Her eyes turned wider and her mouth feel open another notch.
“I’m making a mess of this,” he said more to himself than Dawn. “I intended to marry you all along. There was no way I would spend my life without you.” He turned away for a moment to gather his thoughts and his eyes took note of the dead body. “This is not the place for this.”
He hurried Dawn out of the stable and to her cottage, the guards following close behind them. He latched the door once inside and wasted no time in yanking Dawn’s cloak off her and taking her in his arms.
“I sometimes think of the moment that I knew that I loved you and I’m always drawn to our time in the hut together. You were fearful, yet brave, and your courage grew as I got to know you.” He grinned. “You intrigued me more and more each day. And I found my hands eager to explore you.” He shook his head. “If I were honest with myself I’d admit that I fell in love with you upon sight, which has been difficult for me to accept since I never thought that would be possible and yet...” he shook his head. “You claimed my heart long before I even realized I had opened it to you.”
A tear slipped down Dawn’s cheek as she threw her arms around Cree’s neck and kissed him with a joy she had never experienced in her life.
He returned her enthusiasm deepening the kiss and the next thing they knew they were striping each other bare and falling down on the bed together. Their passion could not be contained; they were hungry for each other and nothing could stop them from feeding it. And feeding it they did. His hands explored her with a startling eagerness that had her body bowing at his every touch. And when his mouth followed suit she thought she would leap off the bed, it felt so deliciously and wonderfully wicked.
“I want to linger and enjoy,” he whispered harshly in her ear but my need is too great.”
She pressed one finger to his arm agreeing and he quickly grabbed her legs and flung them over his shoulders as he positioned himself between them and drove into her with a forceful thrust that had her arching up to meet his demand.
He continued driving into her hard and she enjoyed every blessed minute of it. It didn’t take long for their passion to build to an explosive climax, and Cree made certain it was one she would never forget. His hand reached out and teased the tiny pulsating nub and she nearly bolted off the bed, but his strong body and solid thrusts held her firm.
She came so hard that she didn’t stop tapping his arm over and over and over and finally when she climaxed for a second time he joined her and exploded in a blinding fury that left him so spent that he collapsed on top of her.
Dawn soon realized that his weight did not allow her to breath and she pushed at his solid muscle. Her attempts grew a bit more frantic when he didn’t respond until he finally rose up off her. She caught a quick breath followed by several more.
“Are you all right?” he asked anxiously.
She took a few more deep breathes and nodded.
“Damn, I came so hard I spent all my strength.”
Dawn smiled wide.
“Pleased with that are you?” he asked tweaking her nose as he moved off her, though grabbed her around the waist to lie and placed her alongside him.
She nodded vigorously.
“So am I,” he admitted though in a whisper, as if he didn’t want anyone to hear. “From this moment on I refuse to do without you in my bed. You will be moved to my room in the keep. And as soon as all the documents are signed we will be wed.” He tweaked her nose again. “That is if you’ll have me.”
She bolted up beside him. Was he truly giving her a choice? It was the very question she gestured him.
“Yes, I am asking you if you wish to wed me. I want you as my willing wife, not a prisoner or mistress forced to submit to me but as a woman who loves me and wants to wed me, bear my children and grow old with me.”
She nodded vigorously before he even finished.
“That eager are you?”
She smiled softly, shaking her head and pressed her hand to her heart and then pressed it to his heart holding it there.
He rested his hand over hers. “Love me that much do you?”
She slipped her hand from beneath his and stretched her hands wide demonstrating that her love for him was endless.
He grabbed her around the waist and lifted her up and brought her down to rest over the length of him. His hands went to squeeze her buttocks playfully and his kiss teased. “Damn it, woman, I love you more than I ever thought possible.” He growled low after nuzzling her neck. “You’re mine, you belong to me, and I’ll never let you go.”
His words sent a tingle to her for the words spoke of his love just as deeply as if he had said I love you and she gestured the same to him. She jabbed his chest, poked her own, and grabbed his hand to lock her fingers with him letting him know that he belonged to her and she would never let him go.
He laughed softly. “Looks as if we’re stuck with each other.”
She nodded and kissed him gently, though he responded with more fervor.
After a few minutes of a kiss that titillated them both senseless he pulled away and said through bated breath, “Damn, I’m hard for you already and we’ve only finished making love.”
She reached down and discovered just how hard he was and with a grin she rose up over him and with a silent sigh of pleasure lowered herself onto him. He groaned with anticipation and in no time they were lost in passion that neither of them hurried to abate.
Chapter Thirty-four
Dawn didn’t want to move to the keep but Cree was adamant and she finally surrendered knowing he would not change his mind. All her things were placed in Cree’s bed chamber, a sizeable room. Flanna fussed making sure everything was to Dawn’s liking.
Dawn allowed Flanna to do as she wished. She was more concerned with finding out how her father was doing and preparing herself for Lucerne’s reaction when the woman found out the truth about her birth. In a way she felt sorry for her. Dawn was now a noble while Lucerne was now a peasant. And she did not think that Lucerne could survive a peasant’s life. And she fretted over how she would survive being a noble.
One thing she was happy about was that she had free reign of the keep. Cree had posted guards throughout the entire keep and while he had insisted that Dawn remain by his side, he soon found it a difficult order to maintain, thus the guards being posted throughout the keep and Elwin following her wherever she went.
She had been at the keep only a couple of hours and was already missing the solitude of her cottage. Everywhere she ventured someone was there. She was not used to so many people being around and it unnerved her. She much preferred her solitude or a cozy chat with her best friend Lila. That was how she had spent most of her time, and she favored it that way. How she would adapt, she didn’t know.
Dawn was pleased when Flanna finally finished settling her things and after giving her friend an appreciative hug and seeing her out the door, Dawn found that she was tired. It had been an eventful day and it was only a couple of hours after noon. And though she was a bit fatigued, she wanted to see how her father was doing. She grabbed her cloak and went to the door, hoping she would not meet resistance to her plan.
Elwin, as usual, was outside the door and when he saw that she wore her cloak, he shook his head. “Cree says you are to stay in the keep.”
Dawn gestured that she wished to see how Kirk was doing.
Elwin smiled. “In that case we don’t have a problem. Kirk was moved here to the keep. Cree and Torr thought it best that way.”
She was pleased that she’d face no resistance, though she did wonder over the true reason why Kirk had been moved here. Did Cree and Torr believe his life was in danger? She tossed her cloak on the bed and followed Elwin down one floor. With each step her mind churned wondering over different possibilities as to why with Gerwan’s death, her life should still be in danger. What was it this person or persons were after? What value did her identity hold now with Gerwan dead?
El
win opened the door to the room and stepped in. She was surprised to see him acknowledge someone with a bow of his head and was more surprised to see that it was the cleric who the King had sent to wed Lucerne and Cree.
“I came to pray for the lord’s servant Kirk in his hour of need,” the cleric said, his eyes narrowing as he spoke until his expression turned to a scowl. “You are Cree’s harlot.”
Dawn sent him such a scathing look that the cleric actually took a step back.
“It is not too late to redeem your soul,” he urged. “We can pray together and cleanse you of the devil.”
Dawn let him rattle on, her attention caught by the small vial in his hand. She pointed to it.
“I was anointing him,” the cleric snapped and you should wait outside until I finish and then I will hear your confession.”
She didn’t move, she continued to stare at his hands that looked weathered and worn from toiling in the field. But if he was one of the King’s cleric’s what would he be doing toiling in the field?
He stepped toward her and before she could move he grabbed hold of her arm, his other hand held a dagger, the point pressed to her stomach. The vial he had held had fallen to the floor beside the bed.
“Unless you want me to cut your guard’s throat, you better agree when I tell him that we are going to Cree’s bedchamber where I will hear your confession.”
She nodded, not wishing any harm to come to Elwin.
The long sleeve of his robe covered the dagger as they walked out of the room. “She wishes to confess her sins and cleanse her soul,” the cleric announced and Elwin looked at him oddly.
Dawn nodded and placed her hand on Elwin tapping his arm twice, though the cleric could not see it.
Elwin returned with them to Cree’s bedchamber passing Lady Ann on the way. She seemed in a hurry, claiming Lucerne was upset and needed her. When Elwin opened the door to the bedchamber, the cleric blocked him from entering the room.
“Confession is private, my son,” he said.
Elwin looked conflicted and Dawn hoped he would remain outside the door and attempt to find out what she had been trying to tell him. She had grown fond of Elwin and didn’t want to see him hurt and Dorrie would be devastated if she lost him, the pair having grown to love each other.
As soon as the door closed, he shoved Dawn toward a section of the wall and pushed on it, revealing a boarded up opening. He couldn’t rip the boards down without calling attention to the noise and that’s when the scream sounded. As soon as it did, the cleric kicked at the boards and shoved Dawn through the opening.
Dawn slipped as she descended on the narrow stone stairs a few times receiving some bumps to her elbows and knees. It did not take long to reach the bottom and once there the cleric, though by now Dawn realized the man was no cleric, kicked the boards until a sufficient opening was made and he forced her through it, following behind her and not letting go of her. His grip was so strong it stung her skin.
He shoved her toward the woods and Dawn already shivered from the bitter cold and prayed that Cree would be close on her trail.
~~~
Cree hurried along the hall with Torr and Sloan following behind, having been informed that Lucerne was carrying on uncontrollably. He stopped abruptly in front of Elwin wanting to make certain Dawn was all right.
“She rests?” he asked.
“The cleric is hearing her confession. Dawn seemed agreeable having nodded,” Elwin said. “What does two taps to the arm mean?”
Cree kicked the door open and rushed into his bedchamber, Torr, Sloan, and Elwin following. His heart pounding wildly in his chest, he turned to Elwin. “When did she tap your arm?”
“When the cleric said they were going to your bedchamber so he could hear her confession, she reached out and tapped my arm twice.”
“She was letting you know that wasn’t so,” Cree said, his fear escalating like never before. “Alert the men. Have them search the woods near where this secret passageway ends.”
Elwin nodded and hurried off to see it done.
Cree didn’t waste a minute; he entered the secret passageway, Torr, and Sloan following.
“He isn’t a cleric is he?” Torr asked as they maneuvered the narrow staircase.
“No, he isn’t,” Cree said more determined than ever to find the bastard cleric and kill him.
“But he spoke about seeing your sister,” Sloan said.
“I have no doubt he tortured the real cleric to get what information he could out of him so that he would be able to play the role well. I should have realized that something was wrong when he didn’t refer to the abbey or Abbess by name.”
“But who is he?” Torr said.
“That’s what I intend to find out before I kill him,” Cree said as they emerged out into the cold.
~~~
The man shoved and dragged Dawn when he didn’t feel that she walked fast enough and his detailed threats of what he intended to do to her made her shiver more with fear than from the cold.
“I think tying you to a tree and cutting you good so that your blood attracts hungry animals is a fitting end for someone who has caused me endless trouble.” He shook his head. “I forget that you cannot utter a sound. That is good, for then you cannot scream when the animals feast on you.”
No matter what happened, she could not let him tie her to a tree. She had to get away from him and back to the keep. Cree would come for her. He was probably already on the way.
“I will be glad when this chore is done and I can be on my way. You’ve been more trouble than you are worth. No matter how many men I hired to see you finished, not a one could see the chore done.”
Dawn didn’t try to communicate with him, she let him talk wanting to learn all she could.
“Have to admit though that if it wasn’t for my precious, darling wife who took on the chore of raising the dumb daughter of a noblewoman, I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to make myself some wealth.”
That stopped Dawn, and she turned to face the man claiming to be Lucerne’s father.
“The stupid bitch thought I was dead. She never realized that I didn’t want to come home to her and a whining babe. When I finally had no place to go, I returned home figuring my dependable wife would be there and what a surprise it was to find out that she was gone with who I thought was my daughter until I saw Lucerne. She was the image of my wife when I first met her.” He gave her a shove and she fell to her knees and winced, a snow-covered rock jabbing into one knee. He hoisted her up with a roughness that jarred her. “Get moving. I’m tired of acting the pious man. I want this done so I can be gone.”
The pain in her knee caused Dawn to stumble before she righted her steps. She could feel the blood running down her leg and she prayed that it would leave a trail for Cree to follow, though she did need to slow their pace.
She stumbled a few more times hoping that would help but it didn’t matter. He suddenly yelled for her to stop.
“No doubt the infamous Cree is already on our trail and I’ll not have him catch me. So your time to die has finally come.” He took a drink from a flask he had retrieved from beneath his cleric robe and took several swigs, wiping his mouth on his sleeve. “I’m going to prick you enough after I tie you to a tree so that the mighty Cree gets here just in time to watch helplessly as you die.”
Dawn held her hands up silently begging him not to do it, tears rushed from her eyes and he stared at her and laughed.
“Damn, but you’re a sight to see begging and crying and not a sound coming from you.”
Dawn collapsed to the ground, her chin near touching her chest and her shoulders heaving.
He walked over to her laughing and when he was near enough; she fisted her hand and swung it up hard to catch him right between his legs. He grasped from the pain and dropped like a dead weight.
She didn’t hesitate; she ran.
“I’m going to kill you, you dumb bitch!” His scream echoed through the woods and
Dawn prayed that Cree heard him.
She spotted droplets of blood on the snow—her blood—and followed them knowing they would take her back home, back to Cree. She had no doubt that as soon as the cleric recovered he would be on her trail, so she ran as fast as she could.
It wasn’t long before she heard footfalls behind her. They pounded the earth so hard that she thought she felt the ground tremble. He was furious and when he caught her, he would make her suffer. Fear mingled with determination. She wouldn’t let him catch her, she wouldn’t.
Her knee pained her with every step she took but she refused to give up. She had the babe to think about and Cree and a future waiting for her that she had never thought possible. She would not let a man who cared for naught but himself to rob her of that.
“I see you, bitch, I see you and I’m going to make you suffer.”
Dawn kept going and when she rounded a slight bend an arm snagged her hard around the waist and she found herself slammed against Cree’s hard body. He quickly sequestered them behind a grouping of trees and bushes. She dropped her brow to his shoulder and rested her hand to his chest loving the feel of the leather stretched across his hard muscles. He had come for her and she had not a single doubt that he would. She looked up at him and smiled.
He pressed a finger to his lips warning her to be quiet. He treated her as if she had a voice and she loved him even more for making her feel that she was no different. She listened as the imposter cleric approached, his threats growing more vicious.
“Now I’m really going to cut you and make you suffer, bitch.”
Dawn felt Cree tense and his scowl not only deepened; it grew dangerous. He eased Dawn to the side, once again warning silence and then turned and waited. When the cleric was near upon them Cree stepped out in his path and slammed his fist into the man’s face. The crunch of bone echoed through the woods and before the man dropped to the ground for the second time Cree hit him again.
Forbidden Highlander (Highlander Trilogy 2) Page 29