Enchantress Mine (53 page)

He smiled slowly, but his eyes remained like pieces of cold blue lapis stone, hard and unfeeling. “In time,” he told her, “I will have you burning inside like hot coals for my glance. It has been hard for us upon the road, but tomorrow we will enter Edinburgh, and I have a small house there where we will live for the time being until I have earned lands from the king. At least there we will have our privacy, and I will fuck you regularly each night. You have obviously not been fucked enough, for if you had, you would like it better. In a few weeks I will have you clawing and yelling with passion every time I get you on your back. There will come a time when you will not be able to get enough of my loving. I know how to keep a woman happy.”

“Yes, my lord,” she answered him coolly, but her mind had pounced upon the information that he was now a liegeman of King Malcolm. If she could just get him to take her to the Scots court. If she could get to the king and queen and tell them her tale, surely they would help her. She knew that Josselin would come to her rescue if he only knew where she was, but how could he know under the circumstances? She had to find some way of telling him, and the king and queen seemed to her to be her only path.

Mairin had learned from Eric as they had traveled from England that their companions were freedmen, Scots who hired out their allegiance for a price. They had gone to York at the behest of the king, with Eric Longsword as their captain, to gather information as to the true strength of King William’s armies, and the real mood of the English people. The border country on both sides of the Cheviot Hills was always in dispute between England and Scotland. The raiding that went on back and forth was not unusual, but King Malcolm wanted to know if his young brother-in-law really had a serious chance of regaining the throne of England before he committed any more of his time or his gold to such a project.

Malcolm of Scotland was in love with his wife, the Atheling’s elder sister, Margaret. If Scotland’s aid could make the difference between the boy regaining his throne or not, he was willing to help Edgar for the love he bore his wife. If, however, as he suspected, there was no real chance of Edgar ruling England, he wanted to know that also. His Meg was not stupid, and she wouldn’t want him wasting lives and gold that were Scotland’s. Not now. Now that she was expecting their first child.

Eric Longsword and his companions traveled the remaining distance into Edinburgh by early afternoon. It was there that he and Mairin left Fergus and his friends, who hurried off to a nearby tavern with their women.

“Will I get to see the king and his queen?” asked Mairin of her captor. Her request sounded very young and ingenuous to his ears.

“I don’t know if I want to share you with other people right now,” he pondered.

“You do not love me at all!” Her tone sounded injured, and she pouted at him adorably.

“Mairin, I do love you!” he protested. “I would do anything to make you happy.”

“Then take me to see the king and queen,” Mairin responded. “A woman can be a great help to a man who is seeking to advance himself, especially a beautiful woman like me.” She gave him a flirtatious little smile.

“How is that so?” he asked her. He sounded suspicious.

“Silly,” she said to him, then she giggled. “If these Scots see what a beautiful wife you have they will think you must be very worthy of their consideration. After all, you would not have a beautiful wife if you weren’t worthy, now would you?”

He thought a moment, and decided that she might be right. “Perhaps you are correct,” he said grudgingly. “Still I am loath to have other men admiring your beauty. We have had so little time together.”

“I cannot be happy with you, Eric, unless I am allowed to go to court,” she told him, and then her voice grew wheedling. “If you take me to court to see the king and queen, I will show you some of the lovemaking tricks I learned from Prince Basil in Byzantium.”

“I am surprised that that half-man could even get it up for you.” Eric sneered.

Mairin gave another simple giggle. “Ohh, you would be surprised what Basil could do,” she implied suggestively, turning her head to look guilelessly up at him. Slowly her tongue licked back and forth over her upper lip.

Eric felt his heartbeat accelerate. He had heard that there were secret erotic arts known only to a few in Byzantium. Someone such as he would have never had access to such things. Mairin was telling him that she was acquainted with these arts, that she would practice them upon him, share her knowledge with him, and all he had to do was show her off to the Scots court. God only knew it was a simple woman’s request. Of course she wanted to see the Scots king and his consort. It was just the kind of thing a female would desire, and she offered him so much in return, adorable little fool that she was. “Well,” he said, “perhaps in a few days when you have rested I could take you to meet the king, for I must go myself to render my report. We’ve traveled very hard, Mairin. You look exhausted. We could use hot food and a good night’s rest in a decent bed.”

“And a bath!” she said.

They had been riding through the city as they spoke, and now he stopped before a small house on a respectable street. “This is where we will live,” he said.

The house was built of stone, as were most houses in the north. It was not very big, but it had two stories and the roof seemed sound. Walking about the main floor of the building she found there was a little garden in the rear that had its own well, a veritable luxury. At least she wouldn’t have to walk to the public fountain for water. The house, however, was filthy. It was obvious that its previous tenant had not been much of a housekeeper.

Taking charge, she imperiously set Eric to hauling water from the well, which she boiled in a large black iron caldron hung over the hot coals of the fireplace. He first had to sweep a nest of mice from the cold hearth before he might even lay the fire. They scampered off noisily, but Mairin ignored them. Time enough to get a cat, and besides, once she got to court she would escape Eric Longsword and his musty house.

Having found a broom in good repair, Mairin vigorously swept the larger of the two rooms upon the main floor of the house. The smaller room was obviously a pantry of sorts. The dust removed from the floors, and the cobwebs from the corners, she scrubbed down the oak trestle with the hot water using a half-bristled brush she had found in the other room. Next came the benches.

“I didn’t bring you to Scotland to be a servant,” he complained to her. “I will get you a serving wench tomorrow.”

“If you think I am spending a night in this place without cleaning it, you are mistaken, Eric Longsword! I know your mother did not keep a dirty hall. If there is not an oak tub in this place, then I implore you to go to the barrelmaker and bring me back one. I must have a bath tonight.” She smiled at him. “You may watch me bathe if you like,” she tempted.

With a grin he left her, saying as he went, “I will stop at the bakehouse and bring us supper too. We can visit the market tomorrow, but tonight we must eat.”

In his absence, Mairin hurried upstairs to the second floor of the house to find but one loftlike room with a large bed within it. Opening the wooden shutters on the single window, she let the cold January air into the room while she beat the hangings of the bed free of dust and cobwebs. In the trunk at the bed’s foot, she found well-worn but clean sheets, the faint odor of lavender clinging to them as evidence of some past owner. Mairin yanked the dusty fur coverlet from the bed, and shook it out of the window, leaving it to air until she remade the bed with the clean linen. The coverlet restored to its place, she closed the shutters and barred them. The room was now freezing, but it was clean and smelt fresh.

Downstairs once more she added more fuel to the fire, and closing the door into the back garden, sat down to rest from her labors. How soon would Eric take her to court? How long before she might escape him and his hateful attentions? At least he was fooled by her attitude. He seemed to like the childish silliness she affected in her effort to disarm him. Despite the gravity of her situation, she found it amusing that knowing her so little he had still desired her. Of course it was her beauty that had attracted him. Her curst beauty! Her beauty which had been responsible for all the real unhappiness she had ever suffered in her life.

Eric returned triumphant, bringing with him an oaken tub which was carried by the cooper’s two apprentices. “Where do you want it?” he demanded of her.

“Here,” she said. “On this side of the fireplace.”

The oaken tub was placed according to her directions, and the two young men departed.

“It’s not very large, I know,” he said, “but the cooper’s wife said it was large enough.”

“It is,” she answered. “Since we have no servants you will have to put it in the pantry after I have bathed. You must bathe too, Eric Longsword. You stink worse than a dung cart!”

“Very well,” he agreed with her, “but first I have brought our dinner from the bakeshop. There was no selection. I hope you like rabbit, and here is bread, and I know you like apples.” He placed his purchases upon the newly cleaned table. “Let us eat,” he said, sitting himself down at the trestle. He tore the roasted rabbit in two, and shoved the smaller half in her direction.

No wonder the table was so filthy, she thought. She reached for the loaf, and broke off a piece for herself. They spoke not at all as they went about the business of eating their meal. Mairin was careful to lick all the grease from her fingers, using a piece of bread for a final cleanup. She did not want to get her only skirt and tunic dirty. Part of proving to King Malcolm and his wife who she was would be her appearance. She couldn’t look slovenly. She must be every inch the lady of Aelfleah.

“Shall I fill the tub with hot water for you?” he asked her when they had finished the meal and she was storing the leftovers in the pantry.

“Please,” she answered.

He emptied the large open kettle of boiling water into the oaken tub, and then added several buckets of cold water from the well so that the temperature of the bath was comfortable. Having rescrubbed the table clean, Mairin began to undress before the fire. There was no need for false modesty on her part as he had already seen her naked on several occasions. Stepping into the tub, she sat down to enjoy a soak. There was no soap with which she might wash, but a rough cloth was enough to scrub away the grime of her travels once the warm water had loosened the dirt. It was not a bath over which she wished to linger, and so when she was done she stepped quickly from the still-warm water, shaking herself like a puppy as she did to remove the excess water.

“Let me,” he said, coming forward with a small piece of clean cloth with which he proceeded to rub her dry. When he had finished he said, “Take your garments, and get into bed, Mairin. I will bathe and join you shortly.”

She didn’t argue with him. It was much too cold away from the fire. She had hoped to launder her camise in the bathwater, but that could be done in the morning. She doubted they would go to court tomorrow. Gaining the bedchamber, she carefully laid her skirts and tunic over the linen trunk, and climbed between the icy sheets. When he followed her several minutes later, he was wearing his tunic. It is strange, she thought as he joined her. He seems to enjoy seeing me naked, Mairin thought, but I have never seen him naked. Then she counted her blessings, for she knew she didn’t want to see him unclothed.

Reaching out, he pulled her into his arms. “It is cold,” he said. “Let us warm each other.”

As she was clasped tightly in his embrace, Mairin’s heart hammered with her fear. She was still not convinced he didn’t intend to rape her, and tonight would certainly tell the tale. His actions upon their journey might have simply stemmed from a fastidiousness. He could be a man who simply liked his comforts. She almost cried out, catching herself in time, as he began to fondle her breasts.

For several long minutes he contented himself with squeezing, pressing, and cupping her flesh. Noisily he sucked upon her nipples as he had on the other nights in which he had abused her. Tonight, however, he seemed in no great rush, as he had on the other nights, to cease in his sport. Slowly his tongue encircled each nipple in its turn. Mairin shifted uncomfortably. In the past he had been in haste to have her in his own strange fashion. It was not so tonight. He took a nipple between his thumb and two fingers, and pulling the flesh out, pinched it hard.

She whimpered.

Eric smiled softly. “You liked that, didn’t you?” He took the other nipple, and pinched it, his smile widening when she protested his action. “Pain,” he said, “can be pleasurable, my pet.” He swung himself over her body, straddling her with his thighs, the fingers of one hand digging into her head as he grasped her harshly by her long, thick hair. “You did not answer me, Mairin. You like it when I hurt you a little, don’t you?”

“No!” she whispered.

Yanking her up by her head, he slapped her cruelly several times. “Liar!” he said. “I’ve known women like you before. Cold little bitches who need their bottoms warmed before they can enjoy a man. Before I took you that first night I whipped you, and you were hot for me afterward. The last time you lay like a sodden lump beneath me, and I realized what your problem was.”

“That is not so!” she protested.

“Then perhaps there is something else you need to excite your fires. Something forbidden, but infinitely delicious.” Releasing his hold upon her hair, he pushed her back, and sliding himself down her body, pulled her legs apart with strong fingers to plunge his head between her thighs. She felt his lips fasten about her flesh there, and she shrieked a protest, struggling wildly to evade him.

Raising his head a moment he glowered threateningly at her. “Do not fight me, Mairin,” he warned, “or I will beat you again, and still have my way with you in the end.” Then lowering his head again, he feasted upon her shrinking flesh.