by Alexa Aston
“Merryn, what do those men have?”
Her aunt turned her attention to where Avelyn pointed. “Ah, they each have an arming sword in their right hand and a main gauche in their left. That’s a small dagger, but it can be deadly.”
“Is it difficult to fight with two weapons and two hands?”
Merryn smiled. “Not by the looks of those two.”
Avelyn focused on the pair of knights, locked in a duel of will as much as physical movement. Slowly, the entire training yard came to a halt to watch the two men battle one another. Cheers erupted each time one of them came close. She could see both sported a few cuts from close calls and it made her grow anxious. She didn’t want Kenric to hurt Alaric, a jovial man with a quick wit and quicker smile, but she didn’t want Alaric to injure Kenric either.
She didn’t enjoy seeing these two warriors, no matter how skilled, pitted against one another. Fighting was beyond her understanding. Avelyn knew that men seemed to be a mystery in general, but she couldn’t comprehend why they had to fight.
Yet despite her reluctance in watching the two men fight one another, she remained spellbound all the same. There was a beauty in their movements—the arc of a sword cutting through the air and the wave of muscles undulating across Kenric’s shoulders and back. She continued to stare, her pulse pounding, her nerves frayed.
And then Kenric’s arm shot out, so fast it was a blur. He jabbed Alaric’s shoulder with the main gauche. Blood spurted from the wound.
Avelyn’s insides turned as nausea flooded her.
Kenric jumped back and dropped his weapons as Alaric fell to his knees. Gilbert called a halt to the fighting. Merryn and Alys squatted on the edge of the platform before they jumped to the ground to rush to Alaric’s aid. His hand had gone to the gaping wound in his shoulder. Blood poured between the knight’s fingers. Merryn shouted orders as Geoffrey motioned for the crowd to step back.
Avelyn glanced to Kenric and saw the stricken look on his face. He turned without a word and strode from the training yard.
Without a conscious thought, Avelyn followed him.
Chapter 9
Kenric hurried away from the training yard. Anger at himself seeped deeply into his pores. He had not meant to injure Alaric. He had enjoyed sparring with the soldier, who tested him more than any man had since he’d met Geoffrey de Montfort during his visit to Sandbourne. The earl had extraordinary skills and patience, and he’d nearly gotten the best of his opponent. If not for young Hal calling out and distracting his father at a key moment, Kenric believed de Montfort might well have proven victorious in their match.
“Sir Kenric!” someone called from a distance behind him. “Wait.”
He refused to turn around, for the reason he’d become so reckless lay in that lilting voice.
He’d been aware of Avelyn Le Cler from the moment she arrived at the training yard. It was almost as if he could smell her subtle scent of vanilla carried by the slight breeze of the May morning which came and enveloped him. With every contest, he preened a bit more as he bested both Sandbourne and Kinwick men alike.
Kenric couldn’t understand why he felt the urge to impress this woman, only that it filled him till he could think of nothing else.
That need to stand out and gain her admiration caused him to be reckless. Careless.
“I said—oh!”
He heard the surprise in her voice and glanced over his shoulder without breaking stride, only to see her take a nasty tumble. Without hesitation, Kenric raced toward her.
She sat sprawled on the ground, her skirts hiked up to reveal trim ankles and very shapely calves. A hot frisson of desire ran through him.
Avelyn rubbed her ankle. “Stupid hole,” she muttered.
Kenric saw she had stepped into a groove in the ground. “I suspect you’ve twisted your ankle, my lady.”
She glared up at him. “Of course, I did. A woman knows when she’s turned an ankle. She doesn’t need a man to tell her she has done so.” Her eyes narrowed. “Especially when she was chasing after said man and he deliberately refused to slow down to see what she wished to speak to him about.”
He bowed his head. “I am contrite, my lady. I fear I didn’t hear you because I was upset at myself.” He knelt beside her. “May I?”
She shrugged. “If you wish.”
Kenric grasped her calf in his left hand to steady her leg and fought down the thrill that rushed through him as his fingers wrapped around it. He gingerly touched her ankle with his right, feeling to see if it might be broken. Finding it intact, he slowly rotated her foot.
Her intake of breath caused him to halt. He met those blue eyes, fair as a summer’s sky.
“I’ve twisted it,” she informed him. “I’ll put myself in Merryn and Alys’ capable hands.” She frowned and looked over her shoulder. “But first I need to get back to them.”
Avelyn’s hand reached out and covered his own, the one that still held the calf he couldn’t seem to part with. “Why did you leave the training yard so suddenly?” she asked, her voice soft as silk.
He found he couldn’t look away and answered her honestly. “I lost control. I was showing off. I should never have carried through with the movement. I could have touched Alaric with the dagger and withdrawn just as quickly without penetrating him.”
Kenric swallowed. “But I thought to catch your attention and win your favor. In doing so, I lost focus.”
Her rosebud lips parted. Confusion filled her face. “You wished . . . for my favor?”
“Aye.”
Then the corners of her mouth turned up in a smile. “Do you believe it worked?”
He held her glance. “I hope so.”
Before he could think of the consequences, Kenric lowered his mouth to hers. Avelyn squeezed his hand as he slowly brushed his lips against hers. She started to speak and he took it as an invitation. His tongue eased into her mouth, running along her teeth. Then her own tongue met his and playfully dueled with him, causing his pulse to jump.
He brought a hand to the back of her neck and grasped the soft skin as he drank in her sweet taste. The heat of the sun burning into his back seemed to light a fire within him.
Avelyn’s hand gripped his more tightly as her free one flattened against his bare chest. Her fingers seared into him as if branding him as hers for all time. His hands moved to cradle her face as his tongue now warred with hers, fighting for possession of her. Her hands crept to his shoulders, the nails sinking into his flesh as she anchored herself.
Time stood still.
Kenric knew not how long the kiss went on, only that he finally became aware that he must stop it before he lost control and took her right there on the ground. His hands slipped to her shoulders and gripped them as he tore his mouth from hers.
At once, an emptiness filled him, as if he’d been cut adrift at sea with no companions in sight. He looked into her blue eyes and saw the heat and desire that must be echoed in his own. Her mouth, so tempting, called out for him to return.
He stood and then gripped her elbows, pulling her to her feet. Avelyn swayed and fell against him, her palms flattening against his chest, causing his manhood to stir.
“I am . . . so dizzy,” she uttered, sounding confused.
Kenric tightened his grip but pushed her away till he had hold of her an arm’s length away.
“Can you walk?” he asked, not knowing where to begin.
“What just happened between us?” she demanded, her voice low but her tone urgent.
He shook his head. “I wish I could say. I . . . I have no words.”
“My body is humming—like a lute which has been stroked for a last note that reverberates throughout a still room.” Avelyn gazed up at him. “My lips tingle, as does every part of me. These strange feelings . . .” Her voice trailed off.
Kenric never opened up to another soul, never sharing what he thought or felt. But then again, he had never experienced this reaction with any woman—and they ha
d only kissed.
Yet, it was as if he was under her spell as he said, “I feel the same. I am as taut as that lute’s strings, yet unknown ripples pour throughout me. I long for you, Avelyn Le Cler. With a depth and breadth that is unfamiliar—yet seemingly has lain dormant within me my entire life.”
Her hands reached out and touched his face in wonder. She stroked it gently, then boldly, causing desire to flicker again within him. Kenric lowered his mouth to hers and lost himself in their kiss.
Avelyn leaned against him, her breasts pushing close. He could feel her nipples teasing him through her layers of clothing. He brought a hand to one breast and massaged it, causing her to moan. The sound almost undid him.
Yet, it brought him to his senses—again.
Kenric grasped her wrists and forced her hands from his chest. “We must stop. Now.”
She shook her head. “I know. I know,” she repeated. “And yet, I want nothing more than to touch you—and to have you touch me.”
He took her chin in hand and brushed a soft kiss upon her lips. “I must return you to Lady Merryn. She needs to tend to your ankle.”
“Oh.” Avelyn glanced down and tried to take a step. “Ouch!”
Kenric bent and placed an arm behind her knees and swept her up close. One of her arms went about his neck. The other rested against his chest, her fingers softly stroking and then teasing as she pulled against the hair there.
“Stop that, wench,” he said playfully.
She sighed. “If you insist. Take me to Merryn.”
He started back in the direction of the training yard.
“No, she and Alys will have tended to Alaric by now. They have probably returned to the keep.”
“Then I will take you there.”
Kenric walked more slowly than he usually did, for he did not want to release her from his arms. He grinned down at her like some love-struck fool. That almost caused him to halt in his tracks.
Was he in love with Avelyn Le Cler?
*
Avelyn closed her eyes and rested her cheek against the rock-hard chest of Kenric Fairfax.
Was she dreaming?
Nay. Her throbbing ankle told her that she was not abed.
But what had just occurred between her and the prickly knight from Sandbourne?
Actually, he’d only seemed troublesome that first day. She’d come to understand, in the short time she’d known him, that he was a methodical man, one who set his mind to a task and would follow through completely. Michael had charged him to bring her back to Sandbourne—not her and two other females. Avelyn knew her thwarting his plans had aggravated him. Yet, by the second day of their journey, they had begun a conversation that lasted throughout that day and into the next. She found him intelligent and amusing—and very, very handsome.
She didn’t consider herself to be shallow like the women who populated the royal court. She shouldn’t take Kenric’s looks into consideration when thinking about him, but she did. And she couldn’t help but think about him all the time. Her thoughts strayed more and more to him during the past few days. And now? After their kisses caused her to burn with desire for his touch, she might never have another coherent thought again throughout her life, be it long or short. Thoughts of Kenric Fairfax would forever linger.
Was that love? Could she possibly be in love with this dark knight?
She had only known him a handful of days.
Yet Elysande and Michael had realized at their very first meeting that they were meant to be together. Raynor and Beatrice had quickly been drawn to one another. And she knew Geoffrey and Merryn had been close companions since childhood. Who knew when their feelings had turned to love?
Excitement filled Avelyn. She wanted—no, needed—to get to know more of this man. She must.
For she wished to spend the rest of her life with him.
But did he feel the same? Was he a man that would even consider marriage? Many knights in service to a liege lord did not, preferring to remain in the barracks and dedicate their lives to protecting the family they served.
Oh, she was getting ahead of herself. Here, she wanted Kenric Fairfax to slip a ring upon her finger and buy a small parcel of land near Sandbourne so they could remain close to Elysande and Michael. She wanted him to make love to her day and night and give her children. She needed to grow old with this man and learn something new about him each day they shared together.
And he had merely kissed her.
What if those kisses did not mean to him what they had to her? Yet Avelyn knew they must have. He had admitted as much—that he felt the same as she had and his body had responded to hers in kind. But did that mean commitment?
Only time would tell.
Avelyn decided, in that moment, that she would not force this knight’s hand in any way. She would make no declarations of love. Instead, she would keep her feelings to herself. If he wanted more from her, then he would have to be the one to share that first.
Pressing her cheek closer against his chest, she relished the feel and scent of him. Her fingers longed to run against his skin and play with the dusting of dark hair resting against her palm. Desire caused her to imagine feeling his muscles as they danced under her fingers.
She did none of that, choosing to lie still in his arms.
They reached the keep. Kenric headed up the stairs, carrying her as if she were the lightest of feathers. They entered the great hall and Avelyn spied Merryn.
“There you are. Whatever happened to you, Avelyn?”
As they drew close, she saw Merryn’s eyes studying her. It was as if her aunt knew what had gone on between them.
“Lady Avelyn twisted her ankle. ’Tis not broken, but she needs you to tend to it, my lady,” Kenric offered, his voice now neutral, holding none of the passion from minutes ago.
“I see.” Merryn tilted her head and continued looking at them both. “Take Lady Avelyn up to her chamber, Sir Kenric. I’ll meet you there shortly once I’ve retrieved what I need.”
He carried her up the stairs and down the long corridor to the chamber she was sharing with Sela.
“Knock on the door,” she commanded him. “Sela may be within and not ready to receive company.”
Kenric nodded, a slight blush tinging his cheeks. He knocked, but no response came, so he opened the oak door and crossed into the room. Drawing back the bed curtains, he deposited Avelyn upon the mattress.
“Thank you, my lord,” she said demurely.
He stood there, unsure of what to do. Avelyn longed to take his hand, but she had already decided it was up to him to make any intentions known to her, so she refrained from doing so.
It nearly killed her.
The tall knight looked like a lost puppy, unsure of himself in a way he’d probably never experienced. Then he glanced down and picked up the ginger kitten that had scampered over to him and toyed with the toes of his boots.
“Hello, Cattus,” he said to the kitten. “Lady Avelyn has injured herself. You must stay with her and keep her company.” He placed the kitten in her lap.
At that moment, Merryn entered the room.
“Now that you are here, my lady, I will excuse myself.” Kenric turned to go and stopped. “But first, may I ask how Sir Alaric fares?”
“His injury wasn’t severe. Alys cleaned the wound and stitched him up in a matter of minutes.” Merryn paused. “I’m sure he’d like to visit with you so you can tell him how best to avoid making the same mistake twice.”
Avelyn watched Kenric shuffle his feet as a small child might and brought a hand to her mouth to hide her smile.
“Then I’ll seek him out, my lady. Good day to you both.” He left the chamber, closing the door behind him.
Merryn faced her. “So how long have you been in love with Kenric Fairfax?”
She found herself speechless but recovered quickly. “Why would you ask such a thing? I only met him when he came to London to retrieve me at Michael’s command.”
&nb
sp; Avelyn shifted in the bed, busying herself by petting Cattus. Still, she could sense Merryn’s eyes on her.
“I ask because you vanished and I wondered where you’d gone. Then you appear in the arms of a most handsome, worthy knight, looking like a cat that has lapped up a bowl of cream.”
She sensed a blush rising on her cheeks but kept her eyes on the kitten.
“And then there are your swollen lips to consider and burned skin where a roughened beard has been rubbed against it numerous times in pleasure.”
Her hand crept up to her face. Her fingers touched her lips. Avelyn finally met her aunt’s eyes.
“You are most observant, Merryn.”
Merryn smiled. “I pride myself on it.” Avelyn caught the twinkle in her eyes. “And for spotting a new love that has sprung up.”
Avelyn cried, “I had no idea, I swear! I thought him rather arrogant at first, but then he grew on me as we made our way toward Kinwick. Then for some reason, I went charging after him once Alaric had been hurt. And . . . then . . . somehow . . . we were kissing.” She shuddered, not in fear, but in pleasure as the memory flooded her.
“I assume that you enjoyed his kiss?”
She fought to keep from smiling and lost that battle. “Oh, very much so. It was as if I truly came alive for the first time in my life. My body buzzed and tingled and felt so unlike it usually does.”
Merryn came and sat next to her on the bed. “It’s the most wonderful feeling in the world.”
“Aye. Exactly. I find it hard to put into words, but I’m not the same person I was when I awoke this morning.”
Merryn stroked her hair fondly. “You never will be, Avelyn. Love changes everything about you for the good.” She stopped. “Do you think Sir Kenric returns your feelings?”
She bit her lip. “He said as much. Then he abruptly stopped his kisses and became very brusque and formal. He insisted he bring me to you so you could care for my ankle.”
Merryn laughed. “Oh, Avelyn. He longed for more, but he realized that you are a lady and not some tavern wench. He had to stop before he carried matters too far.”
