A tic started in his jaw. “You know me not, Your Majesty, to draw any such conclusion about my character.”
It was true, she didn’t. Still, she had to make him see reason. She had to do this to save her people. A child would guarantee that Selwyn and Basilli would never be able to threaten Taagaria again.
It was a new and perfect plan.
She hoped.
“Please, Christian. You may not care for your people, but I care for mine, and I cannot allow them to be conquered by a man who lacks all mercy. An heir will solve both our problems.”
He shook his head as if aghast at her proposition. “This is a child we are talking about, Adara. Flesh and blood. Our flesh and blood. Not once in my life did my parents ever call me their heir. They called me their son.”
His pale stare pierced her as he continued to rant. “And how long do you think such a man as Selwyn would suffer our child to live? You just told me how every member of my family was killed by another. How my own parents were murdered and your cousin Thera could very well end up paying the price for helping you. I will not see my child dead over something so senseless.”
Why was he being so obstinate? He had to yield on some matter. Too many lives were at stake.
“I understand and I know that we are talking about our child. I would never allow my child to die. Believe me. I would protect him at all costs.”
His eyes mocked her. “Are you some Amazon, then? Some warrior queen to take up a sword against your enemies?”
“Nay, but—”
”There are no buts, my lady. My father was one of the finest knights of his age and if they could kill him as you claim…This is a chance I will not take.”
She turned in the saddle until she faced him. His handsome features were rigid, unyielding.
Still, she tried to argue her cause. “Then once you return with me, stay there to protect our child.”
“Return to what?” he asked angrily. “A kingdom that never wanted me? One that has tried repeatedly to kill me? I have obligations here.”
“What obligations?”
“They are no concern of yours, but I take them most seriously.”
“Christian,” she tried again. “Please be reasonable. Our child would rule two prominent kingdoms that lie between Tripoli and Antioch. Think of the riches and respect. The power he would command.”
“And what good does it for a man to gain the world if he loses his immortal soul? There is much in this world that is cruel and harsh. Better my child be a simple smith who wants nothing more than his forge, than one who is constantly pursued by those out to kill him for what he possesses.”
“And it is the king and his justice that protects your smith and allows him his forge,” she argued. “If the king is corrupt, then villains will overrun his shire and imprison him wrongfully. He will have no forge, no dignity. It is our destiny to defend them.”
He was just as quick with his retort. “A king sits on his throne far away from the shire and has no knowledge of what happens there. But I know because I am in the shire, and so long as I am there, no one will ever hurt the smith.”
She let out a long, tired sigh. “You are indeed a politician, whether you wish it or not. Few men can argue better than you.”
“You know, my queen,” Lutian said thoughtfully, “there is another solution that I see.”
She turned to look at Lutian, who was riding just behind them. “And that is?”
“All you truly need for proof is Prince Christian’s heraldic emblem. Return home pregnant, with it, and they will have no choice except to accept your word for the baby’s father.”
Christian was even more aghast at that proposition than he’d been at Adara’s. “And just who would be the father of her unborn child that she would pass off as mine?”
Lutian straightened up in the saddle. “I humbly submit myself to Her Grace’s will to use my meek and virile body in any manner she sees fit.”
Adara squelched a laugh at his kind offer. Leave it to Lutian to come up with such a solution.
But if looks could kill, Lutian would be severed in twain by Christian’s heated glare. “I beg your pardon, fool?”
Adara was almost amused by the anger in Christian’s tone. It would be nice if she could attribute it to jealousy, but she knew better.
“Aye,” she said, wanting to nettle her husband even more. “It just might work.”
Christian gaped at her. “You would bed the village idiot?”
Lutian snorted at that. “Pray tell who is the greater idiot? The man who would see his son king or the one who is holding a beautiful woman in his lap, with full matrimonial rites to her, who refuses her, a throne, and a wealthy kingdom full of people to do his every bidding? I think, in the grand scheme of this, I am by far the wisest man here.”
Lutian kicked his horse abreast of theirs and bowed low in his saddle to Adara. “Take me, my queen, and I will give you your heir. I will gladly lay myself down for your pleasure.”
Christian’s nostrils flared in warning. “You lay yourself down for her pleasure, fool, and you won’t be getting back up. Ever.”
Lutian went pale as he reined his horse away from them…out of Christian’s direct reach. “Very good, then, my prince.” He shifted his gaze to Adara. “My apologies, my queen, but you’re on your own.”
“Lutian,” she cried in feigned outrage. “What about my problem?”
Her fool took it good-naturedly. “Well, my lady, ’tis your problem. Sorry. I…um…I intend to live a long and fruitful life.”
“Fruitful?” Christian asked with a gimlet stare.
Lutian twisted up his face as he contemplated his choice of words. “Did I say fruitful? Methinks I spoke too soon. Suddenly I fear I may be impotent. Truly, I can no longer rise to any occasion. I shall be old and fruitless. My fruit is shriveling even as we speak.”
Adara turned to glare at her husband and his untoward reaction to Lutian’s plan. “This I don’t understand. Moments ago you couldn’t care less about Elgedera or my people, so what do you care now who sits on the throne?”
Christian fell silent.
“Answer my question.”
He turned that angry stare to her. “I am not one of your subjects, Majesty. I suggest you take a kinder tone to me.”
“I am sorry,” she said sincerely. “But I would like to know why you won’t allow this.”
His gaze burned into her, but beneath the anger she saw something else. Something she couldn’t place or name.
“First, my necklace is the last piece of my mother that I have in my possession. I have guarded it in the deepest pits of hell to make sure that no one stole it from me. Therefore I have no intention of letting it go now for any reason other than death. Second, for my beloved parents’ memory alone, I cannot allow the offspring of the village idiot to take my mother’s family throne.”
Lutian gasped. “On behalf of village idiots everywhere, I take offense to that.”
Christian cut him a murderous look.
“Well, my queen, he does have a point. It is on his head, but still he has one.”
She felt Christian tense as if catching himself before he lunged at poor Lutian, who immediately rode out of reach.
They fell silent as Adara grappled with the sense of failure and struggled to think up a new plan of action.
Not even Lutian spoke. He merely rode quietly as if fearful of pushing Christian past his limit.
None of this was going the way she had planned it.
How simple it had all seemed to come to this land, consummate her marriage, then return home with her husband to present to his people as their king.
Now she would be lucky to return home at all.
Still, she was undaunted. So long as she breathed, she had hope, and so long as she had hope, Basilli would not defeat her. She would find some way around Christian’s defenses and make him see the truth of what she offered.
But in the meantime, they had to
get to safety.
Her heart stilled as she looked down and realized she was still naked beneath her cloak. This wouldn’t do!
Adara placed her hands over Christian’s on the reins. “Can we stop for a moment?”
“Why?”
“If we are to enter a village, then I wish to dress.”
Christian’s breath caught as an image of Adara’s bare body whipped unbidden through his mind. During their argument, he’d forgotten her state of undress, though how he’d managed that, he couldn’t imagine.
Lutian made a cry of surprise as he covered his eyes with one hand. “My queen is naked beneath her clothes? I should go blind should I glimpse her fair beauty.” He split his fingers apart over his eyes to look at her. “Or will I? Mayhap we should test this theory.”
“Lutian,” Christian said solemnly. “All people are naked beneath their clothes, and if you glimpse Adara’s flesh, then it is quite possible that you will become blind when I poke out both of your eyes for the affront.”
Lutian gave a devilish grin at that as he dropped his hand from his face. “No matter what he says, your prince is jealous of you, my queen. ’Tis a good sign.”
Christian scoffed. “I’m not jealous.”
“He sounded jealous to me,” Lutian said loudly from behind his hand. “Very jealous.”
Christian let out a growl that reminded her of a ferocious bear as he glared at Lutian, who took his surly mood in stride.
Reining his horse, Christian stopped before a small copse of trees while Lutian rode a little farther away from them. Christian dismounted first, then helped her down.
As she slid down beside him, her cloak opened, showing him a glimpse of her lean, beautiful body.
Christian hardened even more at the small glimpse of heaven that she gifted him with.
Adara paused as if she knew what it was she did to him. “Are you sure I can’t interest you in a quick consummation, my lord?”
In truth, he hungered greatly for her. How sweet she would be lying in his arms, her body wrapped around his. But this wasn’t about his baser urges. This was about getting her to safety and extracting himself from a most unwanted position.
“Do you tempt every man you meet this way?”
“Nay. Only my husband.”
Christian’s stomach jerked at the reminder. By law and right, she was technically his to do with as he pleased. That knowledge was most potent against his will.
She reached up and placed one silken palm to his cheek. “You are even more handsome than I thought you would be…and far more stubborn as well. I should have known that you would be much more than the boy of faint memory.”
As she spoke, he couldn’t seem to tear his gaze from her well-curved, tempting mouth. It was all he could do not to pull her into his arms and taste her lips. They were red and inviting. No doubt they would be even softer than her hands…
Luckily Lutian started singing an off-key harmony that reminded him they weren’t alone and that they weren’t free for even a few minutes.
“We have people after us, my lady,” Christian said, as much for his own benefit as hers. “I would caution you to haste.”
She nodded before she withdrew from him.
Still her sweet, jasmine scent clung to his body. He couldn’t help but wonder how much more pleasant she would smell if he buried his face into that wealth of midnight hair.
How warm her body would be lying beneath his while he spent himself deep inside her…
Turning his back and grinding his teeth to force that image aside, he went to tend his horse before he let his errant thoughts lead him down a pathway he’d best not venture.
Adara watched her husband through the trees while she struggled to lace her gown. He tended his horse with a gentle touch and a high regard even while Lutian was annoying him with questions and comments.
“I don’t think your horse likes you to stroke him there,” Lutian said while Christian rubbed it down. He bent over and picked up two clumps of grass similar to the ones Christian was using, then studied them closely.
Christian continued without pause. “I’ve owned this horse a long time and I know what he likes.”
“Aye, but how do you know he likes that? Has he ever told you so?”
“He’s not kicking me. I take that as a good sign.”
“I’m not kicking you, either, but that doesn’t mean I like you or that I’d be grateful for your rubbing clumps of dirt over my body.” Lutian held one of the grass clumps to his cheek and rubbed it against his skin. “Hmmm…although, it could be pleasurable, perhaps…”
Lutian turned around and poked his rear toward Christian. “Here, rub some on my flank and let me judge.”
Christian looked horrified by the mere thought. “I’d most certainly rather not.” He indicated with a tilt of his chin a small clearing where wild seed grew. “Why don’t you go over there and pick something for the horses to eat? Not much, lest it make them sick, but enough to keep their strength up.”
Lutian dropped the clumps of grass he held and went to do Christian’s bidding.
Adara smiled as Christian let out an extremely audible sigh of relief, though to be honest, he’d been far more patient with Lutian than any other man she’d ever known. Which was why she’d allowed Lutian to come with her. Xerus and the others were prone to pick on the poor man from time to time, and without her there to watch over him, she was afraid they might intentionally hurt his feelings.
Or finally make good their threats to see him dead for his nettling.
But Lutian didn’t mean anything by it. He was a tender soul with a great heart, and he had been her one true friend in life. He alone had comforted her after the death of her brother and her father. No matter how badly she felt or what happened to her, he could always make her smile or laugh.
Her father had always said a person could tell much about a man by the way he dealt with animals, simpletons, and children.
She had yet to see her husband interact with children, but given his treatment of Lutian and his horse, she could only imagine he would be equally kind to them.
“Christian?” she called as she left the trees behind. “Could you please assist me?”
He paused as she drew near him. His gaze dropped to her loose bodice that dipped low between her breasts. She saw the heat come into his pale eyes as he stared at her like a hungry man before a banquet.
He might push her aside, but he did desire her, and so long as he did, she stood a chance at seducing him to her bed and changing his mind about being king.
Clearing his throat, he averted his gaze and moved around her so that he could lace the back of her gown. She closed her eyes and savored the heat of his hands as they brushed against the flesh of her back. He did indeed have a gentle touch that made her ache with need.
Virgin she might be, but she knew well what went on between husband and wife. When she had turned ten-and-four, her father had seen to it that her nurse instructed her well on what duties a wife should perform. They had expected Christian to come home that year.
He hadn’t.
Instead, they had received word of the destruction of his monastery and Selwyn’s letter stating his death.
Poor Christian, to be so hated. Jealousy and greed had stolen everything from her husband…just as it had taken much from her. Maybe Christian was right. There were times when the cost of her crown was far too high.
“What happened to you after the Saracens attacked your monastery?” she asked him.
“You don’t ever want an answer to that question.”
The anger and hatred in his tone gave her pause. There was much he kept hidden. Much he didn’t speak of.
She remembered the brand on his hand. It was a Saracen mark. “Were you held captive? A slave?”
He moved away from her without answering.
She followed him. “My mother always said that burdens weigh much less when they are shared with another person.”
&nbs
p; He scoffed at that. “I have no desire to think of the past in any manner. It’s gone and dead. What we should focus on is the challenges before us.”
Adara paused.
What had they done to him that was so horrible he couldn’t even bear to think on it?
He led his horse to her, then helped her to remount. “Lutian,” he called out to her fool, who was feeding her mare grass. “’Tis time to leave.”
A breath later, Christian was behind her in the saddle and they were on their way again, with Lutian trailing behind them.
“Christian?” she asked.
“Aye?”
“Would you answer one question for me?”
“If I do, will you swear to ask no more of me?”
“That would be impossible.”
“Then you have your answer.”
Deciding to give them both a reprieve, she didn’t speak anymore until they were in the village and he deposited her and Lutian before a hostel.
“Would you care for anything to eat?” she asked Christian before he departed.
“Nay. There’s not enough time. You two should eat quickly, then be ready to ride again.”
She frowned at him as he left her and headed toward the stable at the edge of town.
“Your husband is a peculiar man, my queen. There is much sadness inside him.”
“Aye, Lutian, I have noticed.”
“Perhaps we should drop him on his head, and then when he awakens in your arms he would be as charmed by you as I was.”
She smiled at that. “Were you charmed?”
“Aye, my queen. I still am. There is nothing in life that I cherish more than your smile and laughter. I live and breathe for them both. I only wish your husband felt toward them the same way as I do.”
Even though her father would have frowned at her action, she gave her fool a quick hug. Would that Lutian were her husband. He might not be dashing and handsome, but they got along famously. Yet for all his good nature and sweetness, Lutian could never rule a kingdom. To be a successful king took a great deal of confidence and intelligence. Not to mention a sternness that he completely lacked.
Return of the Warrior Page 4
