Seducing the Knight

by Gerri Russell

  Her eyelids shut, and she felt awareness edging away from her.

  She woke in what felt like only moments, but the darkness had given way to the pink light of dawn. Alan still held her as intimately as when she’d closed her eyes. His hands cupped her breasts as though he was not willing to end the intimacy they’d shared. The long, muscular length of his body was curled against her back. She smiled her contentment, but that smile slipped a moment later as she considered what had happened between them. They’d come together as one, joined their bodies, and her life would never be the same.

  She was a fallen princess. She bit down on her lip. Strange, she didn’t feel any different. She could detect no dark burden of sin weighing her down. There was only a slight ache between her thighs and a warmth in the center of her chest to prove her untoward behavior had had any lasting effect.

  She looked at the sky and searched the small swath of pink that suggested dawn was on its way. A hawk circled high overhead, its wings outstretched and seemingly motionless as it rode the currents of air, searching the mountainside for prey. Jessamine stretched and rolled onto her back.

  “Good morrow,” Alan murmured, his tone as soft as the early morning light. He rose up on his elbow to stare down at her. “How are you?”

  “Perfect.” Emboldened by their nakedness, she reached out and trailed her fingers over the hard plane of his chest. He inhaled sharply. The dark centers of his eyes flared and she knew he wanted her again. A smile formed on her lips, then faltered a moment later when his hands came out to stop further exploration.

  “Jessamine,” he said, his voice tight. “We must talk.”

  “About where the prophecy will lead us next?” She brought a toe up to stroke the length of his leg.

  “Nay.” He pulled back with regret in his eyes. “Please. We must speak about what happened between us last night.”

  She pushed up on her elbows, for the first time gazing at his naked body in the steady light of dawn. He was unlike anything she’d seen before. Not that she’d seen any naked men, but there had been a statue once in Spain…But he was not pale marble. His flesh was warm bronze. His powerful shoulders and muscular chest flowed down to a tight stomach and corded thighs. Dark hair surrounded his maleness, which was boldly erect.

  “Jessamine, you must stop looking at me like that or we’ll not be discussing anything for a good long time.”

  She smiled. “That would serve me well.” She reached for him.

  With a groan, he scooted back. He sat up and placed some distance between them. “You don’t know how tempted I am. But we really must talk.”

  She sat up as well. The dark shadows were back in his eyes. “If not about the prophecy, then what?” she asked hesitantly.

  “Marriage.”

  At the word, her heart stumbled. “Why?”

  “You deserve the safety of marriage.” His voice was harsh. “What if we created a child last night?” He met her eyes gravely. “I couldn’t live with the possibility of bringing a bastard into this world.”

  A sharp pain filled her chest. She hadn’t considered a child. Grief robbed her of breath. Had she learned nothing from her parents’ lives? Had she not witnessed the pain and suffering their love had brought them? Her parents had defied their traditions, their religion, and their royal status for the passion they’d found in each other’s arms. She understood that passion now, understood what power it had, but she wasn’t ready to throw herself down at passion’s feet. Such emotion had ultimately destroyed her parents.

  Jessamine drew a sharp breath and forced the old doubts and questions back into the deepest recesses of her mind. “Is that your only reason for wanting to sacrifice your freedom? A child?”

  “It’s as good a reason as any.”

  “Not for me.” She stood and took several steps back. “Child or no child, my purpose is to fulfill the prophecy, not to marry you or any other man.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  Alan watched Jessamine step back. She looked so fragile standing at the edge of the altar, naked. The long loose ends of her dark hair coiled over her shoulders, across her breasts, and teased the curves of her waist and hips. A glorious goddess. And he’d just insulted her with his emotionless proposal. He could tell by the flash of pain in her eyes that she’d wanted him to say something more.

  Her lashes, spiky with the tears she refused to let fall, cast shadows on her half-veiled eyes. His heart twisted. “You have a right to be angry. I handled that poorly. But my clumsiness doesn’t change what happened between us in the darkness of last night. We must face it and deal with it in the light of day.”

  “I cannot marry you. If last night’s pleasure burdens you so much, then let’s forget it ever happened.”

  “I cannot do that.” Stubbornness mixed with guilt and another emotion he didn’t want to define. “You would want to bring a bastard child into the world?”

  She flinched. “Never. It’s the children who suffer—”

  “Then accept me. Marry me. Let’s protect whatever child we might have created last night.” He touched her cheek gently. “I’ll be a good husband to you.”

  “You are a Templar. A man of God. How can you be both a monk and a husband?”

  “After last night, my future is changed. I’ll carry my sins as a man.”

  She pulled away from his touch. “I’m as much to blame for what happened last night as you. The situation forced us together, but I offered no resistance. I wanted you.”

  “I want you still,” he said through the tightness in his throat.

  Her gaze shifted to the lower region of his body, then jerked back to his face. Her cheeks flamed anew, but he could see desire flare in her eyes. “That,” she said crisply, “is not why we came to this mountain.” She straightened as though finding her equilibrium once more. “Daylight is almost upon us. Let’s continue our quest for the ark.”

  “And what about marriage?” he persisted.

  She met his gaze. “I’ll think on it.”

  “Then I have no choice but to wait.” Why did the words fill him with such wrenching pain? “Get dressed,” he said more harshly than he’d intended. “We must find the ark.”

  Her shoulders eased as though relieved of a mighty burden. “You truly believe we are close?” she asked as she dressed.

  He grasped his braies and breeches, throwing them on with as much haste as he’d used taking them off last night. “Aye. We are close.”

  The renewed flicker of interest in Jessamine’s eyes almost made him miss the prickly sense of awareness creeping up his nape. He scanned the temple complex. Were they being watched? Alan frowned into the increasing light of dawn. Who would be out there? The man who’d followed Jessamine from Spain? The assassins? Alan saw nothing, yet the feeling would not go away.

  He sensed someone or something out there waiting, waiting for him to fall asleep when he should stay awake, to relax when he should remain alert, to grow careless when he should be diligent.

  He finished dressing and returned to Jessamine’s side. “Come, we must go now.”

  “Alan?” Her voice sounded odd.

  She stood still, gazing beyond the temple complex. He followed her gaze and froze. A ball of fiery red light, around six feet in diameter, hovered a few feet in the air above the temple ruins. Slowly, it moved back and forth, shimmering, then growing dull, then shimmering once more.

  “What is it?” Her voice was a strangled whisper. She reached for his arm, holding tight.

  “I’d call it devouring fire.”

  “The prophecy,” she gasped. “What do we do?”

  He gently removed her grip from his arm. “Stay here.” He started toward the fiery ball.

  “Alan!”

  He turned to her, startled by the fear in her voice. Her eyes were wide.

  “What if it’s really devouring fire?”

  “We need to know what it means if we are to continue our quest.”

  After a slight pause,
she nodded.

  Alan moved closer to the orb of red light, listening for sounds that might indicate what the object might be. Nothing. The earth had fallen silent. Even the hawk that had circled above only moments before had vanished. The absolute silence seemed eerie, prickling his skin with gooseflesh. It felt as if the earth itself were holding its breath. Was this what he’d sensed before? He took another step closer.

  A rumble sounded, softly at first, then growing stronger.

  “Alan.” He twisted back toward Jessamine to see her stagger toward him. He tried to go back to her, but fell to his knees as he was overcome with dizziness. He clutched the ground, looking for support as the mountain seemed to be rippling beneath his knees.

  Rocks began to tumble from the walls enclosing the temple complex. Alan felt them hit his shoulder, his legs, as he crawled toward Jessamine. “Get down,” he warned her.

  She dropped to the ground, and the rock beneath her rose and fell like a wave on the sea. She gave a little scream and jerked backward as a rock tumbled in front of her.

  For a suspended moment, he and Jessamine stared across the distance that divided them, the red orb forgotten, while dust and debris rained down on their heads and shoulders. The earth shook harder.

  Alan forced himself forward. If he could just reach Jessamine. Soon the trembling would stop, and they’d be safe.

  The trembling didn’t stop. Instead the shaking grew steadily worse until the ground beneath him felt as though it were surging in great undulating waves.

  For a frozen moment in time, Alan clung to the rocky ground as the temple around them seemed to ripple like a storm-tossed sea. They were part of the maelstrom whether they liked it or not. He could see Jessamine’s mouth moving, but he could not hear her cries over the crack and roar as the earth split and tore around them. The ground beneath them gave way, sucking them into a dark abyss below.

  Jessamine had no idea how long she lay there on the cold stone. She was just grateful the earth had stopped shaking. It was pitch-dark. There were no stars or moon. No pink light of dawn. A chill racked her flesh as she realized why there was no sky, no light, no sound. She’d fallen into some sort of cavity beneath the ground. Buried. Entombed. Yet she must not be alone.

  “Alan!” She lifted her head and found she could sit up. Rubble rattled off her. Pebbles and dirt clinked against the rock beneath her and a fine, cloying dust floated in the air. She coughed and waved her arms before her, hoping to calm her breathing. She flexed her hand before her. She couldn’t see anything, not even her fingers as she brought them close to her face. She wiggled her fingers anyway, noting they were undamaged. Her appendages were stiff and sore as she tried to move them. A tender spot ached at the back of her head, but she appeared to be all right.

  But what of Alan?

  Jessamine struggled to her feet, gathering her wits and her strength. They’d been caught in an earthshake. She’d heard about them, but had never experienced one herself. She staggered as she tried to walk a few steps. She tripped on the uneven floor and landed on her knees. She stayed down, crawling through the darkness. She had to find Alan. He might be hurt, or worse.

  Then she would be utterly alone in the darkness. Panic sucked her breath from her. She quickly forced the thought away. He was here. He was alive. She simply had to find him.

  She called his name again. There was no reply, only the settling of sliding stone and sand and the rapid beating of her pulse in her ears. Jessamine forced herself to calm down, taking several deep breaths. She had air to breathe. That was something to be thankful for. Now, if only she had a candle or a torch…or even that strange red orb to guide her to Alan.

  Jessamine looked up where the sky should have been, hoping to see the red light hovering. She saw only darkness. She’d never been in absolute darkness before. There had always been some sconce in the hallways of the castle to guide her way, or a servant nearby to bring a candle, a fire in the grate. Even in a dark room, she had seldom experienced this complete absence of light.

  She put her arms out before her, but couldn’t see them as she took small steps forward. “Alan? Where are you?” Her voice echoed and reverberated back to her.

  The sound brought with it a sense of hope. In order for there to be an echo, she must be in a large open space. Perhaps she’d fallen into an underground temple?

  She inched forward and let out a tiny shriek when her hand touched something. For a moment her heart lurched until she realized the cold, hard object was a wall. She continued on. Every now and again, her fingers moved across etchings in the walls. She was certain now that she’d fallen into some sort of temple structure. Was it the one she and Alan had been searching for? Could they have literally stumbled into the resting place of the Ark of the Covenant?

  Only Alan would know for certain. “Alan,” she called again, staring into darkness that didn’t seem quite so dense now. Perhaps her eyes were growing used to the lack of light. She’d taken one step, then another, when the earth started shaking again. Dust showered down on her, stinging her eyes, filling her mouth. She covered her face with the sleeve of her gown and flattened herself against the wall.

  She waited for the earth to settle. When it calmed, she released a great shuddering sigh.

  “Jessamine?”

  She froze. “Alan!” Had the sound been her imagination? Or had she heard Alan’s voice?

  “Over here.”

  His voice came from the blackness, disembodied but comforting. Tears of thankfulness came to her eyes as she stumbled toward the sound. “Keep talking. I’m trying to find you.”

  His response was a groan. The sound came from her left.

  “Are you hurt?”

  A shifting sound was followed by the pinging of rocks. “Did you sit up?” She stared into the darkness, hoping to see something that might indicate where he was. “Can you move?”

  “I can move, though it feels like someone is drumming on my skull.”

  She could hear his breathing as she edged closer. She stretched her fingers out before her, probing, searching. She connected with something soft. “Alan?”

  “I hope that’s you,” he said with a touch of relief.

  “Is anything broken?” Her fingers moved to his shoulder, his neck, his cheek.

  His hand came up to cup hers against his face. “I’m feeling better now that you’re safe. The last thing I remember is hitting my head, hard. Then the sound of your voice.”

  Her fingers shifted from his cheek to his nape and farther up over the back of his head. An egg-sized lump stood out against the back of his skull. “You must have hit pretty hard. Are you dizzy?”

  He reached for her hand, bringing it to his lips. “How are you?”

  “I’m unharmed.” She breathed deeply, drawing in his familiar sandalwood scent. “I’m more than a little curious about the timing of this earthshake. Did that red light cause it? Was it our presence in the temple? Is this part of the prophecy that the seeress forgot to mention?”

  She could feel him shift beside her.

  “I’m sure all our questions will be answered in time,” he said.

  “So what do we do now?”

  “Find a light. My saddlebag was near me when the earth started quaking. It must have fallen in here with us, somewhere. Then we’ll find a way out.”

  She could hear him searching the ground beside them. She extended her free hand in front of her, sweeping the area. She was about to release a frustrated sigh when her fingers contacted something soft and supple. “Alan!” she gasped. “I think I found it.” She grasped the heavy soft leather pouch and pulled it into her lap. The sound of sloshing water came to her ears. Her heart leaped. “Not only the bag, but the water.”

  He shuffled through the darkness toward her. His fingers found the bag and he took it from her. A moment later she heard the hissing rip of fabric being torn, followed by a scratching sound. The scratching came again, and again, until a brief spark of light appeared. “I’m go
ing to need a stick of some sort. As the light increases, be ready to search for something.”

  Jessamine got to her feet, poised to dart in any direction as the spark became a dancing flicker. It took a moment for her eyes to adjust to the light, but when they did she hurried over to a pile of rubble to grasp what they needed—a stout tree branch. She returned to Alan’s side.

  He accepted the branch and wrapped the loose cloth he’d ripped from his Templar tunic around the wood. He set the fabric to the small flame, making a torch.

  “It appears we’ve fallen into a chamber that existed below the temple complex where we spent the night.”

  “Could this be the place where the ark was taken for safekeeping all those years ago?”

  The torch sent golden fingers of light through the cut-rock chamber, banishing the darkness to the far corners of the long, narrow room. Two piles of debris in the center of the chamber must once have been pillars.

  “It makes perfect sense,” Alan admitted, “that the guardians of the ark would have returned it to the house of God, here on Mount Sinai.”

  “And they built an underground chamber complex to keep it safe.” Jessamine’s gaze shifted from the destruction to the walls surrounding them. Just as she’d imagined in the darkness, decorative scenes had been carved into the walls. She moved toward them and ran her finger over the cool, gritty surface, feeling the sharp edges of the chiseled lines. “These markings are so crisp. They look as though they were cut yesterday.”

  “No doubt they’ve been protected from the elements for many years…” His voice trailed off as he joined her.

  She moved slowly around the chamber. One scene depicted a large orb hovering over a mountaintop. The next revealed a man standing beneath that orb, his hands outstretched. Jessamine progressed down the wall to find the next scene depicted the orb hovering over a rectangular box. “Is this the orb we saw today?” she asked, fearing she already knew the answer.

  Alan stopped beside her. His hand went out to trace the rectangular box. “The ark.”