Her Christmas Knight

by Nicole Locke

  He gave it to her. Brief, not enough. She wanted more.

  Keeping her gaze on him, she trailed her fingers from the base of her throat down between her breasts, slowly, slowly, loving and watching the surprise in Hugh’s now half-lidded eyes, in the parting of lips that looked swollen and vulnerable, watching as he followed her continuing trail until she stopped at her stomach.

  A groan came from him, and she revelled in the heavy weight of him as he lowered his straightened arms, dipped his head to bring his lips to where she’d trailed her fingers, to sample and kiss, to lick at her navel.

  She whimpered; he lifted his gaze. Suffused with heat, she shook her head at him.

  ‘Then let me...’ He adjusted himself between her legs. His hands and fingers curved to the back of her thighs, opening her for him.

  She was no longer showing him where she wanted his kisses, his touch. It was his turn.

  His body went tense as hers grew slack. As she curved into the cradle of his arms against the locked tenseness of his body while his fingers glided down from her navel.

  ‘Hugh...’ she tried to warn him.

  ‘Let me, Alice. Command me. I want to kiss you here.’ His fingers stroked through her curls. ‘And then I want to do more.’

  It was his words, the loss of control of his breath matching hers, the increase of tension between them—she couldn’t stand it, couldn’t stand it.

  ‘Alice, please...’ The heat of his hand was cupping her. His fingers were rubbing, pressing. ‘Let me,’ he repeated.

  ‘Yes!’ she gasped.

  With a wolfish grin, he did as she commanded him to do.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Their breaths caught; their hearts slowed. The uncertainty of her future with Hugh was more terrifying than the darkness to her now. Still, she eked out as much happiness she could as she leaned her head in the crook of his arm and rested her hand against his chest. She adjusted her hips to tangle their legs even more. It was Hugh with her now, touching her, loving her. More glorious and heartbreaking than she’d ever dreamed this would be.

  How could someone be happy and heartbroken at the same time? She lifted her palm, skimmed her fingers through the hairs on his chest, over the flexing muscles underneath. His warrior’s training, his strength, were so evident in the cords of his muscles, in the ridges along his abdomen. She would never get enough.

  ‘We have spent so many years apart.’

  ‘And I regret them all,’ he said.

  Misunderstandings and missed opportunities. And now their monarch was after them, and there was nowhere they could run.

  ‘I cannot regret this,’ she said. After he brought her pleasure, he’d taken her maidenhead...just as she begged him to do.

  ‘Maybe we never had the perfect time, but we did have it—we simply needed to be able to see it. I see it now.’ He paused. ‘I didn’t hurt you?’

  ‘Did it sound like you did?’

  Hugh clenched his eyes. ‘If you keep reminding me of our pleasures, Alice, we’ll never get out of your bed.’

  If only they could. Happiness. Grief. Joy. All were somewhere in this moment. ‘I like us this way,’ she said, curling into him and splaying her hand to feel his heartbeat.

  ‘Me, too.’ His shifted, his idle caresses now becoming more purposeful.

  Alice basked in the feeling of Hugh’s fingers tracing circles behind her knee before trailing up, then down again. Rejoiced in the way he breathed and how his heart thumped under her ear.

  ‘There’s something I’ve been meaning to ask...’ he whispered.

  ‘Hmmm?’

  He gave a low sound, almost a chuckle. ‘Why did Allen lower you into the well?’

  She tilted her head to see him watching her with a tenderness she’d never known existed. A happiness she was only beginning to glimpse. ‘You never asked me that question before.’

  ‘Well, at first I was preoccupied with saving your life...and then saving my nose. Afterwards—’

  ‘You were trying to escape a six-year-old girl’s vow to marry you, and a young woman’s demands for a kiss.’

  The lightness in his eyes dimmed. ‘I regret all those years,’ he repeated.

  She sighed, rested her head against him. ‘Well, the last demand wasn’t your fault. It was mine.’

  ‘Yours? I almost killed you that day. I said so much in anger—no wonder you fled.’

  It was easier to talk to him this way. So much had already been revealed between them, so much shared, it was simple to share more. ‘I didn’t flee; I ran away.’

  ‘I told you to, though, didn’t I? Told you to run away.’

  ‘I shouldn’t have listened. You didn’t mean it, and I was a coward.’

  His hand stilled. ‘I was the coward who demanded that you go. Do you know how long I was haunted by your standing against me like that? I dreamed of how you would have tasted.’

  Somehow, even after all they’d shared, her heart still yearned for that moment. She lifted her head and softly kissed his lips before settling down again.

  ‘Well, now you know,’ she said lightly.

  ‘I’d like to know more,’ he said, his voice indicating that even the slight touch of her lips had affected him. She heard it in his heartbeat, and in hers as well. Their desire was only slightly banked and was beginning to bloom again, and she was more than ready for it.

  ‘Aren’t you going to tell me?’ he said.

  ‘Tell you what?’

  ‘I’d like to know more about what happened that day.’

  Where was her thoughts? Certainly not with Allen.

  ‘It wasn’t only Allen who lowered me into the well. It was Peter and Garman as well. It took more than one boy to tie me up and lower me down.’

  He chuckled, and she loved how it felt against her.

  ‘And he did all that simply because I told him that he would never get a wife if he didn’t learn to comb his hair.’

  His hand squeezed her thigh. ‘You were trying to fix him? A boy almost twice your age, with his friends watching, and you were...scolding him?’

  She giggled, and rested her chin on his chest in order to catch his gaze. ‘I suppose I was.’

  Laughing, he bent his head and kissed her thoroughly, until their laughter blended and her breath caught with his. And then she couldn’t breathe at all as his hands cupped the backs of her knees to hold them wider and make space for him.

  ‘Again?’ she breathed.

  ‘Always,’ he promised.

  * * *

  A knock on the door. The light from the shuttered window indicating it was still night; the noises down below revealing the festivities continued.

  Hugh sprang out of the bed to grab his tunic and the blade from his boot. Another knock—not any louder, but more insistent as it beat again and again on the door.

  ‘Who would it be?’ Hugh whispered.

  ‘I don’t know, but it can’t be good.’ Alice whispered back, pulling on her chemise. ‘What are you doing?’

  ‘I’m protecting you.’

  ‘You can’t answer the door!’

  He cursed.

  ‘I’ll get it. It could be my sister or Esther, enquiring after my well-being. I didn’t tell anyone that I was retiring. They may be wondering where I am.’

  He scoffed. ‘It could be a reveller, trying to get to you.’

  ‘They wouldn’t knock, would they?’ she retorted as she headed to the door.

  ‘I know you’re in there.’

  Hugh’s stomach dropped and he moved away from the drapery around the bed as Alice opened the door. ‘Eldric? What are you doing here?’

  ‘Coming to warn you.’ Eldric stepped around Alice. ‘Easy with that dagger, Hugh. I come here as a
friend.’

  ‘The fact that you’d notice a blade hidden behind my back tells me otherwise—as does your presence here.’

  ‘I think my noble intentions are clear since Alice stands next to me and no harm has come to her.’

  Alice gasped then. Softly. But she didn’t move. She was brave. And Hugh’s faith in her strength blinded him to her vulnerability.

  He brought the blade forward and lowered it to throw it under-arm. Just in case.

  Eldric chuckled. ‘Not very knightly of you to allow a maiden to be your shield.’

  ‘You as well, then,’ Alice said with steel in her voice he had never heard before.

  Not now; don’t let her guess everything now.

  ‘Eldric, leave,’ Hugh growled.

  ‘Not a chance. Not now that we can finally get to the point.’ Eldric swept further into the room and Hugh watched Alice move behind him, her eyes scanning the room. No doubt for a weapon.

  It was the casualness of Eldric’s words that punctuated through Hugh’s anger, diffused the haze of desire that had burned through him from Alice’s love and confession.

  Eldric was too casual...too knowing. ‘You comprehend now, don’t you, why I’m here?’

  Hugh knew it was only Alice’s presence in the room that kept his knife still. His secret was known. Lives were in danger. Not only his own, but families, entire clans. ‘How much does Edward know?’

  Eldric crossed his arms across his chest, and leaned his shoulder against the wall. ‘Not mincing words in front of her, then? Either you’re planning on killing me, or she is with that comb.’

  Alice didn’t drop said comb, but she came close. She looked mutinous, ready to throw it despite the lack of surprise she’d no doubt been depending on.

  ‘Look at me, Hugh.’ Eldric shifted his crossed arms. ‘I couldn’t attack fast enough for any harm to come about and you know it.’

  ‘How is it you know?’ Hugh said, though he had already guessed. Eldric had been too careful with his words and actions since his arrival.

  ‘Because I’m like you.’

  ‘Another spy. Who isn’t?’ Alice blurted.

  Eldric’s lips quirked. ‘It’s not something I acknowledge in front of strangers, but apparently, it’s information Hugh freely hands out.’

  ‘Edward sent you here,’ Hugh said. It was not a question, but he had to know with certainty how deep this went.

  ‘Long before your arrival. Or his summoning of her.’

  Alice did drop the comb then.

  Eldric cracked a smile. ‘You aren’t any good at this you know.’ Then he nodded his head. ‘And you, rushing headlong to defend her. As if you could protect her when your very presence is the cause of—’

  ‘Enough!’ Hugh growled. ‘We’ll have this conversation, since you insist, but we’ll do it elsewhere.’

  ‘No, you won’t,’ Alice said. She’d moved towards the door again; looked as if she intended to bar their departure. ‘You won’t be leaving this room until I know what is going on.’

  Eldric’s low whistle did nothing to ease Hugh’s riotous feelings. Elation at being with Alice, at her bravery in the face of Eldric. Her understanding that he and Eldric were spies.

  Eldric’s presence here was either a bluff or meant he knew Hugh had the Seal, though there was a possibility he didn’t know about Robert. Eldric definitely knew about his involvement with Alice, and that meant the King could too. She was in danger. If only he could protect her from it.

  ‘How many spies does a king need?’

  ‘How vast is Edward’s greed and desire for power?’ Eldric replied.

  Vast—so vast. Hugh wondered if, given enough time, he’d take over the world.

  ‘Explain it to me,’ Alice said.

  Hugh’s gaze snapped to hers. Her eyes were filled with determination, fear, confusion. She was so open, innocent. And he had allowed Edward close to her. To make her part of his manipulations. When he had had her in his arms at Court—he should have held on and escaped with her. Damned the consequences and the outcomes and simply gotten her out.

  But he hadn’t known what was expected of her. How could he guess Edward wanted her to spy?

  Now Eldric was watching them both for their vulnerabilities. He had waited until this moment to reveal his intent. True, Eldric still stood casually, but his hand wasn’t far from his sword.

  ‘How much danger is she in?’ he asked, not expecting an answer.

  ‘I want an explanation now,’ Alice said.

  He wanted to answer her, but that could only come from Eldric. He needed to comprehend exactly what Eldric knew. Since Eldric suspected Hugh had the Seal, did he know of Robert?

  None of it mattered if Alice wasn’t safe.

  ‘I’d say she’s in a lot of danger,’ Eldric drawled, ‘more than you alone can protect her from.’

  ‘Now,’ repeated Alice.

  When had she grabbed her comb again?

  ‘Edward’s need for power is vast, Alice. So vast he wouldn’t ask three spies to go to this wreck of a town to find one traitor.’

  ‘A king always has more than one traitor,’ Eldric added. ‘He couldn’t waste the resources of you, Hugh and I. Therefore, there was an ulterior motive at play here.’

  Alice eyes darted from Hugh to Eldric, and then she shook her head once, twice. As if trying to answer questions.

  ‘Which means he suspects one of us,’ Hugh said.

  Eldric’s eyes narrowed. ‘You guessed, and yet you didn’t throw your blade at me?’ he replied.

  It still didn’t mean that the King had proof of Robert, and he had to protect Alice. ‘Since you’ve held back your sword, I don’t suppose you want to negotiate?’

  Eldric drew his lips in, made a dismissing sound. ‘You’ve seen the slashes on my arm. I have my own burdens to bear. Can’t be taking on any unnecessary ones.’

  ‘But she’s not unnecessary. I’m asking, as a friend, if you know how to protect her.’

  Alice gasped at the same time as Eldric laughed.

  ‘You think it’s her that needs safety?’

  No bluff. Eldric did know about the Seal, was about to reveal all.

  ‘The King suspects you, and guessed you had some weakness here in this town, given your less than stellar lineage. I don’t think he suspected it was her. But it’s ironic, isn’t it? That he chose her to be a spy...on you...and she’s your greatest weakness. If it was planned, Edward must have some divine given power from God. It has to be luck.’

  ‘Just don’t do it in front of her.’

  Alice clenched the comb, felt the bite of the teeth into her palm, but none of it was holding in the pain in her heart.

  Eldric was a spy, watching, threatening, them both. Hugh now wanted to keep her safe.

  ‘What, not in front of me?’ she bit out.

  Eldric gave a tsking sound. ‘Hugh thinks I’ll kill him in front of you.’

  ‘Won’t you?’ Hugh asked. ‘You have to kill me or be hanged yourself. I know what is done with traitors.’

  She wouldn’t allow it. ‘You think he’s the traitor with the Half-Thistle Seal?’

  Eldric shrugged. ‘I don’t think it. I—’

  ‘But you don’t know why he’s done it. You don’t—’

  ‘Alice!’ Hugh cried out.

  Eldric’s knowing smirk was gone. His expression was stunned. ‘There’s more?’

  ‘Alice, don’t.’ Hugh shook his head, his expression fierce. ‘As a friend. Protect her. If you think it’s luck that Edward chose her, then downplay her role in this. Tell the King of her failed attempts. Sever our connection. Keep her safe.’

  Eldric pushed himself off the wall. ‘It’s luck. It has to be. I’ve been counting on it.’

&nb
sp; ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘I’m not going to kill you, or drag her into this. While you were both pining for each other, some of us were actually planning how to survive once you revealed your feelings.’

  ‘If I were dressed, I would show you planning,’ Hugh stated.

  ‘I rather like you helpless. And you won’t be able to kill me once you hear my plan.’

  ‘You intend to help us?’ Alice said.

  ‘That’s all I’ve been doing—but you were both taking so long, and I had to be sure.’

  ‘Of what?’ Hugh said.

  ‘Of where your loyalties lie.’

  ‘They lie with the King.’

  Eldric raised a brow. ‘While you trade secrets with the Scots?’

  ‘You do know a lot.’

  ‘Know this, the King only suspects you have the Seal. I doubted it, and told him so. Throughout your time in Swaffham, your actions of following her made me believe it to be true. This conversation is only confirming it.’

  Alice sound was of dismay. ‘Tell him why.’

  ‘No.’ Hugh swung his gaze to her. ‘I’m a dead man either way, Alice. At least this way I’m keeping some of my vows, some of my honour.’

  She couldn’t stay quiet any more. ‘Tell him. Or I will. You both act like enemies, but you’re friends, aren’t you?’

  Eldric shrugged. ‘I’ve sent no message to the King.’

  ‘I can’t trust that,’ Hugh said.

  ‘Didn’t I ask if we were friends? Didn’t I carefully, throughout this dance you have both played, examine the information? I flirted with Alice that first night, which confirmed your attachment. I watched you sneak into rooms with her, followed you when you left the church that day.’

  ‘I’m still helping the King.’

  ‘I know. But if we are friends, I’d like to know why you’re doing it.’ Eldric replied. ‘It makes no sense to me.’

  ‘Tell him, Hugh,’ Alice pleaded.

  Hugh gave a curt shake of his head. ‘It will only make matters worse.’

  ‘Right now I understand that both you and I are dead anyway,’ she said. ‘How could it be worse?’

  ‘Not only for us, but also for Eldric.’