She smiled softly at him. ‘Would you like to stop and rest? Your arm must be hurting you, even though you pretend otherwise.’
No one had ever cared about his welfare. He was always the one everyone else turned to.
He cleared his throat. ‘I’m fine. I don’t need to rest. Keep going.’
She frowned and turned away from him, and he instantly regretted his harsh response. But it was better to speak to her this way—better for her in the long run if she thought of him as The Beast, a cold, unfeeling brute of a man who didn’t need or want people’s compassion.
They passed the rest of the morning in silence, only stopping briefly to eat a few dry oatcakes before pressing on. He walked beside the horse, his throbbing arm not as painful as the thoughts continuously circling in his mind.
‘I need to stop,’ said Ellena abruptly.
He glanced at the sky. ‘It’s too early. We’ll keep going for a while yet. If we keep up this pace we should be able to reach Ogmore by the end of tomorrow.’
‘No,’ she said, colouring slightly. ‘I don’t need to stop for long. I just want to...’ She nodded to the trees.
‘Oh, I see.’ He felt his own skin heat and he frowned. He was a grown man and a hardened warrior; he shouldn’t get embarrassed by bodily functions.
She pulled Ffoi to a stop and slipped quickly out of the saddle to the ground. ‘I’ll be quick,’ she said, not looking at him as she handed him Ffoi’s reins.
He watched as she disappeared into the dense forest. Should he have gone with her to check she wasn’t going to run away? He shook his head. He was being fanciful. She didn’t know what awaited her at her father’s castle. Just because he was a bore to be around, it didn’t automatically mean she would try and escape his company. She didn’t give up that easily.
Ffoi snorted impatiently. It seemed he didn’t like waiting even for a few seconds. It was a feeling Braedan could relate to. He led the horse a few paces further down the path until he reached a bend. He didn’t like to wander out of sight from where Ellena had disappeared into the treeline, but Ffoi was reluctant to turn around. He tugged on the reins and clicked impatiently at the animal, but Ffoi couldn’t be budged.
The silence of the forest pressed in on Braedan from every side. He shifted on his feet. The sooner they were off this path the better.
Something stirred behind him and the hairs on the back of his neck stood up. He dropped Ffoi’s reins and rested his hand on the hilt of his sword.
‘Well, well, look who it is,’ came a sneering voice from behind him.
Braedan turned slightly to find two of Copsi’s men silently making their way towards him. They must have been waiting up ahead, hoping he and Ellena would come this way.
His eyes quickly swept the area around him but nothing else moved. It appeared the men were alone, but he couldn’t be sure. His heart began to slam loudly in his chest. What if their companions had already discovered Ellena? They could be doing anything to her while he stood here with the damned horse.
He forced his breathing to remain calm. He could do nothing until he’d dealt with these two.
The men before him were smug at having found him, but they weren’t crowing about finding Ellena. If he was lucky then they had made a mistake in not waiting to see whether Ellena was with him. Hopefully she’d hear them talking and stay hidden in the forest until this was over. The last thing he needed right now was her stumbling into the middle of this.
‘Where’s Lady Swein?’ asked the taller of the two.
His shoulders relaxed as they confirmed his theory. Ellena was safe for now.
‘She’s not with me,’ he said, even as he observed the men, searching for their weak points.
They were wiry and muscled but unkempt and raggedy. They weren’t soldiers, then. It wouldn’t take long for him to defeat them both, so long as he kept them focused on him and not on Ellena’s disappearance.
The taller man grinned. ‘Of course she isn’t. So it doesn’t matter, then, does it? We can kill you and even if she’s not hiding nearby then we’ve still done everyone the favour of getting rid of Ogmore’s favourite guard dog. And if we kill you and she is hiding nearby... Well, Copsi doesn’t mind what condition we return her in, so long as she’s alive long enough to say her vows.’
He licked his lips suggestively and his companion grunted in amused agreement.
Braedan tightened his grip on his sword. He was going to enjoy running it through these two. Even with his injured arm, these goons were no match for him.
His opponents drew their swords. Even though he was more than capable of fighting them both at once, the path was too narrow for him to do so. He’d have to defeat them one-on-one: easy.
The taller man grinned and stepped forward. Before he had a chance to strike Braedan used his sword to knock the man’s weapon out of his hand. Startled, the man leapt back and his friend took his place.
Braedan’s wound began to burn as he thrust and parried, looking for a way to beat the second opponent, who was a worthier adversary than his companion.
Braedan nicked the man’s jaw, but he retaliated and cut through Braedan’s tunic. Sweat began to pool at the base of Braedan’s spine. His weakened arm was making things harder, but he still wasn’t worried he would lose. He did want this over with quickly, though, so he could get Ellena away from any danger.
He forced his opponent to stagger backwards a few steps and then followed up with several large strikes towards the chest. A look of fear crossed the other man’s face as Braedan closed in on him.
From out of the forest a whirling blur rushed towards the fight.
Braedan’s heart stopped as Ellena charged, a large stick clutched in her slender arms. She swung the stick at the man he was fighting and it connected with his head. The man crumpled instantly, leaving him with only one opponent.
Ellena whirled to face the remaining man, but then her fiery passion seemed to fall away and she hesitated. In that heart-stopping moment the man realised he had the upper hand and advanced towards her.
Moving more quickly than he’d ever thought possible, Braedan brought the hilt of his sword up against the side of the man’s face. He staggered forward a few steps before collapsing next to his fallen comrade.
Braedan strode to them and relieved them of their swords, checking methodically for other weaponry as he did so.
‘Did I kill him?’ asked Ellena, her calm voice undermined by her trembling fingers and pale face.
‘No, you merely knocked him unconscious,’ said Braedan, straightening and marching over to Ffoi.
His arms were vibrating with barely suppressed anger. He led the animal over to Ellena and unceremoniously threw her up into the saddle. The pain in his arm dulled as adrenaline rushed through him.
‘What the hell were you thinking?’ he growled as he vaulted up behind her. ‘What sort of imbecile attacks a sword-wielding man with a stick?’
He kicked Ffoi into a gallop and they thundered down the path.
‘I was saving you!’ shouted Ellena over Ffoi’s hoof beats.
‘Saving me? You nearly got us both killed.’
‘I did no such thing. If it wasn’t for me you’d be lying dead in a ditch—and where would that leave me? Stranded in a forest, goodness knows where, without any idea how to get to my father’s home.’
His grip tightened on the reins. ‘I’m sorry that my death would have inconvenienced you so much, but as it happens I had the situation under control.’
He felt her snort of disbelief.
‘I was just about to deal a cutting blow when you erupted out of the forest like a madwoman. If that other man had been paying even the slightest bit of attention he would have cut you down like a twig.’
A wave of fear washed over Braedan as he imagined her pale and lifeless at the feet of those men. He k
new then that he’d rather die than let anything like that happen to her. He groaned. This was a complication in his life that he did not need.
Ellena continued to argue. ‘I was watching from the wood. You weren’t winning. You were tiring. You’re injured. I wasn’t going to let them gut you like a pig.’
‘I was not tiring,’ he ground out.
Not only had she put herself in unnecessary danger, she had also insulted him—and yet he still knew he’d risk his life a thousand times over rather than let her come to even the tiniest amount of harm.
He was a fool.
He felt her shrug against the fabric of his tunic and anger finally won out over his fear. He wanted to grab her and shake her and yell at her until she understood just how stupid her actions had been. But first he had to get her to safety.
He rode Ffoi hard, and as dusk began to fall he pulled the horse off the path and made his way to an abandoned crofter’s cottage he’d used before while on training exercises.
He slowed Ffoi to a walk and led him over to a structure meant for livestock. Jumping from the horse, he loosely tied the reins to a post before pulling Ellena down to join him on the ground. Her body briefly brushed against his, but he stepped away before desire could take over. He needed to make her understand how much danger she’d been in today, and get a promise from her that she’d never put herself in danger again.
He strode into the cottage, tugging her along behind him and ignoring her muttered protests.
The single-room cottage had been swept clean since its last usage, but it still smelt of dust and old fires. He didn’t care.
He strode to the centre of the room before turning to face her. ‘Don’t ever do something like that again,’ he ground out.
‘I will do whatever I want to keep myself safe,’ she countered, thrusting her chin towards him and not backing down an inch.
He growled. ‘You will promise me that you will not put yourself in harm’s way again or I will tie you up and drape you over the back of the horse like a sack.’
She stamped her foot. ‘I will not! You think you’re so high and mighty, but you’re not. You’re nothing but a...’
She floundered and he took a step towards her. Her eyes were shining with anger and her hair was wild, with twigs and goodness knew what else stuck in it, and her cheeks were flushed with colour. She had never looked so magnificent.
‘Nothing but a what?’ he asked quietly, taking another step towards her.
‘A...’
He raised an eyebrow.
‘A foolish man,’ she finished, and tilted her head up defiantly.
He barked out a laugh. ‘That’s rich, coming from someone without an ounce of sense in her.’
She spluttered indignantly. ‘Do you know what your problem is?’ she asked, prodding his chest with her finger. ‘You’re so used to having your own way you can no longer admit when you’re wrong.’
‘You were wrong today, not me—and stop prodding me!’ He finished the sentence in a roar as her finger jabbed at his chest again.
She stared at him defiantly, and then slowly and deliberately brought her hand up and prodded him once more.
He snarled and grabbed her roughly around the waist, pulling her towards him.
She gasped in surprise and looked up at him, her cheeks still flushed in anger. She opened her lips as if to protest and he swooped, bringing his mouth down to hers and silencing any further argument by kissing her.
All his anger and fear were poured into the action and she met his passion with a fervour of her own.
This was nothing like the sweet, gentle kisses they’d shared before. It was a blaze of lips and tongues and grasping hands.
Desire raged through him. He tugged off her cloak and it pooled by their feet. His hands swept down her back and over her rounded bottom. Her gasp of surprise whispered against his lips as he pulled her flat against his body, his desire evident against her stomach.
He didn’t give her a second to think as he deepened the kiss further. Her fingers were in his hair and he growled in satisfaction. His desire wasn’t all one-sided. He wanted to tear the clothes from her body and take possession of her, leaving her in no doubt as to whom she belonged.
He lifted his head to look down at her. Her eyes, half-closed, were glazed with passion, and her lips were plump and swollen from his kisses.
This was where he needed to stop.
The fingers in his hair brought his mouth back to hers and he was lost.
Gone were thoughts of his family’s good name and his liege’s commands. Gone was anything other than the feel of this woman in his arms right now.
He frantically pulled her dress over her head, keeping up a steady stream of kisses as he did so. The rest of her clothes went the same way. It said something about the power of her mouth that he didn’t even raise his head to look at her naked body. Instead he allowed his hands to explore the soft skin of her back. She whimpered as his hands skimmed over the swell of her hips.
He nudged her over to the bed, her breathy moans filling his ears as he slowly trailed a hand over one peaked nipple and down over her abdomen until he reached the soft curls at the juncture between her thighs. It took all his willpower not to plunge his fingers into her, but even through the haze of his lust he remembered her comments about her late husband.
He would not be a brute.
He lowered them both gently onto the bed and she stiffened in his arms.
He softened his kisses and stroked her back in long, languid circles, until gradually her limbs relaxed against him again. Only then did he bring his hand to her breasts. Slowly he explored the sensitive skin. She arched against him as he swept his fingers across her nipples and he groaned.
He was lost for this woman. She was everything he’d ever wanted for himself. And if he couldn’t have her forever then he’d at least have her for now.
His lips followed the trail his fingers had. Moving softly over the delicate skin of her collarbone and down over the swell of her breasts. She moaned as his tongue swirled around her left nipple while his right hand pinched the other.
Her fingers stole once more into his hair and held him in place and he groaned against her skin.
Slowly and tenderly his lips explored the rest of her body. She shuddered as he traced the curve of her ribs and ran his hand down the length of her leg.
A small scar crossed her left hip and he ran his tongue along its seam. He wanted to know every part of her body. He wanted to know what would make her sigh with pleasure and what would make her laugh out loud. He wanted everything.
‘I...’ she murmured, but whatever else she had been going to say was lost in a breathy moan as his fingers began to journey back up her leg, tickling the inside of her thigh.
She tensed as he brought his head lower, but he continued with gentle kisses across her skin.
Then his tongue licked her sensitive bud and her whole body arched off the bed.
‘Oh!’ she cried. ‘What...?’
His tongue swooped and whirled and her fingers tightened in his hair. He smiled against her core as he did it again.
‘Braedan... I... Oh...’
The warrior in him roared with the success of her surrender.
Her cries became breathless as his fingers joined his tongue in bringing her pleasure, gently at first and then with increasing pressure as she writhed across the bed, murmuring incoherently.
He stayed with her as she fell over the edge. And as the tremors gradually faded from her he trailed his lips back up her body until he pressed a gentle kiss against her mouth. Then he turned her slightly and tugged her back against him, so that his arms became a protective cocoon.
‘What has happened to me?’ she mumbled sleepily.
He kissed the soft skin of her neck. ‘That’s what it should be like betwee
n a man and a woman.’
‘Now I see what the fuss is all about...’ she muttered, her eyes closed and her body limp against his.
He huffed out a laugh. ‘Indeed.’
‘But what about you?’ she asked, her eyes fluttering open. ‘Don’t you want...?’ A delicate flush swept across her neck and face.
He gently stroked her arm. ‘Sleep, my love. I’ll be here when you wake.’
A small crease appeared between her eyes and he leaned over to touch her mouth with his once again.
‘Don’t worry about anything,’ he said. ‘You’re safe now.’
He settled behind her and brushed her hair away from her face.
Her slow breathing gradually dropped into the heavier sound of a deep, dreamless sleep.
Braedan lay quietly next to her, his body screaming for release. A large part of him demanded that he wake her and finish what they’d started, but he knew that would be wrong. This had been for her. He’d wanted her to know the joy she could experience if a man cared for her pleasure above his own.
He hoped she would remember how he’d made her feel, when she learned of his betrayal...
Chapter Twelve
Ellena woke gradually. Her body had the boneless quality that came only after a particularly good rest. She stretched, and coarse blankets moved against her skin. She froze as memories came flooding back. Memories of delicious lips and tender hands, exploring her body and making it sing in a way she’d never imagined possible.
She turned and her eyes confirmed what she already knew.
She was alone in the bed.
She reached up and touched the pillow next to her. It was cold. Braedan must have left her some time ago.
Did she want to see him right now, with the memory of what he’d done to her body so fresh in her mind? Or would it be better if she was dressed when he returned? If he’d wanted a repeat of what had happened yesterday surely he’d have woken her with more of those luxurious kisses.
Her body tingled as she thought about what his mouth had done to her. She hadn’t known such a thing was possible, but now that she did... Shamelessly, she wanted more. More of his mouth and his clever tongue.
The Warrior Knight and the Widow Page 14