Arsenic and Old Armor (10 page)

The Armstrong warrior stared at him as if
Brother Luke were reciting the Psalms in Latin. But the cleric
didn’t care. As far as he could see, all was well. Iain and Marion
had not killed each other during the night.

Perhaps
, Luke thought,
we can hope for
more
.

A pebble she’d picked up in one of her shoes
dug into her foot. Her skirt insisted on getting caught on every
bramble bush she passed. Branches hung down and poked Marion in the
head anytime she walked beneath a tree. The way her dress felt so
coarse rubbing against her neck and shoulders, a bucket of sand, at
least, had to be trapped in it. And this was all on top of being so
hungry she was sure she’d pass out before she walked another ten
steps.

The silver lining in the cloud she was
tramping through, Marion thought vaguely, was that she might just
die before she had to worry about Iain’s expectations about her and
her “wifely duties.”

“
Your men’s dislike of you
must be even worse than how I feel,” Marion noted, dragging herself
up yet another hill. They’d left the river an hour ago to find an
easier way back to the camp.

“
What makes you say that?”
The blackguard didn’t even seem to be winded, never mind hungry or
tired.

“
I cannot think of any
other reason for them not being able to find us, even though it is
now well past midday.”

“
It might have nothing to
do with me and everything with you, I should think,” Iain answered.
“Perhaps they were insulted by your treatment of them after our
wedding.”

“
My insult was directed at
you, and everyone knew it.”

Iain held back the branches of a spiny shrub
and let Marion go by.

“
And how would they know
that, Marion? Do you think most of these Armstrong warriors
remember you?”

She wasn’t going to feel guilty. “Brother
Luke knows me well enough. He must have explained it all to
them.”

“
Short of all the
complaints he heard from the prioress, what my uncle remembers
about you is that you were a spoiled child that everyone did their
best to stay away from. Even as a wee thing, you had a formidable
reputation, and you haven’t changed anyone’s opinion on this
journey.”

“
You make me sound like a
monster.”

“
I don’t make you out to be
anything. However these men see you is your own doing.”

As torturous as it was, Marion walked
faster. She didn’t want to hear any more. She was no monster. There
were reasons for her actions. One had to care about her enough to
see and understand. None of these people cared at all.

Iain didn’t.

She wanted to be with her family. She was
going back to Fleet Tower, and she wanted to enjoy that thought.
This was what she’d dreamed of for years. Now she had to make it
work. Even if some sacrifices needed to be made.

Oh, Lord. She didn’t want to think about
that.

There was no getting away from him. Iain
caught up to her again. “As we draw near the Borders, a couple of
my men will ride ahead to bring the news of our approach. Now, I
suggest you make some small effort to win everyone’s affection
before we arrive, or it will be a rather chilly reception at
Blackthorn Hall. Perhaps you don’t know this, but men gossip more
than women.”

“
Everything that you say is
based on the assumption that they find us before we die,” she said,
the thought giving her some comfort.

“
They will,” he said
confidently.

“
Too bad,” she
murmured.

The sound of the water reached her ears.
Marion pushed through a thicket of gorse and found herself standing
beside the river again. She looked up at a rocky promontory. The
river dropped in a series of steps through this gorge. She hardly
recalled being carried down the rushing water through this. At any
rate, there was no path that they could travel on. Marion glanced
up at the jagged boulders and shook her head.

“
I cannot do this anymore.
I don’t know why we don’t wait right here for your men to find
us.”

Hearing no answer, Marion turned around.
Iain was nowhere to be seen. For a moment, a knot of fear lodged
itself in her throat, and her heart pounded in her chest.

A pebble struck her on the head.

“
Ow!” Looking up, she saw
him a few feet above her, climbing the rocks with the agility of a
goat.

“
Are you leaving without
me?” she called up at him.

He gave no answer and continued to climb.
Marion decided he wouldn’t leave her. He was made of hardier stock
than to give up on her after a day.

Knotted vines of wild grapes were growing
near the edge of river, and when she spotted them, she stopped
dead. Food. She walked to them and searched in between the leaves
for the fruit. The large clusters she found could not be more
delightful to her eye if they were made of gold. She picked a
handful and stuffed some in her mouth. They were juicy and sweet
and perfectly ripe. Marion pulled off more clusters, gathering them
in her skirts until she’d stripped the vine bare.

Her face and arms were scratched when she
turned back to the rock wall. Iain was climbing back down to
her.

“
I found us some
breakfast,” she called up excitedly to him.

He paused on a rock halfway down. “I found a
place with a roof where we can stay until my men reach us.”

“
Walls, too?” she
asked.

“
From a distance, it
appears to have walls. It looks like a deserted croft just down
into the valley.”

“
How far? I cannot walk any
more.”

“
You can. It is not too
far. We only have to work our way around this bluff.” He jumped to
the ground.

Marion turned to show him her treasure.
“Breakfast first. I picked these for us.”

She saw him stare at her face and hair and
not at the grapes.

“
I know I am a mess. But
there is nothing I can do about it now. Eat some. They’re
good.”

“
You eat them. You’re more
hungry than I.”

“
I cannot stand it when you
try to be nice.” She walked toward him, chose a large grape, and
brought it to his lips. “These are so juicy. They taste like heaven
on your tongue.”

She held the grape to his lips, and he took
a bite. The juice dripped on her fingers. A tight knot of heat
formed in Marion’s belly when he took her hand and brought it to
his mouth to finish the rest of the grape. His warmth was suddenly
all around her. She stared at the chiseled lines of his face, the
fullness of his lips. She looked up into his blue eyes, and her
heart drummed madly.

Marion pulled back her hand, despite the
attraction she was feeling. She was a jumble of contradictions.
There was something in his eyes. His face. A look of barely
constrained danger. Her insides were in turmoil. As nervous as he
made her, she wanted to unleash it, feel it, taste the fire. She
took another grape and reached for his lips.

He caught her wrist. “There is something
other than grapes that I crave to taste right now.”

“
This is all I—”

Marion was barely conscious of his face
descending to her, but suddenly his mouth was pressed to hers. His
lips were stealing her breath away. She moaned with shock and
delight when his tongue delved between her lips.

The hem of the skirt dropped and the fruit
with it. Forgotten were the fruit, the hunger, the discomfort of
the dress and shoes and everything else. All she could think of was
Iain, his mouth, and the delicious warmth that was spreading
through her. All she could do was to hold on to him, as her legs
had lost their will to support her.

“
You
are
hungry,” she heard herself
whispering as his lips moved around her face, tasting,
nibbling.

“
Starved,” he said
hoarsely. His mouth sank to the side of her neck.

His attention felt so right. Heavenly. She
wrapped her arms around him, tilting her head to the side as his
mouth traveled down her neck.

“
I dreamed you’d be just
this,” he whispered into her ear.

“
A monster?”

“
Hardly.”

“
Something horrible, then?”
Marion asked, smiling.

“
Passionate, beautiful,
full of life. And you are mine. My wife.”

Marion, holding him tight, looked up into
Iain’s handsome face. What had happened? What had changed?
Something inside her felt so different. She welcomed his attention.
No one had ever kissed her before. She loved everything that he was
doing to her.

“
I am your wife,” she
repeated, for the first time accepting the vow.

He kissed her again. This time tenderly,
encouraging her to explore. It was a fascinating thing to
experience so many tastes and textures in the simple joining of
their mouths. Marion let her curiosity guide her actions. She
touched the rough beard growing on his chin and face. His lips were
firm and yet soft. She rubbed her mouth against his. Inside of his
mouth was an abundance of heat. She reached with her tongue and
mimicked what he had done to her before, tasting, rubbing.

Her entire body tingled. It had come alive,
and she felt wetness in unmentionable places. She was melting. She
pulled back to catch her breath and she smiled. “Why didn’t you
tell me that I would like kissing? We could have done some of this
before.”

He laughed and stole another kiss before
tugging on her hand. “Come with me.”

“
Where are you taking
me?”

“
To that cottage I saw from
the top of this hill.”

“
What for?” She planted her
feet, eyeing the grapes where they fell.

“
To be more comfortable
while we wait.”

Marion looked up. There was a mischievous
twinkle in his eyes. “Is that all?”

“
No. I intend to show you a
few things more that you may like.” He tugged on her hand
again.

Entranced, excited, her body followed.
“Can’t this wait until we are at the Borders?”

He shook his head from side to side. “I
cannot have you complaining to me that I’ve slighted you.”

Her throat became dry. “About what?”

“
About making
love.”

Her belly tightened. Her heart pounded in
her ears. A flash of panic washed through her.

“
But Iain, I don’t know
anything about it.” That was the absolute truth. Back at Fleet
Tower, she had been too young to know what lovemaking entailed. At
the priory, she’d certainly seen animals mating, but the nuns
didn’t consider it a suitable topic of discussion.

“
I’ll teach you,” he said,
continuing to lead her down the path.

“
I am a slow
learner.”

Iain gathered her more closely to his side.
He kissed her hand. “Don’t be afraid. Trust me in this. You’ll
enjoy it.”

“
What if I don’t? What
if
you
didn’t?
You are just assuming that making love to me will be the same as…as
with some other woman you’ve known.” As they entered a grove of oak
trees, Marion planted her feet in dirt again, and he stopped.
Actually, it bothered her to think of Iain giving this kind of
attention to any other woman. “How many times have you done this
before?”

“
This is the first time
I’ve been married.”

“
That’s not what I
mean.”

“
I know what you mean. Not
many.”

“
How many times since we’ve
been betrothed to each other?”

“
I haven’t been keeping
track. That is nothing you should concern yourself with right
now.”

“
I
am
concerned,” Marion said
sharply.

“
Then there were none.
There were no other women. Put it out of your mind.”

She didn’t believe him. Jealousy bubbled up
inside of her. She freed herself from his hold and crossed her arms
on her chest. “I don’t believe you.”

“
The number of times is a
senseless measure. This is all new to me, too,” he continued. “This
is a first time for me. This is the first time I am going to make
love to my wife.”

Marion thought about that for a long moment.
She recalled the scores of young women who used to stare at him and
follow him around when she’d been too young to know what their
intentions were. “You have experience. I don’t. I believe we should
wait on this lovemaking until we are even.”

His jaw clenched. “And how do you expect to
get this experience?”

She looked around her at the deserted woods.
“I don’t know, but I’ll think of something. Perhaps I might run
into someone before reaching the Borders. I think we should wait
until—”

Marion gasped as Iain grabbed her by the
arm, hauling her against his body. “What are you doing?”

“
Does the word ‘adultery’
ring any bells? You might have heard it once in a while in your
religious training.”

“
Of course,
but—”

“
No
buts
. You are a married woman. You
are
my
woman.”

His hands were around her waist, pulling her
tightly against him. She could feel something hard pressing against
her belly.