Lindsey, Johanna - Prisoner Of My Desire
Page 33
affections, then married her before she could catch her breath. Now he had her
convinced that she adored him, when she could not possiblynot a friend of
Warrick?s.
And then last month, when Rowena?s spirits had been particularly low, Anne
showed up with another revelation.
?He loves you. He told me so himself when I asked if he did.?
?Mother!? Rowena had complained, horrified.
?How could you ask him that??
?Because I wanted to know. You certainly never bothered to ask.?
?Of course I would not,? Rowena replied huffily.
?If a man cannot say it on his own, without having it pried out of him?
?That?s just it, my dear. When I then asked if he had told you, he said he did
not know how.?
Her mother would not lie about thatbut Warrick would. Tell a mother exactly what
she wants to hear. How underhandedly clever of him.
But it meant naught to her. She was not going to break down and marry the man,
even if he was proving to her that she was not as dead inside as she had thought,
that her heart could still race when he was near herthat she could still crave
his body, even in her condition! But her awakened desires made no difference.
She was not going to play the fool again and open her heart to another rending.
Today she sat in the window embrasure of her room. She might be Lady of Tures
now, but she had wanted the familiarity of her old chamber when she arrived here,
rather than the much larger solar.
She patted the cushioned seat under her, smiling smugly because it was so much
nicer than Warrick?s hard benches in his window alcoves. Of course, he had two
windows, while she had only the one, and his had costly glass, whereas hers had
been broken during one of the recent sieges. It now had just a thin oilcloth
covering that she could barely see through ordinarily, but it had come loose and
was flapping in the April wind, giving her clear glimpses of the road that
snaked around to the gatehouse. Twas still empty, that road, except for a
traveling merchant and his baggage wain that could not hold her interest.
?Twas not the first time the window had been broken. She had broken it herself
when she was nine, an accident, but it had not been replaced for nearly two
years. The window overlooked the forebuilding, which was one story lower than r
the tower. Its top floor housed the chapel, and ?twas the roof of this that she
looked down on just six feet below her window, though a little to the left of it,
for the front wall of the forebuilding was actually directly below it.
Rowena had jumped out that window once before it was repaired, landing right on
the footwide battlements, then hopping down the other three feet to the chapel
roof. She had done it on a dare to frighten another maid.
She had frightened the other girl, all right, who had run straight to Anne
screaming that Rowena was dead, fallen out the window straight down to the
forebuilding stairs, which did happen to be under the left half of her window,
and two stories down. Rowena had wished she were dead after the tongue lashing
she had received, as well as confinement in her room for? she could not remember
how long now.
She smiled with the memory as she patted the huge girth of her belly. Her own
daughter would never do anything so foolish, not with the iron bars Rowena would
have installed over her windows. But she could now understand her mother?s
frightened rage. She could have killed herself. One slight misstep and she would
have turnbled?
?Daydreaming, my lady??
Rowena went deathly still. It could not be. But she turned, and it was Gilbert
inside her door, closing her door, walking toward her.
?How did you get through the gates??
He laughed.
?That was the easy part. Today is merchants? day, when they come up from the
town to tempt your ladies to part with a few coins. So today I am a merchant.
Tis getting an army inside that is difficult, not one man.?
?Do you still have an army to speak of??
That got rid of his good humored boasting.
?Nay, but Mary be praised!? he exclaimed when he was close enough to see her
rounded form.
?So it worked.?
That calculating look came over him, where she could almost hear the exact bent
of his greedy thoughts.
?You will not claim this is Lyons child. I will deny itand Warrick de Chaville
knows better.?
?That is right,? he snarled.
?He had you!?
?You gave me to him!? she shouted back.
?Or do you forget that it was your idea, your greed??
?Be quiet!? he hissed, looking back nervously at the door.
?It matters not whom the child belongs to, as long as I can make use of it.?
She stared at him wide eyed.
?You do still think to claim Kirkburough? How can you??
?I have to. I have naught else. Even now that bastard has besieged my last keep.
I cannot go there. I have nowhere to go, Rowena.?
She realized he wanted her to understand and mayhap feel sympathy for him. She
wondered if Warrick had driven him a little crazy in his relentless hounding of
him. Or was this what desperation did to a man?
Her brows narrowed suspiciously.
?That cannot be why you came here, for you knew naught about the child. What did
you come here for, Gilbert??
?To marry you.?
?You are mad!?
?Nay, you have back all of your properties, all in your control,? he said,
explaining his reasoning.
? Tis profitable to wed you now, for as your husband?
?I swore fealty to Warrick,? she lied.
?He will not let you have me.?
?He cannot stop me. Let him try. He will have to retake those castles he gave
back to you, as well as your others. He will deplete his own resources this time,
and then I will have him at last.?
?Gilbert, why can you not give this up? You have lost. Why do you not leave the
country while you still can? Go to Louis?s court, or Henry?s. Start anew.?
?I have not lost, now that I have you.?
?But you do not have me,? she told him calmly.
?If I would not marry Warrick, whom I love, God knows I would not marry you,
whom I detest. I would as soon jump out this window. Shall I prove it??
?Do not speak foolishness!? he snapped, furious at her threat and her revelation
of her love for his enemy. But at the moment, he was more concerned with the
threat, for she sat too close to that window.
?Ifif you do not want me to bed you, then I will not, but I have to marry you,
Rowena. I have no choice now.?
?Nay, you do have a choice,? Warrick said from the doorway.
?Draw your sword and I will show you.?
Rowena was so startled by his appearance, she did not have a chance to react
when Gilbert leaped toward her and placed a dagger at her throat.
?Drop your own sword, Fulkhurst, or she dies,? Gilbert ordered, his voice almost
exultant with triumph.
?Warrick, do not!? Rowena cried, assuring him ?He will not kill me.?
But Warrick was not listening to her. He was already throwing his sword down.
That easily would he give away his life? Why, unless? ?
?Come here now,? Gilbert o
rdered him.
Rowena?s eyes flared incredulously when Warrick took a step forward without the
least hesitation. He was actually going to walk to Gilbert and just let him kill
him. Nay, not while she still had her wits about her.
Gilbert stood near her, but closer to the entrance to the alcove than across
from her. His dagger was not even touching the skin at her throat, and his eyes
were only on Warrick.
Rowena drew her knees up and kicked him toward Warrick, then immediately swung
her legs over the window ledge and slipped outside. She heard both men shout her
name as her feet touched on the flat square of the battlements with a jarring
impact. God?s mercy, it had been so easy when she was youngerand not so
encumbered. Jumping the last three feet to the roof of the chapel was out of the
question. She was carefully sitting down on the edge of the wall to ease herself
the rest of the way down when Gilbert stuck his head out the window and saw her.
?Damn you, Rowena, you frightened me half to death!? he roared at her.
Only half? God?s mercy, when was she going to get lucky?
But he did not stay there to berate her further. The sound of swords meeting in
deadly combat came clearly through the window to tell her what had distracted
him. So the two of them had finally got their wish to kill each other? Never
mind that she was out here sitting on the edge of the battlements wall with a
hundred foot drop to the bailey at her backwell, seventy five feet mayhap, since
the forebuilding was not as high as the tower.
The cramp caught her unawares, making her sway, then gasp as she nearly lost her
balance. Heart racing, she no longer took her time getting to the roof, but
jumped the remaining distance. Twas another jarring landing, and another cramp
protested it. She bent over this time, holding her breath until it eased, but
then a cold chill passed over her. Nay, not now. Her daughter could not want to
be born now.
She glanced back at her window as she got a firm footing on the two foot wide
stone wallwalk that surrounded the flat wooden roof of the chapel. Though she
was compelled to get back up there to watch what was happening in her room, she
doubted she could manage it without help. Getting down off the three foot high
battlements was one thing, climbing back onto the narrow, crenellated edge of it
quite another. She could do it, but she was too unwieldy in shape just now to
make it a safe undertaking.
There was the large trapdoor in the chapel roof, however, near her feet. It
allowed men up here during an attack, to shoot arrows from the cover of the
crenellations. It dropped down about twenty feet to the chapel, but required a
ladder to be used. Twas the only entry to these battlements aside from her
window.
No ladder would be there now, she knew, but she threw open the door anyway and
leaned over to look down. Father Paul was not likely to be there either this
late of the morn, but she called his name anyway. As expected, there was no
response, so she merely shouted ?Help!? instead.
That got her more response than she wanted. A servant came running into the
chapel, but he was no more than a boy, and all he did was stare up at her in
amazement. And before she could tell him to fetch a ladder, Gilbert was climbing
out on the window ledge with sword in hand.
?Move back!? he shouted at her just before he jumped straight to the wall walk.
But Rowena did not move, too paralyzed with fear that his appearance meant
Warrick was dead. He bumped into her when he landed, not hard, but enough to
send her back a few feet. He was already weary from fighting Warrick. One of his
legs buckled as he landed on the stone walk, and he fell toward the roof. But
his knee came down right into the opening of the trapdoor. That threw him even
more off balance, and he would have fallen right through the hole, but his belly
struck hard against the edge of the trap, holding his body there. He had been
hurt, the breath knocked out of him, his sword skidding across the roof, yet he
was able to climb out of the hole easily enough.
And Rowena just stood there, numb with the thought that Warrick was dead. She
made no move to push Gilbert through the hole while she had the chance, no move
to get his sword and toss it over the wall. She just stood there, spellbound
with horror? until Warrick landed right in front of her.
She shrieked in startlement, moved back yet again, coming up against the low
wall behind her. He just grinned at her in reassurance, then went right after
Gilbert, who had already retrieved his sword.
Her relief was cut short by another pain, not as sharp as the others, but deeper,
and worse for that. She ignored it, however, watching the two men hacking away
at each other.
They moved back and forth across the small area. Rowena moved out of the way
when necessary, careful to avoid the trapdoor, which was still open, as well as
the swinging swords. More pains came that she continued to ignore. But finally
the fight was confined to the area opposite the trapdoor, so she was able to
move to it to find out what was keeping help from arriving. Help had come. More
servants were below, grouped around the altar cloth they were holding, and one
shouted up for her to jump.
Idiots! She was not a lightweight to go bouncing on altar cloths. She would rip
that thin cloth in twain, if it did not rip out of their hands with her landing.
Either way, she would end up flat on the stone floor, most likely dead.
But suddenly the choice was taken out of her hands as the fight came back her
way. Gilbert backed into her unawares, shoving her right into the hole. She
screamed as she felt naught but air beneath her feet. He turned and grabbed her
with his free arm, but her extra weight caught him off guard, and he had to drop
his sword to use two arms to keep her from disappearing through the hole. He
turned his back on Warrick to do this, with no thought other than of saving
Rowena.
She held on to him for dear life, and was too shaken to release him even after
she was yanked away from the hole and had purchase for her feet again.
Warrick, forgotten for the while, brought himself back to mind.
?Step away from her, d?Ambray.?
The inherent threat in those words, as well as the sword point that came across
Rowena?s shoulder to press against Gilbert?s chest, was incentive to do as told.
But Gilbert did not release her, his hands tightened on her instead, and Rowena
knew him well enough to know where his thoughts were going.
?He will not believe a threat to my life after you have just saved it,? she told
him.
The expression those words brought to Warrick?s face was almost comical in its
frustration. Rowena turned in time to see it and was disgusted in reading it
correctly. He truly did not wanf to let Gilbert go now that he had him, but to
kill him now would not be part of their knightly code of fair exchanges. A saved
life was always worth a just reward. But this life in particular Rowena still
found despicable. If Warrick had to turn forgiving, could he not have waited a
few more Forgiving? Warrick?
Had the vengeful dragon of the north really changed
that much?
He had, but he was not exactly happy about it himself. His snarl was less than
gracious as he lowered his sword.
?I give you your life do you trouble me no more.?
Gilbert had never been one to thumb his nose at a golden opportunity.
?Give me back Ambray as well.?
Rowena gasped at Gilbert?s audacity.
?Nay, Warrick, do not! He does not deserve?
?/ will decide what your life is worth, Rowena,? Warrick cut in.
?As it happens, a castle nay, a hundred castlescannot compare with what you mean
to me.?
Not very romantically put, to be compared to stone edifices, but ?twas the
meaning behind the words that counted and rendered her speechless, long enough
for Warrick to tell Gilbert ?You would have to swear vasselage to me.?
Gilbert did not hesitate, amused at the irony of having Warrick sworn to protect
him.
?Done. And Rowena?
The sword came back up, and Warrick?s expression was now dangerous rather than
just chagrined.
?Rowena will be my wife once she agrees. In either case, she will never be in
your care again. Tempt me not to change my mind, d?Ambray. Take what I offer and
count yourself fortunate that I no longer require absolute vengeance.?
That got Rowena released, and she was snatched immediately into Warrick?s arms.
The hard contact brought along another pain, however, to remind her that she had
no more time for their squabbles.
?If you two are finished, my daughter would like to be born now, Warrick, and
not out here on the battlements.?
Both men just stared at her in bemusement, so she added with a lot more volume,
?Now, Warrick!? and got better results. Panic, actually. Verily, men were
ofttimes useless?
Chapter 48
?And what was that swearing about after ?twas over?? Mildred wanted to know as
she laid the baby in Rowena?s arms.
?You did good, my sweet one. He is the veriest angel, the veriest?
?He should have been a she/?
Rowena grumbled, though she could not hold her sour expression once she looked
down at her precious, golden haired baby.
Mildred was chuckling.
?You cannot still be holding that grudge. Look how many months you made the man
suffer. I felt so sorry for him.?
?You did not,? Rowena countered.