by Amber Dane
“A party of two.”
Then he turned his back on her and his long strides took him to the hearth. “Prepare to greet them as soon as Edie helps you with your bath.”
The cold man was back with his commanding and cool tone. Pain lanced her breast and Danielle wiped away a stray tear. The brief closeness they’d shared shattered that quickly. She was glad his back was to her, for she did not wish for him to see how upset she was by the change in him. She fumed silently, watching him as he ignored her and began to cleanse himself in the fresh water the young squire had just brought into their chamber.
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Aric sighed again. How much longer was she going to take? It was well past the half hour and Danielle still had not yet shown her face in the great hall. He looked to Balwain who had been wearing a sour expression on his face since he’d come below stairs and now sat at his side. The guests were on the other side of the manor and the few servants that had travelled with them still carried in their belongings to their rooms.
Deep regret caused Aric’s lips to thin as he sat there brooding. The hall was busy as the servers readied the room and trestle tables for the guests to break their fast. He had hoped to have the business yet to attend to today and other matters completed before his guests had arrived. Now, with their early arrival, those matters would have to be put off until noon.
But he knew that was not the true reason for his irritation.
He was almost glad to see the two people at the hall’s entrance. The sight of them was distraction enough to keep his mind off the other. He turned away from the sight of Thomas and Rose entering the hall.
He spoke out of the side of his mouth to Balwain. “Any news on that?”
“He has not made another move yet, milord.”
“That will not last. The man is ready to burst at the seams. Cunning little fellow, Balwain.”
Balwain grunted at his words and Aric shot him an annoyed look. Balwain did not hesitate with his query.
“Did you tell her yet about the identity of your guests?”Aric’s scowl darkened.
Now he knew the cause of Balwain’s strange behavior. His friend’s mind was on his wife. “She does not need to know.” He stated, angry and defensive.
“Aye, that may be. But I think, milord, that this is one time where you should have said something.” Balwain held his lord’s gaze even as he watched it turn battle fierce, continuing, “Aught, I think, just to ease the way a bit.”
“Don’t think, Balwain. I have been married all of a couple of days. She is no different than any other woman despite your romantic ideals. That is enough.” Aric’s anger and jealousy reverberated in his deadly tone. “She is my wife. Lady of the manor, duty bound and the means to my heir. Naught more. She need not know all I do.”
“She will be the mother to your heir, this is true. However, you are wrong on the other. There is much more to her than that. She is different and has done none an ill since we have arrived. She already harbored far too many burdens before our arrival and now to contend with this. Well, I think you are making a grave error on this, Aric.”
“Cease your opinion until I ask for it, my friend.” Aric’s voice boomed over the seriousness in his friend’s tone, drawing the attention of the others in the hall. Balwain refused to call him by his given name since the day they’d met many moons ago and only used it when he wanted his undivided attention on something. Well, he was not going to get it. Aric was already in his own black churning storm and needed none to remind him of it.
Balwain said no more and with a stilted nod of disagreement, he turned away and picked up his tankard of ale.
Aric glared at his longtime friend and felt a moment’s regret. Anger filled him. What should he care if Danielle knew who his guests were? He grunted and his gaze returned to the hall’s entrance.
That was the problem. He did care. And taking the anger he felt over the truth of it out on his friend was not the answer.
There had been no time for a messenger to be sent to halt the arrival and Aric had actually forgotten about it until the other day. He tried to focus his attention on the hall’s activity, pinning his black stare upon Thomas and Rose. The pair turned away as did the others in the hall. Further agitated, Aric drank down his glass of wine in one swig, his thoughts back where he’d been struggling all morn for them not to be.
On his wife.
He had bedded her several times since taking their vows and already he was plagued with images of her in the throes of passion and the little sounds she made when she climaxed. The way her long fingers clutched and pulled at him when he found his release. She fit him well.
Pleasure.
Lust.
Aye, that was it. Just pure lust, he told himself with a wave to the page to refill his goblet.
He’d plenty of women before, but none brought chaos upon his thoughts as this one did. Her shyness and vulnerable character had gripped him from the moment the day they had been wed. Nay, the moment he’d met her.
He’d told himself he’d been kind to her just to gentle the way, make things easier. Give her time to adjust to the changes of giving up her home to a Norman.
He’d told himself he’d tire of her as soon as he got her with child. He had wanted to believe it. He had vowed to be faithful and had meant it when he'd spoken the words.
Aric could still see the look on her face when he told her to not expect love in their union. And she shouldn’t. But, he knew it was more than that. Her feelings did matter to him and Balwain’s words only confirmed it. He did not want to care about them. ‘Twould make him weak.
Danielle had known no love from her father or her cousins. Hell, those two she didn’t need.
Aye, her feelings mattered to him.
Why he knew not. He only knew that they did and he suddenly wished he’d not invited his guests to come to Gravane manor after all. But…’twas too late now.
Chapter 11
Edie held her lady’s hands together in between them as they stood in the chamber. “Please, milady, we must hurry before milord think we tarry. Much time has passed.”
Danielle shivered. Edie was right.
Her bath had been done, her dress donned and her hair in place. All the while she had listened to Edie’s responses to her questions. She could no longer drag her feet. Still, she hesitated for she was not satisfied.
“I have no one else to query on these things, Edie and as you are like a sister to me, I need to ask you again for your input. You told me what to expect on my wedding night and that I was to obey my husband. I have. But he refuses to talk to me. I do not wish to have the cold and distant marriage my father had with my mother. He did not share many things with her nor did he include her much in the matters of the manor. They shared very little. All of Gravane knew this.”
Edie nodded, compassion filling her expression as she smoothed her hand over her lady’s neck and tucked in the last of the matching emerald headdress to match her lady’s gown. She smiled and told her lady of how her own parents had shared nearly everything…in and out of the chamber. Danielle smiled fondly remember the wonderful couple who had been very kind to her as a child and then some.
“Then how do I make that happen with my husband? He does not know I am here until we are in the chamber and… in our bed.” Danielle said sadly as she stood.
Edie’s answer was firm. “You tell him, milady and show him that you will not be just a vessel for his heir if ‘tis a true marriage you seek. And I tell you, you deserve one. You are a beauty and ‘tis time for you to shine now.”
Danielle scoffed at her maid’s kind words. Edie had always been one to exaggerate.
Edie patted her hands in reassurance. “Aye,’tis true. You do not know your own worth, milady. Show him that you are here. You have already changed more than you know in these past days.”
They chatted on some more then quickly finished and hurried to exit the chamber. Danielle was nervous and Aric’s refusal to tell her
anything about his guests told her a lot. Well, Edie was right. It was time she found out and stopped waiting.
Aric knew the moment Danielle entered the hall. His men’s hushed voices were the second sign; the first was the feeling in his chest that she was near. And she was.
He swallowed hard and lowered his goblet.
She wore an emerald gown with a golden rope riding those full hips. He could tell it was another one of her creations. It was lovely, but he could not wait until the fine cloth he’d ordered for her to arrive. She would look even lovelier and the room would surely burst into flame. Frowning, he sighed heavily. Now he sounded like Balwain with a head full of such ridiculous and flowery thoughts.
The gown was lower cut than her usual, yet possessed a modest neckline. Still, a glint of anger flared inside him. Her full breasts were brimming enough against it. He did not need to look around the hall to see that all eyes were on her. Not just as expected to greet her, but because she lit up the room.
Her eyes met his.
Aric rose and met her halfway and led her rest of the way to the seat on his right. Her wide eyes roved over him and he found himself hardening under her gaze. By the Saints, did the woman not know how she looked at him?
Being so close to him Danielle hoped he did not feel the tremor in her hand she had placed it on his forearm. He was dressed in a fine surcoat and hose, with his coat of arms, a rams head on a red and black background emblazoned above his left chest. She was breathless.
Aric’s expression was fierce and although he kept his gaze on the hall, his eyes kept finding their way back to her. The longer he stared at her, the angrier he became. He had thought he’d made a mistake with his guests coming here. Now, he changed his mind. Again.
He had not.
He needed the distraction of them to keep his mind off her. Hell, he snatched up his goblet of wine, he welcomed it.
Danielle had seen no new faces when she’d entered. Thomas and Rose stood near the other side of the lord’s table. She didn’t spare the two a second glance, although she could feel Thomas’s watchful gaze following her every movement. But now, the commotion at the hall’s entrance reached her ears and as she went to turn her attention there, but stopped when she saw the look on Aric’s face. His cheeks had a slight flush to them and his stance rigid as he stood stirred something in her gut that made her uneasy. After a moment, his unwavering gaze on the entrance drew her eyes there too.
A man and a very stunning woman stood there.
The woman’s beauty was enhanced by the sapphire gown she wore that clung to all her svelte curves and the low cut bosom had all eyes trained on that part of her. Her beauty was far greater than Rose’s. The uneasiness in Danielle’s stomach ballooned and she felt light headed. Her hand reached out to hold onto something. She realized when she felt his muscles bunch under her touch, she’d grabbed her husband’s forearm.
The noble couple reached their table.
“Lord Jamison and Lady Ella Frank, may I present… my wife, the Baroness Danielle Claydon.”
Danielle dropped her hand from his arm and fought hard not to turn and look up at him. The huskiness and softness in his tone was soft when he’d spoken Lady Ella’s name.
The sultry beauty’s dark eyes sparkled as they rested on him far too long for Danielle’s liking. She found herself suddenly perturbed by the blatant adoration she saw there and something else.
Rose looked at him in that same way often enough and Danielle saw now that Rose was for the first time looking anywhere but at either of them and staring her displeasure upon the beauty. Her expression was part of how Danielle was feeling.
As was custom, Aric planted a kiss on the woman’s cheek and escorted the woman to her seat next to them.
Danielle soon learned that the couple was from Normandy. Their kinship with her husband was still a mystery question for her and she wanted to know what now what it was. The feeling in her stomach now had her shaking. She clasped her hands together to still the shaking in her hands.
As the morning wore on, the invitation in the woman’s eyes had Danielle fuming and caused her to interrupt their conversation about the trip. Aric seemed too rapt with attention on the woman. He refused to tell her anything so she would find out herself!
“Lady Ella. Will you and your husband be staying with us long?”
Aric and Lord Frank seemed to be the only ones who choked on their wine.
Lady Ella sat up straighter, her dark eyes darting to Aric as she smiled. “My dear, Lady Danielle, I fear there has been a misunderstanding. Lord Jamison is not my husband.”
Danielle felt Aric’s hand on hers and she turned to look at him when he applied pressure. The stunned expression on his handsome face only fueled her anger and suspicions even more.
When he spoke, he sounded odd. “Lady Ella is Lord Jamison’s brothers’ widow.”
Danielle felt like an idiot and she snatched her hand back from his grip hard and her gaze told him just as much. Aric felt as though a fist slammed into his gut. He’d read the brief flash of confusion and pain in her eyes and it bothered him.
Danielle faced the beauty again. “My apologies, Lady Ella.” She swallowed and continued. “How do you come by to know my husband?”
Danielle shot Aric another strange look when he appeared to strangle on his food. Lord Jamison gave her an uncomfortable smile.
Lady Ella looked from Aric back to her, those dark eyes narrowed on her and Danielle did not flinch. Any other time, a look like that would have caused her to recoil and look away, but not this time. Too many emotions were coursing through her and she was thoroughly incensed feeling everyone knew something she did not.
“Lady Danielle, I believe your husband would be the best one to answer that query for you.” Lady Ella smiled with a glint of something secret in her eyes.
Danielle didn’t know who she wanted to strike first. She looked at Aric. His gaze was on the inhabitants of the hall. Edie was coming up behind Balwain whose eyes watched her husband with a look of anger also. Danielle waited and swore she’d stopped breathing.
Finally he turned to her, his gaze unreadable and simply told her, “I trained and fought alongside her husband. He was a great knight.”
The entire hall seemed to grow quiet.
Danielle felt uncomfortable under his gaze, yet her anger did not subside. His tone told her he had not spoken the whole truth and she hated how much it hurt.
She could not concentrate on the meal in front of her that she’d made sure had been plentiful and tasty for his guests. Although to have fed them all molded trenchers now crossed her mind.
Lord Jamison cheered on the bard belting out a lengthy rhyme in the corner. Danielle knew he did it to break the fast building tension
She said no more for the rest of the meal and sat stiffly next to Aric.
She wanted nothing more than to run from the hall. She was sick to her stomach and her husband barely said two words to her. Yet he listened intently and with great interest to the Lady Ella carry on about the most boring of things, Danielle thought as she sat there seething. From the dreadful England weather and traveling the boring endless green countryside. The only enjoyable part the lady seemed to have enjoyed was crossing the channel. Really!
Why should whatever had transpired between her husband and this woman bother her?
Danielle shook her head as though that would clear her racing thoughts and rapidly beating heart.
Aric’s deep timbre jarred her out of her thoughts. “Are you unwell, milady?”
Danielle wanted to cringe. She snapped at him. “As a matter of fact, milord, I think so. And with our newly arrived guests, I must ask your forgiveness, but I feel I am not quite myself this morning. Something may not have agreed with me.” Danielle looked him right in the eye as she said the last and she saw the intake of breath he took. Slight it was, but she saw it. She hadn’t really lied. The room was spinning and her stomach was feeling queasy.
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��Come then,” Aric’s words were hard. “I will see-“
Danielle stopped him with a hand on his forearm. He looked down at it as though she shouldn’t be touching him. She tightened her hand on his skin. His eyes widened a bit at her movement. “Nay, milord. ‘tis your guests first day in our home. Don’t let me spoil the rest of their day. I will have Edie see me above stairs.” Danielle smiled weakly.
She was going to vomit. She needed to get out of the room and get far, far away from him.
By the look he was giving her, she at first thought he would say different, but then he arched the brow with the scar above it and said, “Of course, milady. Perhaps if you lie down for a bit you may feel better and ‘twill pass.” His words were cold and he did not smile.
He did not believe her and Danielle cared not in that moment. She quickly bid all good morn. Lady Ella smiled at her too long and Danielle left the hall with Edie in tow.
Chapter 12
“Surely Edie, you jest!” Danielle shrieked as she paced angrily in the bedchamber.
“Nay milady. That harlot be his mistress and to display her so openly only days after the wedding.” Edie bit down to still her tongue as she wrung her hands watching her lady pace near the window. Her limp was noticeable for she was highly agitated.
“She is to stay under the same roof?” Danielle was getting sick again. Her stomach was jumping all over the place. “Am I just to accept this as his way with no say?” She fought back tears. She would not cry in front of Edie. She had to grow up.
She had to stand up for herself.
She took a couple of deep breaths and tried to compose herself. She had to in case Aric chose to follow them to the chamber.
He need not know how much his words had upset her. 'Twas bad enough she'd made a fool of herself in front of his guests. The last thing she needed was him to find her crying like some lovesick maiden over his dalliances.
‘Twas obvious a man like him was used to women of experience. Not timid and shy maids like she. That thought sparked a fern of anger in her and Danielle rounded her shoulders.