“It is a little hard on Otho to leave him to clear up that mess,” Una said, lifting her chin. “It’s probably the last thing he feels like going into right now.”
Armand ignored her, wrenching open the door to their bedchamber and bundling her inside. Once he’d shut the door behind them, he let his gaze sweep over her, narrowing his eyes to mere slits. “What the fuck did you think you were doing up there?” he hissed at her furiously.
Una stared at him. She opened then closed her mouth in astonishment. “Are you trying to give me a fucking heart attack?” he snarled nastily. To her surprise, Una heard herself give a slight sob as she shook her head. A tear sliding down one cheek. It didn’t seem to appease him, not one bit.
“Take off your dress,” he ground out, pushing her into the middle of the room. Una stared at him a moment, before reaching for her laces. He wrenched the door back open and strode out of the room, bellowing down the stairs for hot water. She had barely started unlacing when he reappeared behind her and started yanking open her gown.
“You’re tearing it,” she burst out in alarm at a loud rip of material. He didn’t answer but carried on pulling and tugging until it fell in a pile at her feet.
“It hardly signifies, since I never want to see you in this gown again,” he said tightly. Then he spun her around and glowered down at her.
“What do you do when your life’s at risk, Una, and I’m not there to protect you?” His voice was silky and calm now and for some reason that set the already tinkling alarm bells into a clanging peal.
“Um, well …” She gazed up at him, clutching at her bare upper arms. She knew her thin shift concealed very little.
“I’m waiting.”
“I act sensibly and rationally and—”
“No!” he burst out angrily. “No, you fucking don’t!”
Una winced. “I don’t?” She could hear the uncertainty in her own voice.
“What’s the point in acting rationally when you’re confronted by a fucking mad man?”
She chewed on her bottom lip. “Very well,” she conceded, licking her lips nervously. “What should I have done?”
“I’m glad you asked,” he said with a forced calmness that was somehow even more disturbing than his violent cursing. “Because I’m about to tell you and I expect you to take this fully on board, Una, as I don’t expect to have to tell you this again!”
She stared up at him and swallowed. “Very well,” she agreed.
He ground his teeth. “Let’s talk about what you did today.” His jaw worked a moment and Una felt herself quail on the inside. Oh my god, he was really riled up. This wasn’t just a burst of anger. He was trying to keep a lid on real rage here.
He took a deep breath “What the fuck did you think you were doing trying to get between that bastard and Rose?”
“I don’t think I—”
“I saw you do it,” he cut across her bitingly. “At least twice.”
She took a shaky breath. “Rose didn’t really seem to have the slightest notion what was happening, Armand. I don’t think she realized the peril we were in.”
“So?”
She gulped. “Pardon?”
“So, she’s inexperienced with danger and you were brought up with it. Why did you have to step in her path?”
“Well, I didn’t want her to jeopardize herself anymore. After all, it was me that Waleran—”
“That should not have been your concern.”
She gaped at him. “I don’t understand—”
“Your concern,” he said, enunciating each word slowly, as if she was devoid of wit, “should have been to keep yourself safe until I or someone else could rescue you. Do you understand?”
Una jumped at the force of his words. “But it was my fault she was up there in the first place …” she faltered.
“No, it was not!” She watched in fascination as his nostrils flared and he fought for control. “What you should have been doing,” he carried on in a low, seething voice, “was keeping your goddamn mouth shut and your eyes downcast and keeping yourself as low to the ground as possible. Do I make myself clear?” He was watching her intently, and at a loss of how to respond she managed a faint nod. “If you had to say anything at all,” he ground out, “it should have been to plead for your sweet little life. Nothing else—do you understand?”
Una’s tongue was stuck to the roof of her mouth. She gazed dazedly up at him. “Y-yes,” she managed to stammer. Oh my god, she thought, her brain turning fuzzy. It was concern for her that was driving him out of his mind. She couldn’t quite wrap her head around the notion.
“Set it down over there,” he said, making her aware of others in the room. Una turned her head in alarm as Janet and Mrs. Brickenden came in carrying large pitchers of hot water. She tried to scoot behind Armand to hide her half-naked state, but his grip kept her firmly in place between his legs.
Una could feel her face burning with embarrassment. They must realize her husband had just stripped her from the state of her red dress lying on the floor. It was humiliating. “Now lay the fire,” he ordered, still making no move to cover her up. She could hear the servants moving around the room behind her. She stared forward at Armand’s chest in growing mortification.
“I don’t have any clothes on,” she whispered angrily.
“You’re about to wash,” he pointed out.
“I don’t want anybody to see me naked!”
“They can’t see anything,” he told her dismissively.
Her mouth dropped open. “This shift conceals nothing!” she argued hoarsely.
He dropped his hands to cup her buttocks and pull her more firmly against him.
She let out a hiss of breath from behind her teeth. Oh my gods! The servant’s hall would have plenty to gossip about tonight she thought closing her eyes.
“Shut the door behind you,” he said, and Una’s eyes snapped open as the door finally closed.
“Why are you being so unreasonable?” she asked him in disbelief. "You're acting like a man half-crazed—” She broke off her words as his fingers slid into her hair at the nape, pulling her head back.
“Well, that’s what I feel like,” he said gruffly, before his mouth descended on hers in a hard, punishing kiss.
Una reeled under the savage onslaught, clutching at his tunic front, and holding on for dear life. When she didn't struggle, he eased up a little. Una tore her mouth from his, to draw in a ragged breath. He backed her up against the nearest wall, plastering his length up against hers. The breath was half squashed out of her.
“Tell me again,” he seethed. “What you do when you’re in danger.”
Her wide eyes flew to his. He was deadly serious. “I-I beg for my life and wait for you to rescue me,” she stammered.
He considered this a moment with narrowed eyes before giving a small nod. “Close enough,” he conceded tightly, and then lowered his mouth again to hers in another hard, plundering kiss. Una gave up trying to hold her own and collapsed against him. It made no difference, he held her even harder to the wall. Suddenly there were tears streaming from her eyes and she sobbed into his mouth.
It took a few seconds for him to register that she was crying and then he pulled abruptly back, holding her up by her upper arms. “Repeat after me,” he said in a low ominous tone. “I do not put others before myself.”
“I don’t,” she objected.
“You do it all the fucking time!” he roared. “Right in front of my eyes!”
Una gasped and shut her eyes against his fury. She was past the point of rationalizing his behavior. Dimly in some part of her mind, she realized he had been scared she would fall to her death and she felt the spark of something warm in her chest area. He hadn’t even waited for anything else, she marveled. He had stormed right back to the house with her.
“I won’t do it anymore,” she said in a small voice. “I promise Armand. I truly won’t.”
His grip tightened even more on her arm
s making her wince.
“Do you even realize,” he started unsteadily, “what it would have done to me if you—” He broke off his words impatiently, staring up at the ceiling.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered. My gods, he was really upset. “Please—”
Suddenly he pushed her away from him with a hard shove. “I’ll leave you to wash,” he said in a different voice, completely devoid of emotion. Shutters down, his eyes hooded.
“No!” she burst out, suddenly desperate for him not to leave. “Don’t leave me.” Suddenly it was imperative that he stayed with her. “Please Armand.” When he remained planted where he stood, she flung her arms around his middle and hugged him, pressing her face into his chest. Her mind raced trying to think how to get him to stay. “I’m scared,” she lied unashamedly. “I don't want to be alone.”
He’d wanted to join with her when he’d first pushed her into the bedroom she realized with womanly instinct. He had wanted to feel physically close to her. That had been his first overriding instinct, after his scare. Maybe she could use that? She pressed her lower body against his as blatantly as she dared. Was he hard? she wondered with her cheeks filling with color. “Please Armand,” she pleaded again, rubbing her hips slightly against him. He let out his breath in a low hiss. His hand came up to force her jaw up so their eyes met. She willed herself not to look away from the burning expression in his own.
“I always knew,” she whispered. “That Sir Lusty Loins would come to rescue his dragon.”
“I can’t play that game right now, Una,” he said tightly. “I don’t feel remotely playful.”
“I don’t care,” she replied, winding her arms around him tighter. The next thing she knew, he had backed her against the tapestry again, but this time he scooped her up so only her back was pressed to the wall and her legs were about his waist. This time, she felt more stimulated than constricted by his weight.
“Una,” he murmured between urgent, devouring kisses. It almost seemed like he was burning for her, she thought dazedly. And she was not the sort of woman to ever get men worked up like that. She knew her good points. She was practical and she was stout of heart. A legendary beauty she was not. Not that she was complaining. It was thrilling to have him so eager for her embraces. She returned them with enthusiasm.
He drew back again, regarding her with dark eyes, brimming with emotion. “I don’t want to be your ideal traveling companion, Una!” he burst out frustratedly. “Nor your faithful friend, either!”
She blinked at him, wondering where this was coming from. Then she realized he was quoting her own words back at her. She had meant them as a compliment! Had they rankled then? “I only—” But she did not get to finish, for his mouth was on hers again. Then he was yanking her away from the wall, back into his arms, where he held her tight. “Gods, I do everything wrong where you’re concerned, Una,” he said against her brow. “I should be consoling you right now.”
“No, you do not, Armand,” she insisted. “You do just as you ought.”
He was holding himself very still. “I should go down and make sure they have set men to patrol the grounds. And explain … what just happened. Why it just happened,” he muttered tightly.
Una struggled with what to say. For one horrible moment she thought he was going to resolutely set her aside. Reaching for his arm, she took a deep breath. “Otho can see to that I am sure. We have things to discuss right now.” He did not argue, but he did not exactly look encouraging either.
“You say you do not wish to be my friend and companion,” she continued desperately. “Well, I do not wish to be a princess,” she said forcefully. “I simply want to be your wife, Armand.”
A spark kindled in his eyes. “You will always be my wife and my princess, Una.”
She inclined her head in acceptance of this. “Very well, then you must likewise accept that to me, you are both my husband and the very best friend I have ever—”
She got no further than this, for he scooped her up, crossed the room in three long strides, and flung her onto the bed. She watched flat on her back as he stripped off his tunic and unlaced his crotch. To her surprise he didn't strip off his braies, but instead came to the mattress with his legs still clad in the tight black leggings.
“Maybe talking is not the best way forward, just now,” he uttered. Reaching for her, he ripped her thin shift in two and flung it off the bed leaving her totally naked before him. Then he roughly grabbed her knees and flung her legs open before settling between them.
Una felt a pulse of alarm along with something else, a sort of breathless, wild feeling when his hands slid possessively over her full breasts and down over the slight swell of her stomach to cup her between her legs. When his fingers slid into her, she bit her lip and arched into them, finding with faint surprise that she was already wet, despite his lack of tender ministrations. She panted in excitement as his own eyes narrowed and gleamed dangerously before her. This was not playful Armand right now, but it was still her husband.
“Tell me you want me, Una,” he said tightly.
“I always want you.” He seemed to shudder slightly at her words.
“Don’t you dare to even think about leaving me now,” he said thickly. “I won’t stand for it.”
Una watched the rise and fall of his heaving chest as she looped her arms about him. “I have never once contemplated leaving you and I never will,” she responded truthfully. She did not think it prudent to ask if this meant there would be no more talk of his going off and leaving her at Lynwode. To her surprise, she found herself saying it anyway. “And what of you?”
“What of me?” he asked huskily. His thumb was circling that spot that made her pant and twist against him.
“What of you going off adventuring and leaving me alone?”
He gave a short laugh. “Not happening.”
Una’s heart raced. “No?”
“I will drag you with me,” he promised darkly. “You will soon regret calling me your ideal traveling companion when you’re forced to pee in a field and sleep in a wet pavilion.”
“Do you think I will?” she asked breathlessly, arching against his questing fingers.
His hand stilled a moment. “No,” he admitted, his voice thick with emotion. “I think, my darling Una, that you will be cheerful and sweet, whatever fresh hell I put you through.” His mouth was on hers again, hot and urgent, as he aligned their bodies and without more ado, thrust into her. His mouth on hers muffled her cry.
“Ah gods,” he groaned, closing his eyes. “I could have lost you tonight. I so very nearly lost you.” When he opened his eyes again, they were brimming over with both passion and emotion. “And you’re everything,” he sounded shaken. “When did you become everything to me?”
Una caught her breath. She was everything to him?
“It happened—I’m not sure when it happened,” he sounded bewildered. “Before I knew it, you were already—” He breathed out again, his body starting to move against hers. “You were already there and there was nothing I could do about it.”
“Armand,” Una breathed raggedly. Did he even know what he was saying?
“I have never known anyone like you. Anyone who made me feel like you do.” He paused, one hand at her jaw, tilting her head up so he could look into her eyes as he stroked deep inside her. “You’re so beautiful to me, Una,” he shook his head slightly. “I should have told you that before now, but I didn’t know how to say it to someone, when I truly meant it.” He looked frustrated.
“And it’s not just the way you look. It’s who you are. You ought to be bitter and distrusting, but you’re not.” His words broke off as his voice thickened. “You always think the best of me and defend me, even when every impulse must tell you I’m undeserving. You make me want to deserve your good opinion, Una. To deserve you.”
Una bit her lip, her breath coming fast. Was he telling her that he loved her? Or merely esteemed her above other women? Or was it much the
same thing? It was hard to concentrate when their bodies were joined, and he was moving in that way against her. She stroked her hands over his back, feeling his rippling muscles, as her eyes fluttered closed.
As she lifted her legs to wrap them about his hips, she felt the dull ache at her waist where Waleran’s knife had grazed her skin. Despite that slight discomfort, the pleasure was coiling low in her belly and climbing higher by the moment.
“Una,” Armand groaned. “I want to hear your voice, my love.”
“You do deserve it,” she told him breathlessly. “No one could suit me so well as you. From the start, you gave me everything I needed. Every time.”
He lifted his head. “I did?”
She nodded and she felt him pulse deep inside her.
“I can’t hold off,” he groaned, his hips thrusting against hers vigorously. “Come with me.”
Una’s eyes flew open as she blazed and caught fire and convulsing around him. Armand held her gaze, his own turning molten as their passion consumed one another. Afterward, the only sound in their room was their mingled panting breath. They lay in a close embrace, for several long comfortable moments, before Armand started kissing her again, very tenderly.
“You have the loveliest mouth, Una. I’ve thought so many times, and this is the first time it has occurred to me to tell you so.” He stroked her mouth with his thumb. “It’s this bottom lip that’s the culprit. It’s so full and plump and distracting.” Una laughed, but ended on a wince. “What is it?” he asked quickly.
She was forced then to admit to the scratches at her waist from the knife point. Many exclamations followed and Armand was roused to fetch a washing cloth and minister to it tenderly.
“It’s nothing,” Una protested, but Armand would not be consoled and desperate to distract him, she was forced to cast about for a change of subject.
“You did say it to me once before,” she confessed. “That you found me beautiful, I mean.”
He lifted his face from his solemn contemplation of the series of tiny red crisscrosses against her skin. “I did?”
“On our wedding night.”
She had caught his attention now. “Tell me.”
The Consolation Prize (Brides of Karadok Book 3) Page 28