The Spymaster's Protection (29 page)

Determined to erase every terrible experience Gabrielle had
suffered physically at Reynald’s hands, Lucien contented himself with snuggling
close.

As if she were attuned to his thoughts yet again, she turned
toward him, wedged an arm beneath him, and pressed her breasts to his chest in
a tight embrace.

Lucien felt the full impact of her frontal assault with every
nerve ending. From shoulders to ankles, her soft, warm, naked skin rubbed
against his in a sublime flood of pleasure. With a little moan, she pushed her
knee between his, bringing her pelvis into hot contact with his groin.

Lucien had long since opened his eyes, but Gabrielle still had
hers closed. Her semblance of sleep was belied, though, by the mischievous
smile that partially curved her luscious mouth.

Lucien moved his hand to curve around her bottom and began a
gentle circular rubbing that elicited another purring sound from her. When she
reciprocated with a stroking of his back, from the base of his spine to his
shoulder blades, he shifted her beneath him and slid between her soft
warm
thighs.

His engorged shaft sought the swollen moistness of her sheath
almost automatically. As he slipped inside of her, her eyes opened slowly with
a soft sleepy smile. His name hovered on her lips, and he bent his head to kiss
her awake. His plunging tongue kept pace with his lower body, beginning with a
slow, sensual glide in and out, then increasing the rhythm to match his growing
desire for her.

Pinned beneath him, but by no means unhappy about it,
Gabrielle rocked her hips to keep pace with his plunging body. Winding her arms
and legs around him, she matched his movements in perfect unison. After their
repeated lovemaking last night, she was learning his desires, and she revealed
in giving him back as much pleasure as he gave her.

It had been five years since she had coupled, and she was a
bit sore, but Lucien was a consummately considerate lover. He had explored her
entire body and read every nuance of its reaction to him, his responses
completely attuned to her. Gabrielle had never imagined a man could be so
sensitive to a woman. It still amazed her that a monk, vowed to celibacy, could
be. She imagined he must have had a very skilled teacher somewhere along the
way. Either that or he was a naturally sensual, intuitive man.

By the time he finished with her, Gabrielle fell back against
her pallet, completely sated and wonderfully awake. She had never slept beside
a man and awoken to him in the morning. Reynald had always done the deed and
left her alone, of which she had been infinitely grateful. But sleeping in
Lucien’s arms, then waking beside him had been indescribably wonderful.

Turning to him, she saw that he was on his side, his dark head
propped in his hand, his even darker eyes watching her.

The held something she was afraid to label; it was so intimate
and tender. It stole her breath.

“You are so beautiful, my Gabrielle,” he murmured. “You addle
my wits and steal my breath away.”

Her lashes fell over her sparkling blue eyes and a blush rose
on her cheeks. “I was just thinking the very same thing about you.”

He laughed. “Then we shall spend the day together addled and
breathless.’

Her eyes snapped open in surprise. “You are not going out
again to scout the sultan’s troops?”

He shook his dark head and reached out to caress her cheek. “I
am going to indulge myself and spend the day with you. The Saracens I saw
yesterday are going nowhere. Saladin has called his faithful to arms, and they
will muster between here and Damascus, I believe, to await his arrival.
Besides, I have heard of a hot spring that bubbles up here and there in this
network of interconnected caverns.”

“So you want to go exploring today?” she asked with delight.

“If it pleases you.”

“It would be fun.”

Again, he was compelled to laugh. “Then that’s how we shall
spend the day— exploring, among other things,” he added with a wicked lift of
on dark eyebrow.

CHAPTER
14

“Lucien, there it is!” Gabrielle cried with delight. “We have
finally found it.”

He laughed, thinking he had not laughed so much in as long as
he could remember; maybe not even as a boy growing up on the war-torn frontiers
of southern Iberia. “So, we have, Gabi. Finally, we will enjoy a warm bath.”

They had searched the extensive cavern the past couple of
hours and found the tiny warm pool in the farthest reaches, it seemed. The room
was small, but tall enough to stand in. Without the torch, it would have been
completely dark.

Lucien stuck it in a crevice close to the pool and began
undressing. Gabrielle took her cue from him. Since he removed all his clothing,
she did, too. He had already tested the water to make sure it was not too hot.
After laying their garments on a flat-topped rock, they went into the water
together. Lucien held her hand tightly, helping her find her footing.
Thankfully, the water was not too deep and there was a partially submerged rock
ledge on which to sit.

Gabrielle did not really know how to swim, so she let Lucien
test the depth of the center of the pool while she sat down to watch him. When
he got to the middle, he disappeared below the dark surface so suddenly, she
cried out in alarm, thinking he had been pulled under or lost his footing in a
hole.

She was on the verge of diving in after him when he broke the
surface with a laugh. She then realized that he had simply played a trick on
her and scolded him with a swipe of water that splashed him in the face.

“That was cruel! I thought something was truly amiss!”

He stood, and she saw that the water came to his armpits. “I
am sorry, fair lady. I could not resist teasing you a bit. This is as deep as
it gets.”

She watched him rake his long black hair back from his brow
with both hands. The play of muscles the movement caused across his chest and
biceps transfixed her. It stirred to life desires that had last been sated but
hours ago. “What is the source of the hot water?” she asked with breathless
curiosity.

He walked toward her, and she was next captivated by the
increasing exposure of his magnificent body. “It is a small crevice at the
bottom of the pool. It is probably an underground spring that bubbles up into
this small rocky depression.” He gave her a wickedly mischievous grin. “You
must come get completely wet with me.”

“I cannot swim.”

“And yet you were ready to rescue me?”

“How could I not?”

“Indeed,” he responded, lifting her into his arms. “I will
keep you safe.”

Gabrielle knew he meant from drowning, but she took his words
more deeply, knowing with the strictest certainty that as long as he lived, he
would protect her from harm. Except when her mother was alive, no one had ever
done that for her.

In the middle of the pool, he could stand without being
submerged, but she could not, so he instructed her to wrap her legs around his
waist. The hard blade of his arousal pressed against her most intimately, and
she looped her arms around his neck with a shiver and a sigh.

“Does this help ease the soreness?” he murmured into her ear.

She leaned back to look at him. “How did you know I was a
little sore?”

“How could you not be after all of our lovemaking? Has Reynald
left you alone since Silvia?”

“He has for five years, thank the Lord!” she confirmed.
“Silvia was such a blessing!” She laughed, thinking most women might not
consider their husband’s mistress a blessing. “When Reynald met her, he was
instantly smitten by her wealth and land holdings. Hebron is a rich prize. But
he was also fascinated with her for other reasons, I discovered later. She
enjoys his decadent amusements. She also shares his greed, and she was of the
same political sentiment as Reynald. Did you know she believes Count Raymond
had her first husband killed?”

Lucien nodded affirmatively. “There has always been
speculation about that. At the time, both men were in line to be chosen as
regents to young King Baldwin. Silvia’s husband was killed in the streets by an
Assassin. Some believed Raymond had hired him to eliminate the competition. I
am not one of those.”

Gabrielle knew Lucien considered Count Raymond of Tripoli a
close and well-admired friend, so it was no surprise that he did not believe Silvia’s
claim. But Reynald had, of course. Her husband had long hated Raymond, despite
the fact that he had been inadvertently responsible for paying the ransom which
released Reynald from the Arab prison in Aleppo a decade ago.

“Well, Silvia didn’t want me at Kerak, and I was more than
happy to accommodate her and move to Jerusalem. Reynald seldom used his home
there. He preferred to stay at the palace when he went to see King Guy. By the
time Silvia came into his life, he had long tired of the poor sport I was
anyway.

“He stole every dream I ever had at fourteen! And over the
next few years, I discovered every cubbyhole and hiding place there was at
Kerak. From my secret places, I could hear him bellowing for me, especially at
his disgusting parties. Before he became grand master, Gerard de Ridefort was a
frequent attendee, you know,” she said as he carried her back to the edge of
the pool. “Several of your officers were, in fact. Would you like to know who?”

“I already do know,” he answered her disgustedly as he sat
down on the water-covered ledge and settled her beside him. “There isn’t much I
don’t know about the men of power on both sides of this conflict.”

Gabrielle thought it was probably the source of the cynicism
she often saw expressed on his face. “Despite everything, though, it was
Reynald’s and my father’s raiding and pillaging that tortured me the most. They
would come back from their forays covered in blood and laden with booty,
leading those they had overcome like animals to the slave markets.”

“His troops have always been loyal to him because he has made
them rich men, too.”

“It has been the source of my father’s loyalty to him. Reynald
has made Armand a wealthy man, with much more power than he ever had on his
own.”

Lucien had an arm thrown around her and traced the shell of
her ear, pushing her damp hair behind it in the process. “Did any of that
wealth ever come to you?”

She shook her head. “Only when Reynald needed it to make me
look good alongside him. But it didn’t matter. I wanted none of his blood
money. And my mother truly did leave me enough to be independent of both my
father and my husband, though I have only recently begun to use it.”

“What did she leave you?”

“A bit of gold, this necklace,” she told him, fingering the
pendant hanging between her breasts, “A few very remarkable, and, I suspect,
very valuable uncut gemstones.”

A look of astonishment crossed Lucien’s face. “Where did she
get such valuables? Certainly, not from Armand. You have said he hated her and
mistreated her.”

“He did. He was always cruel to her, from as far back as I can
recall. If he ever loved her, it never showed. After years of his verbal and
physical abuse, she finally took her life. At least, I think she did. That is
what Armand told me.”

“How did she die?”

“She jumped off of a tower at Kerak, the one on the side of
the cliff where it rises above the valley floor. She was found dead early one
morning at the bottom of the rocks, and father said she must have jumped. No
one ever questioned him otherwise.”

Lucien was sickened yet again by the reminder of what kind of
men Gabrielle had lived with for so many years. At any time in the past, her
life could have been easily snuffed out if her usefulness had diminished for
either her father or her husband.

Studying her beautiful face, he stroked her cheek tenderly.
“Do you think he killed your mother by pushing her off the tower?”

“He could have. But mama could have just as well taken her own
life. She had grown very despondent. I have always had a hard time believing she
willingly left me alone with Armand, though. She knew he didn’t love me anymore
than he loved her.”

“I am sorry your life has been so hard, Gabrielle.”

She stared at him and smiled sadly. “It got better after
Silvia. Then, when I went to Jerusalem, I met Brother Giles. He ended up being
my confessor, though he was not a priest. He got me involved with the
orphanage. Helping the children who became innocent victims of this war has
given me purpose and peace. I suppose it has helped to compensate a little for
losing my own child. It was a girl, you know. She lived for a few minutes after
I miscarried.”

Lucien pulled her into his arms and hugged her tight. What
could he say that he had not already? If it were possible, he would wish her a
new past. But all he could give her was the present and hopefully a future.
Though the kingdom was on the brink of a major campaign by Saladin, he was
determined to survive and offer her a new life, a safe and happy life. Of
course, his survival depended on the grace of God to a large extent, but he
prayed that was what the Almighty had in mind for him.

This woman needed him. He wanted to restore her dreams, then
fulfill them. And
he
needed her.

She brought out the good in him. In her, he found some
redemption for his many trespasses over the years.

There had been other women, though damned few, actually. He
had tried to follow the Order’s rule about fraternizing with women and
indulging in carnal relations, but he’d joined the Order young. His physical
needs had never been truly suppressed by the rigorous prayer and physical
training meant to not only hone bodies and souls, but baser appetites, as well.
He seemed better able to uphold his vows when he lived among his brethren, than
when he was required to be away from them for long stretches because of the
demands of his job.