by Amber Dane
“Rourke?” Goran questioned, worriedly at the look on his friend’s face. When he got no response, he turned and quickly dismissed the men. He tried to get Rourke’s attention again. “Rourke?”
Rourke uttered one single word. “There.” And was off running.
Alexa tried to decipher what she’d just heard and could only stare at Camm as her mind tried to make sense of what her maid had just told her. Surely, she had not heard her correctly and that Camm simply had misspoken. The wind, after all, was nigh howling, whistling around them, and snatching long tendrils of her hair out of her neat double plait.
“Camm?” Alexa finally managed to mutter.
Alexa drew back as she watched the woman, a year younger than herself, that she’d grown up with side by side, and whom she and Lisbeth had loved, transform. The loathing blazed from her maid’s eyes as they stared at her. Camm’s façade of the loving maid evaporated and she took a menacing step in her direction.
Alexa felt a deep anger start to build within her and she tried again. “Camm?”
“’Tis Cammilla, you stupid bitch!” Camm screamed with venom.
The woman she’d known was gone and Alexa struggled with the sudden grief that assailed her as it mingled with the rising tide of fury over such betrayal. She could not believe it and wanted to so badly explain her maid’s behavior, even as truth and the missing pieces started to fall into place.
“Camm, what have you done?” Alexa shouted across to her.
The cackle that came from Camm’s mouth had Alexa balling her hands into fists.
“Lisbeth? My father?” Alexa said in a painful, accusing whisper. Blood roared in her veins as she took a step toward Camm.
Camm continued at a hurried and well-practiced pace, with large steps in her direction. A second of alarm washed over Alexa as dawning came to her and she felt the wind at her back. There was no place to go but down.
She had walked into a trap.
Camm’s sneering grin widened and Alexa knew the maid knew she’d just figured it out. “You planned this.” Alexa whispered hoarsely what they both already knew.
“Aye, you high and mighty whore. And well too. You’re not so smart now are you?”
Camm let loose a wild and crazy laugh. She was almost upon her and Alexa calculated her movements and what she could do next. There was not enough room were she to try to subdue the maid on this thin piece of wood plank. But, a shove in the right direction….Alexa did not take her eyes from the advancing woman and planted her feet as firmly as she could in the little space allotted.
“My father and Lisbeth loved you. We all loved you. How could you have done something so horrible?” Alexa snarled as white spots of anger swam before her eyes. She wanted to wrap her hands around Camm’s neck and squeeze the life from her.
“How could you have done something so horrible?” Camm repeated in a mocking deep tone. “Your voice is so manly and sounds like it’s full of rocks. God, how I hate the sound of it! All these years of ‘Camm do this’ 'Camm do that’ ‘yes mistress’, ‘no mistress’. Sickening is what ‘tis.’
Alexa stood there in disbelief. She had never known this woman at all. She had fooled them all. “We were always good to you and did nothing to hurt you. We treated you like a sister.”
The mask of rage twisted Camm’s face as she stopped. A sneer curled her lip as she said, “Treated me like a sister? How aptly put. Do you know what 'twas like to watch all of you? The both of you enjoy this and that, the finer things that should have been mine too. ‘Twas not fair.”
Alexa frowned over her words. “What do you mean?”
"You are just as blind and dumb as your mother was. We have the same father! I was born right here under her nose and her cruelty to my mother knew no bounds. She worked my poor mother into an early grave and kept me on to see after her brats! Aye, 'tis no wonder we were close."
Alexa's blood pounded in her ears. "That’s a vicious lie!"
Camm cackled. "I wanted it to be known, but our father threatened to send me away or worse. I chose to show him or worse. His lies took all I loved away. My mother! He’d no right to do that to her. To me! He had no right. So, I took away everything he loved. I just erred by not getting rid of you first."
"You are evil! I do not believe this madness."
"I don't need you to believe me. I just need you dead."
The girl was crazy and the cunning gleam fixed in her eyes froze Alexa and she braced herself. Camm let out a shriek and leaped forward.
He would not make it to them in time. His only hope was that Alexa would release her hold on the maid. But, she didn’t and Rourke could only watch in horror as both women, locked in a fierce battle, came off the plank and seemed suspended in the air for a frozen moment before they came crashing down in a flurry of hair and skirts. He felt Goran rush up near him as he braced himself and aimed to catch Alexa.
He had no chance as his wife twisted midair to land a punch square to the maid’s face just as their entwined bodies hit the ground with a hard, sickening thud. Rourke dropped to his knees next to them. Both were so still and his heart fell to his stomach. Alexa was not moving.
TWENTY SIX
Jacob's scream was loud enough to wake the dead when the boy spotted Camm.
Rourke growled without looking up, "Take him to the dungeons."
Jacob yelled, concern for his own life in his tone and wide eyes, “You are a knight. Show mercy!”
Rourke turned a murderous look upon him as Goran shoved the boy toward two guards that dragged him away kicking and screaming.
Rourke turned his attention back to the bodies.
The blood pouring out of the back of Camm’s skull told them all life had gone. Rourke didn't know where to touch Alexa first. His heart twisted. She was so still, but no blood came from anywhere he could yet see. He reached out with a hand under her neck and the other under her knees. When he lifted her, she did not stir but for the soft moan that escaped her parted lips. Relief like he'd never known surged through him and Rourke strode toward the manor.
Dipping the soft cloth in the cool water, Rourke bathed Alexa’s brow once again, before setting it back in the bowl next to the bed. It was night and she had not shown any signs yet of awakening. He’d sent for the healer and she had checked every inch of his wife’s body as he'd done. No broken bones.
A lump, the size of a goose egg sat on the side of her temple, and a black and purple bruise on her right hip. But, what scared him the most was that she might not wake up. Often upon the battlefield he'd seen many that had taken a hard hit to the head, never to awake again or those that did had woken to addled brains. His mind whirled back to when he first met her and everything that happened since. He let his fingers slide over her neck and jaw. She looked like she was lost in a pleasant sleep. She was so different than the person Jacqueline had been and he whispered hoarsely, “Come back to me.”
He knelt next to the bed, her hand in his and prayed.
Something hit him in his back and he groaned. When it came again, it was softer and Rourke woke up to find Alexa leaning over him and daylight flooding the chamber. He shot up.
She stared at him with a frown and her hand out. "Ohhh. Not so fast."
He dragged her into his arms up against his bare chest. "Alexa!" he breathed near her ear. A rush of relief flooded him again.
She mumbled something. He pulled away and she took a deep breath.
"I need breathe to be able to answer you." Her voice was strained.
"Are you well?" Rourke asked her as he settled the fur around her only to have her push it off. He had dressed her in a shift. She looked over his naked frame, then to his face.
"A bit dizzy. But,I am fine." She made to move off the bed and his hand on her elbow stopped her.
"Are you sure? Where do you go?" he asked worried.
"A drink."
"Stay. I will get it." He reached over to the pitcher he had set next to the bed and filled the small cu
p. After her second cup, she seemed like her old self and Rourke hesitated. Almost afraid to hope. He reached out to feel her temple; she flinched under his soft ministrations.
"Camm?" she muttered looking at him as she pulled her legs under her to lean into his chest. His arms circled her.
"Dead." And he wished he could kill the maid over again. "When you are ready will you tell me what happened up there?"
"I am ready." Alexa told him what Camm had said and when she got to the last of the maid's words.
“Think you, what she said was true?”
“All that could say any different are dead. So, we will never know.” Rourke tightened his arms around her and told her about Jacob being imprisoned and he would be hanged for his part in it.
Alexa balked at that. But, Rourke refused to back down.
After a while she said, quietly, "You were right all along."
Rourke cupped her face and lifted it so he could look in her eyes. "‘Tis over now. That's all that matters." She nodded and gave him a weak smile.
"Do you have a sister or brother?"
He shook his head no and she nodded. His heart twisted and he planted a light kiss on her upturned mouth. When he pulled back, he saw tears in her eyes and he hugged her. Goran had been right, she’d not grieved for her sister. Alexa cried long and hard into the afternoon in his arms.
Nigh an entire week had passed and still Alexa was distraught and plagued by Camm’s betrayal. Her father and sister lay dead because of her. Grief weighed heavy in Alexa’s chest.
She blinked back the deep melancholy that had gripped her since the awful scene days ago.
Today was the day Jacob would be hanged. She did not wholly agree, but his crimes deemed it his end in plotting with Camm and Rourke would see no less. He had wanted to behead the boy. That was all he’d bent on. Rourke was an honorable man and as overlord here now, he determined the punishment. Camm and Jacob had committed unforgivable crimes upon her family.
Alexa had sequestered herself in their chamber, not even venturing out for practice the whole week.
The changes in Rourke had been noticeable, but she’d been so preoccupied with her losses and the deep ache within, she could not see past it. He was there every time she looked up. His gentle and soft touches. His deep timbre soothing in an attempt to calm. Seeing to her needs, asking after her well-being. He smiled more, awkwardly, but a smile nonetheless, even that did not lift the black cloud over her head. He’d sought the healer twice. The crushed medicinal herbs and drink only seemed to make her sleep without dreams. But, not aught else. Alexa grieved night and day and since Rourke had come to her manor doors, for the first time she had no desire to leave their chamber.
Rourke was beside himself. She was wilting away right in front of him. He understood her deep grief. Or so he thought he did. She spoke of her father and sister at length and he listened. She’d never spoken Camm’s name again since that night. He had tried what he could to break her out of her dark place. Oh, she gave him a faint smile here and there, but she was not the same.
He wanted his feisty hellion back.
Goran said to give it more time as had the healer. Rourke knew it was his own impatience. She lay curled against him each night, her softness driving him mad, but he had not tried to take their closeness any further than kissing. His body was wound tight. But he could wait. ‘Twas not his first concern. Her well-being was and God’s wounds! He would try again today and hoped he got somewhere. The cold snap had broken and the sun was high this day. ‘Twas still a heavy chill in the air, but he hoped to get her outside, even if he had to carry her out.
It didn’t work out as easily as he’d planned. He wanted his hellion back, but not in this way. At the mention of going outside, Alexa had remained quiet and turned into a wildcat when he’d approached to carry her.
They ended up on the bed, breathless, with him on top of her. He was glad to see the fight in her. But, her refusal to go outside of the chamber scared him. Something was terribly wrong. His gaze burned into hers and she, for the first time in days stared back with an unwavering angry glare of her own.
“Let me up,” she demanded.
Alexa was surprised when he moved off her quickly and she found she was stung by the odd look he shot her way. He went to the window, his broad back to her. Tears blurred her vision at his frigid stance. She crossed her arms and asked sarcastically, “May I get off the bed now?”
“Of course.” His voice sounded as though it pained him.
After a moment she rose and straightened her clothing before going to the window to stand beside him.
“Is the deed done?” she asked him.
“Aye.”
Despair seized her and Alexa let out a piercing wail. Rourke had his arms around her in seconds.
“Alexa! Pray tell me what is wrong, so that I may fix it. I can handle anything, but your tears and you like this, I fear I cannot.”
She turned and laid her hands on his forearms. “’Tis truly…over.” Her wide eyes searched his face and Rourke almost panicked at the faraway look in those amber depths until her hands fisted in the sleeves of his tunic at the odd look he was giving her. Her words came out firm. “Now my family can rest in peace. I need to visit their graves and the chapel. I need to pray.”
He’d thought she was losing her mind. But, she wasn’t. Jacob’s death was the end of it. She let out a sigh when he gave her a reassuring nod.
TWENTY-SEVEN
Two more days later and Rourke noticed that Alexa was back to herself. The heavy grief had not left her completely, but she was functioning better. He found he wanted to do something for her. The urge was strong within him and he’d not remembered feeling this way since that day long ago with Jacqueline. But, this time it was different.
This was Alexa.
She was too proud to throw herself off the side of a cliff. With his mind made up, Rourke did not realize he was grinning as he passed the servants in the hall and the guards outside. Smiles came to their faces as they started to hum a light tune as they worked. The dark cloud over their lord and lady’s head had begun to lift.
Alexa waited for Rourke to meet her in the kitchen as his order had been given. She had found it odd, but had come here anyway. Lina entered and halted. Alexa stared hard at the maid.
“My lady,” Lina said with a curtsy and backed out of the kitchen.
Jealousy flared in Alexa. She knew what this woman was to her husband. She shook it off and thought of the past week. She was still trying to work out many things in her head and this new and gentler side to him was going to take some getting used to. She was not so sure she even liked him this way. Soft.
She missed his deep bellow and roughness, she found. She didn’t like the feelings that he stirred in her in the night by just holding her against his side as they slept. He’d not tried to be intimate with her and she missed that too. She needed something else. Something more. What that was yet, Alexa did not know.
“There you are.”
Alexa turned to see his giant frame walking toward her. He was dressed in light colors today, a heavy cloak around his shoulders only made him appear broader and she inhaled sharply as something tingled inside her. His golden hair was tied back away from his face and he was smiling at her. The lines around his mouth drew her attention there. He was a beautiful man.
“What is it that is of such import, I had to wait here?”
The hand he’d been holding behind his back, he brought to the front. A basket covered by a linen cloth. It looked so tiny and awkward in his large hand. Alexa frowned.
“I have an errand and I wish for you to ride with me. We will be gone for most of the day, so Cook packed us treats. Ready yourself.”
“But-“Alexa started and was cut off as he walked right past her.
“Be ready in half past the hour.” He threw over his shoulder with a loud bellow and Alexa’s belly warmed over the curt command. She snapped her mouth closed and peeked under the
linen cloth of the basket he’d left next to her on the table. A smile lit her face. A ride would do her good and she hurried from the kitchen.
The day couldn’t be any more perfect! Not a dark cloud sullied the noon sky and the sun was as bright as the light Rourke had lit in her heart. The cool air brushed her face. Goran stood beside Rourke’s horse, Black. Dressed to ride in a tunic and breeches, a cloak over her, Alexa came to a halt when she spied her husband walking out of the stables with something bundled under his arm. She took in the sight of him. His broad back faced her as he spoke softly to his animal with one of those large hands that had rested on her hip last night now stroking the black mane on the beautiful creature’s neck.
Delightful tingles of pleasure beset her and a moan escaped her lips as he turned. An ache formed between her thighs under his heated gaze and when he smiled at her, Alexa had to force her weak legs to move forward.
“Are you ready?” Rourke asked her.
"Aye." Alexa said and returned the bright smile Goran shot her way. She looked for her gelding.
"Black will be all we need today. You will ride with me." Rourke gave her a look that said he was awaiting her protest. Alexa shrugged.
Not today. Something warm and fuzzy caused her to shiver at the thought of being in his arms as they rode. Satisfied, he took the basket from her and secured it to the side of his horse.
The ride was more exhilarating and cleansing than Alexa had imagined even with her husband's men hanging back far enough to give them privacy. But, not far enough that she'd not seen a head or two on the other side of the wood. She found it hard to believe the man needed any to watch his back. He was more than capable to handle more than a score of men on his own.