by Sherry Ewing
Riorden flicked the reins, and once they left the barbican gate far behind, along with the village, he let Beast have the lead. They galloped at full speed with their troubles getting farther and farther behind them ’til they reached the ocean shoreline. He would not think of what still caused his anger to rise to the forefront of his mind for the rest of the day. Instead, he would enjoy this time with his wife and worry about the rest on the morrow. ’Twould have to be enough for now.
* * *
Katherine sauntered over to a small table and poured wine into a chalice. She took a tiny sip before turning back to stare in fascination at her husband, leisurely lounging in their bed. The blanket barely covered his naked hips, and she stopped herself from licking her lips, since he looked so damn inviting. He read her mind, of course, the naughty rogue, for the look he gave her caused her to blush from the top of her head down to the tips of her bare feet, not to mention everywhere in between. She impulsively gathered the edges of her robe close together to hide her embarrassment of having him watch her so openly. She would have thought she’d be used to it by now. He chuckled in amusement.
They had shared a lovely afternoon, just the two of them, sitting silently on the beach and listening to the waves crashing into the shore. The ocean had always been one of her favorite places to just sit and find the inner peace that everyone stood in need of from time to time. It seemed to have had the same calming effect on Riorden, since they both had seemed lost in their own troubled thoughts. She had seen him angry once before, but somehow today had felt different.
Thoughts of his father had rushed through her mind, and she could only wonder what their last conversation held between father and son that they’d never spoken again. She knew the cause of said argument and that it had merit, but still...it had to be more than just Marguerite for Lord Everard to continue to haunt this world. It was apparent he still had unfinished business, preventing him from finding his own peace in heaven.
She had actually been surprised they had left the grounds with no other guards following. Katherine had made mention of it, but the stormy look Riorden had thrown her silenced any further comments. He had grumbled to her that he was more than capable of keeping her safe. That she thought he was incapable of doing so had seemed to put a wedge between them. It had been the first instance since Time had brought them together where Katherine felt awkwardness settle around her heart.
She hadn’t known what to say to make things better, so she had kept her thoughts to herself instead of giving them voice. It should have been a perfect opportunity to air their feelings and concerns, but Katherine had been too hesitant to speak them aloud. She hadn’t wanted to watch the anger that simmered right below the surface of his calm façade explode into something she had not been prepared to deal with. She had let the matter rest. Although she knew they would need to talk things out eventually, and it would need to be done soon.
They had sat there silently upon a blanket, just holding hands, lost in their own thoughts. Since Katherine no longer owned a watch, she really had no idea of the time. The setting sun brought with it a cool afternoon breeze, indicating they had been there longer than she had thought. The chill of the wind must have brought Riorden out of his daze, for he had unexpectedly gathered her in his arms and had kissed her soundly. Nothing had seemed to matter after that except his mouth being on hers again. They both had felt they couldn’t make it back to the keep fast enough.
“Katherine, come back to bed, ma cherie. You shall catch a chill.” His voice brought her back from her reminiscing.
She shivered, as if proving his point, but it had nothing to do with the coolness of their chamber but everything to do with hearing him speak to her thusly. The baritone in his deep, husky voice always did this to her, not that she was complaining.
She went to the hearth and put a log on the fire then waited for the dry wood to ignite with a crackle and pop.
“Katherine, that can wait.”
“I’m coming,” she said, smiling at his impatient tone while she looked over what was left from their repast. “Can I bring you something?”
“Aye.”
She turned to look at him and waited for him to respond. He all but devoured her with his hungry eyes. Surely, he would be able to hear her erratic heartbeat clear across the room though she tried to remain immune to his charm. “What can I bring you? Some fruit perhaps?”
“Nay.”
“What, then?” She hid back a satisfying grin, knowing his answer, the scoundrel. He always knew he could throw her senses completely off balance with just one look.
“Just you,” he commanded, holding out his hand for her.
She let the robe float to the floor and watched in satisfaction as his eyes ignited while she strode to his side with a seductive sway to her hips. Her hand had barely made contact with his strong, warm fingers before she found herself beneath him. His hands slowly stroked wherever he could touch her skin, and she began running her toes up and down the calf of his leg.
“Do you think it will always be like this between us, Riorden?” she asked, reaching up to play with his hair. “I mean, it’s just so perfect, don’t you think?”
He kissed her lips and began nuzzling her breasts. “Aye, everything about you is perfect.”
She gave a little laugh, thinking about how big she would soon be. “Well, you may not think so when I am fat with child, and you can get nowhere near me with my enormous stomach between us.”
“Since ’twill be my child growing within you, we shall indeed be blessed.” He placed his hand on the hardness of her belly. “The babe grows strong within you.”
Katherine couldn’t help the smile that lit her face. “I wish you could feel the little flutters going on inside right now, and just wait until the baby starts to kick. I can’t wait to see your face.”
He returned her smile. “’Tis most unusual for a woman to openly discuss such things, Kat, even though ’tis with your husband. It takes some getting used to.”
“Well, I’m not your everyday, twelfth century woman here, so you don’t really have a lot of options other than to go along with the flow.”
“You and your passing strange ways, Kat. I just never know what you shall say next,” he laughed. “You are positive we will not harm the babe by making love?”
She gave a tug on his arm until he moved between her legs. Her heart skipped a beat in anticipation. “The baby’s fine, Riorden. There’s no need to worry about him, or her. We’ll have to think of other ways to make love once I get bigger, you know,” she hinted with another smile.
“I am sure we will think of something,” he murmured as he began kissing her sensitive skin.
“You won’t tease me about my stomach leading the way, will you?” She was suddenly self-conscious about how much weight she would put on with her pregnancy.
“Nay.”
“I mean, some men find pregnant women fat and ugly.”
“You are beautiful to me, and I am not one of those men.” He continued on with his assault on her senses.
“I can only hope you still think so when I’m near the end of this pregnancy,” she muttered glumly.
He leaned up from where he had been nibbling at her neck and tucked her hair behind her ear. “Kat?”
It took several stolen breaths from staring at the intensity of his blue eyes before she could answer him. “Yes?”
“Has no one ever said you talk too much, my sweet?”
Embarrassment caused her to blush again. “I suppose, once or twice.”
He began kissing her, and any further thoughts were completely gone from her mind. Heat flooded her entire body as she experienced the dreamlike enchantment Riorden always managed to weave around them. She gasped as he entered her.
“Riorden?” Her throaty murmur as she tried to catch her breath when he began to move sounded foreign in her ears.
“Aye, my love?” he said just as hoarsely.
“Speak to me in Fre
nch,” she urged, raking her nails playfully down the muscles of his back. “It always drives me wild.”
He looked up at her with a completely wicked grin. “As my lady commands.”
It was several hours later, after Katherine was completely drained, that she curled up next to her husband and listened to the soft snores passing from his lips. She closed her eyes, content. She would worry about their troubles and her concerns another day.
Chapter 13
She clawed her way up to the edge of the riverbed, gasping for air. She wasn’t sure how she had made it, only that she had. Looking back at the river, its current seemed so innocent. She swore, for how could she have known that its true force lay underneath the surface as it attempted to suck her down into its watery grave.
But truly, had she had any choice, other than leaping into the frigid water? The answer was a simple one. No! Not if she wanted to save herself and her unborn child. Jumping into the river had seemed like the most logical choice at the time, and yet, given her aversion to water, what had she been thinking?
Her feet slipped as she tried to plant them on something solid to pull herself from the cold stream. The slime squished between her toes. She groaned at the feeling while trying not to think of what her feet were encountering, having lost her slippers sometime during her frantic flight. Her only thought now was to get herself safe and away from the river’s edge, including any prying eyes that would be searching for her. Escaping the water that had almost been the death of her had only been part of her problem. The other was far more troubling to her tenderhearted feelings than her early demise.
As she tugged at her water logged skirts, she crawled on shaking knees to the tree line and collapsed against the rough bark of a towering oak. A sob escaped her lips as tears slipped uninhibited from her eyes. That evil woman wanted him back. It was more than obvious to everyone, except the man who refused to see that she would stop at nothing to have him again, even if that meant killing his wife.
She gazed up at Warkworth in the distance with its glowing lights shimmering from the upper windows while evening quickly descended upon the earth. She had drifted farther in the river’s current than she thought while her arms flayed to keep herself above the water line. She quickly came to the realization she was on the wrong side of the river, and she looked again toward the keep. What should have been a welcoming sight, brought her nothing but sorrow, knowing even now she was with him.
She gave a long drawn out sigh and stood, wrapping her arms around her to keep from shivering as the cold air went straight through her. Soon it would be completely dark, and she would need to find shelter. Luckily for her, and her knowledge of the future, she knew which direction she would be heading as she made her way into the trees.
The safe haven she sought was not easily found, this place made inside the face of a rock wall that would one day be known as Warkworth’s Hermitage. With the light quickly fading, she carefully made her way up a stone path until she found the entrance to what was, at this time in history, little more than a cave. Someone, at some point, had been here, however. But the dried flowers left on what would one day be called an altar was a clear indication that the person wouldn’t be returning anytime soon.
She slumped to the ground, curling her body into a tight ball of despair. Cold, scared, and feeling utterly rejected, she began to pray, even as darkness swallowed up her body, and she became one with the shadows of the night. Katherine began to weep for what she had lost. Without Riorden in her life, there was no reason for her to stay here in the twelfth century.
As if Time heard her hopeless thoughts, the ground beneath her began to quake, even while she cried out she had not meant to go where her mind had wandered. But it was too late, as those annoying little iridescent lights began to sparkle and dance before her eyes. She watched in horror as first her hands and then the rest of her body quickly became a vague ghostly silhouette. A feeling overcame her, as if she had only been tested to ensure she was worthy to be given such a gift as to travel through time in order to keep her chivalrous knight. Obviously, she had failed.
Against her will, she felt a force hit her with the energy of what it might feel like to get hit by a truck as she was instantly ripped back to where she truly belonged. Time had come to claim her, and, throughout all history, people would only remember the legend of a twelfth century woman who wept throughout time in a cave for her lost love. Brought back to the present, Katherine screamed out Riorden’s name and knew only one thing for certain before she collapsed in a dead faint. Marguerite had won...
* * *
“Katherine! Awake, my love, you are but dreaming.”
The sound of his comforting voice woke her, but she was still hesitant to open her eyes, afraid that she had only dreamed of him. She began to smile, knowing he was real when she felt the softness of his lips as he kissed her cheek.
“Hurry, Katherine. You may rest the day away later,” Riorden urged. “I thought you wished to see me off this morn.” She felt him move away from their bed.
Her eyes flew open when his words penetrated her fuzzy brain. He was mostly already dressed for travel, and her eyes lovingly scanned his broad shoulders. She heard the chink of his chainmail when he donned his tabard as it fell into place over his chest. He turned once more to face her, and her mouth became dry. Her hands suddenly began to shake uncontrollably with a feeling of unease at what his trip would cost her.
Was it just her imagination, or did his eyes seem more blue than usual? Perhaps it was the color of his cloak that had made them seem more intense. Her heart skipped a beat, as if it knew exactly what this man before her did to her senses. Her gaze moved to the lion head emblem in the center of his chest that now appeared to gaze at her with jeering eyes.
“Kat?”
“What?” she muttered, knowing she hadn’t heard a word he had said, for she was remembering every minute of her nightmare and feeling every bit as scared now.
He finished buckling his sword at his side and came back to the bed. The sapphire stone in its hilt sparkled in the firelight from the hearth and reminded her of Riorden’s eyes. “Mayhap, you should stay abed. I kept you up most of the night, and you still need your rest, it appears,” he chuckled, kissing her cheek again, but he continued reading her face in puzzlement. “Is something amiss?”
She shook her head as if to clear the remnants of her dreams. “No...yes...I don’t know, Riorden. I had a bad dream, and I’m afraid that all, or some of it, may come true, as my dreams have before.” She threw back the covers and began dressing in her comfortable hose and tunic. Riorden only continued to watch her from hooded eyes.
“Ma cherie, there is no need to worry. Nothing will happen between us.”
“Ha! It’s not us I’m worried about Riorden but her!” she said angrily as she yanked on her boots. All she could think of was Lord Everard’s words to be wary. Poison! How was she to go about detecting something so easily concealed in food or wine as poison?
“Are you perchance jealous of her? You need not be.”
“Of course I’m jealous, Riorden! Why wouldn’t I be, as beautiful as she is?” Her voice had risen in pitch, and she pinched her eyes shut so he wouldn’t see her cry. This pregnancy was making her an emotional mess! Why did she doubt his feelings for her? She knew it was because, in a way, Marguerite was right. When it came to physical beauty, Katherine came nowhere close, nor would she ever be in the same league, as the other woman who once held Riorden’s heart. She covered her eyes with her hands, trying to gather what little she had left of her composure.
“There is more to beauty than just physical appearance, my love,” Riorden proclaimed, as if he had read where her thoughts had led her. “Come, Katherine. Do not upset yourself so, or you may harm the babe.”
“It’s not the baby I’m worried about, Riordan,” she snapped harshly.
“Why then are you angry with me when I have done nothing wrong? ’Twas just a dream.” He gathered her i
n his arms and held her tight until she felt the voice of reason bring the calming effect she stood in need of.
“Sorry.”
He tilted her chin up and gave her a grin that was hard to resist. “Now smile for me, my lovely wife, and give me a kiss. I shall be back afore you even have time to miss me.”
She obliged him. “I miss you already, Riorden,” she whispered fervently and held tightly onto his hand as they made their way below.
The Great Hall was busy as knights finished breaking their fast. Riorden held her chair out for her, and she sat while food was laid before them. He filled a trencher for them to share, but she only took a small piece of dry bread to nibble on, not knowing how her stomach would react to food. It didn’t take long for it to disagree with her, and she pushed her chair back, listening while the legs scraped loudly along the stone floor. Riorden was inhaling the heavenly aroma of his repast, but, for Katherine, the smell only made her want to gag.
He offered her a sip of watered down wine, but even that she declined with a shake of her head. His brow rose in concern she wasn’t eating, but she waved him off, promising in a slight whisper she would eat her fill later. It seemed to satisfy him as he finished his meal with gusto. For her, it was done all too quickly, for that only meant she could no longer delay his parting.
Katherine stood and took Riorden’s arm. Unexpectedly, Marguerite came careening down the stairs, making for the front door to the keep. Her heavy cloak flowed behind her as she rushed across the floor.
“Leave me be, Everard!” she yelled with tears streaking down her face. She ran the distance to the door as if the devil’s demons from the underworld were cracking their chains about her head, ready to consume her. In the blink of an eye, she was gone with the vestibule door slamming loudly behind her.
A hush seemed to descend upon the Great Hall with her departure. Patrick crossed himself furiously, along with several other serfs who had witnessed her flight. Gavin and Brianna only looked at one another, as though there was nothing out of the ordinary going on, and resumed their meal. Aiden, Nathaniel, and Ulrick left their meals unfinished and left to see to their horses. Riorden, alone, scowled with brows drawn together in a fierce frown. Katherine could only guess at what was going on inside his head.
