Forbidden Magic (20 page)

"I carried you," he stated simply, his voice low and tinged with anger.

"Then I should apologize for my rudeness," she replied softly, eyes averted, for she had sensed his mood and chose not to question its cause.

"There is no need. Twas at their insistence."

Jewel glanced up and smiled weakly, noting that he had not moved. Disturbed by his strange behavior and not Wanting to be alone with him, she slipped her legs over the edge of the bed and stood, straightening her garments as she did.

"Still, I must thank them for their generosity," she said quietly, moving toward the door.

"Your dreams betray you."

His deep voice filled the room, stopping her before she had traveled very far, and she turned to look at him, bewildered.

"While you slept, you called my half brother's name," he revealed coldly, pushing his huge frame up from the chair.

Jewel trembled slightly when he stepped toward her. "I... I cannot say. I... I do not recall the vision."

"Oh?" he asked, one brow raised. Standing before her, he captured an auburn lock of hair around his finger and idly studied its texture. "Mayhap I can guess. When a young maiden dreams, wouldst thou agree she would dream of the man she loves?"

Had any other posed the question, Jewel might have thought him jealous, but for Amery to feel such an emotion would be impossible, she decided. One would have to experience a deep affection for another before one could suffer jealousy. And by what right did this knight demand an explanation? Nettled by his intrusiveness, she could not contain the irritable frown that marred the smooth lines of her brow.

"Perhaps, Sir Amery," she replied curtly, snatching the strand of hair away from him.

A smile crept over his handsome face. "Then 'tis Radolf you love."

"Nay, I do not," she answered fervently. "I love no man."

Amery's eyes moved slowly over the lovely face, the slim, ivory throat, and feasted on the full swell of her bosom heaving against the restraints of her gown before staring into the pale brown eyes flecked with golden lights. "Yet I heard you call to him. You begged him not to leave."

"And to whom should I go to seek protection? You? 'Twas nothing more, m'lord, but a simple maiden fearfully asking help."

"In thy dreams?" he challenged. "From what didst thou seek aid?"

"'Twas no dream, gallant one, but a nightmare. I pleaded rescue from the one with green, shining eyes," she sneered, spinning away, but Amery quickly caught her arm and pulled her to him.

"Then truly a nightmare, little one, for Radolf is the man
you should fear," he hissed, his expression twisted with
hatred.

Jewel could feel every inch of hard muscled body touching hers, the anger, the bitterness coursing through his well-toned physique, and her own frustration seemed small in comparison to what he suffered. Amber-hued eyes stared into emerald ones, searching for the truth, a minute glimmer that what he had said was fact. Yet, if he were innocent, as Gunther had implied, why did he hold it from her? Did his friend honestly know? Or did he only hope? And why should she fear Radolf? Even he had not wanted to believe that his half brother had been responsible. He had no reason to harm her. With the nightmare still burning in her memory, her anger returned.

"'Twas not Radolf who murdered my family," she hissed. "Twas not Radolf who raped me. 'Twas not Radolf who stole into my chambers and forced me to leave with him. Nay!" She tossed the thick mane of auburn hair with an agitated jerk of her head. "Twas the man my father wanted me to marry. Twas you!" Tears filled her eyes, blurring her vision of him, and when she blinked, they spilled over her dark rims of lashes and fell unheeded down her face. "Tis you I fear," she cried, raising a tiny fist to strike his massive chest as she struggled to be free of him.

The battle lasted only a moment, for Amery's strength was ummatched and he easily subdued her, crushing her in his embrace. His lips came down hard against hers in a kiss filled with anger, stealing her breath away. She tried to pull away, hat the fingers of his wide hand caught the thick mass of hair at the nape of her neck and held her steady. Twisting his mouth across hers, he forced her lips apart with his tongue to taste the sweetness of their kiss and Jewel's mind reeled, her entire body set aflame. She had cause to hate him, to rejoice in the punishment he would receive for the crimes he had committed, to callously watch the execution of his sentence, then stand before his grave and damn his soul to hell. She had the right, yet when he touched her, simply looked at her, her pulse quickened and set strange yearnings coursing through her. Did her young body betray her where her heart should rule? Cursing the desires he aroused and her own weakness, she tore her lips from his.

"Loose me, Amery," she begged tearfully, jerking her head from side to side when he tried almost angrily to capture her mouth once more. With the absence of chain mail around his muscular frame, Jewel could feel his manhood pressed against her and knew he sought greater pleasures than just a kiss. "Please, Amery," she cried. "The others."

But it was as if he had not heard her and gave no thought to those who filled the adjacent room. Without comment, he stooped swiftly and took her in his arms, carrying her to the small bed she had vacated earlier. Bending a knee against the straw mattress, he lowered them both upon it, his mouth covering hers before she could frantically demand her release. He had trapped her arms beneath him and with his own pulled her closer, until Jewel thought she would faint from the unyielding embrace.

His hands roamed freely now, one cradling her face, the other tracing the slim outline of her waist and hips hidden beneath the gunna, and when he shifted his weight from her, intending to loosen the fastenings of her gown, Jewel wiggled one arm free, frantically clutching the neckline of her garment in an effort to save herself from her obvious plight. Their kiss ended abruptly when he raised his head to stare into her eyes.

"Do not fight me, Jewel," he warned, his voice low. "You have but one gown to wear. If you fear the others knowing, they will only have to look upon the torn remnants."

Vexed by his savagery, Jewel returned his angry glare; "And how wouldst thou explain when only you shared this room?"

"I would not," he answered coldly. "I owe them nothing. You are mine until I say otherwise and shall do with you whatever pleasures me." His brow furrowed. "Take thy hand away."

Jewel trembled in fear, her eyes glistening with unshed tears. Mayhap others still bowed at his command, sought his praise, or followed him unquestioningly—indeed, until the moment she had returned to Harcourt to find her family slain and Amery's name whispered among the serfs, she would have been counted among those loyal—but her blind allegiance had abruptly ended. And if it meant her death, it mattered little, for surely a place beside her family would bring greater peace and an end to her shame.

"Nay, I will not," she whispered, amber eyes staring bravely into his. "I will never freely give to you something that is not yours to take." Thick black lashes lowered to block out the sight of him. A delicate chin rose courageously. "So spill my blood, gallant knight, knowing 'tis as I will it." Jewel prayed silently in the darkness of her towered lids that her end would come swiftly, painlessly, for the torture she endured with each passing moment seemed more than she could bear. And when he did not move or speak a word, and only the warmth of his breath touched her cheek, she worried this too was part of the cruelty he had planned.

"Look at me, Jewel." The ominous tone of his deep voice shattered the silence, and out of fear she did as he commanded, staring into the stony face of her captor. "Your mind is set and it will take more than my words to change it, but hear this and know it as truth: Though I will never find a softness in my heart for women, I find little pleasure in the thought of killing them. I desire them, nothing more, as I desire you." His eyes affixed to hers, he slowly, challengingly, covered the hand clamped to her garments with his own and pulled it away. "Nor do I tolerate their disobedience."

His parted lips moved to the creamy whiteness of her throat just below her ear, sending a shiver through Jewel's entire body and awakening the memories of the night spent with him at the inn, and the torture she had endured again while alone with him in the simple hut. He had hurt her and she wondered if possibly she had brought on the pain with her struggles. She had fought him, .raked her nails over his handsome face, fruitlessly struck a delicate fist against the rock-hard muscles of his chest white desperately trying to- free herself, and the efforts had merely seemed to excite him further. A whimper tightened the muscles in her throat when his kisses trailed the long, silky smoothness of her neck to play lightly on the valley between her breasts. It would take great doing on her part to remain motionless while he had his way with her, but if it meant sparing herself an ounce of suffering, she would somehow find the strength. With her eyes squeezed tightly closed, she envisioned her first day at court and the festivities that lasted late into the night, all the splendor, color, and happiness she had experienced.

The scent of her, the soft fragrance of her hair, and the feel of her gentle curves beneath him flooded Amery's senses and drove all reason from his mind. She dulled his keen wit and made him victim to his own desires. He had watched her as she had eaten the humble meal near the fire, appraising her radiance in the crimson light of the blaze, the way it played upon the color of her hair and fell softly against her face as if caressing her, as he had longed to do. He had eaten his own portion of food in mute silence, hypnotized by her beauty and quiet allurement as she pondered some thought only she would know. And when her head had fallen gently forward in sleep, the thick mass of auburn hair flowing in shiny brilliance all around her, he had left his place by his companions and eagerly lifted the tiny shape in his arms. If they had objected, he had not been aware of it, nor did it matter, for nothing any of them could have said would have stopped him. Her warm body curled against his own and clinging dreamily fanned the flame of passion in him and it took steely endeavor not to share the bed with her once he had laid her upon it. Instead, he had forced himself to be content with only watching her from across the room until his own eyelids had grown heavy and he had slept fitfully in the chair.

He had been roused from slumber when he had heard her call out. Thinking harm had befallen her, he had bolted from his spot near the hearth ready to challenge the invader and relaxed when he discovered that she only dreamed. He had settled in the chair once more, enjoying the sight of her until he heard his half brother's name upon her lips and a bitter resentment flared up, singeing his pride and evoking inimical memories. Must everything he do be overshadowed by Radolf? Would he always be accused of the wrongs brought about by the other? Had all but Gunther turned against him? In a rage he had gone to her, accusingly, believing that even in the innocence of slumber she too, had betrayed him. Yet he could find no reasoning for the fury he unjustly sought to bestow upon the fair head. No damsel's loyalty had held such importance in the past and hers meant little to him now. He would bed her as before, sate his lust, and turn from her as easily as he had done all the others.

Blinded now by a haunting need to punish her, he quickly untied the fastenings of her gunna and tossed it aside, then hastily shed his own garments. But when he placed a knee to the bed to lower himself Upon it, he felt a strange sensation pour over him as his gaze fell upon the beauty bathed in the ruddy glow of the firelight. Pity? Guilt? The muscle in his cheek flexed. Nay, it could not be, he told himself. He had yet to experience such emotions over a woman and found no reason now. So what held him back? Emerald eyes lustfully roamed the length of perfect curves, the auburn locks of hair fanned out around the lovely face and shoulders, and his passion soared high. Damn the feelings that pricked his soul. He would have her this night and on the morningtide forget the stirrings of his mind.

Tears moistened Jewel's lashes as she kept her eyes tightly closed, sensing Amery's every move, feeling his gaze sweep over her. She shuddered when his weight pressed down on the narrow bed and the warmth of his body touched her. She fought to concentrate on the image of the dowager queen's bedchambers and the time they had spent before the fire sharing poetry and secrets, attempting to recapture the laughter and gaiety of those moments. The muscles in her throat tightened as she recalled how she had told Eleanor of her excitement about her betrothal to Amery, that she longed for the day they would marry. The musings of a lovestruck fool, she thought sadly, then gasped aloud when Amery's nakedness touched her own, his mouth capturing hers to stifle her outcry. Instinctively, she reached up to push him away, but he took her wrist in a firm hold and trapped her other arm beneath him as he lay to one side of her. He kissed her hungrily, savagely, bruising her lips, and Jewel twisted her head away, begging him not to harm her. But her words fell on deaf ears as he moved to sample the tender flesh of her throat, j the hollow at the base, then on to sweeter rewards.

Her vow to remain impassive vanished when his parted lips, hot and moist, pressed against her breast, his tongue exploring the taut peak, and when he released her hand to freely roam the tantalizing curves of her hip and thigh, she suddenly came to life. Arching her back, she fought to slip from beneath him. But his weight held her down and the effort only seemed to impassion him further. He shifted and his mouth returned to take hers again as he pressed a knee between her thighs and lifted himself above her. Every inch of their bodies met, the blistering heat of his lust consuming her and sparking a flame of her own deep within her. It spread rapidly to every fiber of her being, clouding her mind, her will, and arousing a strange desire within her, one she could not ignore, nor did she want to. As if commanded by a greater force, her arms came up to encircle his neck and pull him closer, her lips parting to welcome his kiss. She could feel his throbbing manhood against her and her womanly body responded eagerly, urging his first thrust, confused when he hesitated.