“Sir Saher is gone?”
“Aye. He and his men left after sunrise.”
“And you have arranged for the horses to be ready for the ride over to Blakesmere Priory? We meet my men with the cart from Cley on the road to the Priory.”
“Aye, my lady. As you said, they’ll be there within the hour.”
“Good.” She had to go forward with her plans, but it didn’t feel good. A little voice inside her said these were plans she’d made before she knew him, before she’d made love to him.
“Are you sure, my lady?”
She opened her mouth to speak but closed it again as conflicting words battled in her head. What had seemed such a good plan a few days ago had now lost its shine. She nodded. “I must. I don’t know Sir Saher. I don’t know how he will treat me. Look at my mother. Look at Angelique. Both have suffered at the hands of their husbands. Even my father, whom I loved, found it in himself to banish my mother from us.”
“But, my lady.” Birghiva gripped her hands in hers. “He believed he was doing that for your own good.”
“My mother wanted us and he wouldn’t let us near. For all I know she’d recovered. How can I trust a man with my life?” She shook her head. “I can’t.” The memory of Saher’s eyes, so strong, direct and imperative, urging her to trust him after their lovemaking, flashed into her mind. She shook her head, trying to rid herself of the image but failed.
“I can’t,” she repeated, more to herself than to Birghiva. But, even as she said it, she wondered if she was making a mistake.
“Well,” said Birghiva. “Sir Saher won’t notice you’re gone. It sounds as if he has his own secret plans.”
“Really? Are they still secret?”
“No,” laughed Birghiva. “He’s planning to demolish some buildings and build some more.”
Rowena felt cold. It wasn’t just herself who’d been keeping secrets. Trust Saher? How could she when he was already working in secret against her. No, she’d continue her plans, she’d hide her silver where he could never discover it and it would be there for her when she needed it.
“Is he now?” She glanced at Birghiva. “We must leave soon. But first I must bathe.” Rowena frowned at Birghiva’s grin.
“I’ve the maid heating up the water for your bath, my lady.”
Birghiva left the room and Rowena grabbed a robe, and pulled it around her, and walked over to the narrow window that looked out across the gentle wooded and rolling hills, up to the tower.
She’d given her body to the man and she’d enjoyed it. Enjoyed him. But she couldn’t forget what men were capable of. If life with this stranger became unbearable, the silver would buy her a future should she need it—a future her mother had never had.
The day was hot and the ride arduous across the land, rich with swaying crops of wheat and barley. The rattle of the cart, heavy with casks of coin, masquerading as barrels of wine, was reassuring. They held enough money to buy a King’s ransom… or a woman’s freedom.
Rowena didn’t let up the fast pace until they reached a river where the horses needed to drink. She sat under the shade of the tree and closed her eyes against the reflections of light on water, her mind drifting back to Saher during the night—his cock driving into her, taking her to heights of pleasure she’d never imagined. And then, afterwards how he’d drawn her into his arms, arms that were thick and muscled and yet held her gently, as if she were someone to be reverenced. She’d never felt reverenced before.
She drew in a long breath, trying to calm her heart that raced at the thought of their lovemaking, and at the secretive, dangerous plan she was now undertaking. A man like Saher who’d sworn loyalty to the King, a man who hated deceit—a man like that would not forgive her actions.
Suddenly she felt a shadow pass over her and shouts from her men. Alarmed, she opened her eyes and looked around. Saher stood watching her, his expression furious. She jumped up and stepped away from him, from his powerful body that cast a darkness over her, away from his glowering eyes and fierce frown.
“Sir Saher! I did not expect—”
“That much, my lady, I know. What I do not know and what I wish you to tell me, is where you are going this fine day.”
She shook her head and tried, unsuccessfully, to tamp down her fear. “To… to see my sister and aunt at the Priory.”
“Is that so?” He came towards her and she moved back, but her way was blocked by a large oak tree. But he did not approach her. Instead he looked over to the cart, laden with casks. “And you are thoughtfully taking good wine to your family, I see.”
“I take them gifts when I go.”
“Really? Generous gifts, too, I should imagine.” He cast an eye around her heavily armed men. “If your guards are any indication.” He walked over and pushed one of the barrels and she heard the rattle of coin. “Enlighten me, lady?”
She shook her head, trying to conjure up some tale that would withstand his scrutiny. But, before she could speak, he’d walked up to her and pressed his finger against her mouth. “Nay. I don’t wish to hear your lies.” He let his hand drop. “’Tis the coin I heard whisper of at Cley. Silver I’d heard rumour of long before I came here. Your father was suspected of smuggling but it could never be proven.” He raised one angry eyebrow. “Until now.”
She gasped. “You wouldn’t.”
“You’re right, I wouldn’t. I’m less interested in that, than I am its destination. The priory, you say?” He looked away from her, his mouth a grim line of disappointment. “You wished to leave me, then.”
There was something other than anger in his voice now. Something that found its way past her fears and defences, and filled her with regret. “No. I wasn’t going to leave. But I was making sure I’d be able to in the future, if…”
“If you needed to escape me,” he completed. He nodded and turned away, looking out across the tumbling stream to the swaying willows on the far side. “But you lied, Rowena. You didn’t need to lie. You see”—he walked up to her but didn’t touch her, his eyes roving over her face—“I understand. You should have trusted me.”
“Trust you? You came to the castle, a stranger, insisting on taking over my life. Trust you, when I hardly know you?”
He looked around, avoiding her face, taking the measure of her words. Then he sighed. “We were not strangers in bed, in each other’s arms, though were we, my lady?”
She bit her lip, trying to stop the swell of emotion from totally preventing her from thinking straight, and shook her head. “What do I know of lovemaking? For all I know, the experience with me was the same as with all your other women.” But even as she said it, she knew it to be a lie. The previous night had been more than just two bodies coming together in mutual pleasure. She’d felt it. And she knew he’d felt it. But she’d mistrusted those feelings. “Besides, I am not the only person with secrets. You… you have your own plans, so I hear. Secret plans to demolish estate buildings and to rebuild. Plans I know nothing about.”
He didn’t say anything for long moments, only looked at her in a way that confused her. Then he stepped toward her and she backed up until she couldn’t move. The bark of the oak tree dug into her hot back. He didn’t come any further, merely extended his hand. “Come. I will show you what it is I’ve done.”
“Already? You didn’t waste any time, did you?”
“Not with something so important, I didn’t. I didn’t go to Norwich this morning, I considered other work to be more important. Come.”
He lifted her up onto his horse, leaped up behind, and they galloped off, her men slowly turning the lumbering carts around to follow them.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
It was early evening by the time they reached Gresham land. A flock of birds flew low over the golden fields of wheat and barley. Men who’d been giving the fallow field a second plough, were returning to their homes. They shot curious glances at Rowena and Saher, but Saher didn’t halt his progress.
He hadn’t spoken
to her all the way back, had simply held her firmly in his arms and yet, despite the circumstances, Rowena felt safe, secure. She wondered as to their destination—they’d ridden past the estate cottages, the church, the mill and brewery, places where she’d imagined they’d been heading. She looked up at him but his gaze remained steadily ahead of him.
His chin was roughened with stubble but it could not hide the strength of his face. No softness of line or feature now. She turned away, remembering the admiration she’d seen in his eyes at the port, the respect he’d shown for her when she’d handled the falcon, and the passion and tenderness that had been for her only, when they’d made love. Now all she could see was the veil of strength and control he showed to the rest of the world.
They were nearly home when, instead of continuing along the lane that led down into Gresham valley, they turned right and took the woodland path that led to the ridge. The ancient trees spread their thick canopy overhead and the deep orange glow of the late sun barely penetrated the thickly interlaced branches.
They climbed up through the shady forest, its coolness a relief from the heat that lay heavy over the land. Then they stopped. Without saying a word, he swung her down from the saddle and threw the reins over a tree branch.
He took her hand and pulled her out of the trees, toward the clearing. She knew where they were now. How could he, she thought? How could he take her to this place, the tower that represented so much heartache and fear for her?
She refused to look up at that bleak, decaying building, circled by its remaining habitants of rooks whose ever-present dark halo always sent a shiver of fear through her veins. She refused to accept what he was so obviously forcing on her. The tower that represented the loss of her freedom.
“Look, Rowena.”
She did, but not toward the tower. She looked at him and shook her head. “No, I can’t.”
“Look up.” His rough growl of command was louder this time.
Just at that moment a skylark burst into song far above them and she looked. Looked up at… nothing. Gone was the tower, a symbol of hatred and fear for so long. There was nothing but a rubble-strewn hilltop under a wide sky, streaked with the orange-pinks of sunset.
“This was my ‘secret’ plan, my lady. To rid you of the spectre that so evidently haunted you. I wanted to see the shadow of fear vanish from your eyes. I would banish everything that placed such a shadow in those beautiful brown eyes. The tower and all it meant to you had no place on this land, on this estate, in our lives.”
His words sent a thrill through her body and his hand that reached out to hers reignited a connection that she’d recognized from the first moment they’d met.
Together they walked up to where the tower had been, to the stones that had been piled according to their size, ready for re-use elsewhere. There was no trace of the footprint of the tower, of the room, high above the ground floor which had been her mother’s solar and the small hall where she’d lived the last years of her life. “It’s gone…” she muttered under her breath. “Saher,” she shook her head, “I didn’t know.”
“No. ’Twas something I thought you’d like. ’Twas also something I didn’t want here. You see, Rowena, the tower stood for something I am also deeply against.”
She frowned. “Tell me.”
“I tell few people. I abhor violence done to women. I know the results well. I was raised by a woman whose every move was driven by fear. She’d been raped and I was the result. I adored her and was determined to never be the man my father had been.”
“But you were your father’s heir?”
“After my mother died, my father claimed me and adopted me. I hated him, but I was prepared to use his connections to get me out of the poverty my mother had lived in. And so I went into the world full of ambition to prove myself and make a life away from my father, with an abhorrence of violence to women. Rowena, I swear by Almighty God that I will never hurt you as your father hurt your mother. I destroyed the tower as testament to that.”
The walls of defence she’d built around her heart crumbled under the onslaught of that fierce, honest gaze. Tears pricked her eyes. “Saher… I’m so sorry. I was scared you would take everything that I had and leave me with nothing. I did not know—”
His fingers came up to her mouth and touched it gently, stopping any further words. “And how could you? I am still a stranger to you. I wanted your trust but all I’d done is claim your lands, and then claim your body.” His fingers gently swept around the outline of her lips that opened in immediate response. “Now, come, ’tis getting late. We’ll return to the castle tonight and then, tomorrow, if you wish, I’ll escort you back to the priory to take the silver.”
His words came to her through a haze of desire that the trail of his fingers over her skin had ignited. “The silver? You’d allow me still to do this?”
“I bring silver of my own and your estates are prosperous enough without me gaining your own…” He hesitated as he searched for a word, a slow smile resting on his lips. “Savings, shall we say?”
She looked at him quickly. “Yes… savings.”
“Savings the King should probably not know about, eh?” His smile broadened and she smiled back, shaking her head.
“No. ’Tis best. My aunt will keep the silver safe until… we need it.”
“Good.” He unlooped the horse’s reins from the tree and lifted Rowena up onto its back, his hands lingering around her waist. “So tomorrow we will travel, but tonight—”
“Tonight.” She reached out her hand and moved it over his chest. “I would show you my gratitude.”
The immediate flare of lust in his eyes and its corresponding flare inside herself made her shift in her seat. He jumped up behind her and pulled her bottom until it was tight against his hardening groin. “I like a grateful woman.” His whispered words made her shiver with anticipation.
CHAPTER TWELVE
It was still early when they retired to their chamber. The lazy, flickering flames of the brazier illuminated his eyes, hooded with intent. She stood, unmoving as he undressed her. First unlacing her bliaut which clung tight to her body, and then lifting it from her shoulders. She shivered, but not from cold, as he unclasped the silver brooch at the throat of her robe and despatched that in the same way. Now she stood simply in her linen chemise.
His hands swept up her body, pushing up her breasts before grabbing the chemise and lifting it away from her. Then he took her breasts that spilled on to his large hands, and dropped a kiss on top of each one before moving his hands to her bottom, pulling her hard against him, and claiming her mouth with his until she was dizzy with desire.
She whimpered against his mouth, as her hands fumbled with the ties to undo his breeches. He stepped away and pulled his tunic over his head. She took a sharp intake of breath at the sight of his muscled stomach and broad, strong chest. She ran the palms of her hands over his skin, the white scars of warfare, like silver streaks through dark marble. She suddenly felt shy of this warrior of a man and rested her cheek against his chest, listening to the rapid beat of his heart. Then she turned and kissed his chest, sinking lower until her lips touched his stomach and her hands caressed his cock that jerked under her tentative touch. He growled and lifted her in his arms and laid her on the bed. She reached for a cover but before she could reach it he grabbed her hands and stretched them above her and knelt between her legs.
“No cover. I want to see you. You are too beautiful to be covered.”
His kisses on her skin sent slivers of sensation slicing through her belly, moistening her quim, making it throb with need. She opened her legs, willing him to give attention to where she wanted him most. But he moved up, suckling each breast as he went, before reaching her face. He kissed her then and her mouth melded to his as exquisite sensations shot through her body. Then he lifted her hips and slid the length of his cock inside her, inch by slow inch, until he filled her completely. Slowly he pulled out until the tip of him q
uivered against her sensitive skin before pushing fully into her once more. She used her heels against his back to bring him more fully into her.
He rolled her over and she was atop him. His hands reached up for her breasts as she moved up, tentatively at first, and then down, and her eyes closed in bliss. She continued until the rhythm increased and she rode him hard, and harder still, until the coiling of desire exploded inside her and she cried out as she pulsed around him.
He drew her into his arms and then, still joined, side-by-side, he pushed into her. It would not be over so quickly this night, she thought to herself. Nor, she realized with a gasp, did she want it to be. The candlelight flickered gently in the summer breeze that blew in from the unshuttered window, cooling their sweat-slicked bodies that raised and lowered in an age-old dance of sensuality.
She rolled onto her back, while he continued to thrust slowly and rhythmically into her, bringing her to another wave of pleasure. But it did not stop then. He continued as before, holding her, kissing her, as his thrusting slowly increased in tempo. His body and face tensed as he thrust harder now into her, taking her with each thrust to a place she couldn’t have imagined. All she could do was hold on tight to him, her fingernails digging into his resistant shoulders, her legs tight around his body as he blasted both of them into a frenzy of cries as he pumped his seed deep inside of her, her body taking all that he could give.
They rolled to the side once more. “You are mine, Rowena.” He thrust his fingers in her hair and held her face firmly as he took his fill of her mouth. “Forever. I claim you and I will cherish you.”
Claimed. It was a word that a short week ago would have sent terror through her body. Claimed. The word sent a slice of lust through her belly and she wriggled against him as he became as hard as he was before. Claimed. His eyes met hers in an understanding and appreciation that she knew instinctively would never die.
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