by Lynn Wood
“But Nathan we’ll be late for the king’s table,” she reminded him breathlessly.
“Not if we’re quick.” Nathan grinned into his wife’s wide eyes while his hands made quick work of the ties of her gown. He was already pushing her back against the bed ignoring Rhiann’s laughing, half-hearted protests.
As it turned out, Rhiann’s prediction was correct. They were definitely going to be late, especially if he waited for his wife to get dressed and see to her hair. Nathan blamed himself for their tardiness. Once he began caressing his wife’s soft flesh he could not bring himself to rush.
It would be an act of blasphemy to gulp down in a single hurried swallow the finest wines of a master artisan. It would be worse blasphemy to take his wife in the hurried joining a man used on a whore. Remembering the Saxon bitch’s accusation, he wanted Rhiann to know how much he valued her, so he took his time.
He feasted on her, enjoying course after course of her slender body’s offering, savoring each taste, each tender bite, reveling in the finest of selections laid before him. In the end they were both fully sated and as after any fine meal ready to linger and sleep, savoring the delicious languor filling them both. He smiled down into Rhiann’s dazed green eyes and trailed his hand across her skin, brushing the swell of her full breasts.
She smiled dreamily up into his eyes, her own still cloudy with passion. Even as his body incredulously began to rise again, Nathan regretfully removed his hand and rose from the bed. From the growing darkness outside the window, he knew a bath was out of the question. He poured water into the basin from the pitcher and quickly used a cloth to cleanse himself.
Rhiann watched his quick movements with undisguised admiration in her eyes. He dressed quickly and smiled to see his wife had yet to move from her place in the bed. “Rhiann, do you not think you should begin dressing for dinner?”
She sighed and continued gazing up at him with a distracted expression in her eyes. “I think you should tell the king I am not feeling well, Nathan. I believe I shall just go to sleep now.”
He grinned as her eyes closed and she seemed intent on doing just that. Regretfully he brought her out of her semi-conscious state. “I shall do no such thing, Rhiann. I am not inclined to lie to our king, nor would I give Lady Regina the satisfaction of thinking she chased you away from the king’s table.”
Rhiann’s eyes flew open at his comment. “She would think that?”
“Yes and no doubt so would everyone else.”
Rhiann released an annoyed sigh. “Fine, I shall get dressed, but you better go down without me Nathan, else we will both be terribly late.”
Nathan knew he would eventually have to address his wife’s habit of issuing him orders, but he was so pleased by her spirit, he was willing to let this one pass. He finished dressing, then strode over to the wardrobe and pulled the doors wider, revealing his wife’s extensive array of fine gowns. He examined them quickly then removed a flaming red one from amongst the more muted colors his wife seemed to favor.
“I believe you should wear this gown tonight.”
Rhiann laughed appreciatively. “Really, Nathan, I cannot wear the red gown. Only a wanton woman would wear such a color.”
“Or perhaps a whore.” Nathan remarked drily.
Rhiann grinned in appreciation of his quick wit and reluctantly rose from the bed. When she realized she was still naked and where her husband’s glance now rested, she swiftly sat back down and covered herself with the sheet. She felt herself blushing even as she replied to her husband. “Nathan, you are going to be late for the king’s table. I shall dress and join you shortly.”
Smiling at her embarrassment, Nathan turned and hung the dress on the hook on the wardrobe door. “It would please me wife if you would wear this gown tonight.”
Realizing he was serious, Rhiann protested. “Nathan, I already explained I cannot possibly wear that gown in the king’s hall. Melissa ordered it as a joke. My mother was furious and said the gown was completely inappropriate for an unmarried lady my age. She made Melissa pay for it out of her allowance for wasting father’s hard-earned coins on such a foolish extravagance.”
“Then tonight you may honor your sister’s sacrifice by wearing the gown.” He could see Rhiann was considering his point. “Besides you are no longer an unmarried lady, wife.”
He saw her eyes stray to the gown. “But Nathan, it is cut far lower than my other gowns. And your mother would be appalled. She already thinks I’m strange. Would you have her add wanton to her low opinion of me?”
He came back to the bed and gripped her chin to lift her face for his kiss. He brushed his lips across hers. “I’m really not concerned about what my mother thinks. It would please me if you wore the red gown this evening.”
Rhiann stared at the closed door for long moments after her husband passed through it, and then turned her attention back to the dubious gown. Nathan knew it would irritate her to give Lady Regina the satisfaction of thinking she managed to upset her enough to hide in their room tonight. The red gown would certainly make the statement she believed Lady Regina’s opinion irrelevant at most. She regarded the gown a little doubtfully, already blushing at the memory of the one time she tried it on after it was delivered by the dress maker.
Her mother had been furious. Melissa laughed at her mother’s anger and kept assuring Rhiann she looked gorgeous. Rhiann was afraid of displeasing her mother by agreeing with her sister, but she did remember how grown-up she felt in the gown and was shocked and secretly pleased by the way it emphasized the new swells of her changing body. Of course, she had never actually worn the gown. And she doubted Nathan would be all that pleased when he realized the cut of the gown displayed a large expanse of her bare skin. It would serve him right if she did join the king’s assembly tonight wearing the shocking dress.
Grinning at the thought, Rhiann jumped from the bed and donned her robe. She sent for her maid, then regretting there was no time for a bath, washed herself with a fresh cloth the same way Nathan was forced to, then strode to the wardrobe to examine the red gown more closely. It appeared brand new and should since it was never worn, but it was actually almost two years old. She wondered if she could even still fit into it, as she remembered the top was rather snug even then.
Her suspicions proved correct. The red gown fit more snugly than it did the only other time she put it on at her sister’s insistence, at least on top. She was shocked by the way her breasts were revealed by the immodest gown. They were all but spilling out of the neckline. Well Nathan said it would please him if she wore the red dress. She was ever the obedient wife. She giggled at the thought of his reaction.
“Would you like a shawl to drape over your shoulders, milady? It can be rather chilly in the hall at night.” The young maid asked with a pointed look at the daring neckline of Rhiann’s gown.
Rhiann grinned at her doubtful tone. “No, Lizzie, thank you. I’ll send someone for one if I get cold.”
“Yes, milady. I’ll leave one laid out for you.”
For all her anticipation of seeing Nathan’s reaction to her gown, Rhiann was far more uncertain about appearing in public in the low-cut dress than she let on to her maid. Her hands were trembling as she opened the door. Nathan’s soldiers’ stunned reaction to her appearance did not add to her confidence any. After one quick glance, both men studiously avoided looking below her chin. Gathering her faltering courage and smiling politely she asked if one of them would escort her to the hall. The younger of the two soldiers, nodded mutely, his blush matching Rhiann’s.
For no less than the tenth time, Nathan glanced over the head of the man he was engaged in conversation with in the direction of the stairs. There was still no sign of his wife. He wondered if she changed her mind about responding to the challenge he laid down, or if she merely leaned back against the sheets after he left and fell asleep. If she failed to make an appearance in the next few minutes, he would send someone to check on her progress. His attention wa
s called back to his conversation, which surprisingly he actually managed to pay attention to for several minutes.
At a lull in the conversation, he became aware of the abrupt silence that descended over the hall and looking around for an explanation, saw the covert glances cast in his direction. He swung around to the stairs and saw his wife making her way gracefully down them and into the hall. A point of fact, he witnessed a lot more of his wife than he was prepared to, even after Rhiann’s warning about the cut of the gown he incomprehensibly instructed her it would please him to wear. He was already re-evaluating that decision. His companion forgotten, Nathan strode across the room to intercept his wife at the bottom of the stairs before any of his eager compatriots could do so.
He blanched noticeably when she curtseyed low before him and hoped there were no other introductions during the course of the evening requiring such an endeavor. She rose and smiled sweetly up at him, but he was not blind to the laughter in her eyes. “Does my gown please you, husband?”
“You might have been a little more explicit in your description of the neckline, wife.”
Rhiann stole a peek downward at the top of her gown, just to make sure she had not yet fallen out of it. “Yes, well, the gown is a few years old. I guess I was more slender then.”
Nathan’s eyes raked over his wife’s snugly clad form. As far as he could tell the only part of her that was any less slender were her breasts. Two years ago she was still a child. Now there was no doubt she was a woman. A dazzlingly beautiful woman. “Don’t you have a shawl or something to cover yourself?”
“Nathan you were the one who insisted I wear this dress. I told you it wasn’t appropriate for the king’s hall.”
Nathan was on the verge of ordering her back upstairs to change when the queen approached them. “Rhiann my dear, you look radiant. Red is such a lovely color on you.”
Rhiann curtseyed before queen. Nathan was grateful his broad shoulders blocked the view of onlookers. “Thank you, your highness. Nathan must think so too. He insisted I wear this gown tonight.”
Matilda looked from one to the other and commented drily. “I imagine he’s reconsidering that request now.”
His wife and his queen shared a good laugh at his expense. Nathan excused himself with a bow to the monarch before he could give voice to his frustration and risk offending the queen. His father met him half way across the hall.
“Good evening, Nathan. Your young wife seems on close terms with the new queen.”
Nathan nodded and turned to regard the two women, their heads bent close together in conversation. He was grateful for the queen’s protection as no one would dare approach his wife while the queen engaged her attention. “Yes, Matilda is extremely fond of Rhiann.”
Smiling amicably his father remarked. “I could not help but notice you also appear to be very fond of her as well.”
Nathan met his father’s smiling glance. He was not accustomed to discussing such intimate topics with his father, but he had no objection to the practice. Besides, anyone with eyes in their head would be aware of his fondness for his wife. “Yes, sir. I am very fond of her.”
“I cannot tell you how pleased I am things have worked out so well for you, Nathan. For every day of your young life you have worked harder for your desires than anyone I know. It pleases me to know you have been suitably rewarded for your loyalty to Duke William.”
“More than suitably rewarded, Father. William was more than generous with his behest.”
“Heaven’s Crest. Is that not the name I hear is attached to your new estates?”
Nathan nodded.
“I admit I am surprised to find you still in London, son. I would have thought you would have taken up residence in your new home at the earliest opportunity.”
“I am still a vassal of the king. He has not yet released me from his service.”
“Ah, that explains it. I imagine your wife is anxious to return to her family home.”
“Very anxious. She seems to think I should drop a hint in the king’s ear that perhaps he could hurry up and grant his permission for us to leave the city.”
His father laughed appreciatively at Nathan’s dry wit. “Well she is very young after all, and by all accounts has been through a harrowing ordeal.”
“Yes, I try to keep that in mind,” Nathan agreed with a sigh, his eyes peeled on where his wife stood speaking with the queen. A large circle of noblemen gathered around them, not close enough to interrupt the queen’s discussion with Rhiann, but no doubt in anticipation of their discussion breaking up. Nathan wanted to go over there and forcibly remind his wife’s adoring audience that she belonged to him. Instead he summoned one of his men to his side.
“Yes, my lord?”
“Go retrieve a shawl for my wife from our rooms. I do not want her to catch a chill.”
The man nodded his assent and quickly hurried to do his lord’s bidding. Nathan thought he should congratulate his soldier on his lack of expression in acquiescing to his baron’s command given his lord’s request was in complete opposition to his own experience of the temperature. The soldier’s forehead was already beaded with sweat. With so many people gathered in the hall and the large fires going strong, it was already hot as the blazes in the hall, and with the ale flowing freely and more and more arrivals streaming in through the entrance, the room was only likely to get warmer as the evening wore on. Rhiann would have no need of the shawl he just ordered.
He turned to meet his father’s amused expression. “That is the thing about precious treasures.”
“I fail to grasp your point.” Nathan was in no mood for any more mysteries.
“When one has little, there is small concern of another man envying his possessions. When one possesses a great fortune, an entirely new set of worries besets him. And I am not only referring to the kind of wealth one carries in a pouch.”
Remembering Luke’s warning along similar lines, Nathan nodded but offered no response. His father continued, “I have no doubt Nathan you will conquer any challenge you are confronted with. You were born to be the master of your own lands. No one is happier than you perhaps that you have realized your life’s dream.”
Distracted for a moment from the sight of the vultures surrounding his wife, Nathan turned to give his father his full attention. “Thank you, Father. And thank you for making the effort to travel to London to offer your congratulations personally.”
“It was not my intent to thrust Lady Sara upon you in this rather awkward manner.”
Nathan had no doubts as to who was responsible for Lady Sara’s arrival. “In the short time I have been married I have discovered some battles are simply not worth waging.”
His father laughed. “Go rescue your wife, son, before some rascal takes it in his head to abscond with her.”
“He would be a very dead rascal.” Nathan replied then took his relieved leave of his father, thinking that was the longest conversation the two of them ever engaged in on a personal matter in Nathan’s memory.
Nathan couldn’t decide whether he should be pleased or furious with himself for suggesting Rhiann wear the red gown. As much as he hated to see the eyes of every man on the room admiring his wife’s beauty, the red dress somehow seemed to lift her out of her grief, at least temporarily. She sparkled more brilliantly than the most glittering jewels adorning the throats of the ladies in attendance. Her bright smile and the sound of her laughter was a welcome contrast to the emptiness of loss he so often saw hidden beneath the brave front she presented to the world.
Despite the questionable gown, he noticed there was nothing the least bit flirtatious in her manner. Unlike other women who seemed to delight in attracting as many admirers as possible to their sides, Rhiann was not forced to resort to any feminine wiles to lure devoted followers. They were no doubt attracted as much by the aura of innocence she still retained, no matter the loss of her virginity, as much by her alluring beauty.
She spoke to the servants
with the same kindness and respect she addressed the highest ranking noblemen with. She didn’t court attention, but nor was she particularly daunted by it either. He thought her comfort in the company was a far cry from their first evening as man and wife when she hovered close to his side and eyed everyone around her with suspicion.
He understood what was happening. He was being given a glimpse of the woman she was before the loss of her family and he was suddenly overwhelmed by his good fortune. A dark fear gripped him, the origin of which he couldn’t account for. It was as if a black cloud dimmed the bright lights of the hall and for a moment centered over his wife. He dismissed the foolish thought with an effort, but not before a cold sweat of fear passed over him. No doubt his mind was reacting to all the warnings he was given lately to take great care of both his wife and his new lands. His new responsibilities suddenly weighed heavily on him, chief among them, his wife’s safety.
Rhiann felt the weight of her husband’s eyes on her and she turned her attention from the conversations swirling around her to find where Nathan stood alone at the other end of the hall. He was staring at her with an intense expression on his face. Rhiann was unable to discern if he was pleased or displeased with her. He seemed to take her little joke over the gown in stride earlier. She deliberately refused to cling to his side this evening. She wanted him to know she could be an asset to him as his wife. Her mother taught her the proper way to behave in company, and one of those ways was not to bother her husband with her constant presence when he was trying to conduct business with his peers. Rhiann wanted Nathan to be pleased the king chose her for his wife. Even though she was much younger than he was, she wished him to know she would not be a constant burden to him and that he need not concern himself with the worry she would embarrass him in company.
Their eyes met across the expanse of the room and as if an invisible magnet drew them together both of them began closing the gap between them. They met in the center of the room unaware of the attention they were drawing.
