Ice Maiden (9 page)

Gently stroking the length of her unbound
hair, Bern watched the sun set through the open balcony. He lost
count of the hours he held her, listening to her contented sighs as
he gentled her fitful stirrings. His lips brushed her brow taking
away the frightened lines that came with her hated dreams. He
wondered how long it would take before the fearful memories left
her. She slept through this night because he held her and could
fight away the beast. “I will slay him, my dear Amy Bonner, somehow
I will find a way.”

She snuggled closer, her arm tightened about
his neck seeking the shelter he offered. Bern allowed his own eyes
to close in the darkened room. He felt for the first time that he
would honestly be able to keep this woman who came to find him.

* * * *

Bern watched as Amy started to wake, finding
it oddly satisfying. Rather surprising considering the arousal he
woke with and swiftly calmed. Damn, keeping his hands off her until
their vows might prove very difficult.

Seeing the disappearance of some of the
darkness under her eyes made it worth his self-inflicted torture.
He smiled over the graceful way her arms rose and reached out
across the empty bed. Her delicate fingers dug into the place he
left.
Already she missed him. Aye, such a sweet surrender my
Lady.
Nay, he may not have to battle her will to have her as
his wife, but Bern prided himself on not being a fool to think he
won. Amy wouldn’t give him all he wanted from her until she trusted
him and Bern already began his siege to prove to her she could.

“You stretch like a contented cat, my
Lady.”

He knew she was awake, even if she held her
eyes closed. Funny, how well he came to read her body signs.
Rubbing his sore leg he decided he gained some unexpected insight
from his injury.

Her eyes were the color of the morning sun
with that mellow brightness of the sky in their depths as they
studied him.

She couldn’t believe she still laid here
letting his gaze take its fill. But then she wasn’t beyond taking
her own bold study of him. Gawd, such a handsome rake, especially
with his hair all rumbled about his face and shoulder.

“You shouldn’t be up, yet.”

He smiled at the gentle scolding, she must
still be held down by her long sleep. “Nay lass, I need to move a
bit.”

Her knowing eyes fell to his hand massaging
the wound. “Shall I take out the stitches?”

“No need.”

His meaning sent her legs out and over the
bed’s edge. Raising his hand he stopped her advance. “I preferred
to do it myself.”

Was it pride that set his eyes blazing? Ach,
but he held so much store by it. “All right, how does it feel?”

“Tight, but sealed. You did well with your
mending. I have never healed so fast.”

“I see I have lost a patient.” A defeating
smile passed her lips, regretting that she would need to leave him
now.

Her gaze fell before his own penetration. She
moved slow, knowing she must go and wanting to leave. The hurt and
emptiness she felt told her of the error she made sleeping with
him. But her pride and heart ruled and she refused to feel anything
but joy over the experience. “I best go.”

“Aye, before I forget my promise and take ye
this very moment!” He caught the corner of her lovely mouth fight
the smile. “Amy, would you send Craig to me, please?”

The protest died on her lips, knowing he no
longer would tolerate her interference.

Bern couldn’t let her go, not with what he
felt from her. “Amy…”

Her shoulders tightened over her refusal to
turn and face him. Bern cursed the time holding them apart. “Ach
lass, if ye stay another moment I will damn us both and give into
what I want. Ye can crush stone lass and I am--only a man…”

He caught and held the laced fire in her eyes
before she raced out of his chamber. “You will believe in me, Amy,
I swear it.”

Her chamber wasn’t large enough for the
pacing she continued. She bit her knuckles to suppress her groan
hearing his raised voice issuing orders from the yard below her
rooms. “All my nursing will be wasted if he keeps up this
pace.”

She turned to control her fury knowing he
deliberately defied her order to return to his bed. “What a fool I
am!”

Of course he wouldn’t listen, not when she
screamed at him in front of his own men. “Damn your infernal
pride.”

She never meant to do it, but seeing the pain
contorting his rugged features became too much for her to ignore.
For three days he’d been charging about as if his very life
depended on it. She never should have left him or given in and let
Craig see him. He just couldn’t stay out of everything. “Whatever
it is.”

Sheltered sounded mild for how he now treated
her and no one defied him. Not one person would tell her what all
the fuss was about. Amy cursed her own ignorance for not being
aware of what she probably should be. She didn’t miss Lansing’s
perplexed frown following her every move. “Lansing…maybe he holds
the answers.”

The sound of her tapping steps descending the
stairs echoed through the near vacant halls. She shivered,
realizing she failed to notice the lack of guests milling about.
Their desertion from the castle started filling her with some very
unlikable reasons. Her steps weren’t as confident as she emerged
into the sun washed keep.

Men hustled about with a determination across
their serious faces. Many carried bundles of arrows up the open
stairs of the castle’s inner walls. Amy stood stark still, her gaze
fretting over the warning evidence she somehow failed to notice
before. Scolding herself felt useless, to admit being blinded by
one particular man left her feeling perplexed.

She wrapped her arms about her waist to fend
off the truth Understanding seemed to wash over her, “A siege.”

“Ay lass and I’ve never known you to be so
blind to your surroundings and the troubles that plague your
people.”

Amy’s gaze refused to falter before Lansing’s
harsh attack. Standing stock still he circled her like a prowling
wolf.

“Your senses have been snuff out since the
high and mighty Lord entered the keep.”

Her denials, if he expected any, never
surfaced. She couldn’t think of anything to gentle the old man’s
anger with her. She guessed she deserved it, but she didn’t like
the cold anger he held against Bern.

“Well? Are ye still bewitched or are ye
senses in order enough to tell him to leave and let me take
charge?”

Even should there be truth driving his
attack, Amy’s body shook over the denial racing through her. To
give this old man back his authority, in face of a siege, would be
a very foolish move on her part.

Bern stilled his desire to move forward and
break up the confrontation he stumbled upon. The veins in his jaw
throbbed in rage, knowing the reason behind her silence went deeper
than any spell the old man accused him of casting on her. Aye, he’d
deliberately sheltered her from knowing of the army camped beyond
the wall and he’d do it again, even if it meant suffering her rage
with him. So why didn’t he step forward and end Lansing’s
attack?

Trust me!
Screamed in silence from his
tight lips.

“He’s taken over, even your men are now
following his orders. He is an upstart!”

Something like blind fury took hold and
slammed into Amy. “Captain! I am sure Lord Randall is only doing
what he feels is necessary and it doesn’t take an expert to see
that without him and his men we would not stand a chance in hell of
defending these walls. I suggest that instead of criticizing his
efforts you start lending your own!”

Amy didn’t wait to see how the old man took
her tempered outburst. She spun on her heels carried by her only
thought to reach her chambers before the shaking in her legs over
took her.

The force of the hands that seized her in the
dark inner hall, smothered the frightened scream. But the large
body pressing her back into the cool wall seemed achingly
familiar.

From holding to caressing, Bern’s fingers
traced the parted warmth of her quivering lips before his own lips
silenced the pulsing intake of breath that passed their velvet
seal.

Amy’s fists unclenched to move up his broad
chest and hold onto the iron cords of muscled shoulders. His
invasion ran swift, breeching the weak protest she made against his
probing tongue--such power!

All thoughts of pulling away ended and she
surged forward to battle his tender assault and wither under her
fired passion.

He spoke against the blaze of her kissable
lips, “Ahh my Amy, you are so damn hard on a man’s
convictions.”

Her growling drew a submission yet victorious
sigh from his entire body as she leaned into his hard strength. He
fought the power she held over him and Amy gloried in the knowledge
of their shared suffering.

Between his ardent kisses that wanted to
explore more than her willing lips, she chaste him. “You could have
told me.”

“Aye, and then watch you fret over the
pending outcome.”

“Mmm…” It was near impossible to concentrate
on his reason. “When?”

Bern pulled back and looked into her
impassioned gaze, but the spark of mischief she smiled up at him
with earned his defeat.
Nay, it wasn’t bed she asked over.
“A shame.”

“I agree, but I’d hate to be interrupted by
the call to arms.”

“Ye sure the sprites don’t have ye?”

“Nay, my Laird…”
Only you
, but Amy
held the truth back.

He placed his hands on the wall beside her
head. Bern struggled to calm his desire to refute her concerns.
Gawd, but he wanted her! Army or not.
“A day, maybe less is
all we have before they attack.”

“Who are they?”

Amy’s hand cupped his cheek to stop his
retreat and refusal to answer. “Bern, please, not knowing is worse
than facing the truth.”

He wondered if she could truly grasp all that
was happening. How, in so short a time, did he feel his conviction
so strongly that she held no concept of battles and what would
come.

“Tis a rejected suitor.” His hands dropped to
her shoulders over the weakness that filled her. “Your good captain
indentified him.”

Bern didn’t mean to put his anger into his
last words, but then those probing sun-drop eyes of hers saw all
his volatile emotions.

“This man appears to be much more than a
rejected suitor--Bern?” Amy couldn’t control the shiver his cold
glare gave her.

“Aye, his name is Lord Peter of Hambolt.”

“Peter…” The dreaded name passed her stricken
lips before she could stop it. Bern’s tightening hold prevented her
from falling, but he couldn’t stop the fear from taking over.

“Amy?”

“No! It’s not possible--it can’t be him! He
couldn’t have followed me here.” Was time so flimsy a barrier that
he crossed it to finish her death?

Bern caught her and swung her body up in his
furious hold. His vicious curse made her fingertips grip his tunic,
where she buried her face from his burning glare. That first
morning in her chamber, what he heard all came crashing into her
conclusions. “But it cannot be him.”

He pulled her closer as he turned to take her
to her rooms. There shouldn’t be a reason for the rage consuming
him. This man, Peter, obviously wasn’t a lover as he first
believed. “Your beast!”

The ground out truth made her whimper against
his chest, causing his rage to escalate. Bern lost all caution, his
prior warnings concerning her forgotten beneath the weight of his
protective instincts. “Does he have the power to follow ye here,
lass?”

His internal anger didn’t blind him to the
sudden stiffening in the woman he carried.

Amy’s head swirled with questions.
He
couldn’t mean what she thought he said, could he? Did he know? But
how?

Amy felt shattered by the frightening answers
that pounded at her. Bern’s unbelievable knowledge scared her more
than the threat she prayed didn’t exist beyond this walls. When he
lowered her feet to the floor Amy couldn’t prevent herself from
pushing his hands away and stepping back from the threat standing
before her.

Every volatile instinct in his possession
reared to the front as his gaze took in the frightened woman.
“Lass?”

Her elegant chin rose as his gaze fell to the
uncontrolled quiver in her delicate lips still flushed from his
kiss. He couldn’t remember exactly what he said, but just seeing
her like this held the answers for the questions silently passing
between them. “Aye, I know--Amy Bonner.”

Amy could barely suck in her breath as her
head slowly shook to deny what he told her.

Bern’s foot pushed the door closed behind
him, his hand slid the bolt into place. “There be no running
allowed.” He might as well have yelled it out at her as she
retreated further into the room. With a forced calm Bern leaned
back against the barrier preventing her escape. “You are a vision
in the moonlight.”

“How dare you!”

“What? Watch you?” Smiling he shielded his
gaze from her. “How dare I not?”

“You could have said something.”

“I preferred listening to your confession. It
answered all my questions, Amy.”

She tried to hold still, only his gaze
followed her jerky movements about the walls closing in on her.
“You were delirious, I don’t know what you mean.”

Her weak denial stirred his anger with her,
but Bern let the embers cool knowing the reason driving her
defensive actions. “The only fever I hold is to touch the naked
beauty you keep from my hands.”

She must be insane. Amy nearly leaned towards
him, the betrayal set her teeth in refusal. But he wouldn’t relent
and his words penetrated the wall she tried to erect.