He pulled back to look into her eyes. “I don’t deserve you.”
She grinned. “Yes, you do. Just as much as I deserve you.”
He smiled and turned, hooking his arm around her waist. “You must tell me what Dumas asked of you.”
She shrugged. “A private meal with him and the countess.” She felt his entire body stiffen.
“You can’t do that.”
“No. Not with guests arriving and all the preparations…” She glanced at him, studying the way his jaw tensed and his lips thinned. “That’s not what you meant.”
“You denied him?”
“Of course! It was quite… arrogant of him to think I could find the time to do something like that. I have other guests that I cannot ignore. Let alone a wedding to prepare for.”
Damien grinned. “I imagine he was not very happy.”
Aurora scowled. “No.”
Damien stared down the hallway they were walking down. “What did you think of the count?”
Aurora considered his statement. “He was arrogant, but I think that comes with the title.”
Damien smiled. “Inside. Deeper. What did your instincts tell you about him?”
She exhaled, considering how every nerve in her body wanted to be away from him. He sat too close to her and the way he would not move aside for her… She shook her head. “There was something about him…”
He looked at her, his eyes narrowed slightly. “That’s right. Listen to your instincts.”
She nodded. “He mentioned he would supply Acquitaine with a water way if I would dine alone with him and the countess. It almost seemed like a bribe.”
Damien’s jaw clenched.
“There was something about his request. Something...” She felt the tingles of apprehension along her spine and shivered slightly. “...not right.”
Damien suddenly stopped and swung her into his embrace. “And if it doesn’t feel right, it isn’t.”
She nodded, looking up into his eyes.
“I know you will never kick them out, but they are not to be trusted.”
Her gaze moved over his face. His brow furrowed; his strong jaw was set firmly. “That was the feeling I got.” She grinned. “That feeling of mistrust must be your influence.”
“Good.” Damien pulled her to the side of the wall. “The count and countess have peculiar sexual desires.” Aurora’s mouth dropped open in shock. Damien brushed a kiss to her cheek. “I only tell you this for your protection. I have seen them at Castle Roke.”
Aurora gasped. “Did they recognize you? Did they –”
“They knew me as a slave to Roke. They do whatever is necessary to get what they want. And it is usually sex. I’ve seen them bribe wives of dignitaries. I’ve seen them blackmail virgins. I’ve seen them drug unwilling participants.”
Her brows rose in surprise. “And you?”
He stroked the side of her face. “I was a slave. I did as I was told.”
“What were you told?” Aurora felt the change in him. He distanced himself from her, shutting off that part of his life from her.
“Do you really want me to tell you?”
Aurora looked at his chest and she shook her head, but something twisted inside of her. She didn’t like that he had secrets from her. She knew he would tell her if she asked him to, but she wasn’t sure she really wanted to find out what he did with the countess. She was a very beautiful woman.
“I told you that there were things I did in the past that I was not proud of. This is one of the very least.” He tipped her chin up with his forefinger. “When they arrived at Acquitaine, I told them in no uncertain terms that I was not interested in repeating the past.”
Repeating the past. Sex. Aurora was sure of it. This should have been her warning. His statement should have pacified her, but she felt anger stir inside her.
“They were very excited about you, also.”
“Me?”
“That was why the count wanted you to have a private dinner with them.”
“For sex? I would never ---”
“My guess is that once you began eating, you would find yourself drugged and unable to resist.”
Aurora was repulsed, indignant, infuriated. “Then I should ask them to leave before they lure anyone else to their chambers. That kind of behavior will not be tolerated.”
Damien grinned. He kissed the corner of her lips. “That’s what I told them.” He brushed a kiss to the side of her neck. “I’ll speak with them again.”
“I’ll go with you.”
“No.”
“Yes,” she said firmly. “If the request comes from both of us, then there will be no misunderstanding.”
Damien was silent for a moment, then he agreed with a nod. “Very well.”
Shivers of apprehension raced along Damien’s spine as he watched Aurora. She stood before the count as he lounged in a chair in his room. The countess sat across a table from him. He didn’t like this. Not at all. He wanted to toss the count and countess out on their ears, locking the gates of Acquitaine behind them. He glanced at Aurora. But that was not fitting for a lord. He wanted to run a dagger along their throats and throw their bodies into the moat. But Damien knew that was the beast inside of him.
Aurora folded her hands before her. “I wanted to thank you for coming to Acquitaine for our wedding.”
Margaret grinned. “We wouldn’t miss it, my dear.”
“I know that you were friends with my father.”
Damien started. She hadn’t told him that.
“Terrible thing,” Marcus said, shifting to lean forward. “His death. I’m so very sorry.” The sun disappeared behind a cloud and muted sunlight shone in through the large window behind him.
Aurora nodded. “Thank you. And as friends of my father, I am giving you another chance.”
Margaret scowled. Marcus mirrored her expression.
Damien stepped forward to Aurora’s side. “She knows.”
Margaret’s eyes rounded in surprise.
Marcus rose. “And you are willing?”
“No!” Aurora protested.
“No,” Damien joined her protest. “As I’ve told you, Aurora and I take our vows seriously.”
Aurora placed a hand on his chest. “We are here to emphasize that as guests of ours, you will refrain from any of your past behavior and treat my guests and my people with the utmost respect.”
Margaret’s gaze shifted to Damien.
“The guests, servants, villagers, merchants of Acquitaine are all off limits,” Damien clarified. “What you do with your own servants is your business, but there will be no liberties with the people of Acquitaine.”
Margaret glanced at Marcus. Then she stood and tilted her head slightly. Her blue eyes glinted. “Did he tell you everything?” she asked Aurora.
Damien grit his teeth. She was a manipulative bitch, trying to hurt Aurora that way. Damien’s fists clenched.
“Damien told me enough for me to be concerned with the welfare of my people.”
Margaret grinned, lowering her chin to gaze at Aurora coyly. “You speak as though we are monsters.”
“Not monsters, just manipulative,” Damien said tightly.
Margaret placed a hand on Damien’s chest. “You didn’t protest.”
Damien’s lips thinned. “I was doing as I was told.”
Margaret glanced at Aurora. “He must not have told you the best parts.”
Aurora stepped before Damien, dislodging Margaret's hand from him with her shoulder. “I have no desire to hear anymore.” Her voice was colder than Damien had ever heard it. “I consider the matter closed. You will not touch my husband again and we will proceed as friends, nothing more.” She lifted her chin.
Marcus stood and bowed slightly. “As you wish, Lady Aurora. We meant no insult.”
Aurora nodded at him and flashed Margaret a warning glance. “Then you shall be our guests of honor at the evening meal on the morrow and we shall begin anew.”
Pride welled in Damien’s chest. She handled herself very well. But as Aurora turned to the door, he saw disdain twist Margaret’s lips and knew the battle had only begun.
Cherished Protector of Her Heart - Laurel O'Donnell
Chapter Six
Damien collected Aurora to him, holding her against his heart. She was breathing deeply, sated by their lovemaking. He loved to just hold her and run his fingers along her arm, feeling her soft skin.
As the beat of her heart slowed to a more normal pace, she picked her head up and rested her chin against his chest to gaze into his eyes. Warmth, admiration and happiness shone from her large blue eyes.
He ran his hands through her hair and a lock fell forward. He picked it up. It was much shorter than the others. He inspected it curiously and frowned. “What happened to this curl?”
Aurora glanced at it and shrugged. “Is the rest of my hair not good enough?”
Damien dropped the lock and bent to kiss her forehead. “Of course it is.”
“Damien, I was thinking –”
He grinned at her. He loved her with all his heart. She was amazing. Beautiful, intelligent…
“Your father…”
Stubborn. Persistent. He took a deep breath, dropping his hands to her shoulders. “Why must you concern yourself with him?”
“He’s an old man. And you put him in the dungeon. I was thinking that maybe you should allow him to be held in one of the guest chambers.”
Damien stared at her in disbelief. “He is in the dungeon because that’s where he belongs. I don’t want him comfortable. I want him miserable.”
Aurora sat up, straddling his legs. She put a hand on his chest as if holding him down. “Miserable? He’s your father!”
Damien sighed in exasperation. He put his hands behind his head and gazed at the window. “He lost that title when he sold Gawyn and I to the slavers.”
“Maybe he made a mistake.”
“Aurora,” he warned in a growl.
“And even if you take the title from him, he is an old man. Locking him in the dungeon is just… just…”
“What?” he demanded, boosting himself onto his elbows.
“Cruel.”
Damien yanked his legs from beneath her and swung them out of the bed.
She tumbled into the covers. “Yes, it’s cruel,” she insisted. “What is his crime to be locked in the dungeon?”
He whirled on her. “Crime? Selling children to slavers! I thought you of all people would agree with that.”
“But there are other ways to punish him for that crime. Make him work with children, teach them to –”
“There is no punishment too great for him. He should be in the dungeon and far worse! You just don’t understand.”
“Then make me understand. Why do you insist on locking him up?”
Damien straightened. He let the darkness wash over him as he called forth the memories. “You want to understand?” He allowed himself to go back, to visit an experience he had locked away inside of him. He was a young child. Gawyn just a year older. “Gawyn was just barely older than young Robert. Maybe five summers, I can't remember. He heard horrible sounds coming from my father's room one night. Gawyn thought he might be in trouble.” Damien stepped back into the shadows of the room, next to the open window. Moonlight washed in, illuminating Aurora sitting on the bed. He couldn't stare at her and remember the image in his mind. He looked out the window. “I woke up to hear my father screaming at Gawyn. I saw him hit Gawyn so hard that he slammed into a chair and actually broke it. That made Father more angry. He went after Gawyn, but I went to help him. I tried to help Gawyn to his feet, but he caught me before I reached him.” Damien barely remembered the blows. It had been a long time ago and only one in a string of beatings. “I told Gawyn to run because I knew that he wouldn't stop with me. I lost consciousness after the second blow.” Damien gazed out over Acquitaine. The beast inside him shifted and his gut twisted at the memory.
“Damien,” Aurora whispered, and stood.
He clenched his jaw, fighting the memory and the beast back into the recesses of his soul where they belonged. “I was lucky to be sold.”
She reached for him, to comfort him, to give him support.
The darkness of the time still engulfed him and he didn’t want her to be a part of it. He didn’t want to touch her with such evil and anger churning inside of him. He stepped away from her.
“Don’t,” she begged. “Don’t shut me out. Let me help.”
He shook his head, unable to talk. He had thought the feelings of the time couldn’t hurt him any longer. But they rose like demons inside of him. He shook his head. He had been weak then. He didn’t want to be weak now. He didn’t want her to see him like this. He turned his back on her, fighting desperately to bury his emotions, to bury the past where it was meant to be. “I can’t forget the past and I can’t heal from it. It’s part of me.” He turned to her. “And I can’t forgive him.” He moved to the bed and grabbed his breeches. He pulled them on.
“Where are you going?” she asked softly.
“To see Gawyn.” He pulled on his boots and tunic before rising and walking to the door. He paused to turn to her. “I don’t want you near him, do you understand?”
Aurora looked down, twisting her hands before her. “He’s my family too, now.”
“No. He isn’t,” Damien insisted, taking a step toward her. A frantic fear fluttered in his chest. “And he will never be. I don’t want him to be. Stay away from him.” He whirled, but then paused. He took a breath and turned back to her. “Promise me. Promise me you’ll stay away from him.”
Aurora lifted troubled eyes to him.
“Promise me,” Damien persisted, resisting every urge he felt to run to her and take her into his arms.
She remained silent.
“Aurora,” Damien said firmly.
She bowed her head. “Fine,” she all but whispered.
Her vow did not relieve him. It was reluctant and forced and he knew it was only a matter of time before she broke it. He whirled and left the room. He knew he had only one choice to keep her safe. To keep her away from his father. To keep her clean of his past.
He would have to get rid of his father.
The flickering torchlight washed into the cell.
Tobias looked up. He squinted his eyes against the sudden bright in his dark gloom.
Booted feet stopped just before him. For a long moment, he stared, blinking against the firelight of the torch. He held his arm up, shielding his eyes, to try to see who stood before him. Finally, he lowered his arm. “Damien?”
“No.” The voice was cold.
Tobias scoffed, recognizing the tone and the owner. “Sent you to finish me, did he? Didn’t have the nerve to do it himself?”
“What do you want?”
Tobias stared at the dirt floor.
“Why are you here?”
“I didn’t know you were with him,” Tobias admitted. “Although I should have known.”
“Why have you come to Acquitaine?”
Tobias shook his head. “It was a mistake. I wanted to see my boy. I was foolish to want to talk to him, foolish to think –”
“Save your lies for someone else.”
Tobias shook his head. “I never thought you would be like this. You were always the quiet one, the one I favored.”
“Favored?” An angry chuckle echoed through the darkness. “I remember slaps. I remember kicks and punches. You have a funny way of remembering how you favored me.”
“It was a hard time for me, boy,” Tobias answered. “Don’t dare judge me. You boys were no angels.”
“We were children. And you were too concerned with where your next drink was coming from.”
“After that weakling of a mother died and left me alone with the two of you –”
The torch dropped to the floor. Tobias’s shirt was seized and he was hauled to his feet, slammed back against the dunge
on wall. Gawyn stuck his face close to his father’s, eyes blazing with hatred. “Don’t talk about her. You hear me? Don’t talk about her like that.”
Tobias studied his son’s face; his eyes were burning with angry loathing, his lips curled in a snarl. “Gawyn,” he gasped. Something twisted in his chest. “My boy.”
Gawyn released him and Tobias slid down the wall.
The torchlight rolled across the floor to just beside Gawyn’s foot. The light cast him in flickering shadows of light and dark as Tobias stared up at him.
“Why have you come to Acquitaine?”
“My boy is getting married,” Tobias whispered.
“What do you want?”
“I want to see him. I want to meet his wife.”
“Why?”
“Can’t a father want simply to see his son?”
“You lost your right to call us sons the day you sold us for a bag of gold.”
Tobias’s lip curled. “Will you do it now? Can you shove that dagger into my stomach now?”
Gawyn bent and picked up the torch. He walked to the door.
“You can’t do it. Because my blood runs through your veins. We are family.”
Gawyn stepped out into the hallway, pulling the cell door closed behind him.
“We are family!”
Damien gazed out the window at the dark forest ringing the outer gates of Acquitaine. He tried to pretend the cut didn’t bother him when Aurora and he had made love earlier that night. But he couldn’t deny it to himself. It was a physical sign of his weakness, a reminder of his inabilities. Roke had often reminded him that complacency made one soft.
He couldn’t afford to be soft. Not with his past hovering so near behind him. The count and countess. His father. He stared out over the sleeping lands. The beast inside him stirred, restless. Damien had thought the monster inside him had gone. Only now did he realize he couldn’t afford for it to disappear. A part of him always needed to be the assassin, on alert, protecting, guarding.
The other part of him needed to be a lord, needed to make wise choices. Like Aurora. She was a great ruler because of her compassion for her people. He never had compassion, not until he met her. He glanced over his shoulder at Aurora sleeping on the bed. She was his treasure; she was his light. He would have been lost without her. Now, he wondered what he would do to keep her.
Cherished Protector of Her Heart Page 4
