek, bare legs around his waist and strode toward the bed.
“You, Kate. I want you.”