Claire Delacroix (13 page)

B
rianna stared into the indigo gleam of Luc’s eyes and swallowed. She had absolutely no choice but to lie.

Again.

Matters were definitely not proceeding according to her plan. Luc had not been sent away from Tullymullagh by Gavin, indeed, he had apparently not even been troubled by the man striking him.

Brianna felt a grudging admiration for the way Luc stood up to his sire’s bullying. But admiration was the last thing she wanted to feel for this man!

Not only did Luc show an annoying ability to read her very thoughts, but he had had the audacity to kiss her nose! ’Twas difficult indeed to think anything of merit at all with her heart skipping as it did now.

Brianna was very aware of those perceptive blue eyes so dangerously close to her own. She took a deep breath and prayed she would not be struck senseless by repeating her lie.

Father Padraig was full of such dire warnings.

“Aye, you are,” Brianna managed to utter despite the lump in her throat. She hoped Luc interpreted her flush as one borne of maidenly modesty. “ ’Tis only natural to be
curious, I would think.” Brianna summoned her brightest smile and desperately tried to disguise how much Luc’s featherlight kiss had troubled her.

When his smile broadened, she was quite certain she had failed. ’Twas uncharted territory Brianna had entered—there was little doubt of that. And there was less doubt that she would continue onward nonetheless.

Brianna would not reflect upon the import of that.

“And equally natural for a man to be reticent about his past,” Luc countered smoothly. He stepped an increment closer and Brianna could not help herself from stepping hastily back.

Then she cursed her weakness when Luc smiled and closed the distance between them once more. Brianna slid back one step, then another, yet one of Luc’s long steps was all it took to put them toe to toe once more. She retreated, Luc lazily laid chase, until Brianna felt the trunk of a tree collide with her back.

Fool! Brianna closed her eyes in defeat, fully expecting to open them to find Luc close.

But he lingered a few feet away, his warm gaze yet upon her. There was something of his smile that reminded Brianna of a hungry wolf on the hunt.

But she was supposed to be making
him
flee! Frustration rose within Brianna as she became newly aware of the box pressed against her belly. She needed Luc out of the orchard, out of the bailey, and out of Tullymullagh! How could she turn this tide?

But Luc
had
conceded disinterest in talking of his past. Perhaps Brianna’s plan to plague Luc with questions until he willingly departed Tullymullagh had promise, after all!

’Twould have to do. Indeed, the warm scent of Luc’s skin was so merrily addling Brianna’s wits that she could not possibly have conjured an alternative.

She was thinking instead of a certain bone-melting kiss granted beneath the stars.

Brianna pushed such recollections from her thoughts. She tipped up her chin with defiance as though she had planned all along to back into this tree. “So,” she inquired brightly, “are you indeed a bastard?”

To her disappointment, Luc appeared supremely untroubled by her question. “So many questions,” he mused, “and those of a man disinclined to answer.” Luc met Brianna’s gaze with startling suddenness. “What shall we do?”

Pinned by that steady regard, Brianna had a hard time taking a breath. “You
must
answer me,” she declared in a rush. “I am the princess of Tullymullagh, after all.”

And Luc, to Brianna’s surprise, laughed aloud.

’Twas a rich and merry sound, all the more so because ’twas unexpected. His eyes twinkled in a most intriguing way, the crinkle of laugh lines revealed that he was not oft so sober as he had been thus far. Luc looked markedly younger, and when his warm regard collided with Brianna’s own, her heart skipped a beat.

“And I, like all others here, must dance to your bidding?” he inquired mildly, then arched an ebony brow.

Brianna cleared her throat, quite certain the prospect had never sounded so whimsical before. “ ’Twould only be fitting,” she said stiffly, “as an acknowledgement of my station.”

“Ah!” Luc scanned the orchard for a moment, then flicked a bright glance at Brianna. “Perhaps ’twould be
more
fitting if we made a wager.”

There was something in Luc’s teasing tone that warned Brianna she would not be enamored of whatever wager he had in mind. Aye, a decidedly mischievous gleam had taken up residence in those blue eyes and Brianna had the sense she faced an unpredictable man.

All the same, she was very curious.

“What manner of wager?” she asked not troubling to hide her suspicion.

His smile was fleeting, and Brianna knew he had not missed the import of her tone. “ ’Twould be a simple enough wager,” he confided easily. “For each question you would have answered, I would take a toll of one kiss.”

“Oh!” Brianna straightened, hating how his very words sent the heat of anticipation surging through her. Curse her lips for choosing to burn in recollection now! “That would hardly be appropriate!”

Luc shrugged. “Ah, well, ’twas but a thought.” He pulled out his knife and turned his attention upon the tree bough beside him, frowning as he nicked away a tiny spur.

“But what is this you do?” Brianna demanded, not in the least bit pleased by how readily Luc appeared to forget her.

He glanced up in apparent surprise. “I must await Burke and might as well do something of merit in my days here.” And Luc turned back to the tree.

Brianna nibbled her lip. This was not right at all. Luc was supposed to go on her quest, Gavin was supposed to force Luc to depart, Luc was supposed to flee from her prying questions.

But none of that had happened. She surveyed the apparently engrossed man through her lashes and considered her predicament. ’Twas clear enough that Luc Fitzgavin would challenge Brianna’s every expectation.

Could she surprise him instead? ’Twas evident that he did not expect her to accept his wager. Surely she could bear a few kisses—her heart raced at the prospect—to see her ends achieved?

Surely she could devise questions that would make a reticent man writhe?

There were precious few options left to Brianna. She had
to see this man gone, one way or the other. She took a deep breath and straightened. Luc flicked a very blue glance her way and she wondered whether he was truly as indifferent to her as he would like her to believe.

The very prospect cheered Brianna immensely.

“I accept,” she said with a toss of her hair and was gratified to glimpse surprise lighting Luc’s eyes. ’Twas gone as quickly as it appeared, but Brianna had the distinct sense that she made progress on her course.

She would see her way yet!

Brianna stepped forward and shook her finger before Luc. “But I have a condition of my own for this wager.”

“Aye?”

“Aye. You must answer what I ask of you, fully and honestly, regardless of this reticence you claim.”

Luc folded his arms across his chest and his glance was chilling. “You doubt my intent is noble?” he asked coldly.

Brianna echoed his pose and lifted her chin. “
You
are the one who calls yourself a fallen knight!”

Luc stared at her for a long moment, then muttered something beneath his breath and shook his head. He then inclined his head, but not quickly enough that Brianna did not note the brightness of his gaze. “Fair enough,” he conceded in a low voice that made Brianna shiver in anticipation.

Had she made a fool’s wager? Surprisingly enough, Brianna did not care.

Then Luc’s sapphire gaze bored into her own and Brianna was aware of naught but the way his words echoed with conviction. “You have my oath, my lady, that I shall answer each of your questions as fully as I am able.”

Brianna could not help but believe Luc. There was a grim line to his lips, a certainty in his words, that made her trust in his pledge. ’Twas a fiercely determined knight who faced her in this moment, despite his garb, and Brianna recognized
Luc’s rare resolve. He must once have been a formidable knight.

’Twas no petty reason that had made Luc set aside his spurs, Brianna guessed.

The thought made her eyes widen in excitement.
There
was a tale Luc would not be ready to relinquish! Brianna parted her lips to ask her question, but Luc stepped closer and silenced her with a single finger laid across her lips.

His flesh was warm, his skin roughened. Brianna could feel the strength of Luc’s hands even in that gentle touch and thought suddenly of the possessive way he had gripped her waist the night before. Brianna stared into blue, blue eyes and could think of being nowhere else in Christendom.

Then, that twinkle made a reappearance and Brianna knew well enough to brace herself for this unpredictable man’s next words. Luc lifted his finger from her lips with deliberate slowness and Brianna wondered whether he truly could read her thoughts.

Or discern the tingle his touch awakened within her.

“I do believe, my lady,” Luc murmured amiably, “that the tally stands in my favor.”

Brianna gasped in astonishment. “But we have just made the wager!”

“And we have only just met.” Luc shrugged. “Surely ’tis only fair to make an accounting?”

“You! You have an audacity beyond all!”

Luc grinned. “And you do not?”

Brianna flushed and sputtered as she sought an argument. Truly this man conceded naught to her. “ ’Tis
different
!” she finally declared.

“Ah! Because you are a princess and I am no prince? Or because you are a woman and I am a man?” Luc watched her avidly and Brianna knew she needed absolutely no reminder of the difference in their genders.

Indeed, she had never felt so utterly feminine as she did in this man’s presence. ’Twas clear he had awakened some part of her that had long been slumbering. Brianna stubbornly resolved to grant him no inkling of that.

If she could. Aye, perhaps she had merely come of an age when she was susceptible to the allure of men.

It could have naught to do with
this
man. He was most irksome!

Brianna lifted her chin and counted out kisses on her fingers for the man before her. “You kissed me last eve,” she recounted, “and again this morn.”

“I?” Luc feigned innocence. “ ’Twas you who agreed to that kiss last eve.”

Brianna’s lips thinned. “At your behest!”

Luc shook his head. “And an onerous burden ’twas for you to bear.” Brianna might have heatedly agreed, but Luc arched a brow and she knew he had not been fooled.

“It counts,” she insisted instead.

“But not the one this day,” he argued. “ ’Twas no more than a peck.”

“A
kiss
’twas,” Brianna maintained stonily. “And I demand it be counted as such.”

“Fine,” Luc agreed with an alacrity that immediately fed Brianna’s suspicions. He lifted his own fingers. “And now, we count your questions. Last eve alone …” he rolled his eyes. “Oh, my lady, in truth, I cannot recall them all, they were so numerous.” His gaze slid to meet her own. “Shall we call it a dozen, for the sake of simplicity?”

Brianna felt her cheeks heat. Aye, she had asked him so many questions the night before. “Nay! ’Twould not be fair to count them all!” She jabbed her finger toward him grimly. “We begin from the kiss itself.”

Luc frowned. “Oh, I am not certain that is truly fair, my lady, after all—”

“After all, you have won your way in more than your share already this day,” Brianna interrupted tersely. She granted Luc her most steely glare. “Truly you are the most irritating man I have ever had the misfortune to meet.”

Luc merely grinned, unrepentant. “If I did not have impeccable manners, I might well return that compliment, my lady,” he teased.

“I am not irritating!”

“Not to those who immediately do your bidding, no doubt.” Luc grinned and folded his arms across his chest, clearly not counting himself among their number.

Brianna did not care for the way that confident smile loosed an army of butterflies in her belly. What a perfectly vexing man!

She took a deep breath and glared at Luc. “We begin the tally from last eve’s kiss,” she stated.

“Your questions from this morn, then?”

“Aye.” Brianna folded her arms across her chest, quite certain this accounting would come in her favor.

“Let us see, then,” Luc mused, then tapped his left index finger with the right. “You asked if I was injured,” he recalled, fixing her with that disconcertingly blue gaze.

’Twas true enough. Brianna wrinkled her nose. She had forgotten that, but even conceding this question would leave the count in her favor. She nodded mutely.

Luc tapped his second finger and Brianna found herself noting the lean strength of his fingers once again. He had a considerable tan, though as soon as she noted that, she tore her gaze away from his fingers. “And you asked if I was Gavin’s eldest son.”

“That does not count! I
knew
that already!”

“Then why did you ask?” Luc asked mildly. That twinkle revealed that he knew well enough that he was right and Brianna hated that she had been so foolish.

No longer. She would beat this infuriating man at his own game.

Or die trying.

Brianna gritted her teeth. “Aye, I did ask that.”

Luc grinned then, tapping his third finger in a very disconcerting way. “And do not forget, my lady, you asked if I was bastard born.”

God’s wounds, but she had! Did the man remember everything?

Perhaps she
had
made a fool’s wager.

Nay! She would see this through.

Luc’s voice dropped low enough to melt Brianna’s very bones. “Do you truly want an answer to your question, my lady fair?” he asked silkily.

And his gaze dropped pointedly to her lips.

’Twas more than clear the price that answer would bear.

Brianna opened her mouth to protest but nary a sound came out. She felt her color rise, she stared into Luc’s eyes, and she silently acknowledged that she wanted Luc’s kiss more than his answer.