by Amber Dane
His voice was low and husky. “I cannot. It must be done. The pain will cease.”
Her eyes told him she did not believe him and she shook her head in protest. Rourke shook above her with restraint and the unchecked desire like he’d never known coursing through him. He’d never wanted anything as badly as he wanted this woman. He wanted all of her and when he had come against her barrier, he wanted her all the more.
He knew what he had to do and he leaned down, covered her mouth with his and shoved his tongue in her mouth catching her cry of pain as he surged forth and buried himself inside her to the hilt. She quivered and shook beneath him even as he kissed her. He pulled out and she tried to throw him off once more. But he thrust again, achingly slow and deep over and over again until he felt her soften against him. Finally, her hot sheath clutched him, accepted him and he broke the kiss.
“It will be over soon enough. It is done.” Rourke said with a bit of gentleness in his tone and continued to kiss her tears away. He had not lied, but wished he had. It was going to be over too damn soon.
Alexa was amazed at how her body accepted him. He filled her. She didn’t know how or why, but something in her changed. Different towards this man as he plunged in and out of her body with his hard and thick sword of pleasure and took her close to the edge of that blissful place yet again, teasing her, the abyss just out of her reach. He’d awakened something animal inside her that she craved as much as she was frightened of it.
She found that she welcomed each movement and soon met each of his thrusts with her own until she was nigh delirious with the sensations coursing through her. She grinded harder against him, frantic and seeking more as the pleasure ascended on a crescendo that made her skin scream for release again.
Rourke could hold back no longer and he felt the tremors in her as she pushed back against him. He knew he would take longer the next time, but right now, his seed boiled inside him and he thrust in and out of her with a few quick thrusts before he began to shake to his very core as his seed erupted from him along with his roar of shocked pleasure.
Alexa cried out her own pleasure into his neck as the long climax hit her, triggered by the spurt of his release into her sheath. Her lips pressed to his throat over the red mark, where she had cut him. She convulsed strongly around his hardness and reveled in the feelings tearing her apart. Rourke lay on top of her spent, totally exhausted.
When he was able to breathe yet again, he withdrew from her and lay next to her side. Alexa lay there overwrought. What they had shared had been beautiful as much as it had been brutal and hateful. Fresh angry tears poured nonstop from her eyes into her hair.
Neither of them spoke a word, both overcome with different emotions.
What Rourke did next he knew not why at the time, he would ask himself later, but he reached a muscled arm up to untie first one hand, then the other and as though they had not been tied, the hellion let out a deep anguished cry and rolled over against his chest with her hands balled into fists pressed between them. There, she wept quietly. The racking sobs shook her body and Rourke held her, saying nothing. Soon, her sobs quieted. When she relaxed against him, he knew that she slept. Rourke stayed awake for a short time after and before sleep claimed him, he put his legs over hers in a protective gesture and pulled her tighter against him.
~~~
The figure cloaked in a hooded dark robe moved through the darkness across the cold stone kitchen floor until it stood in front of the wine barrels stacked in the corner buttery room. The figure’s interest lay in what was behind the flasks lined on top of the table. It was the lord’s ewer. After glancing about once again to assure no one was about at this late hour, the figure smiled and reached into a hidden pocket of its tunic and withdrew a vial of liquid.
FOUR
The chill of the morning draft crawling up her spine woke Alexa from her deep sleep slightly dazed. After a few moments, she gathered her bearings and a multitude of emotions hit her. It took but a second for the night before to come rushing back to her with vivid images. Her eyes shot quickly to where she expected to see Rourke. The Norman was gone. The flush covered her from head to toe and she kicked off the furs across her lower body. Her eyes fell on the rope and she rubbed her wrists. She rose and moaned suddenly at the soreness that protested her sudden movement and taking a breath she moved slower and stood. She was still naked and rubbed her hand over her belly. Grabbing a fur, she wrapped it around her body and clutched it together at her breast.
She sucked in a breath when her eyes spied the droplets of blood on the bed linen. Her blood. He’d taken her only once last night. Once was all it took sometimes, Camm had said and he had spilled his seed. Sudden regret snaked up the back of Alexa’s neck and she felt the flush warm her cheeks. He had been part of her body and she could not deny it, it had felt good. Hell and damn, too good. That craving she felt last night stirred inside her as did renewed hatred and anger for it.
Alexa was drawn from her turbulent musings by a knock at the chamber door. She bid enter. In came Camm, fresh linen draped over one arm and in the other a tray to break her fast of bread, sweet meats and her favorite, sweet wafers.
Camm smiled. “Noon, mistress.”
Alexa wrapped the fur around her nakedness more snuggly, her eyes wide and gasped. “Noon? Surely, Camm, ‘tis not so.”
Camm, having laid the items in her hands down, was now stripping the linens from the bed quickly after spotting the proof of the night on them. Alexa reddened even more. Although she viewed her maid as more than a servant, despite their closeness Alexa found that she was embarrassed. This was different.
“Aye, mistress, ‘tis so. ‘Twould seem you survived the night. Appears it may have been quite taxing on you as well.” Camm covered her mouth at her words. She reached out and touched Alexa’s forearm. “Forgive me, mistress.”
Alexa gave her hand a comforting pat, her embarrassment dissolving. What had she been thinking? Camm had been like another sibling to her and Lisbeth and Alexa still saw her that way. “’Tis alright, Camm. You did nothing wrong. You do tell the truth. It was not what I had expected.”
Camm noticed the puffiness around her mistress’s eyes and concern marred her features. She had feared the worst and the sight of her mistress’s face told her she had been right. The Normans were well known for their savagery. After all he had tied her down. “He didn’t hurt you much, did he, mistress?” Camm’s voice was full of concern.
Alexa shook her head. “Nay, Camm. It did hurt briefly as you said it would, but that was all. It also felt...” she stopped herself from saying good. Wiping back wisps of hair from her face, she gave her maid a tight smile. “I am fine. Thank you for asking, Camm.”
Camm’s expression was one of suspicion, but she did not press her for more and Alexa was glad when two of the other maids, including the redhead appeared in the doorway with the two guards behind them. Two male servants also entered carrying buckets of steaming water. They went over to the wooden tub and poured the water in over the linen covered tub. Another pair of new faces. They weren’t her servants. Alexa frowned. Was the Norman going to replace her entire household? Again she wondered at the number of people that had accompanied him here to take over her life and home.
The men set up the bath across the room in front of the hearth; steaming buckets in quick succession were carried in and poured in. The maids helped prepare for her bath and Alexa wanted them gone. She did not wish these strangers hands on her and she made it clear. She had not another chance to talk with Camm alone and briefly cursed herself for having wasted the time she had had on being bashful over her wedding night. When she should have been discussing what was going on below stairs, under her roof, and her strategy for escape. She would not stay here with this man. What they shared last night only made her reason to get away even more dire.
Alexa caught every look the redhead shot her way and again the maid was slow to recover by averting her gaze too late to cover it.
/> Alexa ignored the bold and rude servant. Was the woman not afraid that she could be cast out? Apparently not, she obviously felt secure in her position as her husband’s favorite wench and Alexa felt a spark of anger rise in her as she thought of him being intimate with the woman in the same way he’d been with her last night.
Nay, she would not think of it. He could have the red-haired wench. She didn’t want him. Something in her nagged at her on that and she ignored it. She had other things to focus on.
Camm was the last to leave with the guards still at her back.
Alexa spit fire when she learned the Norman had ordered that she was to stay in the chamber until he returned. The two young guards had looked at her as though she were the enemy and she did not miss the way their hands moved to their sword hilts as she glanced at the chamber door ready to bolt. Alexa let out a roar of rage and did not care if the blasted Dark Axe heard it wherever his bastard hide was.
Seated at the window, Alexa looked down upon the courtyard and tried to enjoy the light breeze of the afternoon but it was hard to do with her heart heavy over her confinement. All was a buzz down below. Barnett manor was always busy and was even busier now with the new lord taking over. Everyone seemed to be out and about below doing one task after another. From the stables, the farms and to the manor, a sea of unfamiliar faces filled the space as they moved about. Now with winter months approaching them the villiens and the manor servants were preparing to get the storerooms ready for the brutal cold months ahead.
She knew before she turned that he had come into the room, not because he’d made a sound, because he had not. ‘Twas the tingle of warmth creeping up her spine that caused her to know he was near. Alexa turned. He stood a few paces from her.
His golden windblown hair was loose and caressed those broad shoulders covered in a fine tunic. Those full lips were set hard and his emerald gaze locked on her. The handsome face of evil. Alexa forgot to breathe.
Rourke watched her for a long moment. Her hair was still wet and tumbled in loose waves down her curved back. Her big eyes gazed at him in warning and something else he cared not to see or name. He could smell the lingering scent of her bath, lavender and mint. Her clean smell stirred his loins.
“Noon.” His voice came out gruff.
Alexa flinched. His stare was so direct, as though he was looking right through her. “Noon,”she barked back.
He stared at her a moment longer, causing her to shift uncomfortably as her body reacted to his nearness. After a moment, a look of boredom crossed his beautiful face and he turned from her and walked over to the hearth. Moving his sword aside, he sat on a one of the two benches seated in front of it next to the tub. He waved an arm out for her to sit on the other across from him. Rourke looked her over for another long silent moment; the long tunic she wore was belted at the waist and hugged those curves that he had thought of all morning. He started before her bottom touched the seat.
“A few things I want to make clear to you of this union. As we start our first full day together as man and wife. My word still stands that you will remain confined to this chamber until you are with child. Henceforth,” he continued right over her cry of outrage. “You will be fed and well cared for ‘til that time arrives. But-“
“What?” Alexa’s words came out in a hiss as she gripped the bench seat to hold her body from leaping on him. His green eyes were cold steel as he kept an unwavering glare upon her. She was ready to throw something at him.
Rourke knew if it wasn’t so heavy that she probably would have picked up and thrown the bench at him. She was so readable, like an open book.
She continued, her narrowed eyes warring with his. “Kept locked away in my own chamber? I am not a child. This is my home- I will not be kept prisoner in my own home by you or anyone, Norman.”
So she was back to that again, Rourke noticed. But didn’t care or did he, because he had noticed. She was shouting at him. Her amber eyes shot the biting ice right back at him.
Alexa swallowed. This cold man was like night and day. Where was the man that had touched, and caressed her ever so tenderly last eve? Alexa let out a deep breath at the surprising thought when it popped in her head. The sting in her chest flamed.
“First, never interrupt me again or you will get a sound thrashing, hellion.” His eyes told her the threat was true and he stood to tower over her. “Second, you are wrong. This is my home now. My rules and you will obey whatever I tell you. Is that understood?”
Alexa leapt off the bench with her hands fisted at her sides to face him. She was furious and hurt and her eyes glinted with it when she hurled at him. “And I told you when we wed that I would not obey any man, least of all you! You threaten to beat me if I do not listen to you? You dare much, Norman bastard. I will ne- ”
His large hand strangled her throat and cut off her words. His very presence seemed to swallow her. She was so angry, more so at herself than at him. She had been a fool to let her guard down for a split second last night and today over that pleasurable dalliance. His face told her as much and the thought of that angered her to no extent, even more so than his threat to keep her confined. Being a woman sometimes was a curse, Alexa screamed inside.
Something had changed in her. But obviously not in him. He’d not forgotten the words they had spoken before they’d wed. His face was like stone, fierce and dark.
“I dare simply because I can and you can do or say naught to change it.” The fact that she had called him Norman bastard again raged through his veins. Her mouth was her downfall. And it made him want to strike back. “Did you think that little affection I showed you last night changed aught? It changed nothing. What we discussed before that still stands. As for being a prisoner, you would be one if I were to place you in one of those cold dungeon cells in the lower level.” He said with conviction.
Alexa froze. He wouldn’t?
He must have known what she was thinking for he said, “Aye, hellion, I would. Which is where you belong for your threats and untamed tongue the whole of the manor heard. Yet, I have decided to be kind enough, to be lenient so to speak. After all we are now wed and I am willing to grant you some freedom. Although you shall remain confined to the luxury of this chamber… ‘twill be untied. Do you not know some men bed their wives and leave them to live out their remaining years in a tower? Chained and stripped of the life they had known before. But seeing that the single tower here is in ill repair at the moment that option is out.”
Rourke knew he should have stopped when her eyes went wide over his words, but his anger was too great the fury and hurt he read in her amber depths only fueled his anger further. He had no wish to care about her tender feelings. “I warned you before. Anyone that raises a weapon against me has never lived and this….” His free hand went to the fresh cut on his throat that she had given him and where she’d kissed him and cried out her pleasure last night.
Her sword had done more than just prick his skin. A red scar about two inches long lay in a circular crest shape there. Alexa swallowed. That would explain some of his fury. Guess he’d gotten a better look at it too.
Rourke fought not to shake her senseless. He pressed harder on her throat. “This is why you will remain in this room until you are with child. Your own words have come true. You shall have no freedom until then. All your meals will be in here. You will have guards at the door whenever I am not present and as for any of your hare-brained ideas on escape. One will be posted below your window.”
How did he know about her thoughts of escape? Alexa was ready to erupt, but the pressure he applied to her throat silenced her as did his dark look.
“I know what you think before you think it. Aye. You may swing a blade like a squire in training, but your silly try at a man’s weapon has cost you. You will not even be allowed a knife for meals. I told you, I never break my word, hellion.” Finally, he dropped his hand from her throat.
Rage, hurt and disbelief blinded her and what caused her to swing a
t him, but Rourke caught, to his surprise, her tightly balled fist in his large hand.
“You, Norman bastard! I am not your servant to do with as you wish nor your property to do with as you will.” Her gritty voice grew raw as she yelled at him.
Rourke snatched her arm and shook her, replying. “You are mine. ‘Tis your mouth that gets you into trouble. This is the last time, I warn you, to cease cursing me and calling me a bastard. I will not tell you again. Why your father allowed you such liberties is beyond me. ‘Twas a grievous mistake. Saxons.” He said the last with such derision and a sneer on those full lips that Alexa flinched.
“But you will obey me.” Rourke finished with a roar.
He saw the myriad of emotions in those eyes, but he refused to acknowledge any of it and besides he didn’t want to. He needed to keep her at a distance. He’d felt more than he wished last night and it had driven him mad all morn and was what drove him more so now than the small scratch on his throat.
In the next breath, she tore at him like a wildcat with her free arm and Rourke was taken aback at the punch she delivered to his middle. He coughed in surprise. She screamed at him and he grappled with her long legs and arms. She bucked against him. He stumbled backwards and fell with her clutched to him on the bed. Then he flipped her over with a smooth maneuver and was on top of her.
“My father taught me well so I could fight over Norman murdering bastards like you. If he still breathed he’d have cut your head off himself.” Alexa spat as he pinned her body to the bed. Enraged further by the feel of his hard body against hers and her volatile reaction, Alexa felt tears sting her eyes. “Damn you and this marriage to hell. I hate you!”