by Jewel Adams
She looked at Craig and received his sharp nod to proceed. Amy blocked out Bern's sensual calls to her and concentrated on sewing up the gash.
His sharp cry didn't take his train of thought away from her. Only now, instead of coveting her in his bed and arms, he cursed her sharp tongue for its lashings and her obstinate will power, which he vowed in his drugged raging to bend under his own.
By the time Amy finished bandaging him her own layers of clothing were soaked with his blood. “It is finished, Craig.”
“So is he, finally.”
Craig wanted to say something to help gentle the hard promises his friend unknowingly exposed against her.
“He should sleep sometime, I will stay with him.”
After all of Bern's threats against this woman Craig failed to hide his surprise that she didn't just turned him over to a servant.
“Craig, it was the pain he spoke out against.”
“True enough.”
Looking at Bern's friend Amy wanted to cringe over what he heard, and the concern he now held her in. Should the man have meant only half his threats Amy should probably be running for her life before he came to. Dominate, command, rule in total. She took a steadying breath wishing she could forget the man's intense interest concerning her more womanly attractions. He even spoke of Peter or The Beast as he called him, augh, but he was that and more. She wouldn't mind if Bern did do all those hideous things to that bastard.
A fine bead of sweat now covered his golden body. She felt grateful that he was so much man, a lesser one wouldn't stand a chance of surviving the infection she feared would soon ravish his beautiful body.
“He will survive.” Meeting Craig's hard stare. “And what passed his lips will not be spoken of to anyone, including his Lord.” Amy wasn't sure if she hoped her vow would prevent Bern from remembering or if she just didn't want this fine man to suffer anymore injury, even if it be to his fierce pride. No, to learn he lost control in her presence might hurt him more than his ghastly wound.
“As ye wish.”
Leaving her to tend Bern, Craig felt relieved he restrained his impulse to break the man's jaw and silence his friend. Warned or not of his intentions, Craig didn't think Lady Amelia would be an easy conquest.
* * * *
He was dreaming of her again.
Skin that glowed like a star caught in moonbeams against the darkest velvet night. Aye, her hair moved like a midnight ocean. Through Bern's feverish eyes he watched her squeeze the sponge, releasing the silver stream of water over her lavish breast. The pink kissed nipples hardened against the gentle rivulets, making his insides respond as if his tongue licked the succulent morsels. “So much woman.”
Amy's hand slowed over his whispered slur. Still held in a fever, the tension left her, knowing he would not be able to recall that he actually watched her bathing naked before him.
The fear to leave his side, dare he call out for her as before during the long hours, Amy waited for the castle to calm in the cover of night before bathing away his clinging blood and sweat from her sensitive flesh. But, not even the cleansing she gave herself in the pool of moonlight could clear away his invasion from her pores. Did he already conquer her will to his own as he vowed during the worst of his pain? Amy feared he won that vow since she first became aware of his existence.
The fresh gown Mistress Tilly brought to his chamber slipped over her damp hair and body, Amy let the crisp folds cover her chilled skin. The woman's insistence that Amy should let the ladies tend the lord had been immediately dismissed by Amy. No, she remembered how she raced to cover that magnificent body and all its glorious wonders from prying eyes, to think of one of them even touching his golden flesh lit a rage as fierce as wildfire off inside of her unbalanced senses.
“Jealousy, my Lord? Am I so struck by your power over me that I have stooped to keeping all eyes and hands from touching you?”
She stopped beside the bed her own hungry gaze took a leisurely fill of the man. Only days before she never felt such primitive urges, but no, it wasn't just days, but centuries of lifetimes!
Falling to her knees beside the bed, Amy sought the comforting reality of his touch. Clasping his huge hand within her own she held its sleeping strength against her cheek. The heat of the fever that she feared would strike him burned against her coolness. “You will heal my rouge Lord, I don't believe I could face my life in your time without your strength to guide me.” The admission was one she would never speak should he be in control of his faculties, but Amy lost the battles against the truth.
She absently brushed back a fallen curl from his proud brow. “Do you think God brought me to you through the shifting sands of time? I reached out to hold to what you promised in your kiss and in that moment I awakened from my death to life in your arms.” Lowering her head against his own, she whispered against his ear. “Ack, I did die, he killed me for greed! If only you could kill Peter, the beast that haunts my dreams.”
Bern forced his mind and body to remain dispassionate to her painful confession. The words she spoke were so full of riddles. The confusion they delivered did not happen because of the fever she believed he slept under. Nay, he neither imagined what he listened to; he felt every burning contact of her against his fired flesh as he strained in silence not to miss a word she uttered. Ack! If only she would stop caressing him. Even weak, he feared his eager body wanted to betray him and respond to her nearness, allowing her to discover he was conscious.
Amy wished she could forget everything that brought her to be beside this man. Tracing the powerful line of his jaw, her fingertip moved to memorize his full haunting lips.
“Will I stay to fall prey to their ravaging power? I believe I fear leaving you more than I do the possibility of facing my own death.” Closing her eyes, Amy felt the cool trail of her tears for the harsh honesty she secretly spoke. Looking upon his still features she marveled over the hold he convened and unknowingly won over her. “What a glorious state of conceit you would fall into should you discover your vowed battles against me are not necessary. And how shameful I am to admit so swift a defeat?” Laughing softly to herself. “You are everything I avoided in my past life. Domineering, proud more than conceited, but ack, you do want to rule me and I am actually contemplating letting you. Of course, finding yourself thrown back in time is in itself a very valid excuse for my unusual behavior.” Studying him, she almost wished he could hear her, “I wonder what you would do if you knew that the woman you courted and held in your arms that morning, became another in the breath of a kiss? That’s right, I am Amy Bonner, not Lady Amelia. Our souls are not so different. I believe Amelia truly played her part and a marvelous actress she must have been not to expose herself before your siege, my handsome rogue. I, of course, ruined all her good works under that mastering kiss of yours. I suspect she would likely kill me for my weakness, but then I have little doubt she hates me for trading her life for my death!”
It took a tremendous amount of control for Bern not to capture her to him when she pushed away and began pacing about the room. Through his concealing lashes he watched her frantic steps, feeling the need mounting in her to seek escape.
Cursing his present condition, knowing any attempt he might try to stop her would fail and only expose his knowledge, one he believed she would truly run from. Bern prayed Craig and his men would stop the flight she might attempt. What he just learned sounded unbelievable. But then she wasn't anything like the woman he had been in constant company with these last weeks! His own pride in thinking he breached her defenses almost blinded him to the truth of it!
When she stopped and turned back to face him, Bern's breath stilled in his chest. “Would you run from the truth of whom I am and where I come from, my lord? Or would you slay the imposter out of fear and the superstitions that run rampart in your time? I am only a woman, no matter the century.”
He wanted desperately to deny her fears, but his interference wasn't allowed. Especially when he was
incapable of battling her own fears for what she believed he would do to her. Bern prayed she would not discover his awareness, but God what he did know!
“Am I so wrong, so selfish, to hide the truth from you? I wish I were her, if only because it would mean there would be no secrets between us. Unfortunately, I can't be that honest, you see I have suffered death, murdered by Peter. Greed, it is a powerful motive. What I don’t know is if the beast still stalks me. I choose you over death, my Lord. I fear my weakness sealed our lives together at that moment and I have not the courage to sever the tie. If I could I would beg your forgiveness.”
The painful groan that reached her from across the room made her still at the door in indecision. She should leave, now, before he could stop her!
Another moan made her body rock against its reaching hold.
He counted every struggling step she made to return to his side. The war she waged not to desert him proved fierce and he cherished his victory in silence. Bern swore as her hands returned to sooth his heated skin that she would never be free of the hold he intended to use to keep her at his side. He would conquer her fears, even death's beast, to keep her where she now belonged!
CHAPTER 5
“Would ye poison me woman!”
“Nay, but I might let the boar finish his havoc should ye persist in this vile temper!”
Amy faced a difficult time keeping her glare on him, her relief too great that he survived. Only a week and already he bellowed for freedom from his confinement. Strong, aye he was certainly that.
Before he tossed the bowl of broth across the room she snatched it from the tray. “I need meat, red and dripping in sizzling fat!”
“You need a better diet.”
His eyes rolled at her as if their thunder could strike her silent. “Meat woman or I will find my own substance to compensate!”
The threat beneath his lowering lashes wasn't a new one. What devilishly sexy eyes he possessed.
God, but he gloried in her stamina to stand up to him. And how she mellowed before his sensual threats, purring like a frisky kitten, one he wanted to tame. “Come closer Amy me girl or are ye afraid?”
“Afraid? Of you? Hardly. But I will not see those stitches ripped open by your foolishness.”
Knowing she would naught relent, Bern sunk back into the mound of pillows, refusing to give her the satisfaction her scrutiny sought to confirm that he over did it, again. “You are a hard one, Amy.”
“And you are too impatient. Let yourself heal, Bern. Craig has everything in order, why, not even a dog could pass the gates undetected. I really think he is overdoing it a bit, he's giving the good Captain hissy fits with his precautions.”
Bern smiled over her innocent revelations. Under her orders that no one could disturb him, he'd been growling like a lion over his inability to confer with Craig.
“And those night patrols, it's a good thing Lansing hasn't gotten wind of those.”
“Aye, but ye did.” Night existed as her demon. Nay, she rarely slept except for the naps he would catch her in when she thought he was doing the same. Curled up in that chair she looked like a small child. He wondered if she would sleep in peace within the sanctity of his arms?
“Sweet Amy...”
“Stop right there, sweet talking me doesn't work.”
“Are ye sure?”
Tossing him a smile over her shoulder. “Positive, at least eat the fruit, you need the vitamins.”
“Vitamins, protein! You've some strange convictions lass.” Bern checked his displeasure. These last days together she began to relax in his presence. The drop of her guard allowed her to speak freely. He caught her panic over her slips that gave him glimpses into her other life.
“They are just other words for nourishing foods.”
Aye, her words for the knowledge she carried. Like the boiling of all cloth that touched his torn flesh. And the sulfur powder she sprinkled on the wound to kill invisible bugs only she could fret over. Bern held the belief these were only minor peeks into the differences between her duel existences.
One thing they shared in common, whether she realized it or not, was their common fear over the secret she lived. Nay, telling anyone would be a danger he could never expose her to. She was right, superstition would rule against her. Bern found pride in himself that he kept those fears from raising their suspicious heads. She was not a witch or demon, only a woman. Who somehow cheated death?
“Are you alright, Bern?”
To hide what she saw in him. “Should I naught be? You starve me and this infernal stitchery of yours is its own itching torture.”
He reminded her of a small boy when he scolded her. “Sweet man, you're mending very fast, but do give it another day or two. I promise to relent on the meat if you insist.”
“I do.”
“Alright then, I will go and tell Mistress Tilly to send up a platter, but lean, no fat and some steamed greens.”
Gritting his back teeth he swallowed his argument letting his attention drift to the gentle sway of her hips. “Ah lass couldn't ye sooth my pain before ye go?”
He knew only too well how to keep her with him and he grew shameless in using his wiles.
She caught the grimace of pain he failed to conceal, Amy felt guilty for the suspicious doubts she held over his request.
“It is the stitches, they have grown too tight.”
“You are healing, new skin is forming and closing the wound.”
Bern did not move, letting her concentration fall to his leg, waiting for her to move closer.
Amy's squeal turned to outrage over his trick as he pulled her over him, pinning her in place with his good leg. “Lie still lass or you will ruin all your good healing.”
“You tricked me, let me up!”
Bern's smile of denial was glorious. “I like ye, where ye be.”
“Oh! You are horrible.”
“Is wanting to feel you against me so awful?” He watched her press her lovely lips into a stubborn pout. She couldn't hide her own enjoyment over her predicament and his laughter filled the room. “Maybe I will lock ye in the tower.” Her eyes grew enormous. “I have decided I do not like having other men look at ye, selfish, aye, that is what you have made me.”
Feeling her body start to relax Bern eased his own hold, knowing she would naught try to escape. She liked his words, if only she believed them.
“When we marry I intend on holding ye often, but without all these barriers.” His finger traced the neckline of her gown enjoying the increased pressure her breast made against his bare chest. “They are lovely.”
Amy couldn't smother her pleasurable moan as his thumb brushed under her breast. She should protest the liberties he kept taking, but his name sounded more like a plea to her ears.
“Aye Amy, I am impatient, but not for the reasons you believe.”
“Your leg.”
“Is healing, I want you lass as I have never wanted a woman. I want to lavish your body with feverish loving until you cry out my name and I hear you are mine, forever.”
Amy's hands pressed into his solid chest to escape, but her defeat was swift, her fingers found and touched what they craved for far too long. “Bern...”
“Aye lass, we will be glorious together.” Having a fierce will he exerted its full power not to answer the plea in her spellbound eyes. Nay, he would be whole when at last they made love, for it would be a wild and passionate coupling. “Sleep with me lass, in my arms, now.”
“But...”
His finger silenced her protest. She too would be rested if he must force it upon her. “Now Amy, I need ye beside me so I can sleep.”
She may be a fool, but Amy found no hidden play behind the request in his eyes. “Alright, Bern.”
Kissing the tip of her nose. “Good, now help me ease over so we're both comfortable.” He never released his hold completely, insuring she'd not run away.
As she came to rest against his good side he felt the tension gri
pping her body. “Only sleep, sweet Amy.”
Smiling into his bare shoulder, she thought his request to be an impossible feat. Lying beside him was crazy, what his mere touch did to her body felt unbelievable.
“Ye are as tight as a bowstring.”
“So are you.”
“I am built that way, ye are naught.”
Properly chastened Amy smothered her giggle in his solid flesh.
Bern swallowed hard to keep back what she was doing to him, deciding he might have made a mistake to think he could do this and not more!
Tucking her head beneath his chin he ended her tickling movements. She seemed to have discovered a sensitive part of his body he never experienced before. Even her gentle breathing sent tremors racing through him.
Trying to control his own responses to her soft body molded against his brawn, Bern absently massaged her temples. Slowly he felt her begin to relax. The silence filled with her gentle breathing that slowly calmed into restful sleep. Completely at peace in his arms, he carefully moved her closer until she lay atop of his chest. Bern wrapped them in the blankets locking her in his arms.
Hearing the door open he refused to stir, fearing he would wake her.
Tilly fought with her shock seeing the fully clothed Lady snuggled in his bare arms. Her amusement over his shameful anguish quickly softened her heart. Lord Randall carefully raised his finger to his lips and whispered. “She finally sleeps.”
Smiling back and nodding in understanding their gazes spoke volumes as she backed out of the room.
Gently stroking the length of her unbound hair, Bern watched the sun set through the open balcony. He lost count of the hours he held her, listening to her contented sighs as he gentled her fitful stirrings. His lips brushed her brow taking away the frightened lines that came with her hated dreams. He wondered how long it would take before the fearful memories left her. She slept through this night because he held her and could fight away the beast. “I will slay him, my dear Amy Bonner, somehow I will find a way.”