by Sarah Winn
“Would you care for a slice of apple, Lady Isabel?”
“You are too kind, my lord.” She’d slipped back into her seductive voice, showing her true colors once again.
By now the tension in the hall had grown until the great room was as silent as it had been in Kendrick’s time. Daniel was irritated at the number of hostile glances coming his way. Can’t these fools see what Isabel truly is?
After inquiring politely if Isabel had finished her meal, Daniel excused himself to the others at the table and stood, offering Isabel his hand. She rose willingly, apparently as eager to leave their surly dining companions as he.
They’d taken no more than two steps toward the solar when a voice rang out. “Stop!”
Daniel grunted with exasperation when he saw Robert striding toward them, a determined look on his face and a sword strapped to his body. “Don’t be a fool,” Daniel warned him.
“Someone has to protect this lady.” Robert raised the leather and steel glove he was carrying obviously intent on casting it at Daniel’s feet.
Isabel moved so quickly Daniel had no chance to restrain her. She threw herself at Robert catching his arm and stopping him from flinging the gauntlet. “No,” she cried. “I don’t need anyone’s protection. I made a choice. Do you understand? This is my choice.”
Robert looked at her with dawning horror. Daniel feared the young man might totally disgrace himself by bursting into tears. Then he regained control and stepped away from her. “I beg your pardon,” he said in a subdued voice and walked out of the hall with his back as stiff as a jousting lance.
Isabel also turned and marched past Daniel toward the solar. He followed after her, telling himself he should feel triumphant. She’d just announced to the entire population of Tewsbarrow that she was nothing more than a wanton. But she’d done it to save Robert. At first she’d been so embarrassed by her situation she could barely lift her head until Robert had blundered into danger, and then she’d thought of nothing but protecting him.
He caught up with her when they were halfway across the solar and grabbed her arm. “Why is he so important to you?” he demanded.
She blinked up at him. “He’s a foolish young man who still believes in chivalry. I couldn’t let him destroy himself.”
“Are you in love with him?”
She glared at him. “Don’t be ridiculous.”
He tightened his grip on her arm. “Is he Chloe’s father?”
Her lip curled in disdain. “Let go of my arm,” she said as if it were a threat and a big or else was coming.
He realized his grip was most likely hurting her and released her. She walked with determined strides over to the door of the nursery. “I’m going to check on Chloe.”
He followed her into the room and stood beside her as she looked down on the sleeping child. Can I see any resemblance to my family in Chloe’s face? Her chubby cheeks and stub of a nose didn’t look like anyone he knew.
After Isabel tucked the cover more firmly around the babe, she nodded to the wet nurse and started up the stairs. Daniel followed her. Noting her stiff back, he feared his accusations had ruined the chances of going back to the sensual mood she’d been weaving before they went down to the evening meal.
In the chamber, she removed her veil and sat on a low stool near the fireplace. After turning her back toward him, she began to run a coarse-toothed comb through her hair. Daniel watched for a moment, mesmerized by the candlelight reflecting off the black, silky cascade. Then he moved so he could see her face. Her tightly compressed lips were quite different from the sultry smiles she’d showered on him earlier.
“You can’t be surprised that I might think there’s something between you and Robert.”
Without looking up, she said, “I’m not surprised at anything you think, my lord.”
“Chloe showed a clear preference for him yesterday. Why?”
She looked up. “Perhaps because Sir Robert didn’t glower at her as you did.” Then she stood and threw the comb onto a nearby chest. “I quite understand why you doubt me, but do you honestly believe an idealistic young knight like Robert would sleep with his liege lord’s wife?”
“He might, if the wife seduced him.”
“As I did you?”
“Exactly.”
She stared at him for a moment as if unable to decide what to say next. Finally she took a deep, steadying breath. “Do you want to spend the night accusing me of being a whore or do you want to enjoy the pleasures a whore can give you?”
She’d made a good point. He shouldn’t criticize her for being what she was and then take advantage of those qualities. “Come here,” he commanded.
As he watched, she became a different person. The angry frown melted. The stiffness left her shoulders. She came toward him slowly, her hips swaying with each step. She spoke in a soft, sultry voice, “And what do you want from me, my lord?”
When she was within reach, he clamped an arm around her waist and pulled her body firmly against his. “You know damn well what I want.”
“Speak and I will obey.”
He released her. “Remove your clothes.”
As brazen as a camp follower, she removed her clothing one piece at a time, moving deliberately, almost as if she were dancing. He wanted to hate her for her brazenness but was so stricken by her beauty that he could think of little else. When her tunic and undergown were gone, the outline of her figure clearly showed through her thin chemise. Her hips and breasts were rounder than he remembered. Then the chemise was gone and he felt a constriction in his chest at the full revelation of her glowing body.
“Do you like my bigger breasts?” she asked as she lifted both of the heavy globes up and toward him, emphasizing the blue veins that laced through them and the red, almost angry nipples.
He wanted her so badly he feared his hands would shake if he reached for her.
“Now what about your clothes?” Still standing very close, she untied the girdle at his waist. When that was loose she dropped it and tugged his tunic over his head, slowly working the tight sleeves over his hands. He stood as if he were in a daze, almost as if he’d been drugged again.
She pushed him into a chair and removed his boots and then pulled apart the laces that held his hose and his braies. Brushing the linen of his braies aside, she knelt before him and gently caressed his erect cock. She cooed as if she were speaking to it. The blood pounded through Daniel’s veins. He’d never felt such need for a woman.
With a hoarse cry, he caught Isabel under the arms and pulled her up and over him. His efforts were so frantic they were ineffective. She laughed and told him to slow down as she positioned her knees around his thighs and gripped his cock with one hand. She led him to her opening. He felt her slick heat.
The piercing cry of a babe sounded from the floor below. She stopped and pulled away from their intimate contact.
“No, no.” He held her hips trying to push her down.
“Chloe is hungry.” She struggled to get away from him.
“The nurse will feed her.”
The crying became more frantic.
“She’s frightened. She wants me.” Isabel pushed against his arms trying to free herself. A second babe’s wail joined the first. Evidently Chloe’s crying had set off the wet nurse’s child.
Isabel’s breasts bobbed just in front of his face, and he saw beads of mother’s milk seeping from the nipples. He cursed and released her. She hopped off of him, grabbed up a robe and raced out the door. Damn all women and their cursed babes.
Daniel gritted his teeth and slapped a fist against his thigh. He was so hard he ached. Finally, he struggled to his feet and kicked aside the clothing that still clung to his body. He strode about the room trying to calm himself. Is Isabel deliberately driving me mad?
The din from below stopped. Daniel grabbed up a robe and went downstairs, determined to see exactly what Isabel was up to. Only one flickering candle lit the nursery, but Daniel could see two w
omen sitting with babes held to their breasts. The wet nurse was turned away from him, but Isabel faced the doorway. Not that she noticed him, for her attention was fastened on the babe lustily suckling at her breast. Isabel rubbed her back and crooned, “Don’t cry, darling Chloe. Mama’s here. Mama’s here.”
There was fervor in her voice that had been lacking when she had crooned to him a few moments before. He turned away and slowly climbed the stairs. Nothing made sense. One minute Isabel behaved like a practiced harlot and the next she was a devoted mother. The priest said she’d lived the life of an innocent and yet she knew how to drive a man mad with desire. It was as if she were two women. How is this possible? He intended to find out.
Chapter 10
When Isabel returned to the upper chamber, she found Daniel sitting in a chair near the fireplace. His elbow was propped on the arm of the chair and his chin rested in his hand as he stared into the dwindling flames. She knew he must be angry with her for interrupting his pleasure, and wanted to placate him. Rushing to his side, she dropped to her knees and said, “I’m so sorry. But Chloe’s in a strange place. She’s not accustomed to Berta. Things will be better soon.”
He glared at her. “Didn’t you know when she’d next be hungry?”
“She let Berta feed her earlier while I was in the room. I guess waking up in the dark with a stranger was too much for her. She’ll adjust.”
“But you don’t really want her to adjust, do you? This is your way of keeping her tied to you.”
She tried to remain calm and play the part necessary to please him, but his cruelty was more than she could endure. “No mother wants her babe torn from her breast.”
He sat back in the chair and stared down at her with an emotionless face. “Most noblewomen use wet nurses.”
Apparently he was determined to quarrel, so she stood and stepped away from him. “There was no room for one at my mother’s house.”
“All the more reason why you should have stayed at Tewsbarrow.”
She fisted a hand on her hip. “I left because I was afraid of you, and as it’s turned out, with good cause.”
He gestured to the chair across from his. “Sit down, please. I think it’s time we had a serious talk.”
She toyed with the idea of defying him, but knew such action would gain her nothing, so she plopped into the chair. “I know you believe you’ve been terribly wronged, but I had no choice, I had to do what I did to you.”
“Because Kendrick told you to?”
“He was my husband and my lord.”
“How did you come to marry Kendrick?”
The sudden change in the direction of their conversation took her by surprise. “He asked—after my father died, Kendrick sent word he would need Whitmere Keep for the new steward and asked how quickly we could leave. My mother had relatives in the north but no way to get to them. She went to Kendrick to ask for his help. He told her if I became his wife, he’d care for the whole family.”
“So you felt you had no choice but to marry him?”
Isabel considered lying, but her past attempts to lie to Daniel had worked so poorly she quickly dismissed the idea. “I could have said no, but I wasn’t totally opposed to the match. I liked the idea of being the lady of a castle, of the clothes and jewelry I’d have, and I thought my family would be with me. But Kendrick gave them the tenant’s cottage instead. I realized later he didn’t want them around to interfere with his plans for me.”
“His plans?”
“He told me on our wedding night that my one duty as his wife was to supply him with an heir. Since neither his former wife nor any of the other women he’d lain with down through the years ever bore his fruit, he said I’d undoubtedly have to get the child from another man. He’d recently heard of his brother’s death and had decided you would be the perfect substitute father. He then set about teaching me how to seduce you when you came here.”
For the first time, Daniel’s face showed emotion—skepticism. “Are you saying a man in his mid-fifties, who’d spent most of his life in this isolated castle, taught you all you know about servicing men?”
“He tried, but said I was a poor student, cold and wooden; that I’d never be able to seduce anyone. Then he heard that Wanda the Witch sold love potions. She’s an old woman who lives in a hovel in the forest and trades herbs and potions to the villeins round about.
“When she came before Kendrick, however, she fearfully admitted her love potion only worked because it gave the timid courage. Thinking Kendrick wanted the potion for himself, she told him she had another one that would make it impossible for the desired one to resist a lover’s attentions.
“Even in my room, I heard the old woman gasp when Kendrick asked if it would work on men as well as women. She tearfully admitted she didn’t know, that no one had ever tried it on a man. So Kendrick sent for a woman named Esmeralda.”
Daniel’s brows shot upward. “Esmeralda of Winchester?”
“She never said where she was from. Do you know her?”
“She was pointed out to me once. My friends said she was the most famous courtesan in the kingdom. Are you saying she came to Tewsbarrow?”
“Yes. She arrived all draped in a black veil, saying she was a widow on a pilgrimage and needed rest before continuing her journey. Kendrick installed her in the guest quarters and as far as anyone else knew, she stayed there the whole time she was here. Of course, she came and went through the secret door.
“On her first night here, Kendrick had a servant slip Wanda’s potion into the ale of a young soldier. After he collapsed, Kendrick had him carried into the solar, saying Wanda would nurse him. Instead he brought Esmeralda out and told her to see if she could coax some life back into the unconscious man. She did the things I later did to you, only when it came time for him to erupt Esmeralda used her hand to make him shoot off so Kendrick could see it. He was so delighted he laughed and clapped his hands. Then he said Esmeralda must teach me to do everything she had done.
“She stayed here for four more days and every night we did things together.”
“You and Esmeralda?”
“And Kendrick. At first he made her do things to pleasure him while I watched. On the last night—he told us to do things while he watched. At first I was terribly embarrassed, but she made me feel as I’d never felt before.”
He stared at her for a long moment of silence. Finally he asked, “And that’s all?”
“What do you mean?”
“You did nothing else before you came to my bed?”
As his meaning became clear, her jaw clenched with anger. “Kendrick kept me a virtual prisoner in this tower. How could I do anything else?”
“It’s just that you seemed so confident in my bed.”
“I was frightened near to death the first night, afraid you might awaken or I’d fail and Kendrick would punish me.”
“And the other nights?”
“I was afraid, especially the third night when you were awake, but you made me feel so good I started looking forward to coming to you.”
“Did I make you feel as good as Esmeralda did?”
“Better.”
A small smile extended his lips.
After staring at her for a moment of silence, he asked, “How old were you when you married Kendrick?”
“Six and ten.”
He flinched. “It’s no wonder you didn’t know how to defy him. Can you forgive me for the heartless way I’ve treated you since I’ve been back?”
“How old are you?” she asked.
“Four and twenty.”
“We’re both young.”
“And foolish?” he asked.
“Inexperienced.”
“And my late, unlamented uncle took full advantage of that.”
“So you believe what I’ve told you?”
His grin grew into a broad smile.
Isabel frowned at him and asked, “What’s funny?”
“I’m realizing how luc
ky I am that Esmeralda of Winchester taught bedroom arts to the woman who’ll be my wife.”
“Wife!” Isabel jumped to her feet, her heart hammering so hard she could feel it move.
“After the stern lecture I received from Father Clemens this afternoon, what choice do I have but to marry you?”
He continued to grin so foolishly that Isabel didn’t know if he were serious or joking. “Father Clemens? He never criticized Kendrick.”
“Probably another reflection of my youthful inexperience.”
“Or maybe, he thinks you’re more open to reason than Kendrick.”
“So, will you marry me, Isabel?”
Is he offering marriage just to please the priest? Deciding it would be best to hide her own feelings, she shrugged. “Now that you’ve dishonored me before everyone at Tewsbarrow, I don’t suppose I have a choice either.”
He held out his hand and she went to him. He pulled her onto his lap. “I haven’t actually dishonored you tonight. You can still go back to the guest quarters.”
She found it hard to believe he’d really let her leave, but she didn’t want to go even if he would. She ran her fingers through his hair. “I’d hate to disappoint you twice in one night.”
“That would be cruel.”
She twisted further into his lap until his growing cock pressed into her thigh. “Perhaps it will be best if I stay and make sure you believe my story by showing you some of the things Esmeralda taught me.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Such as?”
“Well, there are the four ways to use the tongue.”
“Four?”
She stood and held out her hand. “Why don’t you join me on the bed?”
He pulled his robe aside, allowing his cock to jut out. “I’d rather sit so I can watch more closely. I might learn something I can use on you.”