Rage and Redemption (Rebel Angels) (4 page)

“Still trying to see beneath his fig leaf?”

Naomi refused to be embarrassed. Ignoring the little shocks of sensation that erupted at the sound of Gideon’s voice, she tilted her head and continued to study the folio.

“Something is missing,” she said.

He laughed and stepped up beside her. His warm, exotic scent touched her nose and Naomi inhaled deeply, filling her lungs with Gideon.

“If you cannot see beneath the leaf, how can you be certain?” he teased.

Thinking herself fortified against the allure of his angular features, Naomi turned and looked at him. Her breath caught in her throat and heat pooled low in her belly. His golden gaze caressed her face, beckoning her.

“Gideon,” she murmured.

“You have spoken with Gabriel I see. He was not at all pleased to learn I’d been alone with you. Is he always so protective?”

“He has never before had call to be protective.” Was he drawing attention to the fact that they were alone again? “I have always been treated kindly.”

“By monks and servants?”

She smiled, amused by his haughtiness. “I am myself a servant and I’ve always been surrounded by monks.”

“You’re no servant.” He nodded toward the illumination. “Is that the work of a servant?”

She dragged her gaze away from his face and looked at the manuscript page. “Nay, that is the work of Brother Gabriel,” she grumbled.

The warm brush of his thumb along her jaw made Naomi jump. She looked up at him and he smiled. His moods swung from charm to menace and back again with dizzying speed.

“Is Gabriel the only one who knows the truth?” His forehead furrowed and then he asked, “How do you manage the deception? Gabriel has an aversion to lying.”

Naomi laughed at the understatement. “Brother Gabriel refuses to lie. I think he fears his tongue will catch fire if he utters one untrue word.”

Gideon chuckled and tingles coursed down her spine. Why did her senses respond to everything he did?

“Did he teach you the technique or have you studied with other scribes?”

“Brother Gabriel instructed me in the art of illumination, but I don’t think he realized where it would lead when the lessons began.”

“It is rather complicated to become proficient at something basically forbidden to your gender.”

She nodded, trying not to let her anger show. “When my work matured to a certain level, Brother Gabriel took the page to Brother Aaron, the castellan of the Krak des Chevaliers. Brother Aaron told Brother Gabriel what a wonderful job he had done. Brother Gabriel tried to correct the misconception but Brother Aaron sees what he wants to see.”

Naomi bristled each time she thought about the narrow-mindedness surrounding her. She was expected to be meek and mild, obedient and submissive simply because she was female. Well, Brother Gabriel had nurtured her mind and encouraged her imagination. He had supported her secret passion for illumination, not realizing that the end result would be discontent.

Tossing her hair over her shoulders, Naomi finished, “So Brother Gabriel has presented each of my pages to Brother Aaron, not bothering with an explanation, and Brother Aaron believes what he will.”

“I see.”

He turned back toward the table and Naomi took a moment to study him. He was dressed again in black, both his tunic and surcoat. Today his long hair was unbound, falling past his shoulders in soft waves. Never had she seen a man more pleasing to the eyes.

His head shifted toward her and she heard him draw a slow, deep breath.

“What are you thinking about?” He punctuated the question with a salacious smile.

Naomi tried to swallow past the lump lodged in her throat. There was no possible way he could know the nature of her thoughts. And yet he seemed to sense her arousal—or smell it? Was that possible? Worrying her bottom lip, she took several steps away from him.

She crossed to the open window and leaned out, allowing the wind to brush her heated cheeks. After a moment, she turned to face him, resting back against the sill.

“What do you want…?” She paused. “Is it
Sir
Gideon?”

“It is simply Gideon.” He remained by the table, his gaze intent upon her face.

“Of?” she pressed him.

“I call no place home. I live by my sword and swear fealty to no man.”

“Then what do you want with me, Gideon?”

“I want to know everything there is to know about you. I want to teach you everything there is to know about me.”

Naomi disregarded the strange tightening in the pit of her stomach. This was a game to him. He couldn’t really care about her. They had only just met. “I’ve no deep, dark secrets, and if you do, I have no interest in them.”

“Have you always lived with the Brothers of St. John?” he asked as if she hadn’t spoken.

“I’m an orphan. Many children are taken in by the order.”

“I’m only interested in one. Tell me about yourself.” His deep, smoky voice was almost hypnotic.

Naomi fiddled with the front of her tunic. “It is not a fascinating tale.”

“Let me judge what I find fascinating.” He sat down on her stool and smiled encouragingly.

“As you wish,” she relented reluctantly. “I don’t even know the name of the woman who gave me life. Brother Gabriel was in
Jerusalem
when he encountered her. He was praying in Calvary Chapel at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. A young woman came up beside him. She pressed an infant into his arms and then collapsed at his feet. The
Hospital
of
St. John
is just around the corner and Brother Gabriel took her there.”

“The woman did not survive?”

“She was burning with fever. The physicians were amazed she had been able to walk into the church.”

“Are you certain this woman was your mother? She could have been a servant or she could have stolen you from your family.”

Naomi smiled but his question made her sad. “I have often entertained such thoughts. I’ve pictured my real mother appearing one day to take me home to my loving family. I’ve dreamed that the king of some distant land will suddenly realize I’m his daughter. But they are the wistful dreams of every orphan. The physicians confirmed that the woman had recently given birth. They believed the infection that claimed her life was directly related to my delivery. There is no one waiting beyond the horizon to rescue me.”

“No one inquired about this woman? No one knew her?”

Taking a deep breath to clear her mind of wishes, Naomi continued her tale. “She was delirious for two days before death claimed her. She spoke fluently in several languages and her speech was refined so the brothers suspected she was a pilgrim or the daughter of a crusader.”

“When were you born?”

“In the year of our Lord 1129.”

“Thirty years after
Jerusalem
was reclaimed,” he calculated. “The Christian kingdoms and principalities had already formed and the coastal states settled. Why was a noblewoman still in
Jerusalem
?”

“Many Crusaders found prosperity here and stayed, but I never said that my mother was of noble birth. I have no knowledge of that. The brothers sent word throughout
Jerusalem
and as far away as
Constantinople
. No one knew anything about the woman. If she had been someone of consequence, she would have been missed. I suspect she was the companion of some crusader. She was likely left behind when he returned to the west.”

“Left alone to bear the fruits of their love?”

Embarrassed by the indiscreet topic, she merely nodded. “Brother Gabriel was told to relinquish my care to the sisters of the order, but he refused. My mother died in his arms and her last words were a plea that he take care of me.”

“And he has,” Gideon concluded, rising from the stool. “He has kept you by his side and seen to your education, but you have been cloistered and secluded from all life has to offer.”

She laughed softly, but the nearer he drew, the more uncomfortable she became. What did he want from her? Why was he doing this? “What has life to offer that I have been denied? Hunger? Poverty? Uselessness? I have the security of the order’s protection. I’ve been taught languages, theology and history. I have access to vast stores of information as well as fascinating fiction. And I have my work. What do I lack?”

His surcoat brushed against her tunic and she shivered.

“Excitement, adventure, the thrill of the unknown,” Gideon suggested. “What about love? Do you not want a family? A husband and children?”

“I’ve not met any man with whom I would care to spend the rest of my life. I feel no Divine calling so I have not entered the order, but I don’t know if I will ever marry.”

“You will marry. Your nature would never tolerate celibacy.” His gaze captured hers and a sly smile bowed his lips.

“You have a very pronounced opinion of me considering our short acquaintance.” She managed to speak only after breaking eye contact with him. Was he able to cast a spell with his strange golden gaze or was she just a lonely fool, vulnerable to the attentions of an attractive man?

He touched her chin, waiting until she looked up to speak again. “Am I wrong? Could you live without the touch of a lover forever?”

His thumb brushed teasingly over her mouth and Naomi felt her lips tremble. “If it is required of me.”

“Required by whom?”

If he would just stop touching her, she’d be able to think. “Brother Aaron has been hinting lately that I should take vows or move on. I’m not a child anymore.”

“I noticed,” he whispered. Leaning in, he brushed his lips against her temple, inhaling deeply. “You would be utterly wasted in an abbey.”

His scent surrounded her. The smooth heat of his cheek rubbed against her, filling her mind with images. She saw his golden skin sliding against her ivory limbs. Her body ripened and ached. Naomi cleared her throat and braced her hands against the cold stone sill. She could not let him overwhelm her again.

With quick agility, she hopped up onto the wide sill. Only her knees brushed against him now. The stones were cold beneath her bottom and palms. She welcomed the shock. “I’ve offered you the story of my life. Are you fascinated and amazed?”

“You offered me the story of your birth, Naomi,” he corrected. He pressed his hands against the stones on either side of the window, imprisoning her within the opening. “Now tell me the story of your life. Were you happy as a child? Have you ever done something of which Brother Gabriel disapproved? How do you spend your time? What do you dream about?”

Suspicion crept up along her spine, making her fidget. “Why do you want to know these things? What am I to you?”

A definite purpose drove his curiosity. Fear surged through her. They were alone and she didn’t understand the way her body responded to this man. He had the eyes of a hawk, sharp and calculating.

And she was his—
prey
.

Naomi ducked beneath his arm and rushed for the door.

Gideon watched her flee, amused and intrigued.

“Fare thee well,” he called.

She didn’t even pause.

Strolling to the high, narrow window, he waited for her to emerge into the courtyard below. A smile played about his lips. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d found anything this stimulating.