Velvet Touch

by Catherine Archer

Grabbing her from behind, he placed his hand over her mouth as Fellis raced forward. He whispered gruffly, “Do not make a sound.”

  Her brown eyes were large, the whites showing all around as she nodded. Fellis did not require more light to note her fear and nervousness. The Welshwoman’s gaze swept the room for her beloved.

  Wynn stepped out from behind the door and came toward them. His lips were thinned to a forbidding line. When Ardeth saw his expression, her eyes filled with unshed tears. Wildly she began to tear at Stephen’s hand over her mouth.

  He held her securely. “Hold now. I will uncover your mouth if you swear to remain quiet.”

  She nodded, her gaze never leaving Wynn.

  As soon as Stephen had freed her, she ran to Wynn, throwing herself against him. Fellis saw him close his eyes as if it was all he could do to keep his hands at his sides.

  Ardeth cried, “Cariad, I have come to help you escape.”

  Still Wynn did not reach out to hold her. He spoke stiffly. “Did you know that your father was trying to kill me?”

  She began to sob. “Nay, I did not, my love. I only knew when you were brought here last night. I knew he was angry and that he wished to stop the marriage between you and the Englishwoman. But I did not know that he would harm you. You must believe me. You are my life. That is why I have defied him to come to you. He has forbidden anyone to come near you until he decides what to do with you. He says he must find a way to make your deaths appear to be an accident so that the English king will not send his army.” Tears slipped down her cheeks as she peered up at her lover, her hands twisted together before her. “Even if my father never forgives me, I cannot see you die. Come, you must go.” She drew back and ran to the door, then waited impatiently for them to follow.

  Stephen was the first to react, with Wynn directly behind him.

  Fellis hurried out after the two men. Ardeth bent down and struggled with some object on the ground, then came back dragging their weapons. “You see, I have come to help you.”

  Wynn reached toward Ardeth with a groan even as Stephen moved to rescue his sword from her.

  But at the same moment, there was a shout of outrage. Fellis turned to see several soldiers, led by Owain as they leapt out from beside the main house. They had obviously been lying in wait for them.

  Owain addressed his daughter directly. “Did you think I would not have you watched, girl?” The tone was furious but Fellis could also hear the hurt in the man, as well. “I did hope that you would see where your loyalty should rest.” He looked to Wynn, who was now holding his own weapon. “This man is a traitor to our people and to you, Ardeth. He was willing to set you aside, no matter that you carry his child, in favor of the English bitch.” He did not look at Fellis, who inched even closer to Stephen’s side.

  She put her hands over her ears to block out her father’s words. “Nay, Father, I cannot listen to you. He did so only to help our people. Wynn loves me.”

  Owain made a cutting motion with his hand. “Enough.” He turned his back on her, nodding to his men. “Take them.”

  Stephen hurriedly set Fellis behind him as he turned to defend them. Wynn backed toward them and directed Ardeth to take a position beside Fellis. The two women looked at each other, a strange current of understanding passing between them.

  Fellis knew that they must both do what they could to help their men prevail. The other girl must feel, as she did, that they could not see them die without at least trying to assist them.

  Then their opponents were upon them. Fellis watched as Stephen dispatched two of their number with a wide sweep of his sword. He circled, keeping Fellis and Ardeth behind him as he moved to ward off the next man. Wynn, too, made every effort to keep them at his back as he fought.

  It soon became clear to Fellis that these were not welltrained soldiers who fought against them. But there was still danger as they were outnumbered by some four-to-one.

  As Stephen held off two attackers, another came at him from the other side and Fellis knew she must help him. Searching about her for anything to use as a weapon, she spotted a large flat rock just behind her. Reaching down, she picked it up in her two hands, barely even feeling its weight in her panicky state. She dashed forward, raising the rock over her head as the man made a rush at Stephen’s unprotected back. With all the force she could muster, she brought it down on his head. He crumpled to the ground, unconscious.

  Seeing this, Ardeth picked up a small rock and the two women kept up a volley of stones to distract some of their foe while Wynn and Stephen fought on.

  The fracas raged on and soon several of Owain’s men lay injured or dead around them. Fellis was aware of their leader, where he stood back from the others, his hate-filled gaze taking in the action with obvious displeasure. By now few of his men were left, and to Fellis it seemed that some of them might have abandoned the fray. Mayhap they were not completely comfortable with the notion of killing Wynn.

  It was only when Wynn was turned, with his back to the man he had once trusted, that Owain made his move. Like the coward he was, he raised his sword and ran at Wynn from behind.

  Fellis called out to Stephen, who had just dispatched another. He swung around, intercepting Owain with a smile so cold it could freeze sunshine. “I am your man, Owain,” the knight told him.

  With a sneer of rage, Owain came at him, swinging his sword in a downward stroke that could have cleaved a man in twain. Stephen met the blow with his own sword and followed with an equally powerful thrust of his own.

  They battled on, Owain proving surprisingly crafty in his swordplay. He even attempted to back Stephen toward the wall of the house, where he would not be able to maneuver freely, but Stephen saw what he was about and drove him in the other direction.

  Finally, when Fellis thought she would surely faint with the agony of seeing Stephen block one swing after another, Owain made his fatal mistake.

  In raising his sword above his head with both hands, he left his midriff unprotected and Stephen drove the point of his sword deep. With a gasp of shock and fury, Owain fell to the ground and lay still.

  This seemed to make the few men remaining lose what little heart they had. As if by some unspoken consensus, they backed away and Fellis dropped the rock she was holding to the ground.

  The whole episode had taken no more than a few minutes, but it was now getting fairly light. In that pale dawn, she saw Ardeth run to her fallen father.

  Fellis looked to Stephen, who held out his arms to her. She ran into them and was enveloped in their protective strength. He kissed her, raising her face to his. But even as she felt his comfort, her heart ached for the other girl. Although he had been a traitor and a coward, Owain had been Ardeth’s father.

  Drawing back from Stephen, she went forward, reaching down and put her hand on the Welshwoman’s back. “Is he dead?”

  Ardeth looked up, her brown eyes filled with misery. “Yes.” Her gaze went to Wynn, who moved to take her up in his arms. She said, “I could not let him kill you in cold blood.”

  Wynn held her head against his chest, his eyes showing his own sadness. “Nay, cariad, you could not.”

  Stephen came to Fellis’s side. Seeing her kindness toward the other woman had reminded him anew of just how much he loved her. It was that mixture of strength and sweetness that had made him see her as much more than just a beautiful woman. She had fought alongside him this day, very probably saving his life more than once.

  Looking down at her, he smiled tenderly. Despite her haphazardly arranged garments, she was the most lovely thing he had ever seen, with her silvery hair tangling about her and her blue eyes damp with concern for Ardeth.

  As if sensing his attention, Fellis turned to him and held out her hand. “My lord.”

  He took it, his gaze telling her how very much he needed her. “My love,” he replied. Drawing her close to him once more, he kissed her boldly, reveling in his freedom to do so, to show the world that she was his woman and his alone.r />
  When he pulled away, she gazed up at him, her eyes bright now with love, her breath coming quickly. Stephen wanted to kiss her again, to hold her in his arms forever. But this was not the time.

  Stephen looked about them, his gaze going to Wynn and Ardeth where they stood nearby, lost in each other and their pain. He knew it would be some time before they were able to put this behind them.

  Gently he said, “Wynn, I think we had best be on our way before someone decides to try and stop us. I for one have had enough of fighting this day.”

  Wynn nodded. “I, too, friend. And we still have much to accomplish before your troubles are sorted out.”

  Tightening his arm about Fellis, Stephen knew the other man spoke true.

  Epilogue

  Fellis gave a start as the horn at the castle gates sounded from outside her window.

  Heavens above, she thought silently, raising her hands to her breast. Please, let it be Stephen! A whole month he had been gone with Wynn ap Dafydd, and not a word.

  During that time, she had been torn between hope that the king would grant them permission to do what they wished and fear that he would refuse them.

  She repeatedly told herself that the latter thought was a foolish one. King Edward would have no reason for denying their requests. Her father had given Stephen a letter that detailed his complete approval of the plan. Richard Grayson had in fact been so pleased with Stephen’s solution to their troubles that he’d suggested the knight marry his daughter before going to court.

  Stephen had declined, saying he could not try to force King Edward’s hand by doing so. And though Fellis was disappointed and worried that the king might refuse them, she had told her love nothing of her feelings on the subject. His sense of honor was one of the things she most loved about Stephen.

  Yet the days had weighed heavily upon her, especially when Ardeth had come to share her own fears with Fellis. Fellis had done her best to comfort the other girl and assure her that Wynn was safe as long as Stephen lived. Though they were not exactly close, Ardeth seemed to feel, as Fellis did, that their ordeal had brought them closer together. Their shared danger had made them understand each other and what they were going through as no one else could.

  Stephen and Wynn had left for court only days after the kidnapping and fight with Owain and his men. Fellis felt that events had moved almost too quickly to fully absorb their importance.

  The only thing that had given her any sense of purpose was her new duties at the keep. Fellis’s mother had begun to expect her to help supervise the castle as a mistress might. As a woman she was finally learning to oversee the many tasks great and small that made life run smoothly for the occupants of Malvern.

  Mother had taken advantage of Fellis’s assistance to spend time with her husband. More than once the two had been seen riding off alone together on a warm afternoon. In spite of her own loneliness, it brought a glow to Fellis’s heart to see them learning to love each other as they once had.

  The horn sounded again and Fellis became certain the arrival must be an important one. She looked down at the skirt of her pale pink cote and grimaced as she saw the smear of honey that must have gotten there when she was helping bake tarts earlier in the day.

  The horn blew again and Fellis leapt to her feet, her stomach fluttering. The state of her clothing was instantly forgotten as she was overcome with a certainty that it had to be Stephen.

  She hurried from her room and down the hall.

  She met Stephen on the stairs as he raced up them. They both came to halt at the same time, only three steps separating them. He was even more handsome than she’d remembered with his sultry dark eyes and strong features. He was taller, broader shouldered, more self-assured than any man had a right to be.

  For a moment she felt suddenly shy. Although she loved him with her whole heart and soul and had touched him more intimately than anyone she had ever known, she was halted by a stab of anxiety that he would not still want her.

  In the days before he’d left for court he’d not tried to be with her again. At the time she’d thought he was simply attempting to behave honorably. What if she had been wrong and he had realized that he did not really care for her as he thought?

  But the moment his eyes met hers, she knew she had worried for naught. His love for her glowed from inside him like a bright flame. He smiled at her, his hungry gaze devouring her as he held up his hand. In it was a roll of parchment bound with a thick seal of red wax.

  His voice was hoarse from running and, she thought, emotion. “The king has agreed.”

  She held her trembling fingers to her lips, unable to believe her deepest desire would really be granted. “To everything?”

  “Aye,” he replied, watching her closely.

  Fellis swallowed, unable to take it all in. “What had my father to say?”

  Stephen cocked his head to the side. “Did you think I would not come to you first?”

  She had to ask again, make certain she understood. “King Edward agreed to all, the peace treaty, your becoming my father’s heir, our marriage—all of it?”

  He nodded, his thick hair falling across his forehead, making her want to reach out and brush it back. That was when the enormity of what he had just said hit her.

  The king had agreed to their marriage!

  Never again would she have need to hide her love for this wonderful man.

  Joy soared up inside her on widely spread wings and Fellis fair flew into his arms. She wrapped her arms around his neck and held her face up for his kiss. “I love you.”

  As he leaned down, his lips claiming hers, she spread possessive fingers through that lock of hair.

  Fellis forgot everything else in the sweet sensuality of his kiss, her lips clinging to his even as he drew back. “I just need to look at you for a moment,” he said. “All these long weeks at court, I have thought of nothing but being with you again, holding you.”

  Her eyes opened wide as he reminded her of where he had been. “And Wynn?” she asked.

  Stephen groaned, burying her face in his shoulder. “Has gone home to his own woman.”

  She smiled against him, breathing in the fresh, leathery, warm male scent of him. “Am I your woman?” There was nothing she desired more than to be his.

  “As I am your man.” He raised her face to his. He kissed her again until she was breathless and dizzy with wanting him. “When will you marry me?”

  “As soon as my father will allow,” she said.

  He held her hips to the lower part of him and she felt his arousal. “Today would not be soon enough for me.”

  Her eyes shone as she blushed, but she did not try to move away from that most intimate part of him. “Then we’d best go tell my father,” she replied.

  He stepped back, holding out his hand to her. When she placed hers in it, he drew her next to him. Stephen unconsciously matched his strides to her slower ones as they went down the steps to the hall. She glanced up at him with devotion and pride. This tall, beautiful man was hers, ready and willing to match his pace to hers as they walked through life together.

  Love filled her heart to overflowing. How different her life had been since he came into it. Only a few short months ago she had felt hopelessly trapped by the twisted ankle that had seemed to set the course of her future. It had appeared an insurmountable obstacle that cut her off from the things she dared not even admit she desired. A husband, a family, a life of her own choosing. She now knew that her deformity was simply a hardship she had need to overcome, as other hardships must be overcome.

  Stephen had shown her that, not by telling her what she must do, but by treating her as if she had the right to decide how she was to live. They could walk through life together, just as they descended the stairs to her waiting father. Side by side.

  * * * * *

  eISBN 978-14592-7532-4

  VELVET TOUCH

  Copyright © 1996 by Catherine J. Archibald.

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  All characters In this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.

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