"I gather you disapprove." Derek smiled showing his amusement.
"Truthfully, I could care less. What he does is nothing to do with me, as long as he leaves me alone."
"Is that perhaps the voice of injured pride talking?" Derek was curious in this case, most women loved his little brother. He was a very charming and charismatic man. They both were when it suited them.
"Why should it be? I very rarely run into Ryan on campus, we function on different levels." Aura could actually care less and she was less than impressed with Derek. All she wanted was to be left alone.
"That does not indicate that you are not attracted to him." Derek pushed. He didn’t seem to be getting the hint.
"Is the possibility that someone is not attracted to your brother so hard to comprehend that you have trouble understanding it?"
"I must admit, total indifference to my over charming brother is hard to comprehend, or believe."
Aura just shrugged her shoulder and voiced her thoughts. "He just is not my type Derek, neither are you for that matter, so you can quit trying so hard."
"That could be almost taken as a challenge. Tell me Aura, if we are not your type, who is?" Derek had a hard time believing all his efforts were being brushed aside and he was curious about what it would take to attract this pretty little ice princess.
"Suffice it to say nobody you know. Just leave it be Derek and be satisfied with the answer you got." Aura was getting very irritated. Why wouldn’t he just go?
"No. You intrigue me. First you tell me that you have no real interest in any of us then you go off on your own to be alone. It does not seem to be a natural thing for any good looking woman to do." Derek had never met someone like Aura. Nothing seemed to faze her. What was it going to take to break through that veneer she was hiding behind?
"Really? Are you perhaps a psychologist? Or are you just an authority on the average female Derek?" Aura came back at him sarcastically. She knew she could get away with being rude, but there were limits.
He laughed and answered. "Neither, but I would like to get to know you better."
She shook her head as she replied. "You would be better off if you let it go. Besides, I have no time for you. I have at least two stacks of medical books to read over the holidays."
"You know what they say Aura, all work and no play?" Derek purred.
"My play comes when I say and with whom I choose. Not until then." She snipped back, she was feeling more and more irritated with his continued pressure.
"You sound like such a challenge Aura, how can I resist but to rise to it?" Derek wanted to continue the game. He was getting a charge out of the chase.
"Work on it Derek." She advised then, as he showed no signs of leaving, she did.
Her exit was cut short as Derek also rose and grabbed her by the wrist, to turn her around to face him. He wrapped his arms about her and gave her a sound kiss.
Aura was unimpressed as she felt his lips move over hers. He disgusted her and made her feel dirty. His tongue brushed over her lips giving her the impression that she was being slobbered on and she struggled to regain her freedom. When she was released she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and angrily spat out.
"Surely you cannot be that desperate that you have to force your attentions on a woman who wants nothing to do with you, Derek."
He looked at her, his eyes dark with desire and he smirked. "I will not lie to you Aura, I want you and I plan to have you. And Aura, I always get what I want."
"Derek, you arouse no interest in me. I do not like the way you kiss and I do not like the feel of your body against mine. In fact there is nothing about you I do like."
"So what is wrong with my body? I have never had any complaints before."
"You are soft." She snapped. "You have never done a days work in your life. I have no use for your brother and even less for you. You don’t need to dangle your prospective title before me because that does not either impress or interest me either."
"So you like it hard and rough do you?" He snarled, "I think I could manage that."
"Enough," Aura's irate voice whipped out at him. "You are letting your imagination carry you away and I tire of the games, so I will try to make things easy for you. Either you let me go now and promise never to try to talk to me again, or I will tell Delinda everything. There is nothing to desire in an empty title Derek and her money can buy her more than you can offer."
"You are bluffing." He gave her an appraising look before deciding that she was quite serious. He was not quite ready to leave her escape so easy.
"Am I Derek?" She gave him a steady look and added. "I would not be so sure of that if I were you."
Aura gave him no chance to respond as she left him to return to her room. She didn’t even stop to say good night to anyone at the party. She was disgusted with the society her parents circulated in. It was not real. There were a real lack of morals. Granted, it was not much different at Vernon's court, but at least there she had been safe. There she was the Lord Thorn's Lady and beyond approach.
Aura thought of her husband as she undressed and slipped naked between the satin sheets, giving a gasp at the sensations which the material rubbing against her body shot through her. Strange that she had never felt like this before. Was it the thoughts of Thorn that made her feel so stimulated? She ran her hands over the sheet that outlined her body and quivered at the caress. She wanted him, needed him, only him. She could have cried as she felt the emptiness his absence made her feel. Her life without him was a mockery.
She remembered the one night of passion they had shared. She remembered their home and felt ashamed of her past actions. For now she knew that she wanted nothing more than to curl up against her husband and to have him hold her.
CHAPTER XXV
In order to deal with his loss, Thorn threw all his energies into the building of his new fortress. He finished the surrounding walls then chose a site for his house, before having the stone and mortar material hauled in from the surrounding territory. The outside walls of his new home were put up in record time and work began in earnest on the interior. He was pleased with the progress.
As the workers labored on the roof of the great empty structure Thorn had designed to serve as his future home, he sat and drew up the floor plans for the interior. It had been a job he had wanted to include Aura in but had never gotten the chance. They had spent so little time together and what time they had shared had always been interrupted by their duties. He swore that when she came back that would change. He refused to believe she was gone for good, she would be back and they would be happier than ever.
A week before Christmas Thorn took a break from his work to travel to Edwin's to spend the holiday season with his family. It had been a point insisted on, as none within the family had wished for him to spend the Yule time alone. They had received little news of him and what there had been was to do with the building of his fortress and home. They feared he worked to deal with Aura's disappearance. They also feared he was working himself to death in an attempt to fill the void she had left behind. Thorn, as far as his family and friends were concerned, could not be trusted with his own well being at this time.
There was a promise of snow in the air when Thorn arrived at Edwin’s and he was more than pleased to beat the impending weather. Edwin and his wife, Elizabeth, met him at the door and warmly greeted him. They took his cape and boots and they invited him further into the house. He had just gotten half way across the entrance when the children attacked him. Within moments they were trying to climb up onto their Uncle Thorn, laughing and demanding pony rides. Thorn whirled them in circles and pretended to toss them in the air as they screeched and ran around his legs. The games came to an end when Elizabeth decided both sides had had enough playing.
The children were sent up to their rooms for the night, and the adults settled to talk. An hour or so later Signi arrived. They exchanged news and Signi passed on the court gossip as they sat and shared
a late family meal. There was no mention of Aura, not a word. His siblings were being careful not to hurt him, even to the point where they avoided saying her name. It didn’t take him long to grow tired of the way they were evading the issue. He knew there was no news. He would have been told as soon as anyone would have heard. He also realized that they were acting out of love, but he thought that they shouldn’t treat him like he was fragile.
Thorn was determined to leave Edwin’s the moment Yule was over. He was thoroughly disgusted with his family and he let them know it. He had been looking forward to his time with them, and they had ruined it with their misplaced intentions. Sure, he understood they meant well, but he had found their treatment demeaning. He privately told Signi that if he heard any mention of him in the court gossip she would be sorry. He told them all he would not tolerate their attitude any longer than he had to.
Elizabeth had cried as Thorn stormed around during his fit of temper. Edmond had glared at him for upsetting his family, though he had held his tongue. Signi had looked at him with a mixture of horror and sympathy. Thorn had made sure none of the children had been present to witness the lecture he had given their parents. When he had finished he looked at the expressions on their faces and realized that none of his words had changed a thing. They were still thinking the same thing.
That was when Thorn had stormed to his room, packed his clothes, collected Wolf, and left. He rode hard through the snow, harder than what was safe for the horse, the wolf, or himself. The anger, however, cooled as he traveled and he had the sense to pull back on the reigns before he did any damage to any of them. By the time he got back home his mind was back on things that he thought mattered more than how he had been treated.
Things would change when Aura returned and he was sure that she would, although he had no indication of how this would happen. She had some unfinished business to attend to he believed. Perhaps it was to discover that she really did want him. A part of him felt like his faith was being tested. He prayed he was being proven worthy, for he still believed with all his heart and soul that she was the woman he had prayed for.
Thorn and Wolf walked into their home to a sensation that someone had been in the building. The air seemed disturbed and there was a clean fresh scent that reminded him of Aura. He charged through the house, searching the rooms. He then stopped to stare at Wolf in wonder. The wolf had settled himself before the fireplace and had stretched out as if Aura was sitting on the floor beside him, scratching his ears. What did that wolf know, or feel? It was driving him crazy.
Before Thorn could even begin to be satisfied that there was nothing more to his feelings than hopeful wishing he checked the area where Aura had disappeared. There were no signs of her anywhere, either by feel or physical evidence. He slowly walked back to the cold house and made a fire before sitting down on the floor beside Wolf to watch the flames while he petted the animal's head.
"You miss her too, I know." Thorn spoke to the wolf as if he were a person and the animal licked his hand. Thorn felt the caring, and taking what comfort he could from the presence of the wolf he cried, and he prayed for her quick and safe return.
By the time spring rolled around Thorn’s house had reached the halfway point. It was being finished on the outside while he was making great headway on the inside. It had been an early spring, which helped in their search for supplies. They had no sooner gathered enough building materials to finish the job when a messenger arrived with a call to arms from Vernon. Thorn sighed as he read the note and wondered if peace would ever last longer than a winter season. The annual stream of battles was taking a toll on his resources. He ordered the builders to continue with the erection of his home and warned them against deviating from his plans while he was gone. He then gathered up his fighting forces and rode to meet up with Edwin, who he knew would have gotten the same orders.
Edwin joined his brother, along with his own men, a day later. The men, who were used to fighting along side of each other, fell in with their comrades. They knew their members would swell as they marched, it always did. The men also knew their chances of living through a battle was much better under the command of the Lord Thorn than of any of the other warlords, for that reason alone they gravitated towards him.
"Did Vernon tell you anything other than to ride and bring your army?" Edwin asked.
"No, but then he never does though, does he?"
"No he doesn’t. How is the building coming along?"
"I should be finished by late fall. I have hired extra workers to speed it up. I am beginning to get anxious to see it finished." Thorn smiled as he added. "I would have loved to have seen Aura's impression of her new home as it went up."
"You still hope that she will return?" Edwin asked.
Thorn nodded as he continued to smile, giving a confident reply. "She will come back Edwin, I feel it in my bones."
"Have you found any trace of her yet?" Edwin asked, though he was sure he knew the answer. No one had heard anything from or about Aura.
"No, but I have heard from her, in a round about way." Thorn surprised his brother with his answer.
"Well if she contacts you, why does she not come to you? Why does she torment you in this manner?" Edwin was angry at Aura on Thorn’s behalf.
"She is bound to where she is for now and will return when she is able. I will say no more on the matter, suffice it to say that she is doing what she can to return." Thorn recognized the angry tone in Edwin’s voice.
"Are you sure this is not just wishful thinking on your part Thorn? There is no real sign of her, or signs of her wishes to return, are there?" Edwin sounded his anger.
"She is my wife Edwin, she will return. If you cannot deal with that, keep your opinions to yourself." Thorn snapped back. He was not having his family pecking at his wife.
Edwin was quiet for a while as he still rode beside his brother then spoke. "I hope, for your sake brother, that you are right. Meanwhile, I would like to hear more about the progress you have made on your house."
"I am more than pleased with the results so far. Everyone has been extremely helpful. I doubt if there is a man, woman, or child, who has not helped in some small way within the entire region of my lands. Aura’s past actions have assured me of their loyalty in a way that none of the protection I have ever given them in the past ever did. She did it simply by showing them that she cared."
"When do you expect it to be finished?"
"A few months after I return, or in late fall. This new effort of Vernon's will determine the actual date."
Vernon and his forces met the advancing brothers halfway through their journey and he got to the point right away.
"We must make haste Thorn. The invaders come from the South East and are more plentiful than usual. We have little time to spend making battle plans, so we shall have to make them up as we ride, or when we get close enough to see what we face. I have a terrible feeling that this war is going to turn ugly. I am glad you are by my side."
"Where else would I be Vernon? As for the fight being nasty, well, it usually is." Thorn chuckled, making light of the whole issue. There would be time later to get serious.
Vernon was not amused with Thorn's light-hearted approach. This invasion force showed every sign of being every monarch's nightmare. The enemy forces were reported to be huge. They would probably break off into smaller fighting forces. That would hinder all their progress and give them no rest or peace for months to come. He hated battles like this.
Vernon, as well as most of his men, was tired of the ceaseless warring year after year. They fought on only because to do otherwise would be to die. They also hoped that perhaps they might be given enough time between raids, to raise their families, or in some cases even time to have one.
"Well," Vernon thought to himself. "It would not be this year at any rate."
They came upon the enemy suddenly and a small battle resulted, which, as Vernon feared, scattered what they thought were the main forces. His ar
my split up and chased down those they could catch. The assailing army had not been given time to reorganize for a proper attack and Thorn wondered how Vernon had gained information on them so quickly, as well as how reliable his source was. He had a gut feeling something was not right.
Thorn had never liked massive battles. Too many men got hurt or killed in the crowding foray who would have otherwise not received a scratch. He preferred the type of fighting this was turning into, the cat and mouse game of a home army on the attack. He fought much better under these circumstances.
Vernon, unlike Thorn, preferred an open, massive battle campaign. It was a style that generally brought a war to a quick end, with only mopping up exercises to do after, which freed him to go home. In this case he was anxious to do just that. Chatelaine was heavy with his child and she suffered with the pregnancy.
Chatelaine, in fact, had been more than happy to be rid of Vernon. He hovered over her and she felt smothered. She had wished that he could have gone on a peaceful mission, however, a wife had to expect these things, especially when her husband was a warrior.
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