The Spymaster's Protection (24 page)

Concentrating on bringing her the pleasure he had promised, he
continued to stroke her, exulting in the quivering response that vibrated
through her entire body. He brought her to the brink, then adeptly took her
away from it until she was squirming and writhing beneath him, her head thrown
back against the pillows, her lashes resting dark and thick on her damp cheeks.

He watched her as she teetered on the peak of ecstasy,
enthralled by the sight. Never had he wanted a woman as much as he did her. His
own body was on fire, in agony. He wanted her naked beneath him, writhing,
quivering like this. Part of him could barely hold back. But he wanted her for
more than a tumble in bed. This was not all there would be between them. He
wanted more, so much more!

Ignoring the demands of his own body, Lucien ended her agony,
and guided her expertly to a shattering climax. He captured her mouth in a
savage and powerful kiss just as a rapturous cry was torn from her throat. The
plunge of his tongue met the violent arch of her body as she clenched around
his fingers, her wild response nearly undoing him.

Near bursting, his body absorbed the shock waves that rippled
through her slim body for long moments afterwards. His heartbeat seemed
centered in his lower regions as he clutched her tightly to him on the bed. The
fact that he had moved her to such passion and led her to such pleasure filled
him with tenderness and pride. Amazingly, it seemed enough for him, despite the
pain in his groin.

When Gabrielle finally opened her eyes and looked at him, a
wondrous smile curved her swollen pink lips. Without taking her gaze off of
him, she lifted herself up onto the mound of pillows beneath her head and
shoulders. Her robe was buried beneath her. With a twist, she pulled it out
from under her, then tossed it onto floor. Finally, lowering her gaze from his,
she shouldered her way back into her nightgown. Her fingers glided over the
pink satin ribbons that laced the ruffled bodice.

“Thank you for this,” she murmured with a gut-wrenchingly shy
smile as she gestured to her new sleeping gown.

Lucien returned her smile, tenderly amused by her nervous
indecision about what to do with her partially unveiled body. “How did you know
it was from me? I put no name on the outside wrapping, except yours.”

“No one else knew I had no sleeping gown.” She blushed under
his scrutiny, charming him yet again. “It is lovely. I like the scalloped lace
edging. It will be cooler without sleeves, too. But tell me, how does a Templar
monk go into a shop and buy a woman’s undergarment?”

He laughed as he moved to scoot up against the carved wooden
headboard. “By going in dressed as an Arab, pretending to be a husband.”

Husband.
How I would love that
, Gabrielle thought.
I
have one, but he was never the husband this man could be, if it could ever come
to that.

She lifted her hand to his bearded cheek, then slipped her
fingers into the thick, shiny length of his sable black hair and shaped them
gently to his scalp. Wanting another kiss, she pulled his face to hers and
pressed kisses over his sharply defined cheekbones, his blade straight nose,
his thickly lashed eyes, his heavily drawn eyebrows. At his forehead, she
lingered in benediction, awed by the intensity of her feelings for him. Then
her lips trailed downwards to his.

She had learned much about kissing from him. And while she
would never have wanted to do it with Reynald, she craved the taste and
textures of this ex-Templar. She brushed her lips back and forth across his
mobile mouth, savoring him for a long while before gently nipping him with her
teeth.

When he gasped in surprise, she coaxed his lips apart and
sweetly invaded his mouth with her tongue. Her hand wedged between their
merging bodies to slip down and unerringly find his still swollen male
appendage, which was snuggly contained by his wool hose. She was sure he must
be extremely uncomfortable left in that state.

A ragged sound escaped his throat. She looked into his intense
eyes. He did indeed look as if he was in pain. She recognized arousal in a man.
Lucien’s was beautiful. For the first time, she
wanted
to ease that
arousal.

While it had frightened her initially, it had also given her
incredible joy to please him and to realize she was actually capable of
responding like this to a man. She wondered if he would show her how to stroke
him to release. She wanted him to experience what she just had. It had been
amazing! Never had she known anything like it. Never!

“Teach me how to finish it for you.”

Lucien could not halt the groan that escaped him. My God, this
woman was special!

“Not now, Gabi. Tonight was just for you.” Tenderly, he lifted
her hand from himself.

“Oh, Lucien, I’ve always been so afraid of this. I didn’t know
it was possible to feel such pleasure. It was….” She halted, unable to find the
words to describe how she had felt.

He understood, of course, and smiled, his special smile for
her; the crooked little one that made her heart flip-flop.

“I thought I would die of pleasure,” she admitted.

“Ahh, Gabi, there is a little death when the pleasure is
great, but there is a great deal more we can share.”

She laughed incredulously and nervously. “I want that,
Lucien.”

“So do I,” he chuckled “Our timing is lousy, though, isn’t
it?”

She shrugged, and a look of sadness stole across her features.

He felt compelled to erase it. “But the kingdom is always in
trouble. We will see this through together, somehow,” he said with quiet
affirmation. “I am not giving you up.”

She didn’t know what to say. She didn’t really understand what
she meant to him, but it sounded as if they were far from finished with one
another, and that gave her hope.

“Come… lie in my arms tonight,” he coaxed. “It has been a long
day, and I fear there will be more to come. Tonight, I just want to hold you
close and feel your heart beat against mine.”

Lucien settled himself against the pillows, remaining in an
upright position against the headboard. When he was as comfortable as he could
make himself, he reached for Gabrielle and lifted her to lie back, between his
legs, against his chest. He could feel her buttocks against his groin, and he
knew she could feel his arousal. It would take a long while for that to
disappear.

As she snuggled against him, finding her own comfortable
position, he slid both arms around her to hold her close. He felt the soft thud
of her heartbeat. It was steady and comforting. He nuzzled her hair, then
dropped his chin onto the top of her head.

Looking down, he saw the dim outline of her slender curves
beneath the filmy fabric of the nightgown. He wanted her still, fiercely, but
another time, he would make love to her and seek his own satisfaction. Tonight,
he wanted her right where he had her, held close against him as they found
peace and comfort together.

CHAPTER
12

The first faint rays of dawn awoke Lucien. Gabrielle was
soundly asleep in his arms still, and despite the fact that he had slept
sitting up, he felt more rested than he had in a long while. But he dreaded the
day. He had been in Palestine long enough to know what would likely occur
today. He wanted to remain here, in this quiet, peaceful chamber, with this
soft, warm, beautiful woman snuggled so sweetly against him.

He was very careful in easing out from behind her. She did not
waken, only shift and snuggle deeper into the bedcovers.

In his chamber, he discovered a fine long-sleeved chain mail
hauberk, slit in the front and back for riding, equipped with a leather-lined
mail coif. Next to it were a pair of chain mail chausses and a one-piece round
metal helm with a broad nasal guard. Mail boot coverings and iron spurs
completed the new body armor. Lucien was taken aback by the quality of the
armor and how generous Lord Raymond had been.

He’d never had the services of a squire for any extended
amount of time, so he had become very adept at lacing himself into his armor.
After donning clean wool leggings and undertunic, he put on his gambeson,
settled it over his hips, then proceeded with his suit of well-oiled mail.

Raymond had also gifted him with a plain black tunic. There
was no insignia on the front, but it was made of a light-weight wool-silk
blend. It was a garment of quality, and again Lucien was overwhelmed.
Sleeveless, the surcoat fell to mid-calf.

Beside the chair, there was a sword belt and a plain leather
scabbard in which he slid his personal sword, one he’d had made for him in
Damascus years ago. Because it was personal property, he had not been obligated
to turn it over to Brother Conrad last night.

When he was fully attired, Lucien shoved one dagger into the
belt at his waist and one into his boot. Finally, he lifted the conical helmet
off the seat of the chair, ready to join Lord Raymond downstairs.

This was his first day as a secular knight, a free lance. He
missed the familiar weight of his Templar gear, but Lord Raymond had gone to a
great deal of expense to replace it with equally fine equipment. He owed the
man.

Lucien was surprised to find that he felt at ease with his new
status. This morning, his decision felt right. He did not regret it.

But before he left, he had one more thing he had to do. He
found he could not leave her without bidding the lady in the next room goodbye.

Gabrielle was awake by the time Lucien reentered her chamber.
She watched him come to the bed and remained lying on her side, nestled beneath
the bedcoverings.

He was dressed for combat in his armor and sword. He looked
intimidating in his black surcoat. It darkened his countenance even more,
making him appear very fearsome. Gabrielle had seen him wield a sword and fight
in hand-to-hand combat. He was exceptionally skilled. She had witnessed Reynald
and his men training. Lucien possessed many deadly skills that went beyond the
norm. Twice he had bested the fida’i. Few men did that.

She should not be afraid for him, but she was.

She offered him a smile when he stopped beside the bed. “Lord
Raymond has gifted you well,” she commented in admiration as her eyes swept the
new armor and surcoat.

“Aye, he has been generous,” he agreed as he went down on one
knee beside her.

She reached out from under the coverings and took the hand
that was not holding his leather gloves. With eyes lowered so he wouldn’t see
her anxiety, she lifted his hand to her lips and kissed the backs of his
fingers, one by one. “Be careful today for me,” she petitioned softly. “Come
back to me. I have grown very fond of you, Lucien de Aubric.”

“I go not to fight, but to try to stop it,” he told her.

“It may be a futile effort.” She turned his hand, opened his
palm, and pressed a kiss to the scarred center.

“No doubt, but I must try.” He reached for her bare shoulder
and pulled her up and into his embrace. “I will return as soon as I can. Stay
within the walls of the garrison today.”

His nose nuzzled the hair loosened from her sleeping braid,
then his mouth trailed from her hairline to her lips.

Gabrielle curled her hand around the mail-covered nape of his
neck and held him tightly to her lips, which opened avidly to receive his
hungry kiss. He left her dizzy and shaken, but she managed to sit up in bed as
he rose and walked to the door. There were no more words to say, except
stay
,
and she could not ask that of him. The man he was would not allow that. She
knew him well enough now to realize that he would always try to find solutions
that would avoid blood being needlessly shed. She wished him luck, then knelt
to pray after the door closed behind him.

+++

Lord Balian met Lord Raymond and Lucien near the gates of
Nazareth. Having come from Jerusalem, then the garrison at La Féve, where he
had anticipated meeting the grand masters, he had then ridden on to where it
was reported de Ridefort was assembling a force of men.

Balian was sitting on the shaded steps of the Church of the
Nazarene with Josias, the archbishop of Tyre, when he spotted Lord Raymond and
his party. The count’s three sons, as well as Lucien, Nephrim, Omar, and a
dozen soldiers were with him. All dismounted to talk to the archbishop and the
baron of Nablus, while their horses were watered in a nearby trough.

“What has happened?” Lord Ibelin inquired worriedly as Lucien
and Raymond ascended the steps with their water canteens. “I went to La Féve to
catch up to our envoy, and they told me de Ridefort left yesterday to see you,
Raymond. Then, later, they got word that he was trying to raise a force to meet
some Saracen troops in the area. What were they talking about?”

Lord Raymond sank down tiredly on a stone step below the
archbishop and the baron. “I gave permission for Saladin’s son, al Afdal, to
send a reconnaissance party across my land.”

“Why?” Lord Balian queried, obviously confounded by the
unanticipated turn of events.

The count wiped his brow and sighed. “Because I made a treaty
with Saladin to protect my lands in exchange for passage across them.”

Balian shook his head. “Aw, Raymond, this will bring naught
but trouble.”

“It already has,” the older man conceded as he uncorked his
water canteen. “De Ridefort was at my keep for dinner last eve. He got wind of
the envoy, then learned of a nearby troop buildup and felt he had to confront
them. He was furious. He would not listen to either Lucien or I. He sent
dispatches here and to Caco in an effort to raise men for an attack.”

“Well, you have missed him. Josias said he left here at dawn.”

Lucien propped one leg on a stone step and rested his forearm
on his raised thigh. “How many men did he manage to raise?”

The archbishop of Tyre wiped at his balding pate with a
kerchief. “Master Gerard gathered one hundred and thirty knights, about three
hundred foot soldiers, and two score native troops. He rode out of here
shouting for the townspeople to follow, promising them a great Christian
victory and inviting them to plunder the fallen infidel soldiers. As you can
see,” the archbishop elaborated with a sweep of his hand. “Many took him up on
his offer, for the town is nearly deserted.”