He knew he should let her go. She’d be safer without him. Kenric wouldn’t try to kill her if she were gone, and Terran couldn’t bear the thought of her being in danger. He had to let her go. He had to. Bria reached for the door handle.
The only problem was... he couldn’t. “Stay,” Terran said.
Stay. Bria halted at his soft word, a word that was more a request than a demand. It resonated through Bria’s body. He’d asked her to stay. It was what she wanted, what she’d dreamed he would say.
“Bria,” Terran said.
Was that longing in his voice, or had she imagined it? He was behind her, close behind her. Her hand tightened on the handle of her blade. She desperately wanted him to wrap his arms around her, but if he did, he’d feel the sword at her side. She couldn’t explain away its presence easily.
“Do you really cry yourself to sleep?” he asked tenderly.
She swallowed, her throat tight. Every night, she admitted to herself, though she’d never admit to him how much she missed him, or how much he’d hurt her. She lifted her chin against the grief pooling inside her. “I only came to warn you.”
“I never meant to hurt you,” he said, so quietly that for a long moment she thought she’d imagined the words.
“You have Kathryn now,” she whispered.
Suddenly, his hands were on her shoulders, gently turning her to face him. Her folded costume shifted in its hiding place in her wide sleeve. She raised her arm slightly to prevent it from tumbling into the open.
“I never wanted Kathryn as much as I do you,” he said.
A scowl of confusion crossed Bria’s brow. “But she was in your room last night.”
He looked at her seriously. “Not at my invitation. It’s true she was my lover before Odella, but never since.” He gently brushed a lock of hair from her cheek.
His touch sent ripples of pleasure through her body. She ached to rush into his arms, but held herself back. She must stay calm and keep her wits about her. She fought the swirling abyss beckoning invitingly to her; she couldn’t let him discover what was hidden on her person.
“I’m sorry I said those hurtful things. But I had to convince you to leave. To protect you.” He kissed her forehead. “Oh, I have missed you! You’ve bewitched me, woman. You’re all I think about. You’re all I want.” His hands moved up to cup her chin. “Bria,” he whispered and slowly lowered his lips to hers.
She knew she should stop him. She knew she shouldn’t let him say and do these things to her, making her feel so wonderful when she feared he was lying to her. But his expert kiss sent wave after wave of desire pounding through her. She moved closer to him, wanting him with a fierce longing she’d never known. As his lips caressed hers, blazing a fiery path across her skin, desire fanned the flame of passion within her and she knew she couldn’t resist him; she knew she didn’t want to.
But she jerked away from him. Her weapon! She had to keep it hidden. She couldn’t let him feel the metal or find her costume. He mustn’t discover her secret.
Bria stepped around him to the bed. Hidden half in darkness, she slid the cloak from her shoulders, keeping the costume concealed within the sleeve. Revealing her nakedness, she carefully placed the brown cloak on a nearby chest, cautiously hiding the sword beneath it.
Terran stepped up behind her, startling her as he swept her against him in a tight embrace. “You come to warn me wearing nothing but a robe? I doubt your intentions are honorable,” he teased. He pulled her against his hard chest. Bria wrapped her arms around him. Their kiss deepened and her consciousness seemed to ebb and then brighten more than ever, her senses alive with each of his strokes and caresses.
His hands moved gently down her back, pulling her closer to him, holding her as though he truly had missed her. Bria wanted to believe it. She’d missed him so!
His skin seemed to be on fire where it touched hers, and it ignited her own flesh. He pressed kisses along her neck and down her chest to her breasts. She gasped as he cupped one small globe and caressed it.
Lowering his head to the very tip, he pressed small, gentle kisses to her flesh. Her nipples hardened instantly beneath his lips. Waves of pleasure rolled over her, engulfing her in their rapture. Her knees weakened and she collapsed on the bed.
Terran lay down beside her, continuing his tantalizing exploration of her flesh.
Bria gasped as he opened his lips to take one nipple into his mouth. She arched her back, inviting him to delve further, but he pulled back to untie his leggings, and she helped slide them over his hips.
Terran pushed her back on the bed, holding her hands over her head, trapping her beneath him. Bria groaned softly, desperately.
Terran reclaimed her lips in a moment of unrestrained desire and love. He pressed kisses to her eyes, her cheeks, her neck. Then his hand moved over her taut stomach to her hip, caressing her flesh in slow circles. His fingers burned into her skin, leaving a path of tingles in their wake. Passion pounded molten blood through her veins as his caresses moved slowly, teasingly, to the spot where she needed him to touch her. Bria groaned and tentatively thrust her hips.
But he continued to torment her with slow circles over her downy curls as he ravaged her with kisses.
Finally, he lowered his fingers to her womanly folds. He teased and stroked and touched her until her impatience grew to explosive heights. She arched and moaned until she thought she could stand no more.
He moved over her, the length of his body covering hers. She opened her legs to welcome him into her body. His manhood filled her completely, sliding deep inside her. He lay still for a moment, kissing her neck and lips. Then, he began to move, slowly at first, but then with a building crescendo. Bria’s body responded immediately, and together they found a tempo that bound their bodies and minds as one.
Waves of ecstasy lifted her higher and higher with each thrust until she exploded in a fiery crest of sensations. She rode the wave into the sky, rising higher and higher until she touched the very heavens above. She returned to earth on a glistening wave of satisfaction and completion.
When she opened her eyes to look at Terran, his eyes were closed and his face was taut with a culmination of explosive joy and pleasure. She reached for him and pulled him close. His body trembled against hers.
For a long moment, Bria held him, enjoying the warmth of his arms and body engulfing her. She caressed his back, marveling at the sensations pulsing through her, the remnants of shared rapture.
With a sigh, Terran rolled off her and pulled her tight against him. Bria pressed her ear against the flat planes of his chest and listened to his heart beating. She could have sworn her heart beat with the same rhythm. She’d never known such happiness. Then --
“How did you come to be inside Castle Knowles?” Terran asked quietly. “And how did you know Kathryn was in my room last night?”
Bria froze, though her heart had started racing. “Are you going to send me away again?”
“Shh,” Terran soothed, trying to draw her closer to him. But Bria resisted and Terran relaxed his hold. “Bria,” he pleaded, “how can I trust you if you will not tell me the name of my enemy? I know he’s near and you have spoken to him. Only he could have told you about Kathryn.”
“The Midnight Shadow isn’t your enemy. He is the protector of the innocent, the fighter of injustice.”
“Give me his name, Bria.”
Bria sat up and looked at Terran. “Why won’t you believe me?” She clenched her fists before her. “Why don’t you listen to me? Why aren’t you looking into my accusations against Kenric? He is your enemy, not the Midnight Shadow.” She sighed and dropped her hands to her lap. She loved him so much. She wanted him to understand, to know what Kenric was doing and planning. She wanted to protect Terran and work with him. But he was refusing her. With a growl of frustration, she jumped out of bed and reached for her cloak. As she picked it up, her sword fell from its folds.
Terran watched with widening eyes as the weap
on clattered against the stone floor. A scowl etched his brow. “What’s this?”
The answer came to her lips in an instant, the culmination of her frustration and anger. “You did not think I would return to Castle Knowles, to Kenric, without a weapon, did you?”
He guffawed. “What good is a sword if you don’t know how to use it? Wouldn’t a dagger have been more fitting?”
Bria shrugged, but inside she seethed at his presumption, the presumption of all men who saw women as defenseless creatures, as stupid as they were weak. She answered with a similar presumption. “The bigger the weapon, the greater the defense.”
Terran chuckled at such foolishness, not detecting her sarcasm.
Bria pulled on the brown robe, making sure to keep her back to him so the Midnight Shadow’s cloak was well hidden in her sleeve. She tied the sack with her costume to her waist. When she looked at Terran, he’d pulled on his leggings and was slipping his tunic over his head. Their magical moment was gone. Long gone. “You’re going to have me banned from the castle again, aren’t you?”
“Listen to me,” Terran begged, taking her hands in his. “I must make things right before I can ask you to join me. I cannot endanger your life.”
“Let me help you. Let me be by your side.”
“And have you poisoned again? Never.” He lifted his fingertips to her cheek. “I will do right by my people. I will rid the land of the Midnight Shadow. Then you can return.”
Just as joy had begun to brim in her heart, the bubble burst at his words. Rid the land of the Midnight Shadow? But that meant her. She wanted more than anything to stay with him, wanted to be his wife in every way. But now the Midnight Shadow stood between them. She threw her arms around him, holding him close. “I love you, Terran, with all my heart. I would do anything to make it right between us. And if you think knowing who the Midnight Shadow is will do that, then so be it. There will be no more secrets.” She said it to herself as much as to him. With a deep breath, she pulled away and looked up into his eyes. “The Midnight Shadow is –”
Suddenly, the door flew open and Kenric rushed in, followed by four guards.
“M’lord,” Kenric panted. “The entire castle has been searched. He...” Kenric’s voice faded. “Lady Bria?”
“Search the castle again,” Terran ordered. “I will not make the mistake of opening the gates and have him slip through my fingers.”
Kenric nodded. “As you wish, m’lord.”
As the guards left the room, Terran called, “John!”
One of the men, the youngest by the looks of his boyish face, turned and came back. “Yes, m’lord?”
Terran held up a finger for him to wait. He turned to Bria. “You were saying?”
Bria swiveled her gaze to the guard and then to Terran. She wanted desperately to tell him, but she didn’t know if the guard was one of Kenric’s men and she hesitated, finally shaking her head.
Terran’s lips thinned, and he addressed the guard. “I want you to escort Lady Bria back to her castle.”
“No,” Bria gasped.
“Take Pavia with you,” he told the guard. “No harm is to befall her, do you understand me?”
“Yes, m’lord.” John nodded.
“Terran, please don’t do this,” Bria begged. “You need my help.”
Terran took her hands into his own. “John is one of my most trusted men. He’ll see you safely to Castle Delaney.”
“I don’t want to leave you!” Bria objected.
“For just a little while longer. Do this one thing for me, Bria.”
Bria started to shake her head, but Terran brought her knuckles to his lips.
“Please,” he whispered.
Bria wanted to say no, to demand she remain by his side. But he was looking at her with those large eyes, imploring her to do his bidding. Finally, she nodded and turned away to John.
She stepped out into the hallway to find Kenric standing there. “Do not worry, m’lady,” he said mockingly. “We’ll find the Midnight Shadow. He will not harm Lord Knowles.”
Bria’s eyes narrowed. “The Midnight Shadow would never consider it.” She quickly stepped past him. Satisfaction surged inside her. The ‘man’ he was searching for was being escorted safely out of the castle.
By midday, Kenric and his men had searched the castle again. There was no sign of the Midnight Shadow.
“He’s escaped,” Kenric told Terran. “We’ve searched the entire castle three times over.”
Terran thoughtfully chewed his venison. He sat in the Great Hall, eating his midday meal. A dog sniffed at the rushes near his feet, searching for a piece of dropped food. A servant stopped to refill his mug with ale. But not Kenric, the dogs, nor the servants occupied Terran’s mind. Bria did.
“Damn that rogue,” Kenric continued.
Bria had known Kathryn had been in his room.
“I just don’t understand how he entered the castle undetected.”
Yes. And how had Bria gotten into the castle without anyone’s knowing?
“Cousin, are you listening to me?” Kenric asked.
And there was that sword. What in heaven’s name was she doing with a sword? Even if Kenric tried to hurt her again, did she believe she could wield a sword like a man?
“He must have used some sort of disguise,” Kenric went on, pacing back and forth before the table.
But something else was bothering Terran. It was the Midnight Shadow’s eyes. So damned blue. The bluest eyes he’d ever seen, except for... he straightened slightly. Good Lord! Had he missed the signs?
“If we want to capture the Midnight Shadow,” Kenric said, facing Terran once again, “we’ll have to put your plan into action.”
Terran lifted his gaze to Kenric, but he wasn’t listening. It couldn’t be! Had he been blind to the truth when it stared him in the face? It can’t be! his mind repeated. She is a woman! She is my wife!
“My lord?”
Bria couldn’t be the Midnight Shadow. God’s blood! He had to know. He had to know that his wife was not the one stealing from him. “Yes,” Terran murmured. “Announce the execution for tomorrow.”
Bria arrived at Castle Delaney that evening. Her grandfather raced out of the keep to greet her in the inner courtyard, as did numerous servants and concerned peasants. Bria hugged her grandfather, but was surprised her father was nowhere to be seen.
“He is searching the countryside for you,” Harry explained. “Are you all right?”
Bria nodded. “I couldn’t find Mary, Grandfather. Kenric moved her.”
Harry stared at her in sympathy. “At least you tried.”
“And I will try again and again until she is free.”
Her father returned hours later and summoned her to his solar. When she was younger, a trip to his solar had spelled fierce discipline. She knew she was in trouble. And what father in his right mind wouldn’t discipline his daughter when she’d been missing an entire night?
She entered her father’s solar and closed the door behind her. A colorful tapestry depicting a coronation hung on one of the walls. To her right a warm fire flickered in the hearth, and a large bed stood near the far wall. Just before her, four chairs surrounded a wooden table engraved with knights and horses.
Bria stood at the door, urgently wanting to leave as soon as possible so she could plan her rescue of Mary.
“What do you have to say for yourself?”
“I didn’t mean to stay out all night,” she admitted, “but I couldn’t get home.”
“What do you mean?” her father demanded.
Bria looked down at her entwined hands. “I missed Terran, and I wanted so much to see him,” she said quietly. At least that much was true.
“I told him,” a voice said.
Bria whirled to find her grandfather standing just inside the door of the solar.
“Forgive me, child,” he said. “But when you were missing this morning, I had no choice.”
“I do not apprec
iate being lied to and deceived, Bria,” her father said, drawing her gaze once again.
“It wasn’t like that, Father,” she pleaded. “I never meant to lie to you. But the less you knew, the better off you were. This was something I had to do.”
“Something you had to do? Dressing up as a man and stealing the taxes? Don’t you realize your life is in danger?”
“Every moment,” she admitted. “But if I don’t protect those people, who will? It is my duty as Terran’s wife –”
“To behave like a criminal?”
“To take care of the people now.”
“Your duty now is to do as your husband wishes. I’m sure he wouldn’t want you stealing his coin.”
“It’s my coin as well,” Bria argued.
“Tell her,” Harry urged.
Her father’s lips thinned, but he remained silent.
“She has a right to know,” Harry said. “If you don’t, I will.”
“Knowles is going to execute Mary at dusk tomorrow,” her father whispered.
“What?” Bria gasped.
“I heard it when I was looking for you.”
“They’re going to execute an innocent woman!”
“Talk to your husband,” her father suggested.
Bria waved her hand. “He won’t listen to me.”
“You don’t need to take up the sword. There are other ways.”
“There is only one way!”
“Never mind that,” Harry said. “It’s a trap.”
“I know,” Bria said, turning to face him. “But I have to go.”
“You will not go anywhere,” her father ordered.
“Father, Mary will be killed if I don’t go. I can’t allow that. If I’d stayed with Mary in the beginning, maybe she wouldn’t have been taken. But I left her. I ran away.” Bria stood her ground. “I won’t make that mistake again.”
“No, you won’t,” her father said.
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