"Thank you, Geoffrey," Elizabeth answered. She placed her hand on his arm and walked with him to the table.
The talk between the soldiers gradually resumed, but Elizabeth continued to feel their stares and smiled with pleasure.
Her grandfather sat down across from Elizabeth and Geoffrey. "You look lovely, granddaughter," he said. "Don't you think so, Geoffrey?" he asked, turning his gaze to his grandson-in-law.
"I had not thought on it," Geoffrey replied in a mild tone, and then grinned when his wife nudged him with the tip of her shoe. "But now that you mention it, I think you might be right. She is not too displeasing."
Elslow laughed as hard as Geoffrey and Elizabeth looked toward the heavens with exasperation. When she had first met her husband, she had despaired at his lack of humor, and now found she had created a tease that surely rivaled her grandfather.
A fine red wine appeared and Elizabeth toasted her husband and her grandfather. She found herself giggling over the most absurd statements all through the meal and realized that she was drunk with anticipation of the time she would share alone with her husband. She kicked one shoe off and began to rub her toes against her husband's muscular legs and delighted in seeing his reaction, which he tried to mask as he talked with her grandfather. He would have me believe that he is unaffected, she thought with another chuckle.
"Stop that," Geoffrey whispered when she slid her bare toes higher, "else you will be made to pay the price."
"I will get the coin," Elizabeth replied in a saucy whisper, "you have only to name the amount."
"And who will give you the coin?" Geoffrey asked in a growl against her ear that sent shivers of warm need down her legs.
She pulled away and favored him with a long, sultry look and then answered, "My husband. There is much I could barter in exchange."
She gave him a slow, calculated wink then and puckered her lips.
Geoffrey laughed, causing everyone to look their way, and then leaned down toward her again. "I think you try to seduce me, wife," he told her.
"Nay," Elizabeth answered him with a hopefully innocent gaze. She casually slipped her hand to rest in his lap and added, "I do not think it, Geoffrey. I know it."
Geoffrey could not remember the rest of the meal. He knew that he ate his fill in record time and that he had removed his wife's hand from his lap countless times, only to find it nestled there again and again. Before Elizabeth could take more than two bites of her food, he had hauled her to her feet and into his arms. To the cheers of his men and a roar of approval from Elslow, he carried her out of the room. One bare foot peeked out from beneath her gown and Geoffrey smiled as he ignored her protests and strode out of the hall.
What a confusion this wife of his was, Geoffrey thought as he carried her to their bedroom. She defies me in the morning, ignores me the rest of the day, and now plays the enchantress. There had to be a reason for this change in her behavior, Geoffrey realized, but he would be most content to wait until later to find out what it was. Now he wanted only the satisfaction she could give him.
When the bedroom door was closed, Geoffrey leaned against it, still holding her in his arms. Elizabeth turned his head toward her with the tip of her finger and smiled at him. It was a smile full of tenderness and love. She slowly wet her lips with her tongue and then did the same to his, knowing from the look in his eyes that he was pleased with her aggression. She kissed him then, opening her mouth as he opened his, welcoming his tongue inside as he explored the moist sweetness she offered. Only when the kiss threatened to overpower her did she draw back. She gave him another smile and began to unfasten the lacings at his neck, pausing often to kiss and stroke him while she worked.
Geoffrey did not say a word. He let her slide to the floor and stood as still as a statue while his wife undressed him. Her fingers were like the wings of a dove as she removed his garments. This game, this twist where she was the seducer, excited him. He would see how far she would go before bowing to his expertise, already noticing the blush covering her cheeks when he stood nude before her.
She stood back when the task was finished and carefully removed the sash she wore. She felt some embarrassment now, knowing that her husband watched her every motion, and she did not hesitate until the tunic had been removed and it was time to pull the gown from her body. She looked up at Geoffrey for a long moment, nervous now that she wore nothing beneath the gown, and hoped that he would not think her shameful. Ever so slowly she edged the gown up, over her hips, her breasts, and finally her head, before dropping it to the floor.
Geoffrey was so startled by her nudity that he could only stare at her. She was like the goddess he had imagined her to be when he first saw her in the forest, Geoffrey thought, proud and magnificent, and golden.
He reached out for her but stopped when she shook her head. She was not smiling now, even when she glanced down and saw she still wore one shoe. She flipped it off and then looked back at her husband. He could see the passion ignited in her eyes, her expression, and knew that it matched his own in intensity.
"You blush, Elizabeth," Geoffrey said in a voice that sounded hoarse to his ears, "yet I have touched and kissed you everywhere. Do you think you will soon overcome this shyness?"
"I will try, my lord," Elizabeth promised. She walked over to the bed and pulled the covers back. "Come, Geoffrey. It is my turn to learn your secrets as you have learned mine. It is my turn to kiss you everywhere and see if you will blush with the memory tomorrow."
Her absurd remark that he was capable of blushing made him grin. Her words excited and intrigued him, for he had taught her all that she knew about the art of loving. His eyes hooded, he walked over to her and lifted her chin. He kissed her softly on her lips and then stretched out on the bed, pulling her down on top of him. He would let her continue the game a while longer, he decided, until he felt his control slip or until she could go no further due to her inbred inhibitions, and then he would take over, pleasure her as she had yet to be pleasured. It was his last coherent thought.
Elizabeth began her gentle assault at his neck, using her mouth and her tongue to taste and explore, moving ever so slowly downward in her quest to touch every inch of her husband. She would worship him this night as he had worshiped her in their nights before. She would give him such excitement and satisfaction that he would forgive her for what she must do in the morning. Tonight, she promised as she moved her hips against his legs, tonight you will love me, Geoffrey, and that will balance your anger with my disobedience when you learn of it.
She felt his intake of breath when she reached his hips and smiled with the knowledge that she held him captive. This role of aggressor was to her liking, she decided, for she was the one in full control now, not her husband.
Twice Geoffrey tried to pull her back to his chest, to kiss her until she was as affected as he, but both times Elizabeth resisted. Her hand found and closed over him and he groaned with reaction. And then he felt the touch of her tongue against his pulsating heat and her mouth take him inside and his mind left his body. He growled his pleasure and his hands found her legs. With a forceful jerk, he turned her and began to pleasure her as she pleasured him. Elizabeth moaned and began to move against him with both her mouth and her hips, and Geoffrey knew he could not hold back much longer. He stopped her with his hands and moved her on top of him, her knees braced on either side of his hips. And then he thrust inside her, with such force that Elizabeth cried out. He hesitated, concerned that he had hurt her, but her hips urged him on. "Do not stop," she moaned, "do not…"
Her words drove him wild with need. He pushed into her again and again, mindless of the world. Only he and Elizabeth existed now, riding toward the crest of fulfillment. And when Elizabeth arched above him and cried out his name, Geoffrey allowed himself release, holding her tightly against him as the explosion overtook them both.
"I love you, Geoffrey, more than my life, I love you." Elizabeth collapsed on top of her husband and snuggled against
his chest but not before he saw the tears streaming down her cheeks. The silent crying did not last long, and though she tried, Elizabeth was unable to keep the sobs inside.
Geoffrey held her, whispering gentle words meant to soothe her, but she could not hear them over the echo of her own hiccups. "You tell me that you love me and then you cry?" he asked when she had calmed a bit. "You are unhappy over our lovemaking? You were not—"
"Nay," Elizabeth interrupted. "It was wonderful, you were wonderful, and gentle and…" Renewed sobs stopped her litany of his qualities and Geoffrey found himself shaking his head.
"Then why do you cry?" he persisted.
"I cry because I am happy," Elizabeth insisted between sniffles.
Geoffrey rolled over, taking Elizabeth with him, and pinned her to the bed. Holding her face in the cup of his huge hands, he looked into her eyes and said in a gentle voice, "You are a contradiction and I vow it will take me years to understand you fully, but I think there will be sweet joy in the confusion of it all. What think you on this?" He leaned down and kissed her on her lips and then pulled back to await her answer.
"I think I will have been suffocated long before then, husband, unless you release me and let me breathe," she replied, a hesitant smile curving her mouth.
Geoffrey immediately lifted his weight with his elbows but kept her firmly in place beneath him. His feet locked hers into submission when she tried to squirm away, and his expression remained serious. "I would know why you cry when we finish loving each other."
"I am confused," Elizabeth admitted.
"About loving me?" Geoffrey asked. The thought made him uneasy and his brow wrinkled with irritation.
"No, Geoffrey," Elizabeth answered. "I will not take back the words, for I meant them… for now and always."
"That is good," Geoffrey replied, grinning. He rolled to his back and let Elizabeth get settled against his side.
"Geoffrey?" Elizabeth asked, her tone hesitant.
"Yes?" Geoffrey answered as he reached out with his hand and squelched the light from the single candle on the table next to the bed. The room was thrown into darkness. "You wish to maul me again?"
Though she could not see his face, Elizabeth could hear the laughter in his voice. He had certainly taken to teasing, she thought, just as a duck takes to water, and she might have challenged him for more loving had she not been preoccupied with her other thoughts.
"If a vassal came to you and asked your help, or if you promised one vassal that you would give him something, and then another vassal came along and wanted your promise for the same, what would you do?" She had phrased her question badly and the confusion of it all registered in her mind. How could he help her know what to do if she couldn't even explain?
"You cannot give to the second what has been promised to the first," Geoffrey answered very matter-of-factly. "That is the law."
"Always the law," Elizabeth snapped.
"We would be animals without it," Geoffrey argued with a yawn. "Why do you concern yourself with the problems of vassals?" he asked.
"It is all so confusing, these promises and vows," she admitted in a whisper.
"That is because you are a woman," Geoffrey returned, trying to keep his voice neutral so that she would not know he baited her.
"And women are not capable of understanding?" Elizabeth asked. Her body tensed beside him as she waited for his reply.
"That is true," Geoffrey said, waiting for her fury. When she remained in her stiff position beside him, he grinned into the darkness and added, "Now a horse…"
She realized then that he was teasing and relaxed against him. "Always you bait me, husband," she sighed.
Geoffrey dislodged her with his hefty laugh. "I bait you? It is the opposite, and well you know it!" He snorted again and then hauled her back against him. "Enough talk, wife. I'm tired. Close your eyes and sleep."
"So a man tires easily after making love? He is so weak that he must immediately sleep for hours upon hours? Now a woman…"
Geoffrey stopped her words and her thoughts with a determined kiss and then rested his head next to hers.
"Pleasant dreams," she whispered as she closed her eyes.
"I have just finished my dreams," Geoffrey whispered against the top of her head. And it was most pleasant indeed, he thought, smiling as he fell asleep.
Geoffrey rode out with the first light of day, careful not to disturb his sleeping wife. He kissed her on the forehead and had to be content with only that, as he did not want to chance waking her and having to deal with her questions as to his destination.
Roger and fifty of the soldiers were saddled and waiting. Geoffrey took a few minutes to go over his plans once again with Elslow and then led the procession through the gates. His expression turned grim; it was the face now of the warrior about to do battle.
Elizabeth watched her husband leave from her view at their bedroom window. As soon as he was out of sight, she turned and began to dress. Hammond and another, a strong peasant called Tobias, waited with the horses, already outside the walls, and Elizabeth knew that she would have to hurry to meet them, before the entire house was roused for the new day. She dressed in a dark blue gown and tied her hair in a knot at the base of her neck. Then she covered herself in her long cape, though the weather was warm enough to go without, and pulled the hood over her hair to hide its bright color. The dagger and the bow and arrows were her arsenal in case of danger along the way.
She took the same direction as the day of the massacre, down the hidden stairway and out the side door, and then across the vacant courtyard and through the stable, to another door that faced the wall. A ladder was braced against it, put there by Hammond the night before, and Elizabeth was up and over the top with little effort. Hammond stood at the bottom on the other side, bracing the second ladder to keep it steady as his mistress climbed down.
Together they walked to where the horses were hidden among the trees, and without a word, they mounted and rode into the forest.
Elizabeth led the way, concentrating on the cutoff path she would follow, all the while trying to block her feelings. But her subconscious would not let her rest, and by the end of the long day's ride, without stopping for food or water, Elizabeth was exhausted, both physically and mentally.
They made camp a good two hours before nightfall, in a thick, wooded area about an hour's ride from her brother-in-law's land, and while Tobias saw to the horses, Hammond opened his burlap sack and divided the food he had brought along.
Elizabeth ate little of the fare, save for a small chunk of hardened bread, and spoke not at all. They dared not risk a fire, and the chill sweeping in before the night forced her to huddle under her cloak while she rested against the bark of a tree. "My lady," Hammond said, "we are so close to our destination. Perhaps after you have rested, we could continue on and reach your brother-in-law's home before night is upon us."
Elizabeth did not answer her servant but shook her head. She let Hammond assume she was too tired to continue on. He did not question her again but announced that he would take the first watch. Elizabeth nodded that she had heard, and closed her eyes. She was in agony, mental torment, and she was losing the battle inside her soul and brain, for no matter how hard she tried, she could not blank her mind to the guilt and accusations camping there.
She tried to convince herself that what she was doing was not wrong. But it was, she finally admitted. Very wrong! Oh, she thought with acute despair, I have fooled myself long enough. Last night I knew, in my heart… that is why I was so forceful in seducing my husband, in pleasing him. I knew I would betray his faith in me soon. But I cannot do it! I cannot. Forgive me, Father, but you must wait as I must wait, for I cannot go against my husband. I have placed my faith in him and he will avenge your soul. I will have to be content that he will keep his promise, rather it take twenty years or not.
"Hammond!" Her whisper startled him and he hurried over to kneel at her side, a worried look on his face.
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"You have heard something?" he asked in a nervous whisper. He glanced back over his shoulder, looking toward the thickness beyond, his sword at the ready. "I fear my hearing is not what it used to be," he admitted after a moment. "I am a sorry one to protect you, my lady."
"No, Hammond, rest your fears. I have heard nothing," Elizabeth replied, patting him on his shoulder. Hammond turned back to stare at her, a puzzled look covering his frown. Elizabeth smiled at him, her measure to try to reassure him. "Think we could make an hour's time back the way we have come before this bleak night descends on us?"
Hammond leaned back on his haunches, opened his mouth, and then closed it again. "I do not understand," he finally confessed. "You wish to return to Montwright?" There was a spark of hope in his voice, which made Elizabeth bow her head with renewed shame. She had placed both Hammond and Tobias in a less than tenacious position with their new master, Lord Geoffrey. She had not considered their possible fate as a result of their disobedience, thinking only of herself and her foolish need for vengeance.
"Hammond, what I was about to do, to go to Rupert, it is wrong and I have only just realized it. I would be disloyal to my husband by taking my concerns to my brother-in-law. I am sorry that I have placed both you and Tobias in such jeopardy with my foolishness and pray you will forgive me."
Before Hammond could reply, Elizabeth flung the cloak aside and stood up. "Come, now, and we will try to make distance while the light guides us."
Hammond closed his eyes with relief. His mistress had finally come to her senses. He was sure his prayers to the Almighty had helped her along, and he crossed himself in thanksgiving. And then he was in motion, saddling first Elizabeth's horse and then his own.
The threesome rode hard through the forest until the last fingers of light began to recede from the sky. They had pushed caution aside, in favor of haste, and stayed on the road. Elizabeth was the first to spot the lake in the distance. She slowed her pace and called to Hammond, "Think we should stop here for the night?"
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