by Amber Dane
“Danielle.”
His gruffness raked over her like teeth and she rose from the stool. She tried to stop looking at that wall span of naked chest and his fitted braies over those bulging thighs, but she was finding it difficult to tear her gaze away.
She’d just watched him moments ago from the window out there on the field. His skill was evident. But she’d thought of not much more when he’d stripped off his top and bared his thick chest. Swallowing hard she clenched the material of his tunic she now held in her grasp as she approached the tub.
She did not want to want him.
He wanted her to behave in that simply the way of it way then she had resolved to give him just that and naught more. He would eat his words soon enough, she wanted to believe.
“Your bath waits.”
“Thank you.” He did not move. He just stood there staring at her.
Danielle was frozen where she stood, a breath of space between them. “The noonday meal has passed and a tray awaits you there." She pointed to a small table beneath the window, continuing, “The manor rooms have all been seen to and if I have your permission, milord…Oh, we’re in the chamber. I mean, Aric. I would like to go see to preparing the servants for tomorrow’s chores, so that I can order them about without haste so they may be able to attend to your guests.”
Aric caught the upset in her tone along with her anger. She was sore yet.
He knew what had happened earlier outside the study was not the only cause for the look in her eyes, it was because he’d yet to speak about his mistress to her and it hurt him. The shock and revelation of that feeling irritated him. He truly did not have to tell her anything, but he felt he should. Yet, he could not and turned his back to her.
Danielle’s heart ached like never before and her vulnerability laid bare burned deep inside her. Nonetheless, she sniffed and shrugged off the dismissal.
At the door she turned and found him already in the bath. He did not have his squire attending him tonight nor did he request that she remain. She was glad for she was shaking so badly she probably would not have been able to attend him.
Clearing her throat she called out. “Aric, is there aught else?”
His answer was so long in coming she did not think at first that he would respond, but he did without looking in her direction.
“Nay.”
She waited. He said no more. Danielle clutched his tunic harder to her breast and quit the chamber before she drowned him.
***
The week went by excruciatingly slow and painful for Danielle. She had taken to having her meals in their chamber and it cut her more that Aric said nothing about it.
She had not seen much of Lady Ella and Lord Jamison on the few occasions she ventured out of their chamber for some small matter that her husband did not wish to handle regarding the manor.
She did hear from Edie, who had failed to coax her from the chamber, that the pair walked about the manor freely. And why shouldn’t they? Danielle thought.
Her husband had all but handed the manor over to them whilst he was about doing his manor business.
Danielle knew she sulked like a child in her own misery. But she would not bend on it. He wanted to run the manor, let him. Isn’t that what she’d prayed for before he’d arrived? From what she’d heard about and seen thus far, things were changing for the better somewhat. The servants were afraid of him as they had been under Thomas.
Nay, that was not true. He did not strike any and all were being fed within.
The one good thing of limiting herself to their chamber was Thomas and Rose were out of her sight, except for the time she caught them seated at the table with Lord Jamison and Lady Ella.
Danielle bit her lip in that her plan had not gone as she hoped. Aric acted as if he did not care she remained out of sight.
He came to their bed late and roused her from her sleep to do his duty. He made sure she was pleased and she found how she looked forward to their only time of communication, the whispers of sweet words he spoke in her ears during their lovemaking. But nothing more. Danielle knew that his goal was to get her with child, his heir.
And he did seem to enjoy it as much as she.
But it was knowing that Lady Ella was still there that caused her to cry herself quietly to sleep afterwards.
She wanted more. She deserved more.
She felt invisible outside their chamber. Everyone was being nicer to her, sure, and she knew this too was because of him.
One night, after reviewing tomorrow’s chores with the servants and seeing to the meals to be made, Danielle could not bring herself to return as she normally did back to their chamber.
She was suffocating in her own misery and needed to find a place to think anew again. Her garden, neglected in this past week, drew her guilty conscience to it. She made her way around the manor via the kitchen alcoves so she would not chance a run in with her cousins, Aric or his guests. She even told Edie she would not need her attendance this night.
Dusk had settled its cool grip over Gravane manor to match the feeling inside the walls and she slid through the small tunnel leading to her garden and was out under the vine covered trellis within seconds.
After a few moments alone with her thoughts, the upset in her stomach lessened, but still her sadness ate at her and she felt a ride might be the final touch. A few soldiers, manor guards walked the inner yard and near the stream.
Danielle carefully made her way across to the stables, pausing but once as she heard voices.
Rose and Harvey.
Rose’s throaty moans reached her ears. Danielle shook her head and moved on inside. The sound of the lovers came from the far end of the large barn and Danielle moved to the right away from it. She cringed. The entire manor was aware of what went on between the two.
Sickened by the sounds, she quickly led her gray mare out of its stall and looking over her shoulder once at the manor, she felt something crawl up her spine.
Yet, she shrugged the sense of being watched off. Aric would not even notice she was gone. His only concern was that of his guests. He’d even forgotten about doing something about Thomas, Danielle sighed, feeling the tears sting her eyes. She shoved the painful feelings aside and turning the mare, she entered the forest.
Dismounting, Danielle’s gaze swept over the village. This side of it was lively tonight as all were happy that Little Jacob’s fever had broken days ago and this night was the first he was up and about. She quickly visited the family, leaving a warm kiss atop the little boy’s forehead and Jacob gushed over her affection, his eyes wide with delight.
After leaving their hut, Danielle moved on to a group of village women gathered around a fire burning in the center, it looked as though it separated this side of the village from the other side, where neater and sturdier huts sat. The women hid what their lady gave them within the folds of their clothing, fresh bread wrapped in cloth.
By the time she had made her way through this section, pressing slivers of more bread and extra coin into calloused palms, an herb, an instruction or two in an ear, she was duly tired.
Danielle stretched out the stiffness in her back and legs. It was now quite dark and she’d stayed longer than she’d intended. She had to get back before Aric made his way no doubt from Lady Ella’s embrace back to their chamber.
As she guided the mare into a trot back through the forest she was overcome with her heartache. Her mind now clear.
Although Edie had said it was commonplace for a man to have a mistress, it angered Danielle to no end knowing this woman was there.
Under her own roof!
How could she allow Aric to think she would want him to touch her after his hands had been on Ella?
She did not care if this was the way of things, she could no longer bear it. It hurt too much.
Danielle told herself she did not need his touch.
Even as she thought it, her body reacted at the memory of his hands last night on her skin and the pl
easure he’d brought to her flesh.
She may not be able to deny him, but she prayed that her body would not betray her and give in to the pleasure. The ache in her thighs called her a liar.
Harvey’s snores reached her ears and Danielle easily returned the mare to its stall and made it back to the manor and was closing the chamber door when she finally expelled the breath that burned inside her chest.
Tears of distress spilled over from her lids as she washed with the water Edie had left for her and prepared for bed. She tried to convince herself that her tears were because the day had simply been long…tiring and naught more. But she knew she was only fooling herself. She willed herself not to think any more on her heartless Norman husband and her tender feelings.
Chapter 15
Tonight Danielle had not waited to escape under the guise of the mist. Her garb which consisted of a tunic, breeches, a cloak and a sack was all she’d taken. Her fearlessness of not getting caught brought forth a smile of admiration from Aric. His men outside did not pick up on her movements until she was near the stables.
But Aric was on her as soon as she’d taken to the tunnel inside the manor and he’d stealthily once again followed each and every one of her movements. Seeing to the sick, returning payments, giving bread and of herself.
No wonder Gravane was as prosperous as it was, even with Thomas raping her pockets and those of the tenants.
Aric admitted he’d been partially wrong that day in the study. Not all were against her. Although, he thought, he’d yet himself to discover and rectify the reason why she only kept to one side of the village and he would, when he dealt with Thomas.
His earlier thought that Thomas might be aware of her trips in the night came back to him.
Thomas knew something, Aric knew, but not this. The peacock was totally unaware of his cousin’s true self or the loyalty that ran deep for her on that side of the village.
Aric snorted.
So too had he. His eyes had been opened much in the short time since he’d met her and he had resisted all that he’d seen.
Even now, he still resisted because of what she stirred in him and it scared him like no battle he’d ever fought and today’s events were no different.
Pain lanced his chest at the rift between them these past few days. Her withdrawal from him and her stubbornness had angered him at first, but now he was in hell. His brows furrowed as he brooded over his thoughts. He was angry at himself because he knew he was the cause.
God’s wounds! He was fighting a losing battle.
Yet, he refused to relent. He would not yield. It was not in him to do so.
He shoved aside the ridiculous thought and scoffed at such musings as his eyes slid over her form in their bed.
She slept on her side with, her back to him. He did not know how long he’d sat there just staring. Just watching her sleep.
The coverlets were bunched around her hips, a creamy globe peeked out from the open neckline of her shift and the call for him to touch it was screaming at him.
He’d stripped a while ago, sat at the hearth and had finished off a cup of wine. Still, he’d grown thick and hard. It pulsed and ached for the feel of her softness tonight like it had each night this week.
Not for the mistress that he had thought was the closest match to him in every way in bed. Aye, he’d been wrong again.
‘Twas the woman with those lush curves who lay in their bed that seemed to have ensnared him so. The images of her fulfilling her curiosity the other morn had filled him all week. Things had been good. Had Balwain not knocked when he had, his innocent and sweet Danielle, he was sure, would have taken him into her hot mouth. A soft moan escaped his lips at the image forming in his head.
Aric rose, shook the image away and got into bed beside her. Immediately she moaned and rolled over against his body. She did not wake, but threw one curvy limb over his, her breasts pressed against his chest and her hands slid down between them to rest against his belly.
The groan in his chest escaped him as she settled herself. She made a small noise, then moved closer and finally found the right spot. She felt so good pressed against him. Her body fit so well as if it’d always belonged right here.
Tonight he would not wake her to lose himself inside her as he’d done all week, telling himself it was his right and duty to get his heir on her. He’d been lying to himself even on that. He’d done it because he believed it would slake his desire for her, but it hadn’t.
Even though he wanted her now in the worst way, he vowed to not do it again until things were right, if ever, between them again. She had not denied him once, but it bothered him that something was missing. Her cries of pleasure she kept muffled in the side of his neck. He missed the loud sound of them and her willingness. Aric’s chaotic thoughts of his wife kept him awake until close to dawn. Before sleep claimed him, his last thought was this was not good.
Chapter 16
Another sennight passed by slowly and still Aric had not exercised his husbandly rights upon her and Danielle’s grief grew stronger with each passing day. He still came to their bed long after she’d fallen asleep. His warm embrace made her skin tingle and her heart soar. Being wrapped, held in his strong arms, Danielle felt closer to him even though he did little else. And she knew the moment he would leave before the first break of light, for the heat from his warm embrace would be replaced by the light chill in the room.
It was all they had for he did not speak to her other than a grunt here or there. She had stopped her self-imprisonment after that night in the village. Still things were tense between them.
Whenever she did catch sight of him other than feeling his body heat next to hers, he was out and about the manor with Balwain on some matter or another. The people of the manor and village were adjusting to their new lord and master at a clipped pace. Albeit, Danielle knew he still had yet to visit the other part of the village.
She wondered when and if he would get around to asking her about it or if he’d even noticed.
Yea, a man like Aric missed nothing nor hid anything.
On three occasions to date, she’d witnessed him leaving a dark alcove with Lady Ella emerging a few moments afterwards. Neither had been aware of her presence.
Danielle knew her home better than her husband.
With those three times Danielle found herself filled to near rage. To make matters worse, his mood was no better. It was downright foul. His indifference only made her heartache and grief all that more unbearable and her days more miserable.
Her servants were suddenly acting peculiar too.
They were cordial enough to their lord as expected of them and his guests, but word soon reached her that plenty of drinks had found their way spilled in laps as did an accidental filled trencher or two at nearly every meal.
At her first eve back in the hall to take a full meal with Lady Ella present, Aric had grumbled on about her instructing the kitchen servants that they were using way too much salt to flavor and scent the meat. Danielle had found his request rather odd.
No extra salt or spice was in her food.
He complained until she accepted and tasted a bite from his trencher.
She nearly spat the bite of stew back out. She took a long drink of water. He gave her a blistering look when he reached for his chalice and found it empty. She’d downed his too.
Guilty, feeling her cheeks redden, Danielle wiped the droplet of water from her lips. Aric’s eyes darkened as he watched her. Then abruptly, he turned from her to Balwain.
She frowned, stung. Irritated by his action, she stared at the back of his dark head. She had only downed his water. She did not deserve a look like that.
She waved to Edie who sent the young page forward to refill their cups with drink.
She also told Edie to bring the lord another trencher and to make sure there was nothing extra in it. Edie frowned, yet nodded and went off to do as ordered. Danielle tapped his broad shoulder.
He
turned to her, saw the proffered drink and gave her a suspicious long look before he took it and drank it down in a single gulp.
At the first bite from his replaced meal, he did something unexpected. He looked at her and gave her a smile, brief it was, but a smile nonetheless and proceeded to eat heartily.
Danielle flushed to her feet and finally remembered his guests at their table. Lord Jamison’s eyes were locked on her breasts. Lady Ella met her gaze dead on and those dark orbs were filled with something that made Danielle’s skin crawl. Then the beauty smiled a tight grin. Danielle nodded. The lady looked away.
Not knowing she did it, Danielle moved closer to Aric and to her surprise, although he continued to chat with Balwain when her thigh bumped his, he pressed his own harder against hers and left it there for the remainder of the meal.
****
Danielle entered the study. The place looked like it had before Thomas had filled it with all his garbage. When he had come here, he had tried to take over her home room by room. He would never have Gravane.
Danielle moved across the room and pulled back the window coverings and opened the wooden shutters. Morning light flooded the room and stone floor. Fresh marsh plant covered one side, scented with rosemary, the aroma filled the room. Her soft slippers crossed over the tapestry she had laid down under the large table and wooden bench. Aric had yet to see the room again.
Something niggled at the back of her neck and turning, Danielle inhaled sharply. Thomas’s thin frame filled the archway, a sneer on his wet lips and those beady eyes full of anger.
She swallowed her scream and backed up a step as he flew at her, his face coloring with his rage. Danielle let out a breath and would have turned but she had backed herself into the corner near the table and he already had his bony fingers wrapped around her throat. Spittle hit her face as he spat over her.
“Did you not think I would find out that you cast away my things, dear cousin? There were things of great import in here, Danielle. Things that your feeble little brain could not comprehend.”
