Julie Garwood - [3 Book Box Set]

by Gentle Warrior:Honor's Splendour:Lion's Lady

  Madelyne felt Duncan stiffen against her. She took hold of his hand and squeezed it, begging him to keep silent.

  “If, when you return, you still wish to challenge Louddon and the men who stand with him in this matter, I will allow a fight to the death. The choice of confronting will belong to you.”

  Duncan didn’t immediately accept or reject the order. He didn’t like waiting to challenge Louddon.

  He felt Madelyne tremble. Her fear made the decision for him. “I will leave immediately.”

  The king nodded. “I’ve released Louddon from his duties, Duncan. I’ve given him a month to hide from you,” he admitted.

  “I’ll find him.”

  The king smiled. “Of that I have no doubt.”

  Duncan bowed to his king. William then left the room, with Louddon chasing after him.

  “I would have a few words with you, wife,” Duncan whispered.

  Madelyne tried to smile at her husband. His face was masked. She couldn’t tell if he was angry or just irritated. “I am very tired, Duncan. And you did tell the king we would leave immediately.”

  “We?”

  “You wouldn’t leave me here, would you?” she asked, clearly appalled.

  “I would not.”

  “Do not tease me,” she muttered. “I have been through an ordeal.”

  Baron Rhinehold interrupted the discussion. “Your wife equals you in courage, Duncan. She faced our king and told him her story. Why, her voice never wavered.”

  “And what did she tell him?” Duncan asked, his voice mild.

  Baron Rhinehold smiled. “That is the question, isn’t it? I listened to her explanation and am still confused as to who burned what, who attacked and who retreated … and still I haven’t the faintest idea of what happened.”

  “You have just described my life with Madelyne,” Duncan announced. His voice sounded pained now.

  Duncan looked down at Madelyne and saw how she stared at the baron. “I’ve forgotten to introduce you,” he realized out loud. “Baron, this is my wife, Madelyne. I understand that you knew her mother?”

  The baron nodded. “Your wife looks like Rachael,” he said. “It is a pleasure to meet you, Baroness.”

  He had such a nice smile. Madelyne could feel herself getting emotional. She forced a smile and said, “I would like to speak to you about my mother, Baron. Perhaps, when we return from our temporary exile, you would pay us a visit.”

  “I would be honored,” Rhinehold said.

  There wasn’t any more time to talk with the baron. The other allies came to express their pleasure over the outcome. Madelyne stood by Duncan’s side, holding his hand, wishing he’d tell her what he thought about this encounter.

  Duncan ignored her. He turned when Gerald joined them and stated that they would ride in one hour’s time.

  “Duncan? Is there time for me to gather my things from my room?” Madelyne asked.

  “You wear the clothes on your back, wife.”

  Madelyne sighed. “You’re angry then?” she asked.

  Duncan looked down at his wife. Her eyes were misty and she chewed on her lower lip. He slowly shook his head. “Seduce me? My God, you told the king you seduced me. When you decide to tell a falsehood, you aren’t the least timid.” He grinned at her while he rebuked her.

  “It wasn’t a falsehood,” Madelyne said. “I did want you to kiss me and I never liked it when you stopped. That is a bit of a seduction, isn’t it, Duncan? And I kissed you that first night. You only responded in kind, husband. Aye, it was the truth. I did seduce you.”

  “If you’d told the full truth, I would have been able to challenge Louddon now,” Duncan pointed out.

  “Oh, I know how that works,” Madelyne said. “You both contradicted each other. The king would have put you in a lake, with your hands and feet tied to stones. And if you sank to the bottom, then he’d know you spoke the truth. Of course you’d be dead, but your honor would be intact. Well, I don’t want to go to bed at night with your honor for company. I want you alive and well. What say you to that, husband?”

  Though she tried, she couldn’t help the tears that escaped.

  Duncan was staring at her with the most astonished expression on his face.

  “Madelyne,” he said, drawing her name out in an exaggerated sigh, “warriors are not put to such trials. The church uses that method, not the king.”

  “Oh.”

  Duncan felt like laughing. He took Madelyne into his arms, smiled when he heard her mutter, “I have been through an ordeal.”

  “You have a heart of gold,” he said. “Come, wife. I have the urge to let you seduce me.”

  Madelyne was in complete agreement with his plan.

  They made camp almost four hours later. Madelyne was weary. Clarissa had intercepted her just as she was leaving with Duncan. The vile, angry words she’d yelled at Madelyne still echoed in her mind.

  Duncan left her by a stream he’d found while he saw to protecting his camp. Madelyne was in his sight at all times, however. As long as Louddon was alive, Duncan wasn’t going to leave Madelyne’s side.

  Madelyne washed as best she could under the circumstances and then returned to the campsite. Duncan had just finished building a tent for the two of them. It was a short distance away from the contingent of men traveling with them.

  “Will Father Berton be safe enough? Or do you think you should increase the number of men guarding him?” she asked Duncan.

  “He will be fine,” Duncan said. “I left the fittest men in charge. Don’t worry, love.”

  Madelyne nodded. “Do you remember the first night we slept together?”

  “I remember it well.”

  “I thought the fire was too close and worried our tent would catch flame,” she said.

  “You worried about everything,” Duncan told her. He untied the roped belt resting against her hips. “You slept with your clothes on that night.”

  “I protected my virtue,” Madelyne said. “I hadn’t known then that I really wanted to seduce you.” She laughed over the disgruntled look on her husband’s face.

  “I protected your virtue,” Duncan countered.

  Madelyne settled herself on top of the animal skins. It was a cool, accommodating evening. The breeze refreshed and the bright moon gave them a soft light.

  “Take your clothes off, Madelyne,” Duncan told her. He’d already stripped out of his tunic and his boots.

  Madelyne wanted to do just that, but she worried about the men. She tugged Duncan’s hand. When he was leaning over her, she whispered to him, “We can’t make love this night. Your soldiers would see us.”

  Duncan shook his head. “No one can see us, wife. I want you. Now.” He showed her he meant what he said by kissing her soundly. Madelyne sighed into his mouth as she wound her arms around his neck. She opened her mouth, rubbed her tongue against his, instinctively arching against him.

  “You make too much noise,” Madelyne whispered when Duncan ended the kiss and began to nibble on her earlobe.

  She shivered in reaction to the pleasure he gave her. Duncan chuckled. “You’re the one who screams for fulfillment, love,” Duncan told her. “I’m too disciplined to make a sound.”

  “Is that the truth?” Madelyne asked. Her hand slowly caressed a line to his throbbing arousal.

  Duncan forgot what they were talking about. He caught her mouth again while he roughly pulled on the hem of her gown. He wanted her heat, and when his fingers probed the satin folds shielding the very core of her femininity, he knew she wanted him. She was moist with heat, and arched against him when he thrust his fingers inside.

  Their clothes were discarded in wild abandon. Duncan didn’t want to calm his ardor. He needed Madelyne now, and he could tell from her uninhibited response that she didn’t want tenderness. Aye, she needed him to forget all restraint.

  Duncan silenced her moans by covering her mouth with his. He settled himself between her thighs, penetrated her. She drove h
im to the brink of fulfillment with her erotic whimpers of pleasure, goaded him toward spilling his seed into her with her pleas and her nails digging into his shoulders. When Duncan couldn’t hold back any longer, he slid his hand between their bodies and stroked her into climax.

  Duncan wanted to shout with his release. He couldn’t, of course, and claimed Madelyne’s mouth again, trapping her own scream.

  “I love you, wife,” he whispered later, when she was cuddled up against his side.

  “I love you too, Duncan,” Madelyne said. She was content to rest against her husband for several more minutes. Then she asked, “Did I embarrass you in court when I said I seduced you?”

  Duncan smiled against the top of her head. Madelyne turned, bumping him.

  “I do not get embarrassed,” he announced. His voice was laced with arrogance. “Women become embarrassed.”

  Madelyne smiled. “What do warriors become?”

  “Tired,” he said. “They become exhausted after making love to their wives.”

  “Are you suggesting I go to sleep now?”

  “I am.”

  “Then I will, of course, obey your suggestion after just one more question.” She heard him sigh but ignored it. “Who were those men who lied for my brother? Were they barons?”

  “They were not barons, only men who have joined your brother against me,” Duncan said.

  “Then they have no following? No armies of their own?”

  Duncan hesitated a long minute. “They have no armies, Madelyne. Yet there are many unscrupulous men who would join them if given enough incentive. Louddon doesn’t have enough gold at his disposal now to cause much of a threat.”

  Madelyne was content with his answer. She put the worry of Louddon aside. “Duncan? You’ll be able to meet my cousin, Edwythe, when we go to Scotland. I was going to live with her. That was the plan I’d formed before I met you.”

  “You’ll be able to meet my sister, Catherine,” Duncan said. His voice sounded sleepy.

  “Your sister is married to a Scot?” she asked. Her voice sounded incredulous.

  “She is.”

  “Does her husband …”

  “No, he doesn’t have red hair,” Duncan interjected.

  “I wasn’t going to ask that,” Madelyne protested. “I just wondered if Catherine and her husband might know Edwythe.”

  Duncan’s deep, even breathing told her he’d fallen asleep. When he began to snore, she was certain. Madelyne snuggled up against him.

  She had the most wonderful dreams that night. They were dreams of the innocent.

  Chapter Twenty-four

  Love and honor, treasures above value …

  The following month was a calming period for Duncan, a blissful time for Madelyne.

  Madelyne was enchanted with the Scots. She thought they were the most amazing warriors in all the world, save for her husband, of course. The Scots reminded Madelyne of the ancient Spartans because of their stark existence and their fierce loyalty.

  They treated Duncan as one of their own. Catherine was also happy to welcome Madelyne into her home. Duncan’s sister was very pretty and very much in love with her husband.

  Madelyne wasn’t able to see Edwythe, though Catherine promised to send a message of greeting to her for Madelyne. Edwythe lived in the highlands, a considerable distance from Catherine’s home, too far, in fact, to go for a visit.

  They stayed with Duncan’s relatives a full thirty days. Duncan remembered his promise to teach his gentle wife how to defend herself. He was patient with her until she reached for her bow and arrows. He left her on her own then, fearing he’d lose his temper if he had to watch her make the same error over and over again. She was consistently off target. Anthony had warned him about that flaw. Madelyne was always three feet, a little less perhaps, above the mark she wished to hit.

  Duncan and Madelyne returned to Wexton fortress the end of August. It was then that they learned of King William II’s death. The accounts were milky, but everyone who had witnessed the tragedy vowed it had truly been an accident. William, with his brother and his friends, had gone hunting in his forest. A soldier shot his arrow toward a stag, it was said, but the king’s neck got in the way. The king died before he hit the ground.

  The most accepted and least believed account came from an eyewitness who claimed he’d seen the whole of it, from start to finish. He stated that the loyal subject had truly aimed his arrow at the stag, but when the arrow was flying toward the animal, the devil’s red hand suddenly reached up out of the earth. The arrow was caught in the devil’s fist and redirected toward the king.

  The church blessed the account as accurate. Aye, it was written down immediately. Satan had ended the king’s short life, and certainly none of those who witnessed it were responsible.

  Henry immediately claimed the treasury and became king.

  Madelyne was thankful she and Duncan had left court before the tragedy. Her husband was just as angry that he hadn’t been there. He thought he might have been able to save his leader’s life.

  Neither believed the story about the devil’s hand, and neither would admit that Henry might have had something to do with his brother’s accident.

  Though Madelyne wasn’t as knowledgeable as Duncan in matters of state, she remembered that Henry had suggested to King William that Duncan spend a month with the Scots. She believed he wanted Duncan away from London, believed, too, that Henry might have given Duncan his life by sending him away. She never spoke such thoughts to her husband, however.

  Gerald and Adela were married on the first Sunday of October. Father Berton had only just arrived with his baggage to take up the task of saving Wexton souls. The Earl of Grinsteade had died five days after Madelyne’s wedding ceremony.

  Duncan had sent soldiers throughout England, searching for Louddon. Since Henry was now king, Louddon was an outcast. Henry had made no pretension about his dislike for Louddon.

  Madelyne believed Louddon had left England. Duncan didn’t argue with her, but he was convinced Louddon was hiding, waiting for his chance for revenge.

  A summons arrived requesting that Duncan kneel before his new king and give him his pledge of fealty. Duncan couldn’t refuse the order, yet found he was uneasy leaving Madelyne.

  He sat in the hall, the petition from Henry still in his hands, when Madelyne finally came down for breakfast. Duncan had already eaten his midday meal.

  His wife looked rested, but he knew in just a few hours she’d need a nap. She tired easily these days. Madelyne tried to hide the fact from Duncan, but he knew she was sick every morning.

  He wasn’t the least upset over her sickness. No, he waited for her to realize she carried his child.

  Madelyne smiled when she saw her husband sitting in his chair by the hearth. It had turned chilly and the fire beckoned her. Duncan pulled her into his lap.

  “Duncan, I must speak to you. It’s almost noon and I’ve just gotten out of bed. I believe I’m ill, though I don’t wish to worry you. I did ask Maude for a potion yesterday.”

  “And did she give it to you?” Duncan asked. He tried not to smile, for his wife’s expression was close to brooding.

  Madelyne shook her head. She pushed her hair away from her shoulder, hitting Duncan’s chest in her haste. “No, she didn’t,” she said. “She just smiled at me and walked away. What am I to think about that I ask you?”

  Duncan sighed. He was going to have to tell her. “Will you be very upset if our son has red hair?”

  Madelyne’s eyes widened and her hand instinctively moved to her stomach. Her voice shook when she finally answered his question. “She’ll have brown hair, like her mother. And I will be the most wonderful mother, Duncan.”

  Duncan laughed and then kissed Madelyne. “You have taken on my arrogance, wife. You’ll give me a son and that’s the end of this discussion.”

  Madelyne nodded, pretending agreement while she pictured the beautiful baby girl she would hold in her arms.


  She was so overwhelmed with joy, she thought she might weep.

  “You can’t feed your wild animals anymore. I don’t want you going outside the walls.”

  “It’s my wolf,” Madelyne teased. She still hadn’t admitted to Duncan that she really thought it was a wild dog. “Today will be the last time I leave food for him,” she promised. “Is that good enough for you?”

  “Why today?” Duncan asked.

  “Because it’s been exactly one year since I arrived here. You may walk with Anthony and me if you wish.” She gave a mock sigh. “I shall miss my wolf.”

  Duncan saw the sparkle in her eyes.

  “I will stop feeding him only because you order it, husband.”

  “I don’t believe that for one minute,” Duncan returned. “You obey me because you feel like it.”

  Duncan finally promised to accompany Madelyne. She waited for him but when she’d finished her target practice, the sun was beginning to fade, and Duncan still hadn’t finished his other duties.

  Madelyne collected her arrows, slipped them into the cloth carrier Ned had fashioned for her, and then strapped the carrier on her back.

  Anthony carried the food for her in the burlap sack she always used for the task. She carried her bow, boasting to the vassal that she just might catch at least one rabbit for their dinner.

  Anthony thought it impossible.

  When they reached the crest of the hill, Madelyne took the food from Anthony. She spread the cloth on the ground, kneeling now, and placed the food into a pile. A large bone, fat with meat, topped her pyramid. Since Madelyne knew she wouldn’t be feeding the wild animals any longer, she thought to leave them one last filling treat.

  Anthony was first to catch the noise behind him. He turned, scanning the trees behind Madelyne, just as an arrow whistled through the air and lodged in his shoulder. The vassal was knocked to the ground. He tried to catch his balance and then saw his enemy raise his bow a second time.

  The watchman shouted the warning as soon as Anthony fell. Soldiers lined the walkway along the wall, their arrows raised to their bows. They waited for the enemy to show himself.