Finders Keepers (Norman Brides)

by Wood, Lynn

  For a moment hope sprang in Melissa’s heart and then was quickly dashed as the reason for his fervent pledge asserted itself. “Rhiann told you I was pregnant didn’t she?”

  Luke sighed his frustration at her determination to deny him. “Not Rhiann, Michel.”

  “She promised she wouldn’t tell anyone.”

  “She kept her promise to you, wife. Rhiann was as astonished as I was by Michel’s knowledge of your condition.” When she didn’t respond, he added, “Michel sees things too, doesn’t he?”

  She nodded.

  “The way you and Rhiann do?”

  Just a noncommittal shrug this time.

  “Will our children be like you?”

  Her voice was a whisper when she finally spoke. “Our daughters, likely, but not our sons.”

  “Michel is the exception, because you are twins?”

  Another nod.

  “Your other brothers?”

  This time she shook her head in denial, but dared not meet his probing glance. He thought about the repercussions of her silent admissions.

  “Your father, your other brothers had difficulty accepting your gifts?”

  “Yes.”

  “So your mother pretended for your father’s benefit.”

  “She loved him,” she offered by way of explanation.

  “Do you love me, Melissa?”

  Tearfully she raised her eyes to his. “Yes.”

  Luke let her admission settle around his heart and fill the emptiness there, chasing away his doubts. “I may not share your gifts, Melissa, nor do I understand them, but I can accept them. They are part of you. I would not ask you to cut off a limb to prove your love for me,” he told her, reminding her of the harsh words they exchanged on their wedding night.

  Melissa probed his intent glance, saw the certainty of it, the love she never allowed herself to believe in before, and something hard dissolved within her, something dark and unwanted. She could trust this man with her love. He would not lie to her. Why had it taken her so long to accept that? Her lips parted on a soft sigh of relief and his name emerged as the barest whisper on her lips, “Luke…”

  His arms reached, grasped, held, as his mouth devoured and his heart soared. Laughing, Melissa wrapped her arms around his neck as he swung her up into his arms, then set her down on her feet and used his weight to press her back against the broad trunk of the tree she rested under. Luke’s hands moved boldly over her and Melissa gloried in the rush of the heady feelings swamping her. When he took another step closer she became aware of where his manhood strained against his breeches. Breathless at the evidence of his fierce desire for her, Melissa leaned her head back and let him take, touch, tantalize, his mouth, his hands, as her own busied themselves beneath his shirt and sought out his hot flesh.

  She was aware of Luke fumbling with the ties of his breeches even as his other hand lifted her skirts. The feel of his strong hand on her bare skin as his fingers glided up her thigh to seek the promise of the dampness she knew he would find there, had her panting in anticipation. Luke’s groan echoed her own. If he didn’t come to her now, she thought she would die of longing. His fingers found her, stroked her, until Melissa could no longer stand on her own. Her legs collapsed beneath her and it was only Luke’s strength keeping her upright. “God, Luke, yes, it’s been so long.”

  She waited for him to free his fierce erection from the confines of his breeches and just as he would have thrust himself into her burning heat the sound of feminine laughter reached them, coming from the path. Melissa gasped and froze in his arms and quickly pushed his hand away from her pulsing core so she could right her skirts.

  Luke’s eyes closed and he couldn’t prevent his groan of denial as he forced himself to sheath his male sword and secure the ties of his breeches with hands that fumbled so badly one would have thought he was a virgin on his first foray into love’s sweet promise. At the audible sound of his male frustration, Melissa giggled and swept up her hand to cover her mouth, even as the sound of feminine laughter grew closer until they knew their solitary retreat was about to be violated.

  He bent and whispered in her ear, “It is a fortuitous chance you already carry my heir, because I am not certain I will be fathering many more children if I am forced to restrain myself in your presence much longer.”

  Delighted laughter escaped at his pronouncement and taking pity on him, Melissa turned her head to whisper against his ear. “Later.”

  At the look in his eyes, Melissa blushed and reached for his hand just as half a dozen young maids entered the clearing through the break in the trees and stopped short at the sight of the two of them standing close beneath the tree. Younger than Melissa, they blushed to see a man in what Luke belatedly realized was a strictly feminine province. Didn’t Alissa tell him this area of the stream was where the women bathed? He smiled in the direction of the blushing girls before allowing his wife to lead him into the woods. She stopped when they were out of sight of the young maids and pulled him off the path. His manly lusts immediately jumped to the conclusion she was leading him to a secluded spot where they could finish what his confused male urgings were still focused on.

  “I have a favor to ask of you,” she confessed shyly as she halted only a few feet from the path, and his reeling thoughts noted they were definitely not far enough to afford them the privacy they would need for what he was still eagerly contemplating.

  Drawing upon his diminishing self-control, he responded with a tender smile at the sight of her wary expression, “Anything. As long as it doesn’t involve chasing you across Saxony.”

  She blushed. Both mystified and charmed, he prodded, “Melissa?”

  His wife was obviously struggling to get the words of her request out. “Will you marry me?”

  Stunned and confused by her plea, Luke queried. “I don’t understand. If my memory has not failed me completely, I believe we are already wed-twice, to my way of thinking. How many times do I need to pledge myself to you before you accept my intentions are honorable?”

  Melissa’s blush deepened at his gentle mockery. “I’m sorry. It’s only my grandmother. For her, it would be nice. She’s been through so much.”

  Luke was relieved by the ease with which he could grant her request. “Of course.”

  “You will?”

  He grinned at her hopeful expression. “Does it mean I get another wedding night with my bride?”

  Catching a hint of his lighthearted mood, Melissa’s lips twitched. “Yes.”

  “Can we get married tonight?”

  Laughing at his eager agreement, his current and future wife jumped into his arms and rained happy, carefree kisses across his face before just as suddenly pulling away and tugging him back along the path toward the clearing.

  Chapter Twenty Five

  They wed with the music of the falls playing in the background. Luke couldn’t help but wonder as he stood awaiting his bride if they were the same falls she’d run afoul of as a child in her desperate attempt to prove herself the equal of her brother. He recognized she’d never grown out of the need to do so even though it was no longer necessary. Her feminine weapons were more disarming to any male of the species than the sharp blade she wore strapped to her thigh. He belatedly recalled his brother’s vicious assault and decided it would not be such a bad idea after all if his own daughters were trained in the ways of defense. There was no question had his bride lacked them that pivotal night he would not be now anticipating another wedding night with her.

  His thoughts were suddenly so busy with visions of the night ahead he didn’t immediately see his bride standing at the end of the make-shift aisle preparing to come to him on Amele’s arm. She was dressed in a rich white gown with intricate stitching along the modest neckline and tiny sparkling jewels woven among the silk and lace of the gown. It was a dress worthy of a queen and he wondered if it had been her grandmother’s wedding gown. The small mystery could not hold him for long as in that instant their ey
es met and he was lost in the joyous promise he read in hers. His throat was suddenly dry and his palms were sweating, as a stark fear struck him that this was all a dream and the woman he loved and dreamt of, the one he longed for every night of their separation had died in that damp cave from the injuries she sustained at his foul brother’s hands.

  It wasn’t until Amele placed her hand in his and his own grasp closed firmly around the warmth of her flesh he was able to chase away the dark premonition that his newfound happiness was destined to be a brief one. He could almost hear his half-brother’s mocking laughter whisper on the cool night breeze. “Take what pleasure you can in your whore this night, for tomorrow she will belong to me and mine.”

  Luke gave an involuntary shiver at the darkness that passed through him as his dead brother’s promise slithered up his spine. He longed to pick his bride up and race off into the night where he would lock her up behind the impenetrable walls of his home, with guards surrounding her so no harm would ever come to her and he would never again have to face the desolation of a life without her. The puzzled look in his bride’s striking blue eyes brought him back to the moment. He shook off his feelings of foreboding and smiled reassuringly down into her lovely face. There was no hint of an echoing shadow in her expression, and wasn’t his wife’s family the ones better acquainted with the business of dark omens and their meanings? Seeing none of his own dark portents reflected in Melissa’s expression, he shook off his own, chiding himself for allowing Mason’s memory to disrupt what promised to be the best night of his life.

  He smiled down into his bride’s eyes and squeezing her hand they turned together to approach the natural altar fashioned from flowers and tree limbs. There was no priest to officiate, so instead they turned to face each other and recited their vows in front of his wife’s grandmother and the hundreds of her people who crowded into the clearing to see the new keeper of the stone wed to her Norman husband.

  Luke was mesmerized by the look in his bride’s eyes as she pledged herself to him, body, soul and unquenchable spirit. He understood, despite their previous vows to each other before the king in the house of God, and in the dark cave prior to their official ceremony, this was the joining Melissa would remember as their wedding night. He did not need the prompting of the absent priest to seal these new vows between them with a kiss. His arms swept around his bride and lifted her off her feet until their eyes and lips were aligned. This time there was no wariness or hesitancy in Melissa’s expression when she regarded him. She flung her own arms around his neck and met his kiss with a fervor to match his own, much to the delight and loud approval of the surrounding crowd.

  Reluctantly releasing his eager bride, Luke lowered her back to the earth and together they turned to kneel before Alyssa to ask for her blessing on their union. Smiling with a contentment that was missing when he met her for the first time the previous afternoon, the Salusian queen stood and placed her hands on both of their shoulders and recited a blessing Luke could only half follow in the Salusian tongue. Then for what he suspected was solely for his benefit and that of his men in attendance, she repeated her benediction in the traditional Latin of the church.

  Feasting and music and dancing followed. Melissa was drawn from his side by her waiting attendants and Luke was reluctantly led in the opposite direction of his bride. He was careful not to imbibe too freely in the wine he was served, recalling his regrettable experience that first night with Michel and waking up with a throbbing headache the next day. He had no need of any artificial courage or promised enhancement of his enjoyment of his bride on this, in his mind, their third wedding night. Looking over his shoulder in search of her, he wondered how long he would be forced to wait before he could free himself of the boisterous company of the Salusian warriors surrounding him.

  He was in no mood to bemoan the loss of his single status. He was quite certain no other man had ever looked forward with more eagerness to their joking promises of the boring routine of married life about to fall upon him. If only he could be certain their predictions would prove accurate, he would be a contented groom. He decided they didn’t know his wife as well as Luke assumed they must, if they somehow believed Melissa, by way of the vows they just exchanged, was about to be transformed into a model of wifely obedience. He at least suffered from no such delusions.

  The music took on a new, festive note and Luke could sense the anticipation rustling through the gathered crowd. He turned at Amele’s urging and allowed himself to be led to a chair that was set up in the center of the circle formed by those gathered to witness the coming spectacle. Luke shot Amele a hesitant glance, wondering if there was yet some additional challenge he was about to be forced to overcome in order to claim his bride. He caught sight of Rafe’s grinning face in the crowd, along with the men who accompanied him from Normandy on his search for Michel, and exchanging a wry glance with his friend, sat down in the chair Amele indicated. Luke was not particularly concerned at the prospect of the coming trial. He knew whatever it was nothing was going to keep him from claiming his bride tonight. So it was with an amiable and accepting grin, Luke settled back in the chair and looked curiously around for a hint of what was about to break over his unsuspecting head.

  Never in his wild imaginings did his suspicions approach the truth. The music suddenly ramped up in pace and urgency until the melody swept over him in a mood of wild abandonment urging him to jump off his chair and join in the dance that had yet to commence. Just when he thought he could not bear the anticipation a moment longer, women in festive dresses and wide colorful skirts appeared and twirled around him, weaving in and out, their hands joined, their lithe feminine forms inciting an answering passion already slumbering within him at the prospect of the night awaiting him in his wife’s welcoming embrace.

  He looked for her familiar face among who he surmised were the young, unwed virgins swaying around him. Despite their lovely offerings, he was not tempted by the promise of their beckoning arms and sultry glances. He had already sampled the superior fruits of his wife’s enchantment, and no other could ever hold the same fascination. For him Melissa represented the feminine ideal every man held close in his heart. Somehow he’d found her among all the women in the world, despite the enmity between their countries, despite the careless chances she took with her life, despite his brother’s attempt to claim her first and then when she no longer served his debauched lust, take his pleasure in slowly killing her. So when he caught sight of her coming toward him, the faces of every other woman blurred together and then disappeared completely from his thoughts. All his manly desire coalesced in this one woman until he was dizzy with the scent of her and the promise in her sapphire eyes.

  Finally unable to restrain himself a moment longer he knocked the chair over in his haste to reach her, and to the loud cheer from the circling crowd, caught his wife in his arms and strode off at a brisk pace in the direction of the white tent he could see set up for them in the distance near the falls. Their eyes met and held as he bent to claim the lips that curved upward in an answering smile at the evidence of his haste.

  In a near frenzy to sate his desperate longing he strode through the entrance of the tent and when he would have laid her down on the pallet awaiting them, his bride slipped from his embrace. His ability to reason was so blurred by passion he just stood in the center of the tent confused by the way his wife seemed intent on evading his touch. “Melissa?”

  She smiled at his question and the bewilderment revealed in his expression. She stepped closer and reached for his hand. Flowers filled the tent and gave off a heady scent, further clouding his thoughts. She reached up and began undoing the ties of his crisp, white shirt, and explained softly, her lips sliding along his neck at the same time her soft, womanly hands reached beneath the shirt and found his hard, burning flesh. “It is for me to serve my lord this night, to offer myself to you and give you all that is inside of me. I belong to you now, husband. Will you allow me to show you how pleased I a
m to be your wife?”

  Luke couldn’t force the words passed the tightness in his throat, so he simply nodded. His head was spinning as much from the promise in her husky voice, as from the scent of the hundreds of flowers that filled the tent. Her hands glided lightly over his skin, drawing him into the web of enchantment she wove around him made him forget about everything but the fact that they were together again after their long separation. All of his attention was focused on the whisper of her voice gliding along his jaw, his neck, the touch of her lips against his ear. When she removed his shirt, a sigh of satisfaction escaped those same lips as they passed over his skin, paused to allow her tongue to play with his hard nipples then continued gliding down his chest, across his hard stomach, to where his breeches could not hide the evidence of her effect on him. He thought he must still be standing but he couldn’t be certain as it was taking every last ounce of his will to keep from pushing his wife down into the waiting pallet, throwing her skirts above her head and claiming what she finally conceded was his right to own.

  He thought he knew his bride intimately. He believed he would have been able to predict how this night would be, what it would mean to him. He assumed he was familiar with every inch of her womanly flesh, that he’d heard every soft cry, every surprised gasp of pleasure as flesh met flesh then limbs slid along probing each curve, each angle before joining and becoming one. He thought he remembered the build-up, the intensity of feeling, the exquisite joy of watching her face as she rose above him, the tension building along with the pleasure, until all of that driving energy and spirit reached a new high, and on a cry of indescribable joy she surrendered to their joint need. He watched her fly, then fall back to earth and settle around him, her heart pounding, her hair spread out like a blanket around them, cocooning them behind a veil only the two of them could pierce.