By Royal Demand

by Robyn Donald

  Her tone warming she went on sour parents were very fussy about safety but usually we discarded the helmets along the way and collected them before we arrived back home. Fortunately none of us ever had a bad fall.'

  Outside the air was crisp and fresh the sky clear right to the top of the mountains. Later on it would be hot.

  Sara eyed the two grooms walking horses in a courtyard. Clearly they liked Gabe' their faces split into smiles when they saw him smiles that turned respectful when they were transferred to her.

  They didn't look as though they'd be easy to bribe. . . .

  Gabe grinned at them and said something in the local language. They both laughed and one handed the reins of the smaller horse to him and headed back through an arched doorway in the stone wall that presumably led to the tack room.

  Gabe asked ‘Do you need help to mount'?'

  ‘No, thanks ' she said shortly, and swung up into the saddle.

  She expected him to let the reins go, but he didn't. So she waited accustoming herself to the size and feel of the animal beneath her while Gabe and the other groom talked until the second groom appeared with a helmet which he handed with a flourish to her.

  'Thank you,' she said smiling. He nodded politely and immediately switched his attention to Gabe.

  No, she thought as she put on the helmet she'd get no help from either of these Illyrians' their body language and attitude proclaimed that they were Gabe's men through and through. How had he managed to extract such loyalty in the short time he'd been at the castle? Some of it would be traditional but there was a real element of personal respect there too.

  So why should she be surprised? Gabe walked the earth surrounded by an aura of authority of leadership.

  Most people responded instinctively to it.

  And to these people he was a saviour.

  Gabe handed the reins to her and walked away mounting the bigger horse with a lithe pantherish grace that was his alone muscles flexing as he swung his leg over the saddle. The horse moved and he said something to it in Illyrian his voice deep and warm and slow. The gelding relaxed seduced as so many women had been Sara thought on a great surge of grief.

  She touched her heels into the side of her mount and kept her wits about her as they walked through an archway in the heavy stone walla and out into the pristine day.

  Even though she knew he'd never have suggested this excursion unless he was certain she couldn't escape she'd keep her eyes open. Yet it was difficult to keep that fierce inner core of anger glowing' her heart lifted as they rode past a walled area overlooked by a small lonely tower.

  'The dovecote ' Gabe remarked when he saw her eyes flick towards it. 'The enclosure used to be the jousting ground but it now has a swimming pool in it.'

  'Did you put it there'?' ‘No, my grandfather did.'

  She glanced up at the high massive walls at the blood

  red creepers she'd noticed on her arrival mingling with others of a more sedate green. ‘lt looks impregnable.'

  ‘lt is ' he said without emphasis. 'The walls have never been breached.'

  She felt as though a cloud had checked the sun's power' in his voice there was the deadly note that always came with the mention of the man who'd murdered his grandparents.

  Impelled by an obscure and unnecessary need to comfort him she said 'The valley is lovely. No wonder your ancestors built here.'

  His mouth curved. ‘1 doubt if its beauty had much impact on them' the castle was built to guard access to Illyria. And they didn't live here in winter-once the snow closed the pass no invading army could get through so they retired to their much warmer estates on the coast.'

  Did he own those too? Clearly he was a mind-reader. In a voice so dry it made her flush he said 'They produce grapes and fish and there's another castle-well a combination of villa and castle on a cliff overlooking the sea that needs redecorating.'

  Sara nodded. They had been lovers for months engaged for a fortnight yet she hadn't known anything of this beyond the fact that he was related in some way to the Prince who ruled Illyria.

  ‘oh this is glorious ' she said as he led the way onto a trail leading through manicured gelds. Insects buzzed in the sunlight small golden missiles darting from hedgerow to hedgerow and the air smelled of flowers and fruit and mellow freshness.

  Filling her lungs with it she tried to ignore the reason she was there the many and turbulent undercurrents between them and relax. The valley stretched green and peaceful beneath the darkly forested flanks of the foothills. Beyond them loomed the peaks of the ranges glittering white in the sun as distant and dangerous as the man who ruled this lovely domain.

  In one of the fields a man stood up from inspecting the internal regions of a small ancient tractor that seemed held together by string and prayers. He beamed and saluted.

  Sara waved and Gabe called something that made the farmer grin and shout back a pleasantry. Gabe laughed and they went on the small incident leaving Sara thoughtful.

  How could he be so approachable to everyone else yet so utterly uncompromising with her? Gabe noticed of course' he thought savagely that he'd always noticed everything about her-from her softly sensuous mouth to the straight line of her spine beneath the sweater that clung so affectionately to her slender torso. He'd once told her she looked more like an aristocrat than most born into the upper classes and she'd pulled a face at him and said that wasn't a compliment. She wanted to look like a gypsy passionate and free and sexy.

  A couple of weeks later she'd seduced him wearing only a tiara she'd found in a bridal shop. The delicate airy thing had been made of silver wire and set with green and gold semiprecious stones that had turned her eyes into jewels.

  Gabe's body tightened as he remembered what had followed. Until then he'd always been gentle and tender with her but that night his disciplined control had shattered and between them they'd soared to an ecstasy that he'd never experienced before a plane of existence that had been unbearably desperately stimulating.

  AII lies he thought savagely. As big a lie as her love as her refusal to let him buy anything for her-all carefully plotted to make him believe she was something rare and precious in his life.

  The gelding whickered but settled when he patted its glossy shoulder.

  'Where are we going'?' Sara's voice was taut as though she too had picked up the current of his thoughts.

  ‘Up to where the Queen's Blood was first found ' he said curtly. And where it had been kept hidden by Marya for forty years.

  Sara looked up at him saw the inflexible purpose in his arrogant features and clamped down on her automatic objection.

  ‘Why?' He shrugged. 'Why not? It's an interesting part of the valley's history. This is the old track through the pass. In medieval times it would have been thronged with people-pedlars wandering friars beggars bards troops of knights and their attendants the occasional rich woman in a litter-all trying to get through the pass before the snows cut off communication.'

  She looked about thinking for a moment that she caught a glimpse of the hurrying crowd. And now there's nobody but us.'

  Only the flying insects a bird calling 'Who? Who? Who'?' on a querulous note and two people who once had loved each other enough to decide to marry.

  Doggedly she kept her gaze between her mount's ears subconsciously noting that they were approaching a small village. She had loved him so much-she had damned near worshipped him she thought with bittersweet irony. He had given her the moon and the stars-he had seen something in her that no one else had-and she had been glorified by his love his passion his attention.

  She'd been so sure she'd found the one man in the world who made her whole. He had introduced her to a world of the senses she'd never really believed in a world where everything else faded into the shadows a world where the only thing was Gabe and his love.

  Only it hadn't been love.

  When he spoke again she had to force herself out of that bleak world of grief and loss and intense loneline
ss to concentrate on his words.

  'The road and rail tunnel on the other side of the valley takes all the traffic now but it needs urgent repairs to make it safe. Like everything else in Illyria it's run down and on the brink of collapse.'

  Sara nodded blindly pretending to look around as they came up to the honey-coloured village dozing in the sun. Nothing stirred in the street nobody came out at the clip-clop of the horses' hooves. Perhaps it had been abandoned.

  She was admiring a church perched on the top of a small hillock outside the cluster of houses when a lean black dog burst from behind a tumbledown wall and dashed across the road in front of them. Sara's mount snorted and danced backwards but it was the precipitate arrival of a small child skirts flapping as she brandished a stick that really set the mare off.

  Neighing front legs flailing the mare reared to avoid the tiny intruder. The muscles in Sara's shoulders tightened painfully as she dragged the horse's head around praying the iron-shod hooves would miss the terrified child .

  CHAPTER SIX

  FROM behind Sara heard Gabe talk his voice a slow slurred mixture of sounds that somehow soothed the animal until he was able to lean down and grab the reins above the mare's muzzle. His iron strength held the horse steady giving Sara time to hurl herself out of the saddle and onto the ground.

  She crouched between the cowering child and the frightened animal hugely relieved at the lusty screams that split the air. If the toddler could yell that loudly she wasn't badly hurt.

  Dimly she heard voices as she patted the little girl-no older than three she thought disjointedly-all over. No broken bones thank God.

  ‘Hush darling,' she crooned pushing black hair back from the scarlet little face. sshh shh my pretty one.

  You're all right. There there-ah see here's Mama.'

  Scrambling to her feet she lifted the child. At the sight of her mother the screams stopped.

  For a moment no one spoke' there was something in the air Sara couldn't understand like the shared knowledge of a hidden mystery. And then the child began to sob again. The mother burst into tears grabbing Sara's hand and kissing it and saying the same words over and over again.

  Everyone began talking at once. Astonished Sara looked around to see about ten people who'd appeared out of nowhere.

  Gabe's voice cut through the rising babble the note of effortless authority silencing everyone as he dismounted and handed the reins over to a young man who expertly tethered both horses to a hitching post. The sight of that well-used post told Sara as nothing else had just how dependent these people were on the technology of their forefathers.

  The child's mother turned eagerly and gratefully to Gabe words falling from her lips. He apparently asked after the tot's welfare and she showed him that there wasn't a mark on her daughter finally setting her down on the ground where the little girl clung to her mother's skirt and watched Sara with her huge dark eyes.

  Within five minutes everyone was laughing and the toddler was being passed from loving arms to loving arms as the family reassured themselves she was all right. An elderly man almost toothless but beaming eventually plonked the child happy now in spite of the tearstains on her cheeks into Gabe's arms.

  To Sara's amazement his expression softened into tenderness. Smiling down into the slightly worried little face, he dropped a kiss on her forehead.

  'she is like a rose ' he said turning to Sara after he'd handed her to her mother. 'They want to thank you for saving their little one.'

  Unevenly Sara said 'You saved her. I damn near killed her' 'Your swift reactions and strength turned the mare. And when I looked down you were shielding the child with your body,' he said brusquely. 'That's what the mother saw too. Are you all right'?' ‘l'm fine.' Oddly touched by the curt enquiry, she spread out her hands. 'Not a thing wrong with me.'

  His eyes narrowed. 'You've cut your fingers ' he said in an oddly tense voice.

  Flushing acutely aware that everyone was watching and listening Sara closed her fingers over the smarting weal made by the reins. 'Not really.'

  Someone appeared with a bottle and some tumblers and before she realized what was happening Sara had been given one filled with white wine and the child's father was making a speech clearly alluding to her and Gabe in the most laudatory of terms. She blinked keeping her eyes studiously on the tumbler of wine while a bubble of something perilously close to hysteria filled her chest. Surely they didn't expect her to drink this on an empty

  stomach? simile ' Gabe ordered beneath his breath. And when they drink drink with them.'

  The toasts were earnest and honestly meant-and long. Sara sipped the wine and listened to Gabe's voice as he made his reply feeling conspicuous and uneasy at the proprietary tone of his voice when he said her name.

  The glance he gave her-possessive territorial-sent hot little thrills through her. He was she thought feverishly staking a claim.

  But why? Even more unsettling was the way the villagers looked at her-benign almost knowing and oddly satisfied-as though they knew something she didn't.

  Slowly she sipped at each toast until the wine was gone and she felt distinctly light-headed and nothing really seemed to matter any more.

  Once the village and the effusive thanks were behind them she said 'What was going on there'?' Gabe's brows lifted. sl'm not sure I understand you,' he said his voice bland.

  She winced when the rein slid across her palm and he pulled his mount up. 'You said it wasn't painful. We'II go back to the castle.'

  ‘lt doesn't need dressing', the skin's not broken. And I don't want to go back.' She gave him a tight smile because she'd just realized what he'd been up to in the village.

  Staking a claim? Indeed. And not one of the villagers would dream of helping her leave the country if she managed to escape from the castle.

  Without trying to hide the sting in her words she finished And I'm enjoying this freedom.'

  He reined in his horse and leaned over to stop hers with his hand on the rein. 'Get down.'

  ‘Why?' ‘1'11 tie my handkerchief around it.' When she stared at him he said impatiently, 'Don't be silly, Sara. The

  handkerchief is clean and it will protect your palm. And it will be easier to do that if we're not still on horseback.'

  His tone didn't admit of any refusal. And her hand did smart. Reluctantly accepting that cutting off her nose to spite her face was stupid Sara dismounted.

  Gabe hauled a handkerchief from his pocket. 'Give me your hand ' he commanded.

  She didn't want him to minister to her. He'd already done huge damage to the barricades around her heart with his behaviour in the village, and she was afraid her defences might crumble further.

  Her only safeguard lay in reminding herself that he was a ruthless overbearing plutocrat. Setting her jaw she held out her hand. The chafed area where the reins had sawed into her palm stood out red' he said something under his breath.

  Sara froze listening to her heartbeat pick up speed.

  The tips of Gabe's lean fingers touched the fragile blue veins at her wrist measuring that betraying pulse. He looked up sharply his eyes fiercely gleaming and tension crackled in the air between them so potent it drowned out the frantic urging of her brain to get the hell out of there.

  As though compelled he lifted her hand and kissed the palm his lips lingering draining the soreness from the skin setting fire to the reckless craving she tried so hard to keep secret.

  Forbidden anticipation glittered mockingly through her and she had to force her voice into action saying with rasping intensity 'Kisses don't heal skin Gabe. Not unless they're between mother and child. Give me your handkerchief' 1'11 make a pad for it myself. And then we'll go back to the castle.'

  He acknowledged her words with a taunting smile and released her. Misery building she saw him reimpose the mask of control leashing and effortlessly banishing the passion that had flamed between them only a moment previously.

  Could anything make him lose that cool disciplin
ed self-possession? Deftly, he placed the pad of c10th over her palm and bound it with another handkerchief.

  'Two handkerchiefs'?' she said hiding heartbreak with lilting mockery.

  ‘My mother believed in overkill ' he explained his tone matching hers. He gave her back her hand and watched as she turned away and mounted again.

  ‘How's that'?' 'Much better ' she acknowledged stiffly. 'Thank you.'

  Gabe swung back onto the gelding and urged it into action. ‘We'II go on.' He sent an oblique glance at Sara's mutinous face. ‘lt's not far.'

  He didn't have to tell her that any decisions would be made by him' she understood her powerlessness.

  Gabe might still be attracted to her but his iron will kept his inconvenient sexual drive under merciless restraint.

  Sara was not so lucky or so tough. As the mare walked sedately up the side of the mountain she reflected that she hadn't ever been able to cage her response to him. After the first glance she'd been so lost in the unfamiliar realm of desperate physical longing that she'd surrendered any hope of freedom. If he'd ignored her it might have died as such mindless infatuations usually did but he'd seemed just as stunned and aware of her as she had been of him.