by Jewel Adams
She snuggled closer, her arm tightened about his neck seeking the shelter he offered. Bern allowed his own eyes to close in the darkened room. He felt for the first time that he would honestly be able to keep this woman who came to find him.
* * * *
Bern watched as Amy started to wake, finding it oddly satisfying. Rather surprising considering the arousal he woke with and swiftly calmed. Damn, keeping his hands off her until their vows might prove very difficult.
Seeing the disappearance of some of the darkness under her eyes made it worth his self-inflicted torture. He smiled over the graceful way her arms rose and reached out across the empty bed. Her delicate fingers dug into the place he left. Already she missed him. Aye, such a sweet surrender my Lady. Nay, he may not have to battle her will to have her as his wife, but Bern prided himself on not being a fool to think he won. Amy wouldn’t give him all he wanted from her until she trusted him and Bern already began his siege to prove to her she could.
“You stretch like a contented cat, my Lady.”
He knew she was awake, even if she held her eyes closed. Funny, how well he came to read her body signs. Rubbing his sore leg he decided he gained some unexpected insight from his injury.
Her eyes were the color of the morning sun with that mellow brightness of the sky in their depths as they studied him.
She couldn’t believe she still laid here letting his gaze take its fill. But then she wasn’t beyond taking her own bold study of him. Gawd, such a handsome rake, especially with his hair all rumbled about his face and shoulder.
“You shouldn’t be up, yet.”
He smiled at the gentle scolding, she must still be held down by her long sleep. “Nay lass, I need to move a bit.”
Her knowing eyes fell to his hand massaging the wound. “Shall I take out the stitches?”
“No need.”
His meaning sent her legs out and over the bed’s edge. Raising his hand he stopped her advance. “I preferred to do it myself.”
Was it pride that set his eyes blazing? Ach, but he held so much store by it. “All right, how does it feel?”
“Tight, but sealed. You did well with your mending. I have never healed so fast.”
“I see I have lost a patient.” A defeating smile passed her lips, regretting that she would need to leave him now.
Her gaze fell before his own penetration. She moved slow, knowing she must go and wanting to leave. The hurt and emptiness she felt told her of the error she made sleeping with him. But her pride and heart ruled and she refused to feel anything but joy over the experience. “I best go.”
“Aye, before I forget my promise and take ye this very moment!” He caught the corner of her lovely mouth fight the smile. “Amy, would you send Craig to me, please?”
The protest died on her lips, knowing he no longer would tolerate her interference.
Bern couldn’t let her go, not with what he felt from her. “Amy…”
Her shoulders tightened over her refusal to turn and face him. Bern cursed the time holding them apart. “Ach lass, if ye stay another moment I will damn us both and give into what I want. Ye can crush stone lass and I am--only a man…”
He caught and held the laced fire in her eyes before she raced out of his chamber. “You will believe in me, Amy, I swear it.”
CHAPTER 6
Her chamber wasn’t large enough for the pacing she continued. She bit her knuckles to suppress her groan hearing his raised voice issuing orders from the yard below her rooms. “All my nursing will be wasted if he keeps up this pace.”
She turned to control her fury knowing he deliberately defied her order to return to his bed. “What a fool I am!”
Of course he wouldn’t listen, not when she screamed at him in front of his own men. “Damn your infernal pride.”
She never meant to do it, but seeing the pain contorting his rugged features became too much for her to ignore. For three days he’d been charging about as if his very life depended on it. She never should have left him or given in and let Craig see him. He just couldn’t stay out of everything. “Whatever it is.”
Sheltered sounded mild for how he now treated her and no one defied him. Not one person would tell her what all the fuss was about. Amy cursed her own ignorance for not being aware of what she probably should be. She didn’t miss Lansing’s perplexed frown following her every move. “Lansing…maybe he holds the answers.”
The sound of her tapping steps descending the stairs echoed through the near vacant halls. She shivered, realizing she failed to notice the lack of guests milling about. Their desertion from the castle started filling her with some very unlikable reasons. Her steps weren’t as confident as she emerged into the sun washed keep.
Men hustled about with a determination across their serious faces. Many carried bundles of arrows up the open stairs of the castle’s inner walls. Amy stood stark still, her gaze fretting over the warning evidence she somehow failed to notice before. Scolding herself felt useless, to admit being blinded by one particular man left her feeling perplexed.
She wrapped her arms about her waist to fend off the truth Understanding seemed to wash over her, “A siege.”
“Ay lass and I’ve never known you to be so blind to your surroundings and the troubles that plague your people.”
Amy’s gaze refused to falter before Lansing’s harsh attack. Standing stock still he circled her like a prowling wolf.
“Your senses have been snuff out since the high and mighty Lord entered the keep.”
Her denials, if he expected any, never surfaced. She couldn’t think of anything to gentle the old man’s anger with her. She guessed she deserved it, but she didn’t like the cold anger he held against Bern.
“Well? Are ye still bewitched or are ye senses in order enough to tell him to leave and let me take charge?”
Even should there be truth driving his attack, Amy’s body shook over the denial racing through her. To give this old man back his authority, in face of a siege, would be a very foolish move on her part.
Bern stilled his desire to move forward and break up the confrontation he stumbled upon. The veins in his jaw throbbed in rage, knowing the reason behind her silence went deeper than any spell the old man accused him of casting on her. Aye, he’d deliberately sheltered her from knowing of the army camped beyond the wall and he’d do it again, even if it meant suffering her rage with him. So why didn’t he step forward and end Lansing’s attack?
Trust me! Screamed in silence from his tight lips.
“He’s taken over, even your men are now following his orders. He is an upstart!”
Something like blind fury took hold and slammed into Amy. “Captain! I am sure Lord Randall is only doing what he feels is necessary and it doesn’t take an expert to see that without him and his men we would not stand a chance in hell of defending these walls. I suggest that instead of criticizing his efforts you start lending your own!”
Amy didn’t wait to see how the old man took her tempered outburst. She spun on her heels carried by her only thought to reach her chambers before the shaking in her legs over took her.
The force of the hands that seized her in the dark inner hall, smothered the frightened scream. But the large body pressing her back into the cool wall seemed achingly familiar.
From holding to caressing, Bern’s fingers traced the parted warmth of her quivering lips before his own lips silenced the pulsing intake of breath that passed their velvet seal.
Amy’s fists unclenched to move up his broad chest and hold onto the iron cords of muscled shoulders. His invasion ran swift, breeching the weak protest she made against his probing tongue--such power!
All thoughts of pulling away ended and she surged forward to battle his tender assault and wither under her fired passion.
He spoke against the blaze of her kissable lips, “Ahh my Amy, you are so damn hard on a man’s convictions.”
Her growling drew a submission yet victorious sigh from his
entire body as she leaned into his hard strength. He fought the power she held over him and Amy gloried in the knowledge of their shared suffering.
Between his ardent kisses that wanted to explore more than her willing lips, she chaste him. “You could have told me.”
“Aye, and then watch you fret over the pending outcome.”
“Mmm…” It was near impossible to concentrate on his reason. “When?”
Bern pulled back and looked into her impassioned gaze, but the spark of mischief she smiled up at him with earned his defeat. Nay, it wasn’t bed she asked over. “A shame.”
“I agree, but I’d hate to be interrupted by the call to arms.”
“Ye sure the sprites don’t have ye?”
“Nay, my Laird…” Only you, but Amy held the truth back.
He placed his hands on the wall beside her head. Bern struggled to calm his desire to refute her concerns. Gawd, but he wanted her! Army or not. “A day, maybe less is all we have before they attack.”
“Who are they?”
Amy’s hand cupped his cheek to stop his retreat and refusal to answer. “Bern, please, not knowing is worse than facing the truth.”
He wondered if she could truly grasp all that was happening. How, in so short a time, did he feel his conviction so strongly that she held no concept of battles and what would come.
“Tis a rejected suitor.” His hands dropped to her shoulders over the weakness that filled her. “Your good captain indentified him.”
Bern didn’t mean to put his anger into his last words, but then those probing sun-drop eyes of hers saw all his volatile emotions.
“This man appears to be much more than a rejected suitor--Bern?” Amy couldn’t control the shiver his cold glare gave her.
“Aye, his name is Lord Peter of Hambolt.”
“Peter…” The dreaded name passed her stricken lips before she could stop it. Bern’s tightening hold prevented her from falling, but he couldn’t stop the fear from taking over.
“Amy?”
“No! It’s not possible--it can’t be him! He couldn’t have followed me here.” Was time so flimsy a barrier that he crossed it to finish her death?
Bern caught her and swung her body up in his furious hold. His vicious curse made her fingertips grip his tunic, where she buried her face from his burning glare. That first morning in her chamber, what he heard all came crashing into her conclusions. “But it cannot be him.”
He pulled her closer as he turned to take her to her rooms. There shouldn’t be a reason for the rage consuming him. This man, Peter, obviously wasn’t a lover as he first believed. “Your beast!”
The ground out truth made her whimper against his chest, causing his rage to escalate. Bern lost all caution, his prior warnings concerning her forgotten beneath the weight of his protective instincts. “Does he have the power to follow ye here, lass?”
His internal anger didn’t blind him to the sudden stiffening in the woman he carried.
Amy’s head swirled with questions. He couldn’t mean what she thought he said, could he? Did he know? But how?
Amy felt shattered by the frightening answers that pounded at her. Bern’s unbelievable knowledge scared her more than the threat she prayed didn’t exist beyond this walls. When he lowered her feet to the floor Amy couldn’t prevent herself from pushing his hands away and stepping back from the threat standing before her.
Every volatile instinct in his possession reared to the front as his gaze took in the frightened woman. “Lass?”
Her elegant chin rose as his gaze fell to the uncontrolled quiver in her delicate lips still flushed from his kiss. He couldn’t remember exactly what he said, but just seeing her like this held the answers for the questions silently passing between them. “Aye, I know--Amy Bonner.”
Amy could barely suck in her breath as her head slowly shook to deny what he told her.
Bern’s foot pushed the door closed behind him, his hand slid the bolt into place. “There be no running allowed.” He might as well have yelled it out at her as she retreated further into the room. With a forced calm Bern leaned back against the barrier preventing her escape. “You are a vision in the moonlight.”
“How dare you!”
“What? Watch you?” Smiling he shielded his gaze from her. “How dare I not?”
“You could have said something.”
“I preferred listening to your confession. It answered all my questions, Amy.”
She tried to hold still, only his gaze followed her jerky movements about the walls closing in on her. “You were delirious, I don’t know what you mean.”
Her weak denial stirred his anger with her, but Bern let the embers cool knowing the reason driving her defensive actions. “The only fever I hold is to touch the naked beauty you keep from my hands.”
She must be insane. Amy nearly leaned towards him, the betrayal set her teeth in refusal. But he wouldn’t relent and his words penetrated the wall she tried to erect.
“Amy your dreams, sweet Amy, were very revealing. Nay, not dreams my lady, but night terror that stalks your every breath.”
It was the fury in his voice that drew her frightened gaze back to him.
“Your secret is my own, Amy.”
Her lips parted, but she couldn’t form the words to ask if she understood him correctly.
It was hard not to eliminate the distance of the room between them, but Bern made himself stay in his protective position at the door. She needed to find her belief in him. “I was fooled at first by the changes I felt and saw in you. You do look like her, on the surface. But a man sees more in a woman than she would like him to.”
She wanted to pull away from his staring invasion, but Amy’s willpower lost its way a long time ago when it came to Bern. Not even the threat he posed to her very existence could let her turn away from what she hoped she heard.
“Amelia didn’t hold your vibrancy, nor the fiery passion you come to life with in my arms.”
A cry of sanity told Amy to deny what he believed. To live she should stop this, now! “It was only a kiss…”
“Ice to fire in a breath, nay, t’was a different woman.”
“That’s absurd.”
“I’d agree, only I’d held both women and by doing so the comparison shed a bright light over the words you spoke and then confirmed in sleeping terror.”
Bern held up his hand to stop her next weak protest. “Every day in your company leads my instincts to an acute awareness of the woman that now exists with me. Your words, actions, even your infernal insistence to my diet. Ach, lass, you cannot hide in my presence.”
The movement he made in conjunction with her ended the flight to nowhere she gave into. They stared at each other like two fighters squaring off. Amy couldn’t stand the tension another moment. “All right! What will you do with me?”
“Do?”
“Yes, damn it! What end do I face?”
He wanted to shake her silly for fearing him like this. Didn’t she realize from his words that he wouldn’t expose her? Seeing the naked fear in her lovely eyes, tightened his gut in a vise. Nay, of course she would be afraid of his knowledge. There was also a glint of defiance behind the fear. A pride he always knew existed in this woman, one that would fuel her need to run from the one man that could rule her independent spirit. “Your end, as you put it, woman, has not changed.”
Straightening before him, she refused to let her fear reign, wanting to know exactly what she faced because of the fate now out of her control. “Could you be more specific?”
“I’ll soon show you in vivid detail, but for now our marriage will take place sooner than planned.”
“You are not serious. I am not her, you know I am not.”
“Aye, but it doesn’t matter.”
Biting her lip, she felt as if he’d tossed her into the ocean’s waves. Was it his pride or worse that made him face this act. She desperately tried not to ponder the greed she feared might drive him. Amelia�
�s lands were vast and by everything she learned a wealthy holding. So much so he’d marry the imposter to possess the holdings.
What of her? Of her feelings toward him? He kept watching every movement she made, but Amy’s damaged pride made her gaze remain bold on him. Proud arrogance glared back at her.
She became such an intriguing creature, Bern prayed that soon they’d find the peace to enjoy each other. But now all he saw in her was the battle he’d hoped to avoid. He wished she could accept his comfort and protection as offered, but Amy Bonner proved as stubborn as she was frightened.
Turning away from her before his heart ruled his good senses, he knew he couldn’t risk making any mistakes if he were to succeed in keeping her safe. Unlocking the door Bern stood within the frame and called to his men, waiting in the hall.
Amy’s steps faltered before his authoritative call. When did the gentleness in this man disappeared? She realized she held her breath waiting for his order, fearing to hear the dreadful words sending her to the dungeon. The crazy wish that she would never see the wretched place during her sleepless nights didn’t make it disappear.
His gaze never left her paling features as the men halted at his back. Her eyes slowly raised and he saw all the anguish he wanted to shield her from. “Guard Lady Amelia with your lives men. No one is to enter her chambers and she is not to leave…for any reason!”
He wasn’t sure if it were shock or hate that drove her bright glare back at him. All Bern cared about is that she came to no harm and he feared her own desire to flee to be as fierce as any enemy beyond the stone fortress.
Bowing slightly to the unspoken insult lashing out of her icy blue pools, “Tis for ye own good, my Lady.”
Amy refused to beg before him, but how she wanted to scream at his leave, demand he stay and give her more--give her the right answer!
CHAPTER 7
Alone through the endless hours since he left her, Amy paced and worried herself sick within her prison. Not even Mistress Tilly could enter, passing her dinner through the blockade of his guards.