Terran stared down into her eyes. Then his own gaze traveled over her features inch by inch. Her lashes were long and dark, closed partly over those liquid blue eyes. Her nose was pert and delicate, her skin flawless and creamy. He feathered his fingertips over her cheek. Her skin was warm and soft, everything he’d imagined.
Her lips captured his gaze. Full and ripe.
Terran lowered his head, moving his lips closer to hers. “It will do no good for you to fight,” he murmured. He’d come here to compromise her and had expected some resistance. He hadn’t expected her to be so... willing.
His lips touched hers softly, caressing them with feather light strokes.
She wasn’t fighting. She wasn’t pushing him away. She was simply standing, unmoving, in his hold. She wanted him to kiss her. The thought sent waves of desire crashing over him.
He pressed his lips against hers, pulling her firmly to him. She was so soft against his hard body. He moved his hand down her shoulder to cup her full breast. She gasped slightly, arching against his hand. God’s blood! he thought as desire flared through him. She wants me to touch her!
Where had she been? The thought came unbidden, and he reared back suddenly. A rendezvous. She’d been out with a lover. It was the only reason she would have been out so late at night, the only reason she’d let him touch her. Warmed by the caress of another man. Of course. It all made sense now.
Her partly closed eyes opened wider as the moment was lost. She jerked as if to flee his embrace, but Terran held her tightly.
Obviously her lover had left her unsatisfied. “It’s too late for escape,” Terran growled, fiercely angry. He stepped forward, using his body to push her back onto the bed. The impetus toppled him toward her, but he caught himself on his arms before landing hard on top of her and hurting her. “I will not have my wife running around at midnight like the village harlot.”
She pushed against his chest. “I am not your wife,” she ground out.
He’d fought for everything worthwhile in his life, his reputation, his skill as a warrior. He would fight for Bria. Even tainted, she was his. He seized her wrists in one hand and pinned them above her head. With his other hand, he reached around to undo the hooks that fastened her dress.
“Don’t,” she snarled and twisted, trying to break his hold.
But his hold was tight and unrelenting. No wife of his would dare to cuckold him. When he couldn’t unfasten the hooks, his rage and frustration mounted. He pulled fiercely at the fabric, and it ripped across her stomach.
“Stop it!” she screamed.
His lips curled as he gazed down at her torn dress; the shimmering skin bared to him aroused him more than he cared to admit. He lifted his face to hers and froze, letting the torn fabric slip from his fingers.
It wasn’t her rage that halted his movements; it wasn’t her defiance that cooled his anger. It was the tears glistening in her large eyes.
“Stop it,” she whispered through trembling lips.
What am I doing? Terran thought. When Kenric had suggested compromising her, he’d said Bria was just a woman and no woman could stand against Terran’s charm. Terran’s vanity had believed him. He thought she might fight at first, but he believed ultimately she’d enjoy his touch.
The desperate pleas from her lips were not those of a woman enjoying his touch.
The idea of forcing Bria to his will, of forcing any woman, was repulsive. What he’d been about to do to save his castle and his lands sickened him. He rolled off of her and shoved her away from him.
“I’m sorry, Lady Bria,” he murmured. “Betrothed or not, I have no right to treat you like that.”
He looked up at her, but she was hidden in the shadows. Moonlight streamed in through the window, bathing the bed and part of the floor in light.
Terran tried to see her face, but couldn’t. He saw the bottom of her brown velvet skirt near the floor, but that was all. He stood and moved to the foot of the bed.
He would leave come sunrise. He bowed slightly, planning to tell her so, but something caught his eye. A piece of black cloth was lying in the moonlight not far from the bed.
Had he ripped her dress that much? No, Terran remembered, she was wearing brown. It must have been from another dress.
Terran bent to retrieve the cloth. She stepped forward so quickly he almost didn’t reach it first. His hand closed over it and he straightened. When his eyes alighted on her, he noticed the strange coloring of her face. At first, he attributed it to the moonlight. But there was such utter dread and fear in her eyes it caused him to glance down at the black cloth. Was this the source of her terror?
His finger was sticking through what could have been a tear in the black fabric. Fabric as dark as the night. The hair on the back of his neck stood on end. Something wasn’t right. He lifted the piece of fabric and held it before him.
Two eyeholes stared back at him. It was a mask.
The same kind of mask his enemy the Midnight Shadow wore.
Her mask!
Bria couldn’t move. Sheer terror engulfed her as Terran lifted the mask before him. Their struggles must have knocked the bag to the floor and the mask had somehow tumbled out.
He knew she was the Midnight Shadow. He’d throw her in the dungeon, or worse. Have her hanged. Or burned.
What was she to do? She had to come up with some reason the mask would be in her bag. She could feign innocence. What is that doing in my bag? It was ridiculous, but it was the only thing she could think of. Terror closed her throat. She opened her mouth to offer an explanation, but nothing came out.
And then he turned black, condemning eyes to her. Bria recoiled as if he’d thrown a noose around her neck.
“What is this?” he demanded in a voice that brooked no argument.
Bria couldn’t move. She could feel the imaginary noose tighten around her throat. None of her muscles responded to the silent command to run. He would kill her now unless she could think of some reason why she’d have the Midnight Shadow’s mask in her bag. Oh Lord, she begged silently, let something come to me. But no flash of insight came to her, no way out.
“Answer me,” he snarled.
Bria licked her lips to moisten them, but her mouth was dry. “I... I don’t know what that is,” she whispered.
“Liar,” he snapped, closing his fist around the mask. He stepped closer to her and Bria retreated.
Suddenly the door flew open behind Terran. Her father and grandfather entered the dark room, two guards behind them. Bria raced around Terran, all but leaping over the bed to escape his wrath, and fell into the safety of her father’s arms.
“What is going on here?” Lord Delaney demanded, his good arm tightening protectively around Bria’s shoulders.
“I might ask the same of you,” Terran retorted.
Her father’s gaze shifted to Bria and alighted on her torn dress. His gaze snapped back to Knowles, and his jaw clenched furiously. His burning eyes pinned Knowles to the spot.
“You vile filth,” Harry said through clenched teeth. He stepped forward as if he meant to beat Knowles, his hand clenched tightly in a fist.
Terran stepped closer. “Lady Bria will marry me.”
“Enough of this,” Lord Delaney declared.
“Yes, quite,” Terran’s eyes narrowed and he glared at Bria.
His anger sliced through her body like a sword. She wanted to cocoon herself in the safety of her father’s arms, but they weren’t enough to shield her from Terran’s fury.
“Enough of this.” Terran lifted the mask before him, holding it out for all to see.
Bria turned her head from Terran’s gaze to lock eyes with her grandfather. He alone knew she’d seen the fabric. He alone knew how dear she held the story of the Midnight Shadow.
But would he know now she’d chosen to take up her hero’s cause?
Horror and anxiety glittered in Harry’s eyes. His fingers clenched and unclenched.
“What is that?” her father
demanded.
“If I’m not mistaken, it’s the mask of a certain man who’s been robbing my lands. He calls himself the Midnight Shadow,” Terran explained.
“And what does that have to do with my daughter?”
“I found the mask here, in her room,” Terran explained.
Bria shifted her gaze to Terran to find his eyes on her once again. She wanted to bury her face in the safety of her father’s chest as she had when she was young, but this was something she had to face. Bria lifted her chin in the face of Terran’s accusations.
“Tell your father, Bria,” Terran said. “Tell your father of your rendezvous.”
His voice was a mocking caress, teasing, coaxing, a trap waiting to be sprung. Bria closed her mouth defiantly. She met Terran’s gaze evenly and could have sworn she saw hell’s fire burning deep in his black eyes. But despite his heated glare, she would never tell her father she was the Midnight Shadow.
“Tell him your secret,” Terran urged softly.
Bria straightened away from her father’s embrace, bravely facing Terran’s vindictive gaze, refusing to relinquish her secret.
“Tell us how you’ve been secretly meeting with the Midnight Shadow,” Terran finished.
For a long moment, she couldn’t move. She thought she’d misheard him.
But he continued in a dark, dangerous voice. “Tell your father how he tasted your charms before I was anywhere near you,” Terran all but purred.
She wanted to laugh out loud as relief swept her body. He didn’t know! He didn’t know she was the Midnight Shadow!
She swung her relieved gaze to her father, but he wore no smile on his lips. Her eyes shifted to her grandfather. He wasn’t smiling, either. Her happiness died within her.
“Have you been meeting this Midnight Shadow?” her father asked.
Bria’s desperate gaze swung to her only ally. Harry stared at her, and she realized the seriousness of Terran’s accusation. But how could she deny it? If she told the truth, she’d be locked up as a thief. If she didn’t, she’d be labeled a harlot.
Terran crumpled the mask in his hand. “If Lady Bria does not marry me, she will spend the rest of her life in my dungeons for aiding a criminal.”
Silence filled the room. Terran’s threat hung in the air.
Bria opened her mouth to object, to deny his accusation, but she knew whatever she could say would only get her deeper into trouble. She closed her mouth and her gaze swiveled to her father. He wouldn’t allow Terran to throw her in the dungeon. He’d protect her, as he always had.
But the silence stretched and her father’s face remained as still as stone. He turned his gaze from Terran to Bria, and for just a moment Bria thought she saw disappointment shimmer in his eyes. Then he looked away from her, rubbing his left arm.
Complete and utter dread welled up from the very depths of Bria’s soul.
Lord Delaney nodded. “We will work out the details.”
Bria stepped toward her father, her hands stretched out beseechingly, her heart pounding in her chest. “Father, you can’t!”
Terran seized her arm and glared into her eyes. “You will not share your virtue with any other man.” He shoved the mask at her.
Bria began to shake her head and deny his accusations, but Terran turned from her and followed her father from her room, brushing past Harry.
Bria’s desolate gaze fell to the black mask in her hand. “What have I done, Grandfather?” she whispered.
Harry placed a hand on her shoulder.
Bria found no comfort in his touch. If she were living in Castle Knowles as Terran’s wife, how could she continue to be the people’s defender? How could she continue to sneak out in the middle of the night to defy her husband?
How could she marry her enemy?
The next morning, Terran sat in a chair at a table in the Great Hall, still simmering, still fiercely angry from the night before. Bria was sleeping with his enemy. His damned enemy! Where Garret was a rival, the Midnight Shadow was a criminal, stealing what little was left in his coffers. He’d kill the man with his own hands.
Kenric slid onto the bench beside him. “Congratulations on your betrothal,” he said, motioning to a maid for an ale.
Terran grunted.
“So my plan worked,” Kenric said gleefully. “Did you have to restrain her?”
Terran cast Kenric a hard glare. Kenric’s insatiable desire to overpower the weak was repulsive, but it made him a good sheriff. People were afraid of him. They didn’t defy him. There had been no refusals to give up their tithe. “It didn’t go as planned,” Terran said.
“You raped her?” Kenric asked joyfully.
Terran’s open palm hit the table hard, causing a few heads to turn. “God’s blood, man!” he thundered. “I do not rape women.”
Kenric shrugged slightly as a serving girl eased hesitantly up to him, eyeing him with fear, and placed an ale in front of him. He took a long gulp of the ale as the girl raced away. “You might have to to consummate your marriage,” he finally said. “Rumor has it she wants nothing to do with you.”
Terran snorted. “That is no rumor. Lady Bria has made it abundantly clear she doesn’t want to be my wife.” Terran’s eyes turned watchfully to the double doors. “She has a lover.”
“Lady Bria has a lover?” Kenric echoed.
“And he’s not just any man,” Terran said. “He’s the Midnight Shadow.”
Kenric almost spilled his ale, but quickly grabbed the mug with both hands.
“I want him caught,” Terran demanded.
“You have a plan?”
Terran nodded. Unable to sleep, he had been thinking of one all night. “Spread the word two tax collectors will be riding in tonight with the southern part of the village’s tithe. You’ll be waiting for him.”
Bria clutched her bag tightly to her chest. She’d waited as long as she could to leave the castle. Deb had told her of two tax collectors returning from collecting the tithe on the southern edge of Terran’s lands. It was too good an opportunity to pass up.
Bria snuck through the dark, still courtyard to the stables. She sighed slightly as she pushed the door open. She had made it. No one had seen her. She entered and shut the door behind her. There was a thrill in sneaking out to become the Midnight Shadow, a danger that excited her. And every night upon her safe return, a victorious feeling soared through her, making her feel exuberant, as if she were floating on a cloud. Despite the fact she’d almost been discovered, she found herself again tempting fate.
A slight grin curled her lip as she moved through the stable. The Midnight Shadow would not be denied.
“Going to see him again, aren’t you?”
Bria stifled the surprised cry that rose in her throat. She quickly dropped the bag behind a bundle of hay, hiding it from view, before turning to confront her questioner.
Terran stood silhouetted against the window of the stables. He approached her. “Who is he?”
Bria stood her ground, trembling fiercely. She could not tell him. Ever. He was the cause of such hardship for his people. He’d never understand. Besides, she’d tried to tell him, tried to explain about Mary’s death, but he would hear none of it. “I don’t know who you mean,” she replied sweetly.
He seized her shoulders, dragging her close to him. “You know,” he hissed, so close she could almost feel the movement of his lips against hers. “Tell me,” he commanded.
She lifted her chin slightly, but the movement only thrust her lips closer to his.
He looked at her mouth, and she suddenly felt a hot tingling in her lips. The next instant, he pulled her closer, pressing his lips to hers, kissing her with an angry insistence. Shock held her immobile. The vehemence in his kiss frightened her. Because beneath his anger, she sensed something else. Desperation. Need.
And her own body responded to that need, to the urgency building in her. She lifted her hand to touch his arm, and her fingers brushed the hard muscle hidden by his tuni
c.
Terran responded by pulling her tighter, closer against him. He plundered her mouth until all her resistance was gone. The swirling passion of her emotion caught her up in its whirlwind and buffeted her until she was dizzy.
He thrust his hand beneath her dress, his searing touch burning across her chest to her breast, enflaming it with heated strokes of his thumb, until her nipple was as hard as a pebble. She was breathless, panting against Terran’s mouth, groaning with the awakened need that scorched through his body into hers.
She should stop him, but, God help her, she wanted him to show her. She wanted Terran to teach her what was making her feel this way. She wanted him to...
He reached down and cupped her buttocks, pulling her against his hardness. She gasped as the core of her being brushed against him. Her emotions swept her up and up, until she was unable to remember who she was or what she was doing. His hand stroked her breast, teasing and caressing. His other hand moved lower and lower, closer to the spot where she needed him.
Terran pushed her back to the wall, shoving his leg between hers. Instinctively, her hips moved, rubbing over his leg. The mounting urgency, the growing need, filled her until it was all she knew, all she cared about.
Suddenly, he stepped back, releasing her.
She almost fell forward. She was breathing hard, panting for completion. She stepped toward him, but he grabbed her shoulders to hold her at arm’s length. He studied her face.
Finally, Terran dropped his hands. “Go to your lover with my kiss on your lips and my touch on your skin and know that when we are wed, I will have you and you will belong to me. Completely.” He turned away and headed toward the door.
Bria watched his straight back and almost cried out to him. She felt a longing and want whirling inside her the likes of which she had never known. For a moment, she thought of telling him she was the Midnight Shadow, just so he’d kiss her and touch her again.
Daring Damsels Page 76
