by Amber Dane
“However, I will take care of our home. I will protect you and any children that we have. You will want for naught. I will not mistreat you or raise a hand to you, Danielle, ever. You may grow fond of me in time. If that happens, ‘twill be nice, I suppose. We will be faithful to one another. That should be enough, I would think for a good marriage.”
Danielle choked on his words. If she could she would be on top of his head pulling every strand of that raven mane out of his big head. But, as she couldn’t and it would be most unladylike of her to do so, she didn’t. Besides, if the cold man in front of her was dead set on a union devoid of interaction and emotion outside the chamber, so be it.
She could give as good as she got.
Then, if that were true, why did it feel like a vise was squeezing her heart and tears burned at the back of her eyes? The man in front of her was not the gentle man that had caressed her and driven her body to dizzying heights of pleasure. Last night’s intimacy meant nothing to him. Stricken by his cool admission, Danielle’s hurt overrode her pain. Her hope on many levels had been for naught.
“As you wish, Aric.” Her words were clear, but thick with her emotion. “I won’t be unfaithful, then.”
Aric’s brows furrowed at her words and the glint in her eyes. What was she up to? What did she want from him? Something in him twisted and he grew angry. She’d said that too quickly. She was growing less timid by the minute. He cocked a brow at her and shot to his feet.
He did not like having this woman make him feel as if he could not keep a single thought in his head when he was in her presence. With his hand on the hilt of his sword, he towered over her and said coolly. “Fine. I have business to attend to.” He bristled with that. He didn’t have to tell her anything. Had he not just said so moments ago?
She looked angry and hurt and barely managed a nod. Her expression bothered him a great deal and his face darkened even further. He grew even more furious at the silent admission. Giving her a look to scorch the clothes right off her back, he stomped to the chamber door and her wounded tone and words stopped him as he swung the door open.
“I guess that will be all then, Aric?”
He did not even bother to turn around for fear he’d go back to her side.
Instead, he stepped out into the hall and said, “I have guests due to arrive on the morrow. Please see to it that rooms are made up to accept them. That will be all.”
He did not wait a reply and slammed the door so hard, Danielle jumped from the impact.
Chapter 7
Danielle let out the breath she’d been holding. Guests? What guests? He did not even care to discuss that with her. She knew he was well aware that preparations and a meal would be in order to welcome whomever it was due to arrive. Guests! But oh, he’d said all manor concerns were his now. So should he not be the one to see to the comforts of receiving his guests?
She was no one. Just another object that had come with Gravane. Hadn’t he just made that so painfully and strikingly clear?
Not one kind word. Not one mention of last night.
If this was a sign of what was in store for this marriage she definitely could not see herself liking it one bit.
Just then the skies opened up, lightning cracked and thunder rumbled deafeningly over the manor in confirmation. Danielle blinked back her tears and went to the window and pulled back one shutter just as the first drops of rain pelted the grounds.
God had forsaken her with her husband, but not with this. Best she stick to what she knew than try to make something work where there was no hope.
She left the window and went to the chest across the room, opening the lid. She would have to change into her garb. The mist would soon be about and she did not have much time. Little Jacob needed her.
Soon, Danielle moved easily through the manor and tunnels until she reached the rear of the stables.
She turned and looked about to make sure no one was shadowing her. Harvey’s loud snores, as usual told her she would not have to worry about him. Danielle mounted her mare. She had one goal on her mind. Aric may not value her, but a few others did and a child was in need. There were bigger things going on besides her wants and desires.
With that thought, Danielle let out a breath and forced the horse into a hard gallop. She sped through the thick swirling mist and deep into the dark forest.
Aric thought he’d been seeing things when he caught the cloaked figure bent low over the horse sprinting through the thick marshes behind the stables. He arched a suspicious brow as something familiar about the form captured his attention as horse and rider galloped at a clipped pace along the southern side of the manor with practiced ease.
He was unaware that his feet had drawn him closer and upon closer inspection, the sight drew him away from the manor wall and Balwain's side. The rain and wind swept the hood of the cloak from the figure’s head. He’d know that braided hair and figure from any distance. Aric let out the breath he’d not known he’d been holding when his chest ached from the pressure. He was furious! It was Danielle!
Where was she off to?
Within seconds he was on Thunder’s back and tore off after her.
He’d known his words had been harsh, nay, outright cutting. But had it been enough to cause her to flee him?
Aye, her large eyes had been filled with hurt from his words and he’d chosen to ignore it. He grew angry at himself. In just these short couple of days, the woman plagued him more than anything he’d ever encountered.
The mist grew thicker and thicker as he rode behind her. He could hardly see.
The blanket of gray was nigh blinding. He had lost sight of her twice now as she sped through the copse of trees on some secret path only she seemed to know. But, his warrior instincts had him right on her back and he held back a bit to not give himself away.
Soon, she came to a clearing and Aric saw that they were in the village, but at the far end of it.
These huts were smaller and patched here and there, barely held together from what little he could see through the damning mist. A big lumbering hulk of a man came out of that mist toward Danielle and Aric found himself off Thunder’s back, on the ground and ready to run toward his wife, sword at the ready. But he halted when the big man simply took the reins of her horse and led the small mare somewhere off in the mist. Two more figures appeared, smaller in form. Aric squinted for a better look.
Women.
Into one of the huts spilling gold light out into the gray veil his wife and the two figures went. Aric ducked low and approached the hut and stood at one of the two windows for a view inside.
Danielle removed her wrap and pulled her bag of medicines from inside the breast of the tunic she wore tucked into her fitted breeches. Her hair in a fat braid down her back, swung as she ambled over to the little figure in the bed. Her knee was bothering her tonight as it usually did when the rain came. But this night ‘twas not only the rain that bothered it.
“Milady, thanks be to the Blessed Saints you came. I was so afraid for him. I did not know what else to do.” The smaller of the two women spoke to Danielle.
Danielle took the small limp hand of the child in the bed into her own. Clammy and chilled. Fever had the little frail body in its torrent throes as it had its way with him. Tears pricked her eyes. She should have come sooner. The village healer had taught her much before she’d passed away a few years ago and Danielle was grateful for all she’d learned.
Reaching into her bag, she pulled out a few items and arranged them on the wooden table next to the thin cot.
“Livvy, get me some hot water, cloths, and heat this knife until it glows red.” She barked out more orders and the two women hurried off to do her bidding. Danielle laid a wet cloth across the boy’s tiny forehead.
“You are going to be alright, Little Jacob.” She whispered. His little chest rattled a wheezing breath as if in response.
“Will he fare well, milady? He’s all Bruce and I got. I don’t think I’d b
e able to go on without my Lil’ Jacob.” The woman was crying hard. Danielle gripped her hand in hers.
“Livvy, he will be fine in a sennight or two. But you, you have to be strong for him. Your will is what will make him fight. Can you do that for him?” Danielle pressed firmly.
“Yea, milady. I can.”
Danielle proceeded to cut cloth and bathe Little Jacob’s body from head to toe before turning him over to see to the wound on his lower back. The bandage was dirty and had drained through to the bed linen. The six year old had been playing at training to be a knight and had fallen on a wooden spike that had nearly come through his front.
The puncture was deep and showed no signs of infection. Danielle winced with a prayer that she had come in time. She was going to have to clean it, pack it and stitch the wound close to ward off any parasites and contamination.
Nearly an hour later, she was finally done and thankful that the fever had kept the little boy from feeling her deep ministrations. She shared a prayer with the family over his little body, and then made ready to leave.
After a list of Danielle’s instructions for the next coming days, his mother, Livvy now held the wet towel to his forehead to cool him.
“Thank ye, milady. Thank ye!” Livvy called out to her as Danielle moved to exit the hut with the other woman at her side.
“Just follow my instructions, Livvy and he will be fine. Mind you, come straight away if he takes a turn.”
“But the mist, milady?” Livvy’s worried whisper had all eyes turn to her.
Danielle tossed her head and straightened her shoulders back. “Little Jacob means more to me than my fear of Thomas.” As those words left her lips, her husband’s vow came back to her.
Aye, she feared Thomas a little less now. She knew first hand that Aric was a force to be reckoned with and she’d seen the fear on Thomas’s face.
She exited the tiny hut and saw Bruce coming out of the mist with her gray mare. He grunted his thanks as he helped her mount. Danielle gave a last look over the huts she could see and a feeling of sadness filled her chest before she turned and disappeared once again into the thick forest.
Aric’s rage was not as heavy as before. It had abated with what he’d witnessed through the hut’s window. Even so, he was still angry that she would ride about unescorted and under the cover of the night and mist when so much rebellion and Thomas was afoot.
He rode at a slower pace behind her as she trotted back to the manor. Her urgency now over, it seemed.
He waited until she reached the stables and watched her tiptoe about before she returned to the manor and entered through a door, to his surprise hidden under the trellis in the garden. His wife was full of secrets and Aric found he was excited by it.
What would she say if he confronted her this night?
Then his mind went in another direction as he felt a tightening in his loins as he went around the front and entered the manor. She thought her little escapade had gone undetected. But he would soon change that
.
Chapter 8
Edie awaited her in her chamber with a towel to pat her hair dry and quickly helped her change back into her gown. Danielle was breathless. “Did he notice I was gone, Edie?”
“Nay, milady, he and Balwain were in deep discussion and drink.” Edie exhaled in a rush as she bundled up Danielle’s tunic and breeches and put them in the sack she had tucked under her arm.
Danielle could not stop the nervous smile that came to her lips. She had felt as though someone had been behind her the whole time down to the village and back again. So it had been her imagination after all, she sighed with relief.
“Thomas and Rose?” she queried and sat impatiently on the stool as Edie saw to her hair.
Edie scoffed as she finished the thick plait. “With a meal coming to the table those two never stray far. There! You look beautiful, milady.”
Danielle blushed. “Edie, you are too kind. Come, I must hurry. Any longer and I’ll draw attention to my absence.”
“Aye. And Little Jacob, milady?” Edie asked, worry lacing her tone as she followed behind her to the chamber door.
Danielle fretted but a moment. “He will be fine. The little fellow’s fever will break before the dawn.” She quickly rushed on with the rest before they exited the chamber.
Aric stood in the manor foyer with Balwain listening to the loud sounds coming from the dining hall as his men and Gravane’s readied and settled for the last meal of the eve. He wondered how long Danielle would take before she made her entrance after her little escapade. He itched to go to their chamber and catch the maiden. But not yet. He wanted her to continue to think that she was safe with her secret for now. Patience.
“Care to share what that smile is about, milord?”
Balwain’s words invaded his thoughts and Aric’s lips thinned; halting the smile he’d not been aware he’d been showing. That woman! His brows furrowed in consternation.
“Nay, friend.” He grunted and shot Balwain a dark look. Balwain guffawed.
His friend knew him too well and Aric found himself sharing in the hearty laugh just as Rose and Thomas sauntered across their path.
“Lords, pray tell, such hearty laughter as this is rather infectious and the cause surely should be shared. Should it not?” Rose’s words grated on both men and their laughter ceased.
Rose released Thomas’s arm and walked seductively to Aric’s side. Her red gown, snug and her assets on display yet again. Aric and Balwain both looked back to Thomas. The peacock was decked out in all his bright and feathered glory.
“Some things cannot be shared in a Lady’s presence.” Balwain said all too sweetly.
Aric bit back his chuckle. Lady. Rose was a strumpet that had her eyes set on anything that was randy and would welcome her. Her eyes and wet mouth pursed in a way that turned his stomach as she slid her arm through his and made his skin crawl.
“You men are quite bold. You have caused this lady to blush. Milord, would you be so kind as to escort a lady to her seat?”
Aric wanted to do anything but, yet his manners kicked in. Her fingers curled around his forearm, her other hand joined it and she slid her fingers over his arm in a suggestive manner with her breast pressed against his bicep. To think he had been delighted upon first sight that this woman might have been his now made him sick.
Rose mistook his slight shudder as a ripple of excitement and pressed harder, if that was at all possible against him. Her mind churning with her evil thoughts and lust. He was going to be easier than she thought.
Oh, she couldn’t wait to get him on his back and have her way with him. She gushed up at him as heat wet her thighs.
“Of course.” Aric finally responded. “Lady Rose.”
He gave a last look to Balwain and Thomas.
Thomas’s smug look had been replaced by lust and resentment and he strutted forward. Aric would not allow the man to walk at his back. Thomas turned back, a suspicious look upon his face and looked to him as they reached the arched doorway of the hall.
“Is my dear cousin not joining us this eve, milord?”
Just the mention of Danielle coming from his mouth had Aric ready to stomp the man where he stood. The man was not as simple as he pretended. His eyes remained steady, but it was the twitch of Thomas’s lips and tone that told Aric the man suspected something. The longer he stared at him, the more he was certain of it.
Thomas was either aware of his wife’s little nightly trips into the village or had stumbled upon something else. Anger made him want to reach out and strangle the smaller man, but he did not. Instead, he tamped down his rage. Patience, he told himself.
“My wife will be down shortly, Thomas.”
The peacock’s reddening face was all Aric needed to know the man got the meaning of his cool tone. Thomas cleared his throat and walked on ahead into the crowded room.
Danielle entered just as Aric was untangling himself from Rose’s viper grip. Something dark swel
led inside Danielle’s chest and she stopped breathing at the sight of her cousin’s hands on him. She was frozen to the spot there in the hall’s entrance. Hurt lanced through her heart to see the intimate way their two heads leaned in to one another. Doubt reared and crept under her skin. Danielle lowered her gaze where it fell upon Thomas’s gloating ruddy face. She nearly gagged. His lips twisted in triumph and she saw his beady eyes bulge with satisfaction as he leered at her.
Sudden anger drove her into action that he had been the one to catch her in a vulnerable moment.
She moved forward just as Aric’s gaze shot up and met hers. His dark eyes were devoid of emotion. But she held his with her angry gaze as she walked toward the lord’s table with her head held high. She felt someone at her side.
“Milady, ‘Twould be my pleasure to escort you the rest of the way.”
Danielle took Balwain’s arm. His warm smile diffused some of her anger. He was so pleasant. Why could Aric not be more like him she thought as hot tears pricked her eyes.
Until that moment, she’d not known how emotionally wounded she truly was over the image of her husband gazing appreciatively down into Rose’s décolletage. Damn her cousin! Rose had a beauty she would never own. Still, she managed a true smile for her husband’s friend.
“Thank you, Balwain. But the pleasure, I must say, is mine.”
Balwain blushed openly and Danielle kept her gaze straight ahead. She would not, could not look at Aric again for surely her legs would buckle. Reaching her seat, Balwain took his just as her husband took his.
The hall seemed to quiet immediately. Balwain ignored his lord’s angry visage.