The Protector

by Madeline Hunter

  “Nay, my lord, I will go with the old goat. I wouldn't know what to do without that scowling face frowning at me all day.”

  The other vassals gave up all pretense of not enjoying themselves at Haarold's expense. They teased him as he cursed and mounted the horse. Gervaise reached down and grasped Anna's hand before falling in beside her husband. Low bickering could be heard until they passed below the portcullis.

  Morvan turned to the circle of men in front of him. “Is there anything else that requires my attention right now? Nay? Good.”

  Anna gave a startled shriek as Morvan abruptly scooped her up in his arms and turned to the keep. Then he kissed her, and she barely heard the hoots and whistles that followed them through the hall to the solar.

  “You risked too much.”

  His voice caught her in the middle of a sensual stretch. They had made love fiercely, savagely, and then slowly, gratefully. The chamber was still drenched with their poignant emotion, and with their profound awareness that they had almost lost each other.

  His quiet statement startled her. She froze. She had hoped that he wouldn't think about that for a day or so.

  “Any number of things could have gone wrong,” he added.

  “But they didn't. It worked.” She had decided that her success would be her best defense.

  “Gurwant might have stopped the wagon away from the dais.”

  “I assumed that he would want you to see it.”

  “He might not have let Marguerite stand beside me.”

  “He needed her out of the way, not underfoot.”

  “The horses might not have followed your stallion.”

  “They did before.”

  “Gurwant might have just killed you when he saw you. One arrow from a longbow would have done it.”

  “That would have been too simple. He enjoyed humiliating people too much for that.” She stroked her fingers through his hair. “Aye. I risked much. It was not without danger. But it worked, Morvan. And I would do it again.”

  He rose up on his arm. His gaze drifted along her body, and his hand touched her belly.

  Now they were down to it.

  “You endangered more than yourself. You should have stayed at La Roche de Roald.” His voice sounded more thoughtful than angry.

  “And let you die? Then what? I raise this child alone? Or perhaps your King sends me another husband?”

  “If your plan had not succeeded, and Gurwant had killed me and taken you, he would have claimed that the child was his.”

  “I left a document, witnessed by Ruth and Catherine and the town priest. I left a sworn statement that I carried your child.”

  “Did anyone else know? Ascanio?”

  “None other, especially not Ascanio or Carlos. They would never have let me come if they did. They are both getting as protective as you.”

  He pulled her to him, embracing the length of her, his rough hand caressing from her shoulders to her knees. Her kiss met his greedily. Still, it seemed that this conversation had not really been completed.

  “So how angry are you, Morvan? Are you going to forever blame me for putting your unborn child in danger?”

  “Considering that I am alive and not dead, it would be ungrateful of me to blame you for anything. I find no anger in me. There aren't many men whose wives would risk so much for them.” He was quiet and thoughtful, his fingers stroking absently along her back. “The child changes things, though. I cannot let you leave now.”

  “I never asked to leave. You are the one who found living together too hard.”

  He turned her on her back and rose up over her. “That is not true. I wanted you to find contentment.”

  “You wanted to throw out our bargain. You gave me a choice, Morvan, and the choice was to change or to leave. Well, I can't leave now, so the choice is gone. But I can't change either, nor do I want to. You knew what you got in me, and I gave you fair warning on this.”

  His eyes sparkled in amusement as he listened to her little speech. She couldn't imagine what he found so humorous about being told that she planned to make his life miserable for the next forty years.

  “And if not for the child, Anna, what would you have done?” he asked softly.

  She looked into those bright eyes that could mesmerize her still. “What would you have had me do, Morvan?”

  He lifted her hand and kissed each finger and then the palm. “I have been in love with you since that first night.” He said it simply, as if he had done so many times before. He did not speak of mere desire, or the love of friendship. She wondered if her surprise showed, and if he could tell that her breath had caught.

  “It is a rare love that we have, Anna, and not given to many, I think. Certainly never to me before. I would have let you go, but it would have broken my heart. I would have had you stay.”

  She pulled him down, holding him tightly and kissing him desperately.

  “And I could never have left.”

  CHAPTER 26

  ANNA WALKED ALONG the battlements bordering the field, relishing the warm sun and cool morning breeze. It promised to be a glorious day, and she decided to enjoy a long ride later. She would have to take an escort. Nothing had changed there, even with Gurwant gone and the estate peaceful.

  It could have been worse. During the weeks since Morvan's rescue she had been holding her breath, waiting for more protective measures because of the unborn child. She had expected him to refuse to let her ride at all now. But whatever Morvan's inclinations, he had let things remain much as before.

  She made her way along the wall walk to where she could survey the end of the field. Within days of their return men had begun raising a high fence down there, enclosing the northern third of the yard. When she had asked Morvan why, he had said that he was building a breeding corral for Shadow and Devil.

  But this fence was too high for such a purpose, and the space it enclosed too large. The mystery fascinated her, and she had come each day to watch the men cut the trees in the forest and hew them to shape, then haul them in and set them in the ground.

  It was finished now. She decided she would go and see if anything had been put inside.

  Morvan entered the bailey just as she reached the stairs. She ran down to him.

  “I wish that you would stop wearing that brown pour-point,” she said, tugging at the garment in exasperation. She had tried once more to embroider it, with painstaking care this time, but it still looked horrible.

  “I find that I favor it. It is comfortable in the warmer weather.”

  “Then at least allow one of the women to redo the stitches.”

  “It suits me as it is.”

  He draped his arm around her and they strolled toward the sea. He sat on a large rock, and pulled her onto his lap. He still never noticed that she was too big for that.

  “The first day that you came, I watched you sitting on this very rock,” she said. “I remember it well. There had just been a glorious sunset, astonishing in its beauty. Watching it had been like seeing a glimpse of heaven, and I felt as though I had melted into the sea and sky itself.”

  A serious, speculative expression passed on his face, as if he found her story fascinating. “I remember that sunset, like everything else about that day.”

  “While it passed I gazed down and here you were, completely unaware of me.”

  “Not so unaware. I had always thought our love was born of my deathwatch, but I realize now that my full awareness of you began on this rock, in the glory of that sunset. I sensed you in it, as I always sensed you afterwards.”

  She remembered the profound empathy she had experienced while she watched him on this rock. Perhaps he was right. She had never been completely separate from him after that.

  “Then I am thankful that I stepped out on the gallery that evening,” she said.

  He kissed her sweetly. “As am I. It opened my heart to learning that paradise can be found in love.”

  They held each other in a mood
as intimate as she had ever known, both looking out to the vast sea and sky. She noticed that Morvan gazed in the direction of England, as he often did when they stood together on the gallery. Their delicious unity led her to broach a worry that had formed in her heart. “Do you intend to try for Harclow this summer?”

  “Nay. It will take a few years to prepare for that. We will let the world right itself first, and make this estate strong again before we turn to Harclow.”

  “We? You speak as though we are together in this.”

  “We are together in everything now. I find that I do not mind the delay, but welcome it. I want to see my son through his first years. When I leave, I want to know that another succeeds me.”

  “It may not be a son, Morvan.”

  “God help that Scottish laird then. If he is wise, he will surrender at once to avoid the chance that your daughter may one day carry my standard.”

  Despite his jest, they were speaking obliquely of realities that might come. “I also welcome the delay. I would not interfere with your destiny, but I want to live awhile in our love before you embark on that dangerous quest.”

  “That sounds very womanish, Anna.”

  “Aye, doesn't it. Perhaps it is the child making me feel thus. Or love.”

  He caressed her face and turned her gaze to his. “Harbor no fears for me. We will live in our love a long while, until we are old. I am as sure of it as I am that the sun will sink into the sea again tonight. I was not led to this rocky cliff to only know a brief love.”

  She believed him. The worry disappeared, consumed by the certainty in his fiery eyes.

  She gestured to the new fence. “Now that it is finished, are you going to tell me what it is?”

  “I already told you. When we breed the two of them I will want Devil here in case I need him.”

  “It is much too elaborate for that. A simple post and rail would suffice.”

  “I thought that would be too public for the virginal Shadow. I assumed that she was modest like her mistress.” He set her on her feet. “Let us see if it meets with your approval.”

  The enclosure was larger than it looked from the battlements. There was nothing to see inside, except an old chest in one corner.

  “Actually, I thought that you could plant a garden here,” Morvan said. “A rose garden.”

  “I already have a rose garden, but, aye, some fruit trees and bushes. Flowers in the summer—”

  “I was jesting. It is not for a garden, love.”

  “Then what?”

  “I have been talking with Carlos. I have asked him to become steward for all the farms. He will have less time for the horses. I thought you might help with them.”

  She was speechless with surprise.

  “Don't you want to do it?” he asked.

  “Of course I do.”

  “The rotation of the guards will change so that each morning a relief guard rides out and each afternoon the one that he replaces comes back. When you need to go to the horse farm, you can ride with them.” He gestured around the enclosure. “When the child is born you may not be able to go so often. Horses can be brought here for you to train.”

  She assessed the space. For close work it would be big enough. The high walls would keep the horses from getting distracted by the bailey activities.

  “Aren't you afraid that I will fall off a stallion and harm myself or the child?”

  “A woman who can lead an army has the sense not to risk her neck or her unborn child. I think that you will know when to stop in the months ahead, and that you won't take any chances with dangerous games.”

  “I won't stand on a horse's back, if that is what you mean.”

  “That is what I mean.”

  He walked to the chest, threw it open, and called her over. There were some sacks inside, and on top of them a brown tunic. He lifted the garment and handed it to her. “Put it on, Anna. Catherine sewed it for you.”

  She stared in confusion. He reached down and pulled a sword from one of the sacks. “This was a gift to me from David. Now it is my gift to you. It is lighter weight than most. You should be able to handle it with one arm and learn to depend on your shield more.” He slid a new shield from the other sack and propped both weapons against the chest.

  “You can practice with the bow at the farm,” he said. “But you may use the sword only here and only with me. I want your promise on that. It is intended only for exercise, and for your pleasure. No matter how skilled you get, you will never be strong enough to face a trained man and you must avoid doing so whenever possible.”

  The implications astonished her. “You will teach me?”

  “Aye.”

  “Sooner or later I will get hurt, you know.”

  “With my skill it will be much later, and I will be careful.”

  “Not too careful, I hope. I'll never learn anything then.”

  He laughed. “Are you going to change, or should we go back to the keep?”

  She began stripping off her gown. She glanced over her shoulder.

  “It is too high,” he reassured her. “None can see. Ascanio helped me check the sight lines while the first wall went up.”

  So Ascanio had been consulted too, as well as Catherine and Carlos. Everyone who mattered most to her had helped Morvan plan this surprise.

  She stepped out of the gown and tossed it aside. Her shift followed. Naked except for her gartered hose and shoes, she reached for the tunic, but paused.

  “Looking for this?” Morvan pulled a long silk scarf from the front of his pourpoint. He helped her bind it around her breasts. “But I get to take it off,” he added quietly.

  She thrust her arms into the brown tunic. It was short-sleeved and came to her knees, but it had been made to fit her.

  Morvan was enjoying her surprise and pleasure. She skipped over and embraced him. “Why are you doing this?”

  He wrapped his hand in her curls. “I had much time to think while in Haarold's cell, my love. All of this seems very unimportant now. Twice you have snatched me from the jaws of death, and both times you then gave me a magnificent gift. First it was yourself, and now it is this child. These are simple things in comparison.”

  “They aren't simple to me, Morvan. I don't think that I've ever loved you more than right now.”

  “Nor I you. But it would be a sad thing if my love kept you from being the woman I fell in love with. In truth, I have always thought the sight of you in a tunic and carrying a weapon exciting. That was the image I held in my heart the night I waited for Gurwant to kill me.” He gestured to the sword. “Let us start. God willing, you will never need weapons for other than sport, but in the hell that is the world today, one never knows. If my protection should ever fail, I would have you and the child be no man's victims.”

  “If we work at this seriously, it will be much like being in battle. It will leave me very restless, I expect.”

  The lights that entered his dark eyes made her heart skip. “I am counting on it.”

  She picked up the sword and shield. They felt good and natural in her hands.

  Exulting in her strength and love, she faced him.

  Read on for a sneak peek at the next scintillating historical romance

  by

  Madeline Hunter

  SECRETS

  of

  SURRENDER

  Coming in June 2008

  SECRETS OF SURRENDER

  On sale in June 2008

  CHAPTER ONE

  Miss Longworth walked beside him like a queen. Kyle admired how well she hid her humiliation. No one else saw the moistness in her eyes.

  She almost broke once the doors closed behind them. Almost. One long pause in her steps, one deep inhale, and she walked on.

  She refused to acknowledge him. Of course not. She was in a very vulnerable position now. They both knew she was at his mercy. The amount he had bid gave her good reason to worry.

  Nine hundred and fifty pounds. How impulsively reck
less. He had been an idiot. The alternative had been to allow that sordid auction to take its own course, however. Fat, pliable George would not have won, either.

  Sir Maurice Fenwick had been determined to have her, and the way he examined the property for sale did not speak well of his intentions. Sir Maurice's dark excesses were infamous.

  “I called for my carriage,” he said. “Go up with the footman here and pack. He will carry your baggage down. Be quick about it.”

  Her posture straightened more, if that was possible. “I will not need to pack. Everything up there was ill-gotten, and I want no reminder of the man who gave it.”

  “You have more than paid for every garment and jewel. You would be a fool to leave them behind.”

  Her exquisite face remained calm and perfect, but the glint in her eyes dared him to make a horrible night worse.

  “As you wish.” He shrugged off his frock coat and placed it around her shoulders. He beckoned her to follow him.

  “I am not going with you.”

  “Trust me, you are. Now, before Norbury thinks twice about allowing it.”

  She kept her gaze skewed to the side of his head. She might have been looking past an obstructing piece of furniture.

  He admired her pride. Right now, however, it was ill timed and a nuisance. He wondered if she realized how perilous her position had been back there… and still was.

  “I am sure you know that I did not agree to that spectacle, Mr. Bradwell.”

  “You didn't? Well, damnation. How disappointing.”

  “You sound amused. You have a peculiar sense of humor.”

  “And you have chosen a bad time and place for this conversation.”

  She refused to budge. “If I go with you, where will you be taking me?”

  “Perhaps to a brothel, so you can earn back what I will be paying Lord Norbury. To be deprived of both the price and the prize doesn't seem fair, does it?”