Despair flooding him, Alex twisted and tugged as hard as he could on the ropes. His flesh was raw and slippery with blood. He pulled so hard that the chair scraped the floorboards as it dragged across the floor.
Alex looked up and caught Kat’s gaze, all the love he felt for her shining in his eyes. Then he stared aghast as Sir Stephen raised the dagger high and plunged the knife down at her chest.
Kat screamed. Alex howled her name and his chair toppled over with the force of his rage. He landed close to the bed, the oak monstrosity blocking his view. Pain shot up his arms. But it was naught compared to the pain that reverberated through him at the sickening plunge of the dagger into Kat’s flesh. A death gurgle rattled, followed by silence, except for Alex’s harsh breathing.
His heart was ripped from his body with Kat’s last breath. Numb, shock whispered through his body like a cold artic blast. He had fought for so long and hard that the fight left him at last. Without Kat, he had no reason to live. Sir Stephen could do with him what he would.
Then he heard a strange sound he could not identify and the ruffling of the bedcovers. Slowly, Sir Stephen came around the bed. Alex looked up, his eyes bleak, uncaring what was in store for him. But he received another shock. It was Kat who stared down at him, her bodice ripped and her black hair hanging wildly about her pale face. Her eyes were unfocused, an odd light glowing within them, and her bloodied dagger dangled from her fingers.
“My God, Kat. I thought you were de—” Emotion clogged his throat.
Kat, her legs shaking, fell to her knees before Alex. With her bloody dagger she cut through the ropes around Alex’s wrists. Her emotions were a tangle of guilt, horror, satisfaction and—oddly—understanding. Sir Stephen had loved his cousin to such a degree he was willing to kill for him. And in the end, that single-minded devotion drove him to madness.
As she sawed through the ropes with the blade, her hand began to tremble. She saw again Stephen’s eyes bright with madness, the blade plunging down towards her, only moments after she had retrieved her own dagger.
“Easy, my love. You are alive. We both are, because of you. Stephen can never hurt anyone again.”
His voice, soft and sure, enabled her to gather her composure. Her body shuddered once and she continued slicing through the rope around his ankles.
“How did you do it? I thought Stephen had…” He shook his head as though unable to complete the thought. “How?”
Her mouth twisted in an ironic smile. “While you kept him occupied talking, I was able to retrieve my dagger from under my skirts. He couldn’t see me clutching it under the coverlet and when he went to stab me I drove it into his heart. He died instantly.”
Once free, Alex rose to his feet and pulled her into his arms. Dropping the dagger, she went willingly and snuggled close to his chest, savoring his warmth, his masculine scent, and his strong arms around her. But it was a temporary balm.
Alex pulled back and stared down at her, she read the light of admiration in his cobalt gaze. “Kat, you are the most amazing woman I have ever met. I don’t know what I would have done without you.”
Was that the remnants of dried tears she saw on his cheeks?
He gently rubbed her swollen lip with the pad of his thumb. “Are you all right? Did they hurt you?”
She shook her head. “Have no fear, Alex. I shall be fine. ’Tis just a couple of bruises. The villains Lydia hired to attack me had no time to do any further damage. One man escaped, but not far from here his accomplice is tied up in the woods of Kilburn.”
Rage glittered in his eyes. “I will see Lydia pay for hurting you.”
Then a ragged groan escaped him and he pulled her into his embrace. Surrendering for the nonce, she melted into him, her breasts pillowing his warm chest. She wrapped her arms around his neck and raised her mouth to his. A soft moan beckoned him. Alex answered the call and kissed her, his lips tender, soothing her abused flesh. With a lick of his tongue, warmth salved her split lip.
His hand slid inside her torn bodice and kneaded her breast. Still tender from Stan’s foul touch, she flinched and jerked away. She could not look at Alex.
“Kat. What is wrong? Did I hurt you?”
She shook her head and turned away. Her gaze landed on Sir Luc. Good Lord. How could she be so thoughtless? She moved to Sir Luc’s side and pulled back the coverlet, ignoring the body slumped face down on the other side of the bed.
Sir Luc’s tunic and sherte had been removed, but his braies and hose remained. She leaned over and discovered him still alive, barely. His breath was shallow and erratic. Then she checked his wound. Low and on the left side, an arrow with the fletching broken off protruded from Luc’s stomach. A pool of congealed blood saturated the linen sheet beneath him.
“How is Sir Luc?” Kat looked up at Alex’s query. He stood opposite her and had turned Sir Stephen over. Blood soaked the dead man’s tunic where she stabbed him, his face a grimace of surprise. Alex’s eyes held hers tenderly.
Kat turned her attention to Luc again. “He has lost a large amount of blood. He needs care immediately. You will have to ride to the palace to fetch the physician.”
Alex nodded reluctantly. “Will you be all right alone here while I am gone?” He pried his dagger from Sir Stephen’s clenched fingers, retrieved the enameled-sheath and returned the sheathed dagger to his waist.
“You needn’t worry about me. I shall be fine.”
“Need aught else before I leave?”
She looked up at him once more. “I can manage, but…Prithee, take that foul offal and remove him from the lodge.”
“Of course.” Alex came around and took her hand in his. Her palm was sweaty. “After I arrange for Sir Luc’s care and see that Lady Lydia and the villains who attacked you are detained, there are things we need to discuss.”
Kat nodded, but she had already made her decision. This day’s events had merely reinforced her belief that ending her marriage was the right choice. Alex smiled gently and hugged her one last time. Then while he dragged the corpse from the lodge, she busied herself with starting a fire to boil water.
Chapter 28
“You have been avoiding me.”
Two days later, Alex tracked Kat down in their chamber. She sat in the stone window embrasure beneath the opened shutters writing a letter. Her hair was unbound and she wore an azure tunic with yellow embroidered flowers on the rounded neck and flared cuffs. Sunshine illuminated her, giving her an ethereal quality that made her appear otherworldly.
She surprised him when she did not deny the accusation. “And?” Kat shrugged without looking at him, then dipped her quill in ink and continued writing. Scratch, scratch, scratch.
He spread his legs and fisted his hands on his hips. “And? That is all you have to say? You have been staying at the lodge for the last two days nursing Sir Luc, causing scurrilous talk with your behavior and you have naught to say in your defense?” Alex grimaced. It was not how he had intended to start this long overdue conversation.
She snapped her head around and glared at him. “Why should I? I have naught I’m ashamed of which needs defending,” she said pointedly.
Scratch, scratch, scratch.
Alex tugged on his tunic and cleared his voice gruffly. “Ahh…I understand what this is about now. When I mentioned we had matters to discuss, ’tis one of the things I wished to address.”
“And that would be?” Scratch, scratch, scratch.
Alex gritted his teeth. Obviously she was not going to make this easy for him. “You know what I am referring to, Kat.”
Kat placed the quill aside, capped the inkwell and turned to him. “Aye, but I would hear it from your own lips. No more lies or evasions,” her voice implacable.
Alex paced away. He felt incapable of proceeding, unsure how to begin as Kat stared daggers at him. Though he had imagined what he would say a hundred times, his suddenly dry tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth. The month he had been given to woo Kat had concluded and the time had come t
o learn her decision.
But first, he had some explaining to do. He wavered with indecision. He realized now his reason for deceiving Kat had been shortsighted. By keeping his secret, Alex had done the very thing he had wanted to prevent. He had put Kat in danger. And there was no defense he could give to justify his actions.
So clumsily, he blurted the first thing that came to mind. “Kat, I love you.”
“I see,” she said, her voice much too calm given the nature of his declaration.
“Did you hear what I said?”
She perused what she had written on parchment and then sanded it.
“Kat!” He moved to stand over her. “To whom are you writing?” he asked suspiciously. “What is so important that you cannot do me the courtesy of giving me your undivided attention?”
After placing ink and quill in her writing box, she set it down. Then Kat unfolded her legs from the window seat, stood up and brushed past him, her scent a sensual lure that distracted his senses. She whirled to face him and handed him the letter without comment. Eyeing her curiously, he read the neat, no-nonsense script. It was a letter to her steward at Montclair informing the man of her imminent arrival.
Alex crunched up the letter and tossed it out the window. Kat squeaked in protest. “When were you going to discuss this with me?”
Kat moved away and flounced down on the bed, crossing her arms. “That was a childish thing to do.”
“Answer me, Kat.”
She sniffed. “Though I need no longer give account to you, I had planned on informing you before I left.”
“So you were running away.” It was a statement.
She stiffened, offended. “Nay. Our bargain is at an end and my return home is overdue. I fulfilled my obligations of the bargain, now I expect you to do the same and see that our marriage is annulled.”
Alex spun away and scrubbed a hand down his face. “So, as easy as that you have made your decision?”
Kat jumped up and clenched her skirts in her hands. “How dare you, you arrogant son of a bitch. I resent that. Naught about us or my decision has been easy.”
“Then you admit you care for me?”
“Of course I do. But you lied to me, Alex, and put my life at risk. So how can I ever trust you?”
Alex clutched the bedpost, his knuckles straining. “I admit I should have told you about the traitor. But I did it to protect you!”
“Protect me?” Kat strode forward and poked her finger into his chest. “I was attacked by two outlaws and nearly raped, then bound again by Sir Stephen and almost stabbed. Had I not my dagger, we would both be dead.”
Alex could not argue with such sound reasoning. He had been in the wrong. He had let his obsession for finding the traitor cloud his judgment, and in the process he endangered Kat. And that he could not forgive. At least the two outlaws had been caught and confessed that Lydia had hired them. Lydia was bound for a convent on a barren island in the north. And as soon as Sir Luc recovered, he would be dismissed from the king’s service and banished from court, likely forever.
Alex turned to Kat. “I’m still confused how you learned about the traitor I sought?”
Her dark eyebrows drawn into a frown, Kat explained. “The day you recovered from your fever, I overheard you speaking to Rand about the traitor. At the mention of Scarface, I reasoned that the attack on you the day of our betrothal and the subsequent attack in the Holy Land were connected somehow. Then later I searched your belongings and found your dagger.” She shrugged.
“Very clever. I always admired that about you.”
Her eyebrows rose in disbelief. “I find that unbelievable considering you treat me as though I am an infant in need of mollycoddling.”
“I do not treat you like an infant, but as my wife. I love you, Kat. You cannot expect me to stand by and watch while you’re in danger. I have taken a vow to protect the helpless—”
Silver eyes flashed. “Arrrgh…When will you learn that I am not helpless.” Her arms shot down beside her hips, her hands fisted. “Have I not proven to you again and again I am perfectly capable of protecting myself?”
“I’m sorry. ’Twas a poor choice of words, of course you are not helpless. I realize I should have been forthcoming and never kept secrets from you. Have you never done something you later regretted but at the time did for what you thought honorable reasons? Can you not forgive me for being so blind?”
She turned her back on him and wiped her cheek impatiently with her hand, her voice riddled with pain. “I’m sorry, Alex, but I cannot. You have betrayed me for the last time. I want an annulment.”
Alex stared at Kat’s stiff back in disbelief. He had never been at such a loss before. Command had always come easily to him. But neither had the outcome of a skirmish been more vitally important to his survival. Though he knew her pain was genuine, Alex hurt, too, and he inadvertently reverted to anger.
“And what will you do when an annulment is granted? Marry Sir Luc if he survives? Oh, but I forgot, he is in love with his stepmother. He was just using you so he could fornicate with his mistress.” He flung the words at her like barbs, cold mockery evident in his tone.
Kat gasped and spun on him. “’Tis a cruel thing to say, Alex. How could you?”
In that moment, Alex hated her. Hated her for being so stubborn. Hated her for being so proud, so unforgiving. Mostly, he hated her for making him fall in love with her. But even as she stood before him, her face flushed, her silvery eyes condemning, a surge of excitement quickened his phallus.
“Mayhap because I’m not feeling very kind at the moment.” He growled.
His gaze dropped to linger on her full bosom, which rose and fell in agitation, then lowered to her narrow waist and flaring hips. Lush hips made to harbor his hedonistic thrusts despite her denials.
Hate, anger and lust rose up and toppled him over the edge. Fierce possession blazed.
Kat saw the moment his simmering anger turned to hot lust. His eyes darkened to pitch and dropped to ogle her heaving breasts.
He released the bedpost and slowly stalked her. “Indeed. Kindness is far from my mind. You want to sever our marriage? Fine. But not before I demonstrate how much you crave my cock between those hot thighs of yours.”
Instead of feeling disgust at his crude words, Kat’s heart raced and her thighs quivered in anticipation. With each step Alex took, her resolve weakened. She could not seem to summon up any resistance. This would be the last time she would ever experience the amazing closeness they shared during lovemaking. The one time she could forget the past betrayals. Her disappointments. The life of loneliness she saw stretching before her.
Finally, he stopped before her, his gaze a torrid caress. Heat and hunger emanated from his body in sultry waves, reaching out to her like a primal beast in the forest calling its mate. Her breasts swelled and throbbed, blood pounding, her nipples prodded her silk chemise.
Then he raised his lustful gaze to her face, his satisfied devil-grin splashing her cheeks with the heat of embarrassment.
“You may deny that you want me, but your eyes do not lie. Your body does not lie.” His voice was a dark silken taunt.
Without preamble, Alex kissed her. He took her in his arms and crushed her to his chest, his mouth a tempest as lightning struck her fevered flesh. Kat clutched Alex’s back, her tongue stroking his in perfect tandem. Her nipples prodded his hard chest and she quivered in sweet torment.
“You were made for me, Kat. Deny it to yourself, but not to me.” He pressed his erection against her, prodding her moist delta and causing a hot tingling.
Just as suddenly, Alex stepped back. He grabbed the hanging end of her girdle and yanked it free from the buckle. It went thunk to the floor. Next he removed her gown. Not to be outdone, Kat reached for Alex’s tunic and tugged it over his head. They quickly divested themselves of their garments in a frenzy to touch skin to skin.
When they were both naked, Alex bent and took her nipple into his mouth. She
emitted a low cry. In the same breath, the sound altered to a blissful sigh as he stroked her nipple with the rasp of his tongue, once, twice, and thrice. Then he drew her breast deep into his mouth, sucking and releasing, sucking and releasing the rigid point.
Heat shot to her feminine delta, igniting a molten flame. She pressed her lower body to his and ungulated against him trying to get closer. But she would never be close enough. She needed the oblivion of penetration where her mind did not trump her heart, needed a sweet memory to savor wherever life took her.
Alex murmured in approval, his husky voice thrilling her. Then he surprised her when he spun her around and wrapped her hands around the bedpost.
Standing behind her, Alex saw the bewildered look on Kat’s face as she peered at him over her shoulder. She is so innocent, he thought.
“Hang on,” he said and cupped his palms under her full breasts, weighing, measuring and squeezing the exquisitely soft flesh. Next he worried the fiery tips with thumb and forefinger. Kat moaned, trying to twist around to face him. But he shoved her legs further apart with his knee and he stepped between her spread thighs.
“Alex, w—what are you—”
He kissed her upturned face hard, his tongue thrusting deep as his manhood soon would. The hot pounding of his blood filled him to bursting.
He released her lips. “You trust me in this, at least, do you not?” he asked, his breath harsh with excitement.
Kat nodded without hesitation. “Aye, Alex. I need you inside me. Now!”
She surprised him this time when her hand reached back, closed over his shaft and drew him to her entry. The passionate response nearly unmanned him, his need spiraling out of control. So poised at her entry, he dipped his knees and drove up into her in one smooth stroke. Their groans mingled as her wet sheath sucked him inexorably upward. When he reached the hilt, Alex hissed like a hot steel blade plunged into water.
“Oh God, this is wicked,” she cried, her voice ragged. “We shall surely burn in Hell.”
“Nay, we shall burn in ecstasy.” To demonstrate he rotated his hips.
Vow of Seduction Page 29
