“I am ready, Drake.”
Drake gave her a careless glance, then grasped her elbow and guided her out the door.
Suddenly Raven recalled the note she had left for Drake. She could not afford to have him find it now. She dug in her heels. “Wait, I forgot something.”
“Nay, you did not,” Drake rasped.
His fingers dug painfully into the soft flesh of her upper arm and she cried out in pain. “You are hurting me. What is wrong with you? Why are you angry?”
“Wrong?” Drake said with sneer. “What could be wrong? When Waldo arrives, I will personally escort you to him. If he does not come, I will send you to him.”
“What are you talking about?” He knew! Oh, God, he had found the note. Recalling her words, she knew they must have sounded cold and impersonal, but she had planned it that way so he would not come after her. She had tried, in the only way she knew, to prevent a brutal confrontation between Waldo and Drake.
“You read the note,” Raven whispered. Never had he looked upon her with such contempt.
“Aye,” he said in a hiss. “What kind of woman are you?” Derision dripped from every word. “You lacked the decency to tell me to my face that you wanted to return to your husband. You are the one who begged for my protection, if you recall. You lived under my roof, ate the food I provided, made love with me as if you enjoyed it. I do not understand you, lady. Did you suddenly decide a bastard was not good enough for you?”
Stunned, Raven could not believe her note had roused such animosity in Drake. She had thought he would be glad to be rid of her. Didn’t he know she would do anything to protect him from Waldo? How could she have been so misguided as to think he would understand?
“You do not understand, Drake,” she cried, distraught. “I hoped my leaving would prevent bloodshed.”
“I do not wish to discuss it, Raven,” Drake bit out as he propelled her toward the stairs. “The king awaits below.”
Raven stumbled down the stairs, her eyes wide with fright. She did not know this angry man. They reached the hall just in time to greet the king as he and his entourage swept through the door into the hall.
Raven hung back as Drake rushed forward and knelt before the king. “Sire, your visit does me great honor.”
King Edward III was a large, rawboned man with even features and a ready smile. He enjoyed excellent relations with his barons, for he had married several of his eleven children into baronial families. Edward and his much-admired son, the Black Prince, were very successful in war and respected by their subjects.
“Rise, Drake of Windhurst,” the king said. “I had to see for myself the wonders you have wrought at Windhurst. But ’tis not the only reason I have traveled these many leagues. Nay, Drake, I bring you a gift.”
“A gift, sire? You have already given me more than I ever dared hope for.”
“You have earned all this and more,” Edward said expansively. “Now I bring you a wife.”
Raven’s legs wobbled beneath her and she dropped down upon the nearest bench. A wife! Drake was to marry a woman the king had chosen for him. Raven had known this day would arrive and felt as if her world had just spun out of control. Drake hated her, and now he was going to take a wife.
“A wife, sire?” Drake repeated. “I . . . I had not thought to marry so soon.”
“A man needs a wife,” Edward said heartily. “Your keep will benefit from a woman’s soft touch, not to mention the heirs you will get from this marriage.”
“Aye, sire,” Drake said uneasily.
At the king’s nod, a young woman stepped forward. Head bowed submissively, the girl glanced shyly at Drake from beneath lowered lids. She was richly dressed in velvet. Her waist was cinched in gold and her headdress was an elaborate affair that made Raven’s simple veil and circlet look plain by comparison.
“Greet Lord Drake, Willa,” Edward said fondly.
Willa raised her head, gave Drake a wobbly smile, then quickly lowered it again. Raven was quick to note the girl’s dark beauty. Her hair was as black as a raven’s wing and her flawless, creamy complexion and tawny eyes put Raven’s own beauty to shame, or so Raven thought. Willa executed a perfect curtsy and Raven wondered how Drake could resist such an innocent beauty.
“Willa is my ward,” Edward said. “When I considered husbands for her, I thought immediately of you. The betrothal shall take place tomorrow, with the wedding to follow the day after. I brought my own confessor to perform the ceremony.”
Blackness closed in all around Raven. Her head spun and so did the hall. She had to get away before she embarrassed herself. With the king’s words still ringing in her ears, she rose on shaky legs, intending to escape to her chamber where she did not have to look upon Drake’s bride, but it was not to be. For the first time in her life, Raven fainted.
Sixteen
A knight fights for what is his.
Raven awakened to see Drake’s face hovering scant inches above hers. His expression was fierce, his mood apparently as black as his scowl. She was surprised to find herself stretched out on a bench and tried to rise.
“Rest a moment more, my lady.”
Raven shifted her gaze to Edward, who was regarding her with concern. Then she remembered. Drake was going to marry Lady Willa and she had fainted.
“I am sorry, Your Majesty,” Raven apologized. “I know not what happened. I am fine now.”
The king offered his hand and she rose to a sitting position. “Do I know you, my lady?”
“My pardon, sire,” Drake said, indicating Raven with a careless nod. “My leman, Lady Raven of Chirk.”
“Drake!” Raven was so close to swooning again she had to close her eyes to stop the room from spinning.
The king stared at Raven, then said in an aside to Drake, “You are being intentionally cruel, Lord Drake. We will speak of this later.”
He returned his attention to Raven. “I heard you had wed Waldo of Eyre, Lady Raven.”
Raven bit her lip to keep it from trembling.
“My lady?” the king prompted.
“Aye, I am Waldo’s wife. In name only,” she added. “The marriage was never consummated.”
“If I recall correctly,” Edward mused, “Waldo did not ask my permission to wed. Was he not married to your sister? She died, did she not? Wedding a sister-in-law smacks of incest,” he said sourly.
The king’s words brought his priest shuffling forward to whisper something in Edward’s ear.
“Oh, aye, I remember now, Father. Lord Waldo received a dispensation from the pope to wed his dead wife’s sister. I cannot argue with the pope, but I like it not. Where is your husband, Lady Raven?”
“Probably on his way to Windhurst to claim his wife,” Drake said. His curt reply put a swift end to the king’s questions.
“I understand none of this,” Edward said with a hint of annoyance. “I am too fatigued after the long journey to listen to a lengthy explanation. Later, after the evening meal and the betrothal, we will meet in private, Lord Drake. I suspect the tale will entertain me well past matins. Have chambers been prepared for me and my party?”
Balder stepped forward and bowed. “If you will follow me, Your Majesty, I will show you to your chambers. The south tower has been made ready for you and your entourage. Your men-at-arms will find beds in the garrison, and Lady Willa and her maid have rooms in the solar. I pray the arrangements are acceptable.”
“I do not find your hospitality lacking, Lord Drake,” the king said graciously.
“If you need anything, sire,” Drake added, “you have but to ask.”
“I will show Lady Willa and her maid to their chamber,” Raven offered.
She saw Drake’s body tense. His anger, she knew, was directed at her. His announcement proclaiming her his leman had left her shaken and now she felt numb. She realized how much her callous note had hurt him, but it did not compare with what he had just done to her. He had labeled her his whore before the king.
&
nbsp; Lady Willa hesitated, as if unsure whether she should accompany Raven. She cast a shy glance at Drake, but Drake appeared unaware of Willa’s delicate sensibilities. After a long pause, she followed Raven to the solar.
“How long have you been Lord Drake’s leman?” Willa asked as they ascended the winding staircase. Raven thought her question intrusive and decided not to answer.
“I would never become a man’s whore,” Willa continued with a sniff of disdain. “After Lord Drake and I are married, you must find another protector.”
“How old are you, Lady Willa?” Raven asked.
“Fifteen. King Edward says ’tis a good age to marry.”
Raven sighed. “You are so young and innocent. You know naught of life. Lord Drake devours innocents like you.”
Willa’s eyes grew round. “Whatever do you mean?”
“Pay no heed to my rambling,” Raven replied. “I am not myself today.” She paused before an empty chamber. “I hope you will be comfortable here. If you need anything, please have your maid inform one of the servants.”
“Where is your chamber?” Willa asked.
“At the far end of the hallway. Your trunks will be delivered to your chamber shortly. If you wish to bathe, send your maid to the kitchen to request a tub.” She turned to leave.
“Lady Raven.”
Raven paused, looking over her shoulder at Willa. “Aye?”
“Where does Lord Drake sleep?”
“Wherever he pleases,” Raven answered as she forced her trembling limbs to move down the hallway.
Raven did not collapse until she was inside her chamber. She grasped the door for support and unsuccessfully tried to erase from her mind the image of Willa and Drake intimately entwined. She pictured him kissing Willa, loving her with his hands and mouth, and finally claiming her in the most basic way known to man. She pushed herself away from the door and threw herself down on the bed. She lay there a long time, staring up at the ceiling.
Drake conferred briefly with Balder, then spoke to Sir Richard about accommodations for the king’s knights. Assured that everything was as it should be, he sat at the table and called for ale. A servant appeared almost immediately with a flagon and placed it on the table before Drake. Drake filled his mug and drank deeply, his mind reeling with the surprising turn of events. The need to hurt Raven had driven him to introduce her as his leman, and he already regretted his harsh words. The arrival of the young woman who was to become his bride had stunned him, and he was still reeling.
Though Lady Willa was beautiful, she did not appeal to him sexually. She seemed vapid and passionless, unlike Raven, whose spirit and fire scalded him on occasion. Aye, Willa would run his household and bear his children without complaint, and remain unobtrusively in the background. Unfortunately he expected more than obedience from a wife. He wanted a partner, a lover, a woman whose hot blood matched his own. A woman who would welcome her husband in her bed.
He wanted . . . Raven.
He could not like Lady Willa. She reminded him of a pouting, immature child who probably would faint dead away on her wedding night.
Drake finished the ale and called for more. Try though he might, he could not get drunk. He relived in his mind the moment Raven had fainted and how frightened for her he had been. Raven was a strong woman, not prone to fainting spells. She was going to leave him. She had planned to travel alone along hazardous roads in dangerous times, and that took courage.
The more he thought about the coldly worded note Raven had written, the angrier he became. Though his rage was tempered somewhat by his concern for her health, it was not entirely assuaged. The need to see Raven, to rail at her for her dishonesty, drove him to his feet. He took the stairs two at a time, his mood so foul the servants scattered in his wake. He barged into Raven’s chamber without knocking and slammed the door behind him.
He found Raven lying on the bed, staring at the ceiling, and the urge to tear off her clothing and thrust himself into her was so strong he nearly exploded with it.
Raven jerked upright, her startled gaze challenging him. “What are you doing here?”
He strode to the bed and regarded her silently, hands on hips, his expression fierce. “Are you ill?”
“Nay. I am well.”
He did not believe her. “Why did you faint?”
Their gazes met and collided. She answered with a question of her own. “Why did you introduce me as your leman?”
“Answer my question.”
“Answer mine.”
“Very well. I introduced you as my leman because that is exactly what you are,” Drake pointed out.
“Oh, how cruel. How arrogant,” Raven raged.
“I but follow your example, my lady,” he said with a snarl. “You planned to leave me. The callous note you penned was left by a coward. Think you I would stop you from returning to your husband if that was your desire? Why, Raven? Why did you decide to leave me? I would have protected you with my life.”
“I wanted to prevent bloodshed,” Raven whispered.
“The truth, Raven,” Drake said harshly. “I want the truth. Does my being a bastard bother you? Is that why you wished to return to Waldo?”
“Nay! I never intended to return to Waldo. I worded my note to make it sound that way.”
“I said I wanted the truth, my lady. No more lies.”
“ ’Tis you I want, Drake. It has always been you.”
Drake’s eyes narrowed. “Then prove it.”
He came down on the bed, covering her with his body. His head lowered and his mouth slammed down over hers. He kissed her hard, slanting his mouth over hers until her lips opened beneath his probing tongue. He ravaged her mouth savagely, wanting to punish her for making him care. No woman had ever gotten to him like Raven, nor disappointed him so thoroughly. He wanted to shake her, to yell at her, to tell her he had been willing to die for her. What more could a woman ask of a man?
His mouth slid away from hers and he stared into her eyes. “I am going to make love to you, Raven. You know you want it. ’Tis always like that between us.”
A sob escaped her throat but he closed his ears to it. He knew his words hurt her, but no more than she had hurt him. Bursting with impatience, he began tearing away her clothing until he had stripped her bare.
“This is how I want you,” he said through bared teeth. “Naked, with your legs spread wide.”
He disrobed with incredible speed, rendering himself as naked as she. Urgency gripped him, and in his need he forgot patience, forgot tenderness. He pulled her beneath him, drawing a rosy nipple into his mouth while his fingers teased her other breast and his hips bucked against hers, his erection seeking that warm place between her legs.
Dazed, Raven stiffened as incredible sensations radiated from her breasts to that wet place where Drake’s sex was demanding entrance. He was wild, unpredictable. She did not want his anger; she wanted his love.
“Nay! Not like this.”
He raised his head and stared at her. Lost in the depths of his silver gaze, she could no more resist him than she could stop breathing, nor did she try.
Surrendering to him, she tangled her hands in his hair, clutched at his neck, his shoulders, moaning his name as his mouth ravished her tender breasts. His heartbeat, a loud, heavy thud, reverberated through her. She stifled a cry with the back of her hand when his mouth slid down her body, lapping greedily at her navel on his downward path to sweeter territory. Then he found her. Her hips arched upward as he buried his face between her legs, alternately licking and sucking the moist folds of her sex.
She fought to regain her wits and won, albeit briefly, as she grasped his hair, trying to pull him away. This was not right. She was losing control. Drake wanted to punish her, to prove his mastery over her. Unfortunately he was succeeding. Her entire body vibrated with need as his mouth drew on her and his fingers slid inside her.
“Drake!”
Drake raised his head and smiled at her. “Do you w
ant me to put my cock inside you now, Raven?”
That was exactly what she wanted. If he did not fill that aching void inside her soon she would go quite mad.
“Aye! Nay! Oh, please.”
His smile turned feral as he spread her legs and thrust hard and deep, filling her.
“Put your legs around me,” he commanded.
She did, and he slid even deeper. Then he began to move. No slow, gentle loving, this, but a fierce mating, with her legs wrapped around him and his hips rising and falling in savage rhythm. She was lost, hopelessly lost, possessed by the man she loved—a man who belonged to another, just as she was not his to claim. But in her heart she knew she would be forever his. And she had his child inside her to prove it.
The pressure built deep inside where he was touching her soul. Then she exploded. She screamed, her mind shutting down as her climax swept over her. She clung to him as his body convulsed and his hot seed filled her.
Seconds later he collapsed on top of her. She accepted his weight without complaint, frighteningly aware that they could never be together like this again. Knowing Drake, he would obey his king and marry Lady Willa. Alone and bereft, Raven would be forced to pick up the broken pieces of her life and flee to her aunt’s home. She would never return to Waldo, she vowed, and she would protect her child with her life.
Raven opened her eyes and was startled to see Drake regarding her with a strange light in his eyes. “You look at me as if you hate me.”
“I do not hate you,” he said as he pulled himself out of her and rolled away.
His voice was so devoid of feeling that she could not stop herself from reaching out and touching his shoulder. He stiffened, then turned and leered at her. “Ready for more, are you?” She recoiled, hurt by his cruel words.
“What I want is the truth,” she said angrily. “Tell me. Am I naught to you but your whore?”
He rose abruptly. “I think of you not at all.”
Lies. All lies, Drake’s inner voice whispered. Lady Willa could never take Raven’s place, neither in his bed nor in his heart. Raven had breached the wall around his heart and now he had to do what he must to repair it.
Connie Mason Page 23