Patricia Ryan - [Fairfax Family 01] (47 page)

“Martine...” he breathed into her ear.

She stood, turned, and walked toward the bedchamber. “I would appreciate it if this didn’t take too long,” she said coolly, tossing aside her dressing gown and sitting in just her shift on the side of the bed. “I have a great deal to do this morning.”

He just stared at her for a moment. What was she telling him? That she was willing, but only grudgingly so? That she had no choice but to do her wifely duty, but he’d best be quick about it? That stung. He’d been patient to a fault. He’d taken his time, hoping she’d come around—but it clearly hadn’t worked. Perhaps he’d been too patient, too tentative. He couldn’t take her by force—that was for animals like Edmond—but he could make her want him. She responded to his touch at hotly as he to hers.

Rising, he followed her into the bedchamber, noting how she glanced down at his erection, beneath his loose linen drawers, and then quickly looked away. She backed up and lay down on the bed, but as she began to gather her shift up, he reached out to close his hand over hers.

“Not yet,” he said, joining her on the bed and stretching out on his side next to her. He smoothed her hair off her face, then trailed his fingers softly down her throat. “Let me look at you first.”

He saw her swallow. “I really would appreciate it if you were—”

“If I were quick about it, but I have no intention of obliging you. I’ve waited too long for this, and now I’m going to take my time.” He touched a fingertip to a pebbly nipple, and she drew in a breath. “I may keep you in this bed all day, and all night, and then all day tomorrow.” He smiled, and smoothed his palm over her flat belly, bringing it to rest on the feminine swell between her legs. “It’s Mayday, Martine, and I’m going to celebrate it by showing you how it can be between us. Let me show you. Tell me you want me to.”

She closed her eyes and curled her hands into fists. “I don’t want you to. All I want you to do is get it over with.”

He rolled onto her, careful to rest his weight on his elbows so as not to burden her. “I’ll get it over with in a day or two,” he whispered. “And I promise you’ll feel wonderful afterward. Happy and satisfied. And not in the least manipulated.” He closed his mouth over hers and kissed her deeply, reveling in the warmth and softness of her lips. He touched the tip of his tongue to them, slipped it between them to taste her sweetness, and then withdrew, knowing he had to take his time, had to coax her slowly into responding in kind.

He kissed her throat, his hands tangled in her hair. Gradually he settled down onto her, molding himself to her curves and hollows. The feel of her breasts, warm beneath their satin covering, crushed to his bare chest, aroused him to the point of pain. Parting her legs with his knee, he pressed his swollen sex to her own, and felt her shiver. His muscles tightened of their own accord, crushing his hard male need against her, then released and contracted again and again, without his willing it. His big body ground sinuously against hers, driven by an age-old instinct he couldn’t control.

He’d been too long without her. His mind told him to wait, but he was already on the verge of release. If he tried to hold off much longer, he’d spill his seed before he could even enter her—an ignoble way to initiate the promised marathon of passion. Claiming her mouth in another hungry kiss, he let his hands roam over her with abandon, caressing her through the liquid-smooth satin in all the ways and in all the places that he knew would most excite her—but she merely lay still beneath him, her face averted, a fistful of sheet in each hand.

“Relax,” he softly urged. “Give it a chance.”

“I feel trapped,” she said tightly, her voice quavering. “I have no choice in this. I’m powerless.”

“Powerless!” He took her right hand, opened her fingers, and pressed it to his throbbing shaft. Her touch almost sent him over the edge, but he gritted his teeth and strained for control. “You have the power to do this to me.” She tried to wrest her hand from his, but he gripped it firmly, guiding her fingers up the length of him. “Feel me,” he said raggedly. “Feel what you do to me. Feel how ready I am for you. It hurts, I want you so much. And I know you want me.”

“I don’t.”

“I don’t believe you.” This time, when she pulled her hand away, he let her. Whipping up the skirt of her shift, he reached between her legs. She flailed at him, but he seized both of her wrists in one iron fist and held them above her head while his other hand sought and found the damp heat that betrayed her own arousal. “You’re body says you want me.”

“That’s my body, not my heart. You make me feel worse than manipulated. I feel violated.”

“
Violated?
”

“
Look at us!
” she demanded, her voice cracking with emotion. “How can I feel otherwise?”

Christ
, he thought, gazing down upon the trembling woman beneath him, her arms pinned above her head, struggling against the tears that filled her eyes. He had meant to be gentle, to ease her into his arms, to bring her closer to him. Instead, he had lost control—and driven her further away.

He released her, stood, and grabbed his shirt. “I didn’t mean it to be this way, Martine. I meant to—”

“You meant to seduce me.” She sat up, rubbing her wrists. “But you needn’t have gone to the trouble, and I wish you wouldn’t. By law I can’t deny you. ‘Twould be much simpler if you just tupped me quickly and got it over with.”

“I didn’t want a quick tupping. I wanted to make love to you.”

“Why me? Why not one of the kitchen girls? That’s the type you prefer, isn’t it?”

“It has to be you, only you. Don’t you understand?”

She met his gaze, her expression thoughtful, and he thought for a moment that perhaps she did, at last, understand... but presently her eyes narrowed a bit, and then widened slightly, as if she had suddenly figured something out.

“You want to get me with child!” she said. “That’s been the whole point all along. Your little attentions, your kisses... ‘twas all a kind of slow seduction. Just more manipulation.”

“Martine, what are you—”

“You’re a baron now, and a baron needs sons, legitimate sons. Any woman can give you pleasure, but only your wife can give you heirs.”

“Heirs?” He shook out the chausses he’d worn the day before. “Is that why you think I...” Shaking his head, he tunneled his legs into the woolen hose and tied them. “God, Martine, I’ve been too busy to give any thought to heirs. ‘Twas
you
I wanted.” He pulled on his boots and yesterday’s tunic.

Wrapping her arms around her updrawn legs, she said, “Nay, not me. If it’s not heirs you seek, then it’s simple sexual release. Any woman would have done.”

“If any woman would have done, I’d have spared myself some bother and paid a visit to Fat Nan.” She looked puzzled. “She runs a brothel in the harbor. No whore has ever accused me of manipulating her.”

“Go, then,” she said with a tone of studied indifference, rising and reaching for her dressing gown. “I know you have... needs. If that’s the only reason you came to me this morning, because you’re frustrated, then by all means go to—”

“I didn’t say that!” Christ, she was exasperating!

“I know perfectly well what—”

“You know nothing!” He took a step toward her and tried to pull her into his arms, but she flinched and shook him off. Something hot and unstoppable rose within him. Wheeling around, he sighted on the big, glazed window and, without thinking, hauled back and slammed his fist through one of the panes. The glass shattered. He heard her gasp as he withdrew his bloody hand. She ran to the dressing alcove and came back with the sleeve of one of her cotton chemises, which he took and wrapped around his throbbing fist. He felt suddenly light-headed and very weary, his mind as curiously numb as his lacerated hand.

For a few long moments they stood in silence, and then he said quietly, “Perhaps you’re right. Perhaps I should go to Hastings. I’m not doing either of us any good here.”

She opened her mouth to speak, and for a moment he thought, from the expression in her eyes, that she might beg him not to go. But she bit her lip and looked away, her arms wrapped tightly around her chest.

He grabbed his mantle and sword belt off their hooks. “I’ll be back tomorrow evening.” She nodded, facing away from him.

He swung the door open and collided with Clare, upsetting the tray of wine and bread in her hands.

“Oh, my lord, I’m sorry!” she squealed, kneeling to clean it up. She was always underfoot, that one. Always lurking about with food and drink no one had asked for. Not trusting himself to utter a civil response, he turned and stalked away.

*   *   *

Martine awoke that night to a furious knocking at her bedchamber door. She turned to the other side of the bed before remembering that Thorne wasn’t there; he was in Hastings. It was surely well past midnight. Who would disturb her at such an hour?

“Milady! Milady!” The door banged open and Felda rushed into the room, dressed, like Martine, in nothing but her shift, and carrying a lantern. “Milady, it’s Bernard! He’s here!”

“Bernard?” Martine whipped aside the covers and leaped out of bed, following Felda to the window. She looked down and gasped. Dozens of mounted men in chain mail surrounded the keep, some leaping down from their horses and running inside with torches. She heard thunderous footsteps on the stairs, and a familiar voice shouting commands—Bernard.

She ran to the door and locked it, then remembered the door that led to the chapel and secured that as well.

“What’s happening?” Felda cried as the footsteps neared. “What does he want?”

“Me, I think,” said Martine in a shaky whisper.

“Sweet Mother of God,” Felda muttered. “I wish Thorne was here.”

Martine heard Bernard’s voice on the other side of the door— “It’s this one” —and then the doorknob turned. “Open the door, my lady,” he bellowed.

Felda crossed herself. “Milady, what are we going to—”

“It’s me they want,” Martine said, feeling a cold calm descend upon her. “You can get away if you don’t draw attention to your—”

“Nay!” Felda exclaimed as Bernard banged fiercely on the door. “I’ll not run away. You need me with you.”

“I need you to go to Hastings and find Thorne.”

Bernard ceased his pounding, but the blessed silence was short-lived, for presently there commenced a series of deafening blows that rattled the door on its hinges. He’d graduated from his fist to his foot, it seemed, and from the sound of it, he’d enlisted a few of his men to help.

Martine grabbed Felda by the shoulders. “Saddle up and ride to Hastings as fast as you can,” she yelled over the explosive pounding. “Go to the harbor. There’s a person named... I think it’s Nan...”

Felda’s mouth flew open. “Fat Nan?” Martine nodded. “He left you alone here so he could run off to—”

Martine shook Felda hard as the wood of the door began to splinter. “Just find him, Felda.
Find him!
Tell him what happened.”

Another deafening kick, and another, and finally the door crashed open and dark forms swarmed into the room.

Martine screamed “Go!” to her maid as armored and helmeted men grabbed her and hurled her onto the bed. They flipped her facedown and held her there, kneeling on her back so hard she could barely breathe. Gloved hands yanked her arms behind her back while others encircled them with rope, pulling it so tightly that it bit into her skin. At the same time, someone else brought her ankles together, and they were similarly bound.

This isn’t happening
. Martine shivered violently, her eyes squeezed shut.
This can’t be happening
. Her nostrils flared as she breathed in the odors of oiled steel, leather, and unwashed bodies. The feel of all those strange hands on her, of mail-clad knees and elbows digging into her, wrested a sob of helpless fury from her throat.
Nay, don’t cry!
she commanded herself.
All you’ve got now is your dignity. Don’t give them the pleasure of seeing you cry.

Two men jerked her roughly to her feet, whipped her around, and held her there.

Bernard stood before her in the dim glow of the lantern, serene as usual amid the brutality he’d spawned. He alone wore no armor, but was clad instead in a tunic of black brocade embroidered in gold. He smiled that deathly smile that never reached his eyes, and then he said simply, “Lady Falconer.”

“What do you want?” she asked, struggling to keep her voice from quivering.

“That should be fairly obvious, my lady. I want you.”

“You’re too late,” she said. “I’m already married.”

Bernard chuckled, and his men followed suit. “I’m hardly here to ask for your hand, my lady.” He gestured, and a figure emerged into the light—Father Simon, a sheet of parchment in his hand.

“Read it,” Bernard ordered.

The priest brought the document close to his face and intoned, “Unless proven otherwise, let it be known that the woman called Martine of Rouen, or Martine Falconer, Baroness of Blackburn, did, by charms, incantations, and potions, effect the acts of malefice which follow. Item: That she did breathe into the mouth of the deceased child Ailith of Kirkley, and by such means caused the corpse to regain its vitality and become reanimated.”