by test
“I will remember our vow.” Richard looked up at him, a serious gleam in his eye.
Maybe, just maybe, this time around Richard would actually remain true to his word.
Hart grunted, quickly dismissing the thought. More than likely, Richard would never learn from his mistakes.
“After Maeve brings you up her tonic, do try to get yourself put together. Mother will want to see you at the evening meal, and it’s probably going to take you the better part of the day to look normal again.”
“I look normal now,” he grumbled.
“No, you don’t. Your eyes are red as can be, and those hollows underneath them make you look as if you’ve just recovered from a nasty fever.”
“I’ll rest today, sir.” Richard grunted, standing up, he wobbled toward the bed, sinking into it, he sighed, “I don’t want to find anyone in my bed for a long time—well, maybe a few days .…”
Sighing, Hart slammed the bedroom door shut behind him.
* * * *
HIS LADY’S KEEPER Marly Mathews 133
Gemma awoke to silence.
Stretching in the bed, she threw off the covers and sat up. The cool air brushed against her skin making her shiver. She looked to the window, she wanted to open it, but the cool sea air probably would only make her feel worse. For the time of the year, the morning was unusually chilly, despite the fact that a fire blazed in the hearth.
Something unsettling gnawed at her spirit. Even after what had happened
between her and Hart she could feel something coming.
Her weird feelings usually ended up being bang on. But what could be going on?
Thoughts that she didn’t need cluttered her mind. She’d just reached for her dressing gown when the doorknob on her door rattled.
Stiffening with apprehension, she waited, stepping behind the dressing screen at just the right moment.
“Hart.” She breathed with relief, resting her eyes on him, devouring him with every glance.
“I’m sorry. Did I startle you?”
“You can say that again.”
“I’ve had a bath drawn up for you in the adjoining room, which I usually use as my bathing room.”
“Thank you.”
“You are welcome.” He lifted an eyebrow at her. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” She wrapped her arms around herself. “Have you ever had the
sensation that you are standing on the brink of something wonderful and terrible all at the same time?”
“I normally refer to it as the calm before the storm.” He winked at her, bridging the short span between them.
Pulling her close to him, he held her.
“Your brother is not going to shatter what we’ve built.”
“I’m not worried about Mallory.” She sighed, at last wriggling out of his grasp, to walk to the window and stare out at the surrounding lands. The cliffs edging out to the sea shimmered in the distance. The early morning light glinted off the rock, sand and water.
“I guess you’re ready to deal with him, then?”
“I’m never ready to deal with him, but I don’t think he’ll be coming alone. If I know my mother and sisters they’ll have sent someone to act as emissary,” Gemma whispered.
“You are talking as if it’s some sort of covert mission.” He grunted, edging up to stand behind her.
“I’m not in jest, Hart.”
“I never said you were.”
“Where did you go?”
“I had to .…” he cleared his throat. “I had to deal with one of my brother’s many problems. He’s got a long list and he just keeps feeling the need to add to it.”
“Did you deal with it?”
“I did. There were a few bumps in the road, but I don’t think we’ll hear about that little incident again.”
“It had something to do with the way he came home last night, didn’t it?”
HIS LADY’S KEEPER Marly Mathews 134
“Aye.” He wrapped his arms around her pulling her back against his chest.
“Are you quite certain that … oh, never mind!” She sighed, shaking her head to dislodge all of the forbidding thoughts coursing through it.
“Why don’t we make use of that steaming hot bath before it gets lukewarm?” he murmured in her hair, his breath tickling her neck.
“I think that sounds like a plan,” she answered, twisting around to look up into his eyes. She reached up and placed her hand on his face, feeling his stubble scratching against her palm.
“Just one touch from you gets my blood pumping in all of the right places,” he whispered, locking his lips with hers.
She smiled when he broke the kiss, only stopping long enough to whisk her up into his arms. She laughed. Resisting her feelings for him had been such a waste of time—why had she put the both of them through that torturous agony?
“Hart?”
“Aye.”
“What Isle are we on?”
“We’re on a Scottish Isle ruled for generations by my clan—I think that’s enough information for you, my lady.”
“A Scottish Isle? But I thought you said … you rogue!”
“I am a rogue—and I’m your dutiful doting husband—whom you can’t help but
shower with love and affection. And right now,” he said, kicking open the door between the bedroom and his dressing room, “We’re going to bathe together—a most romantic event I assure you.”
She smiled, resting her head on his shoulder. The day couldn’t get any better—so why did she continue to have this permanently gnawing feeling that something was going to go terribly awry?
HIS LADY’S KEEPER Marly Mathews 135
Chapter Twenty-Four
Gemma was safely nestled in Hart’s embrace. All was right with her world—and yet, she still felt uneasy.
She shifted her position, trying to move without rousing Hart. He’d been quite amorous the last few days, and though no sort of death knell had keened, she still felt like she was walking on eggshells. It had been two days since Richard had come crashing into the house.
For whatever reason, Richard was lying low, trying not to draw undue attention to himself. She wondered at that—Richard had never been the quiet sort—either he felt utterly embarrassed because of the spectacle that he’d caused, or he had something devious planned.
Sighing, she slipped out of Hart’s arm, and padded to the window to look out.
The sun was setting for the night, and she wanted to witness the dazzling display of twilight.
“Are you okay?” Hart mumbled.
“Yes, go back to sleep,” she murmured, turning back to look out at sea. Was that sails she saw on the distant horizon? Why would ships be coming into the bay here?
There was an official port for the island, at least that’s what Hart told her.
“Hart, I see ships on the horizon.”
“What?” Instantly, he was alert, and throwing the covers off himself. “You have to be mistaken, we aren’t expecting anyone, unless—”
She swallowed past the thick lump cresting in her throat.
“It’s Mallory.” She sighed. “We knew this day would come. You’ll have to let me make the explanations to him—I’ll tell him to get back on his ship and go back to England.”
“No. Mallory and I will resolve the issues between us on our own terms.”
“Hart, he will rip you apart,” she warned. He stood up, and his breadth and size of his body rattled her nerves. “On second thought, I’m afraid you’ll tear Mallory apart.
He’s had a soft living for the past two years, while you’re much more worn around the edges.”
“I am?” he murmured, crossing the short distance to her, he enveloped her in his arms, kissing her softly.
“You are. You could break him in half if you had half the mind to. I don’t want you doing something stupid. Margaret has told you to let sleeping dogs lie.”
“I know. Mother doesn’t want me to make a spectacle for the entire t
on to
ridicule. If the two of us had a battle, it would definitely draw unwanted attention to both of our families.”
“Indeed it would. Just let Mallory come. I’m sure he’ll see the sensible side of things.”
“Your brother was a pirate. The infamous Rafe Morgan … in that guise, he
rarely, if ever saw the sensible side of things, Gemma.”
HIS LADY’S KEEPER Marly Mathews 136
“He’s changed.”
“Men don’t change, Gemma. It’s a fact, not a blithe statement. We are set in our ways, and even if we do fall in love with a fine woman, we won’t change. As they say, old habits die really hard.”
He sighed, releasing her. She followed him into his dressing room. “What are you doing?” He was reaching into a trunk that she’d never noticed before.
“I’m putting some clothes on. If you hadn’t noticed, I’m buck naked.”
“I did notice.” She said, her cheeks flaming red. “It’s sort of hard not to notice when you make such an appealing sight.” She walked toward him, brushing her hands over his back. He stiffened beneath her touch.
She rose up on her tip-toes and kissed him hungrily. He slid his hands into her hair, dropping the clothing he was trying to put on. She was already naked, and she could feel the burgeoning desire for him, welling inside of her. Pressing herself to him, she felt him respond to her.
“Gemma,” he moaned against her lips, as she slowly stroked his member. “This really isn’t a good time, I don’t have the time, to .…” He broke off, “Oh, hell.” His hands molded around her breasts, teasing them and making them almost burn with her desire for him.
His knees buckled beneath him, and she collapsed on top of him on the dressing room floor.
He laid out flat beneath her, reaching up to circle one taunt nipple and then the next. She leaned down over him, her curly blond hair falling over his chest. She kissed him again, finally, drawing away.
* * * *
Hart watched her slowly ease herself over his shaft. She came down hard upon him, breathing heavily. Reaching down, he caressed her wet folds. She looked so beautiful. She mesmerized him. He allowed her to set her own pace, as she sought to give them both the pleasure they craved. He watched her breasts jiggle and reached up to place his hands around her slim waist as she rode him long and hard. He could see that she was going to come soon, and it was a good thing for he could feel the pressure building inside of him, indicating that his climax was near as well.
She rode him straight into heaven, as she came so did he. His seed exploded inside of her, and she gradually lowered herself so her head was on his chest.
“Wonderful,” she murmured, looking up into his eyes. “You are everything I could have ever hoped for, Hart.” Her hands found his, and held them securely.
“Don’t try to get me distracted again, Gemma, sweetheart. We’ll have time for more distraction after I settle things between your brother and me.” He rolled over with her, pinning her beneath him. He quickly kissed her, and withdrew from her channel.
She sat on the floor a long time, watching as he cleaned up for the journey ahead.
“Please, just let him find his own way here. Don’t try to go down all heroic like and try to pick a fight.”
“It’s my time to pick a fight with him. There are a lot of things I need to say to him, things I have to get off my chest.”
“You know as well as I do, that he didn’t kill Joseph.”
“He might not have done him in as a cold calculated murderer would, but the result was still the same. Mallory killed Joseph. Wartime or not, he killed him.”
HIS LADY’S KEEPER Marly Mathews 137
“He also saved you!”
Hart hesitated. “Even if that Frenchman’s blade had found its way into my skin, I might not have died.”
“That’s a pretty huge might not. What if the blow would have killed you? Where would you be now?” Sighing, he tossed her one of his dressing gowns. “Put this on before you catch your death,” he ordered. Surprisingly, she obeyed.
He bent down over the chest for the rest of his garments.
* * * *
“I would be with Joseph,” he muttered, answering her earlier question. A muscle danced in his cheek, when he stood back up. Now, she saw what loot the trunk held. By the looks of things, the trunk stored the garments he wore when he used to work with Mallory.
“You were a pirate, too.” Her eyes widened. “I was deluding myself when I
thought you just worked under Mallory’s command during the war.”
At her remark, he gave her a wolfish grin. “I have never worked under Mallory.
Aye, you’ve guessed as much. I am a pirate. I’m a down right scalawag if you’d like to say that as well. Some would say I’m even more dangerous than the illustrious Rafe Morgan.”
“I don’t want to know the details.” She sighed, standing up. She turned her back on him.
“Don’t you even want to know my seafaring name?”
“Hold it. I wouldn’t want you to divulge any secrets that you don’t want me to know. You can go and meet up with Mallory on your own terms, but don’t you dare kill him. If anyone is going to send Mallory to meet his maker, it won’t be you.
Understand?”
“Always, my dear wife. I’ll take Richard with me and we’ll be both out of your hair.”
“No.” She startled herself with her exclamation. “Leave Richard here. He
shouldn’t be near Mallory. I don’t trust him. He might get trigger happy, or start to dance with his sword. No, it’s safer if you leave Richard here. That way, you can make peace with Mallory without Richard getting into the middle of things and royally screwing everything up.”
“Good idea. I guess. I just don’t know .…” He trailed off. She watched as he put on the belt that would hold his cutlass. Good lord, he looked dashing. Even in a pirate getup, he still took her breath away. He put on a bicorne hat and turned to her. “I’ll leave Richard here. As you say, it will be better for Mallory, and I can’t really see Richard getting into any mischief. What trouble could he possibly find around here?”
“That’s the spirit.” She winked at him. He drew her close to him giving her a passionate kiss.
“I should be back in a little while, baring the fact that your brother doesn’t kill me.”
“Just tell him that Gemma says that the little prince needs to bow to the princess.
He’ll understand that, knowing that I’ve finally welcomed you with open arms.”
“What exactly does it mean?”
“It was something we used to do as children. Mother would tell Andrew and
Mallory that they needed to treat us like we were princesses and that princes always HIS LADY’S KEEPER Marly Mathews 138
bowed to a princess.”
“I see.”
“Just be careful. Mallory has an awful temper. There’s no telling what he’ll try to do when he’s all worked up.”
“And yet, I can’t do anything to him?”
“I didn’t say that, Hart. I said you couldn’t kill him. I didn’t say let him pummel you into oblivion. If you need to defend yourself do so with vigor, just don’t finish off Mallory. I know I always seem quite perturbed with him most of the time, but just like you wouldn’t want to see Richard six feet under, I don’t wish to see Mallory pushing up daisies either.”
“Got it.” He smiled at her. Holding her hand firmly in his, he walked with her to the bedroom door. “I can’t understand what took your brother so long to get here, he must have been going round in circles before he found us. Just go back to sleep and dream sweet dreams. Hopefully in the morning, we can all see the error of our ways. I was wrong to take you by force from Scotland, but I don’t have any regrets.”
“Neither do I. Now, off with you, before Richard sees the ships and decides to head out on his own.”
“He’s probably into the Port decanter by now. He’ll be r
ip roaring drunk before midnight.” He gave her a cheeky grin, and walked out the door. She turned back to the window, and sighed.
As soon as she knew he was out of hearing distance, she went into action.
Reaching for a riding dress, she put it on and then fastened a warm pelisse around her shoulders.
She had to follow Hart. If she didn’t, and Mallory did the unthinkable, she’d never be able to live with herself.
Her love for Hart had grown until just thinking about him not being with her made her heartache.
Slipping her shoes into sturdy riding boots, she moved toward the bedroom door.
Opening it, she looked to see if the coast was clear. In order to get out of the castle undetected, she’d have to leave by one of the side exits.
She walked toward the nearest side exit. Finding a horse and getting it saddled in the stalls without drawing attention was going to be fun as well. She had no choice. She couldn’t ask for help in case they inquired as to where she was going. It wasn’t exactly normal for her to go on a night ride … not without Hart.
Hearing footfalls behind her, she stopped. She pressed her hand to her chest. She daren’t breathe, lest they see her in the semi-darkness. Fortunately, enough light flooded this area of the castle, and the candles wouldn’t be dimmed for a few more hours.
Her hair bristled on the back of her neck. Something just didn’t feel right. The presence behind her was making her feel like her skin was crawling.
Could it be Richard?
She moved forward and slammed into something hard. Bouncing off it, she
backed up into something not quite as hard, but still as terrifying.
She let out a scream that was quickly strangled.
“Shut up, or I swear I will slit your throat, you little bitch!” Coldness seeped through her. She shivered. She didn’t recognize the voice, even though, she knew this man would go through with his threat if she didn’t obey him. She would have continued HIS LADY’S KEEPER Marly Mathews 139
her struggle if only to call out for help, but the feeling of the cold tip of a dagger blade pressed against her jugular made her as silent as the grave.