Bride by Midnight (11 page)

Not everyone would believe him if he told what he knew to be true, if he accused a highly placed Columbyana Minister of killing a child. And even if he did voice that accusation, there were those who would defend Volker’s actions.

There were even those who would thank Volker for killing that child... and how many others? How many other little girls had Miron Volker killed?

What even Hagan didn’t know, what no one but Blade had ever known with certainty, was that Runa Renshaw had been one of the Isen Demon’s daughters.

Chapter Eight

Lyssa had only brought a few things with her from home: a change of clothes; the nightgown she was wearing now; her hairbrush and favorite soap. That was all she needed for tonight. She would collect the rest tomorrow.

Not that she had much to collect. She’d never been all that fond of jewelry. Anything on a chain—no matter how lightweight and pretty it might be—irritated her neck and made her feel as if she were choking. Rings and bracelets seemed to get in the way, catching on the fabrics in her father’s shop. She had a nice pair of walking boots and two pairs of slippers, which was really more than she needed. She did love the newest slippers, she admitted to herself. A few well-made dresses. Rose-scented water. A few coins, those which she’d promised to Blade if he would escort her home. She had nothing of consequence to contribute to a new household, no pots or pans or linens.

She had almost married four times, and though she had always planned to live with her parents for a short while afterward, why had she never given any thought to equipping a household before now? In the back of her mind, had she realized... ?

No. Impossible. She simply had not thought ahead. And since the cottage Blade had rented was very well stocked, it made little sense for her to worry about linens and pots now.

She’d thought that perhaps her father and stepmother would be shocked to find out she’d married a man they’d never met. A man they knew nothing about. She’d thought they might be concerned that she was leaving home with a stranger. But instead of being outraged, they’d been relieved. They’d tried to hide their reaction, but she’d seen that relief in their eyes. She’d felt that relief as if it had been a tangible thing she could reach out and touch.

She tried not to feel hurt. She made a real attempt to look at things in a more charitable light, especially when it came to the people she loved. Maybe they were simply happy for her, relieved that she at last had the husband she’d wanted for so long. Then again, maybe they were glad to be rid of her. She didn’t blame them. With the new baby coming, it even made sense.

In spite of it all, Lyssa did believe that her father loved her. She’d never doubted that love at all, even though there were moments when she caught him looking at her as if she were a stranger wearing his daughter’s skin. But he did love her, and he was understandably relieved to see her in a husband’s care. After all, he needed to make more room in his life and his home for the son Sinmora carried.

Standing by the big bed in her new chamber, dressed in an ordinary nightgown that had seen better days, she somehow knew that the child Sinmora carried was a boy. A healthy boy who would be much like his father. She listened to the rain patter on the windows and the roof, and she could actually see the fat, pink little boy. They would be a happy family, and they did not need her underfoot.

Not long after she and Blade had shared a simple meal of cheese, bread, and fruit, clouds had rolled in. Darkness had already fallen, as they ate, but the heavy clouds dimmed the moonlight. The guest house windows had been opened wide and the air that wafted inside had smelled of rain; the same rain she’d smelled that afternoon as she’d stared up at Level Two. A gust of wind had made the candles flicker, and had also made Lyssa shiver. Just a bit.

There was no reason for complaint or second thoughts. She’d gotten what she wanted. She was married, she had moved out of her childhood home, and she had beaten the deadline given to her by a toothless, scary witch by one full strike of the palace clock. So why did she feel more alone than ever at this moment? Maybe because no matter what the reason, her father
was
glad to be rid of her, and so was Sinmora. Her husband had married her for his own purposes, and love was not among them. She could not hold that against him since she had married him for her own purposes, but still... Heaven above, she did not know Blade Renshaw nearly well enough to call him husband.

The door opened and Lyssa jumped as Blade walked into the room. She’d seen him just a few moments ago, and yet again she was startled by his size and the coldness of his narrowed eyes. His gaze landed on the bed and lingered there for a moment.

Why did it seem that he sucked all the air out of a room when he entered it?

Finally he spoke. “I’ll sleep on the floor in the main room. If there are extra blankets...”

Suddenly she was reminded that she was indeed
not
alone. Maybe she didn’t know Blade well, but she would. In time. Her plan had been to use this man to beat the witch’s prophecy, but at the moment she had no desire to replace him with another, more suitable, husband. When she looked at him she saw great potential. He was nice looking, stronger than most, a good kisser, and he had provided a very nice home. Her husband was a mystery to her still, and yet... He was hers. She knew that now. He was
hers
.

“No,” Lyssa said softly. “The bed is a big one, more than large enough for both of us.”

He took a step toward her. “If we sleep in that big bed together, we will end up fucking again. Maybe tonight, maybe tomorrow night, but I will not share a bed with you and pretend not to want you.” Was he trying to scare her? If so, he failed miserably.

“I would like that.” Lyssa felt herself blush. Though she fought for tight control, she didn’t succeed. Not entirely. Was it proper behavior for a wife to be so bold? She couldn’t be sure, but it didn’t feel wrong to be honest and open with Blade. “We can...” Oh, now that she knew it was a bad word, she could not say it! “We can do what husbands and wives do, as we are, in fact, husband and wife.”

Blade didn’t have a particularly expressive face, and still he looked surprised by her words. Had he expected her to be shy or coy? Did he think she would hide under the covers and send him away to sleep on a cold, hard floor?

“This marriage is a temporary one. You’ve made that clear,” he said. “If we share a bed you could find yourself with child,” he added, and it sounded like a threat.

Was she ready for that? A baby?
His
baby? “Maybe I will and maybe I won’t. That question is a part of life and it is certainly a part of any marriage, is it not?”

Besides, while she wasn’t ready to say so aloud, joining with her husband had not been entirely unpleasant. In a bed, with a bit of light to see by, it might be downright enjoyable. Shouldn’t she have a proper marital bedding? Something more appropriate than a quick tryst in a dark alleyway.

“I sleep naked,” Blade said, and again his words sounded very much like a threat.

“Lovely.” She took a deep breath, grabbed the hem of her nightgown and swiftly pulled it over her head. She dropped it to the floor. “Then so shall I.” She sat on the side of the bed for a moment, then slipped her legs beneath the coverlet. It was perfectly naturally for her to be a little shy. No man had ever seen her naked!

For a few long moments Blade just looked at her. He looked and he looked. Finally he began to remove his own clothes. He did not rush, so she returned the favor and looked at
him
. Her first thought was that he was rather hairy, and big, and hard. Well, not too hairy, but there was hair on his chest, and lower, and she really did like that little dusting on his forearms. A scar marred the perfection of his chest, but her eyes did not linger there. There was so much beauty to look at, so much to study.

She was smooth—for the most part—and small and soft, so she found his physical makeup... fascinating. Utterly fascinating. She should be afraid to share a bed with a man so much larger and stronger than she. But she wasn’t. She wasn’t afraid at all.

She was glad of the rain. The sound was soothing, and it insulated them from the rest of the world somehow.

“I should turn around and walk away,” he said beneath his breath, almost as if he were talking to himself.

She met his gaze, squinted a bit as he sometimes did and tilted her head to one side. “Why?”

***

Blade had wanted nothing more than revenge for so long that to want anything else seemed very wrong.

He wanted her. Maybe he’d wanted her from the moment he’d seen her walking blindly away from the palace with her father, afraid of the coming marriage that was not to be.

When he’d still been able to feel her, to smell her on his skin, he’d planned to show her what pleasure a man and wife could share. Only later, with some distance, had he begun to have doubts about the wisdom of that plan. When he was gone another man could teach her. Another man could share her bed. There was no reason for him to encourage the kind of closeness lying with her would create. And yet here he stood, unable to walk away.

She pointed. “How do you walk around all day with that... that...”

“Cock,” he provided in a harsh tone.

Her eyes rose up to meet his. “That is another vulgar word, isn’t it?”

“I suppose.”

“Well, whatever it should be called, however do you manage?”

He could almost smile. Almost. Here was a truly innocent woman without guile, without any sense of artificial propriety. He liked that about her. She was real, a part of the world he had rarely seen and never belonged to. “It isn’t always so.”

“The only times I have seen or felt it, it has been.”

“You make it... like this.”

“How?”

With a word, a sigh, a tilt of her head. With curious green eyes and soft skin and that elegant neck. With breasts and hips, soft lips...

“You talk too much.” He took a step toward the bed. He should walk away. He should make certain she did not affect him any more than she already had. Eventually he would walk away, but not tonight.

“So I have been told,” his bride replied, heaving a sigh that told him she’d evidently been told more than once... or twice... or hell, thirty times or more.

Blade pulled the coverlet back, exposing Lyssa’s body for his eyes. Two candles lit the room with soft but sufficient light. He could see her well, and he took a moment to study. To stare. Pale and slight and seemingly fragile, she possessed a strength that was hers alone.

Another woman might shy away, reach for the covers or divert her gaze. She might use her hands to cover her breasts or the curls between her legs. Not Lyssa. Not his wife.

She deserved better than a man who planned to use her and then leave. Because whether he died in the palace, accomplishing his goal, or made a miraculous escape, he
would
leave her.

“It’s all right,” she said gently, as if she saw his struggle and was attempting to soothe his fears. Then she reached for him with a hand softer than any he had ever known, with a new and exciting and innocent passion. No matter what tomorrow might bring, tonight he was hers.

***

Blade joined her on the bed, and she rolled into him. She wanted the sensation of skin to skin, and she wanted more kisses like the one they’d shared earlier that evening. She could get lost in him so very easily.

Only last night she’d married this man just to satisfy a witch’s requirement, to erase the dreams of being alone, with the thought of dismissing him when the right man came along. But what if
he
was the right man? What if
he
was the man she was destined to share her life with? It was a silly notion, given that she knew so little about him, but when he was lying beside her it seemed more than possible. It seemed quite likely. The same twists of luck that had doomed her other weddings had brought him to her in an unusual way.

Somehow, some way, she had not been the same since the moment he’d pushed inside her. He had awakened something within her body; something bright and wonderful and... needy. She had never expected to need her husband, to crave him in the pit of her stomach and even the pit of her soul.

He laid his lips on her throat and kissed her there. Lyssa closed her eyes and savored the sensations. She felt that kiss everywhere, as if he wasn’t just pressed against her body but was already in it. She had never known her neck could be so sensitive, that any touch anywhere could feel so good. And then his mouth moved lower and he took a nipple into his mouth, sucking gently, rousing new and powerful sensations she had never even dreamed of. She laid her hands on his shoulders. He was so warm and hard, so different from her... no, different from everyone. Fate had led her to him, had guided her into this marriage as surely as it had led her away from the others.

While he sucked and licked, he reached between her thighs. Spread them. Stroked them. Touched her where he had last night, only this was different. Gentler and yet more powerful. She gasped and lurched, and her hips began to move in time with the motion of his fingers.

Eyes closed, she forgot where she was as she simply
felt
. The pleasure built slowly, and all too soon she knew that what she needed, what she had to have, was Blade inside her again. Though she could barely speak, she managed to whisper, “Now. Please.”

Blade did not torture her; he did not make her wait. Taking his mouth from her breast—oh, she hated to see it go—he rolled on top of her and guided himself inside. It was a relief and a sharp pleasure. And it was so right.

He thrust hard, bracing himself above her. She adjusted her legs to allow him deeper access, wrapping her thighs around him, moving against and with him. As they moved, the sensations and the need grew. This was bright and wonderful. She needed him. Not just anyone.
Him
. Blade. No other man could ever make her feel this way. She was certain of it.