Love Everlasting (12 page)

“Tidbits?” Royce roared, his voice so loud
that Julianna stumbled back a few steps. “Are you mad? Have you any
idea what Kenric’s reaction will be if he learns you are lying to
him?”

“I suppose he will kill me,” she said,
thinking that so would Royce kill her, should he ever learn the
full extent of her duplicity.

“You are proposing to become a double agent?”
Royce asked, as if he couldn’t believe what she was saying.

“I seem to be in a perfect position to help
you,” she said. She thought her plan was the only way in which she
could ever make up for at least some of the damage that Deane and
Kenric, together, had inflicted by their treachery - not to mention
the damage that she had doubtless done by obeying Deane and passing
on the information she had gathered for him.

As Julianna saw it, her scheme had several
advantages. If Royce agreed to it, he could never speak openly to
Kenric about what she was doing, because that would reveal his
knowledge that his wife was acting as a double agent. Likewise,
Kenric couldn’t reveal Julianna’s spying to Royce because, so long
as she supplied information to him, he wouldn’t want her husband to
learn what she was supposedly doing for him. Trapped as she was
between the two men, Julianna dared to hope she’d find safety by
arranging for the continuing silence of both.

“Why are you so eager to help me?” Royce’s
gaze searched her face.

“It’s a matter of self-protection.” That was
certainly true. “If I refuse to do what Kenric wants, he will
declare publicly that I am a French agent. He’s assuming that,
since you know of Deane’s involvement, you will believe the
accusation against me. He will also play upon the fact that you
don’t really know me.”

“Indeed. There is that little detail.” He
regarded her coolly. “My lady, I have heard many wild and daring
schemes proposed in the last few years. Your plan takes my breath
away.”

“Does that mean you will consider it? I
really think it’s the best way - perhaps the only way - to prevent
Kenric from dishonoring you. And me.”

“I can think of two other ways to stop
Kenric,” Royce said. “I could kill him. Or, I could have him
imprisoned and hold him until he talks at length about his various
spying activities.”

Julianna gasped. Heaven help her if Kenric
talked. She could almost hear the swish of the headsman’s axe
descending on her neck. She knew she had to think of a very good
reason why Royce’s ideas would result in no benefit to him, or to
King Henry. He was watching her as a cat watches a mouse it is
tormenting. If only she dared turn away from him to break the
steady contact of his gaze on hers. But her courage failed her. She
stared back at him, hoping he wouldn’t see the terror that
nauseated her.

“You don’t look pleased by my suggestion,” he
said. “Yet, removal of Kenric, whether by the first means I
mentioned, or by the second, will eliminate his threat to you. And,
to my honor,” he added.

“Everyone at court knows that agents of King
Louis operate here at your sufferance, and that your people
routinely observe their activities,” Julianna said. “Wouldn’t
killing or imprisoning Kenric roil the placid surface of what must
be a very deep pool? With Kenric gone, wouldn’t you then have to
contend with new agents who are unknown to you? I should think the
end result of removing Kenric would be greater danger to King Henry
- and to your agents,” she added, making ruthless use of her new
knowledge that he anguished over every agent he sent into
danger.

“How neatly you state the situation,” he
murmured.

“Royce, I am serious. I admit, I’m afraid of
the damage Kenric may do if we don’t act.” She couldn’t tell him
how terrified she was of what Kenric would reveal if he were
imprisoned and forced to talk. She’d be safer with Kenric dead, but
she had just discovered that she didn’t have Royce’s fortitude. She
was incapable of consigning anyone, even Kenric, to certain death.
Perhaps, if she were required to do it for the safety of her king
or the queen, she’d find the strength. But she couldn’t do it for
her own personal benefit. “My lord, I really do believe that my
suggestion is the best method for us to employ when dealing with
Kenric.”

“Us?” He looked amused by the notion that she
might have any influence over his final decision.

“We are caught together in Kenric’s schemes,”
she said. “And together we must fight our way free of them.”

“Together,” he mused, regarding her with
unfathomable eyes. Suddenly he smiled as if he had no serious
concerns at all. “Very well, my lady, I will consider your plan. I
will, in fact, sleep on it and give you my answer tomorrow. Come.”
He held out his hand.

“Come where?” She was so startled by the
change in him that she was unable to reorder her thoughts.

“To bed,” he said. “Where else at this late
hour? We will sleep on your plan, together.”

She still hadn’t extended her hand to accept
his, but her lapse made no difference. Royce scooped her up in his
arms, shouldered aside the tapestry over the door, and carried her
to his bed. He dropped her unceremoniously onto the mattress and
fell on top of her. The jolt of landing dislodged her golden
circlet. Royce tossed it aside, then tore off the gold mesh net so
he could drag his fingers through the hair thus freed.

“My lord,” she begged, “if you will allow me
a moment, I will remove - I’ll be happy to - oh, Royce!” This last
exclamation was uttered as he thrust his hips against hers, letting
her know without words just how eagerly he wanted her.

“That’s better.” His mumble issued from
somewhere near the region of her left shoulder, where he was
nibbling at her skin. “I much prefer ‘Royce’ to ‘my lord.’ You
smell wonderful.”

“I do? Royce, please let me remove my gown.
If you keep pushing it down over my shoulders that way, it will
rip. What will Marie think when she finds it all torn and
crumpled?”

“Do you imagine I care what Marie thinks?” He
rose above her and set his hands at the neckline of the blue silk,
catching her linen shift in the same firm grip. Then, very
deliberately, he tore both dress and shift down the front until
Julianna lay exposed from throat to knee.

While she gaped at him, bewildered by her
eager, heated response to what he had just done, Royce pulled off
his own clothes. It took him but a moment, though he was more
careful with his tunic and hose than he’d been with her gown.

This time, she did not fear his size. Knowing
that he’d take her with him to a realm of sensual delight that was
still new to her, she accepted what he was about to do and
accepted, too, the warmth building inside her. She rejoiced in that
warmth, and stirred and stimulated it by touching Royce. Her
fingertips skimmed over his broad chest, teasing the golden hair
for a moment before she lifted her head and shoulders off the bed
to rain kisses over his chest.

She loved the way he growled deep in his
throat. This was the lion held in check, not quite purring yet, but
making rumbling sounds to indicate his pleasure. His arms came
around her, holding her close while he kissed her mouth with
remarkable thoroughness, his tongue performing a magical dance with
hers. She was breathless when their lips parted. Without warning,
he rolled over, pulling her on top of him.

“Since you are so eager, my lady,” he
whispered, “do with me what you will.”

“Do what?” she asked. “I don’t
understand.”

“Ah, my sweet, almost-virgin wife.”

“I am not!” she snapped. The man was
maddening, to torment her so in bed, though his teasing only
increased her desire for him. “Whatever I was before, I am not a
virgin after last night.”

“True enough,” he agreed with a mysterious
smile. “And now, I intend to corrupt your innocence still further.
Let me show you what to do. A good wife ought to learn how to
please her husband.”

He guided her so slowly that she feared she’d
lose her mind before the end, though she delighted in the kisses
and the caresses he demanded, and in the way he encouraged her to
touch him anywhere at all. In most places Royce’s body was hard as
steel, though he showed her a few areas that were warm and soft as
the finest Byzantine velvet. His appreciative murmurs banished the
last of her doubts about touching a man so intimately. Or kissing.
Or licking and sucking. With every caress she bestowed on him, the
heat in her veins flared hotter.

Meanwhile, Royce’s hands were busy, too,
teaching her to know her own body as well as his, showing her how
to receive pleasure as well as give it, until she was writhing and
twisting atop him.

“Royce, please! No more! I can’t bear
it.”

Laughing softly, he caught her by the hips,
lifting her and settling her down exactly where she needed to be.
She knelt there for a moment, transfixed by intense pleasure and by
astonishment that any man would allow a woman such freedom, that
any man at all would lie there beneath a woman and smile at her
while she moved on him.

She was still uncertain how to find her own
way, so he helped her, combining skillful fingers with firm
thrusting motions until she dissolved into rapture. Her eyes closed
and her lips parted, but no sound issued forth. Consumed by
ecstacy, she could not speak, though her body moved of its own
accord in sweet spasms that continued on and on. Royce supported
her until she began to return to her rightful senses. Then he held
her hips again, keeping her firmly in place for a few more vigorous
thrusts, and she felt his essence flooding into her.

She fell across his chest and he held her
tenderly, smoothing back her hair, kissing her forehead. A long,
languorous time passed before she braced her forearms on his chest
and lifted her head to look at him.

“I didn’t know such a thing was possible,”
she said.

“You will be surprised and, I trust,
delighted to learn what else is possible when both parties are
willing. And you, my dear lady, are most remarkably willing.”

“I prefer ‘Julianna’ to ‘my lady,’“ she
murmured, echoing his earlier words. The way his eyes crinkled when
he laughed pleased her enormously. She sighed in contentment. “I
never imagined a woman could find such pleasure in the marriage
bed.”

“I hope you will continue to find it
pleasurable.”

Her smiling gaze held his and she watched the
lines at the corners of his eyes deepen, saw the sparkle of warmth
and mischief in those grey-green depths. She wasn’t used to humor,
in bed or anywhere else, so when Royce tweaked a lock of her hair
and kissed the tip of her nose, then tickled her under the chin as
if she were a cat, she didn’t know how to react.

She was absolutely dumbfounded when he
wrapped his long legs around hers and twisted his lower body,
rolling until she lay beneath him. She was completely imprisoned in
golden-furred arms and legs, scratched slightly by the golden
bristles on his chin when he nuzzled her neck. She felt embraced by
a lion, muscular and warm, with breathtaking strength. At the
moment, a relaxed and satisfied lion, who murmured softly as he
fondled her breasts.

She had always imagined that only very young
men were vigorous in their lovemaking. She had heard court ladies
giggling about the prowess of the handsome squires who were their
lovers, comparing them to the aged husbands with whom most of them
were burdened. She’d heard occasional exasperated whispers about
how often the younger men expected sexual favors from their
mistresses. She had thought the ladies involved were disgusting,
but in those days she had been trapped in a cold and loveless
marriage. In those days, she had slept alone.

In Julianna’s mind, her marriage to Royce
began on that second night with him. The wedding ceremonies had
been formalities and their first night together had been a
necessary legality. The second night was for pleasure, and for
learning to know each other.

Royce was a remarkable teacher. She learned
to please him, and herself. She learned to laugh when matters did
not always progress as she expected. The difference in their ages
mattered not at all to her. Royce knew how to tease and delight
her, how to carry her to blissful heights and keep her there long
after she ought to have perished from sheer joy. He encouraged her
to experiment, to use him as her plaything when it pleased her -
and always, always, to laugh.

When at last she drifted into sleep in his
arms she knew she would learn still more from him the next time
they came together, as he would learn from her. In this at least,
they were equals, perfectly matched.

She could live happily with Royce, if only
she were not a liar and a spy. If only he were not the enemy, a
creature with sharp fangs and claws, a man who considered it his
duty to watch the execution of a woman who had spied for King
Louis....

With a cry she started upward, until Royce
pulled her close again.

“Hush,” he whispered, stroking her shoulders.
“Go back to sleep. It’s almost dawn and we sail for England on the
noon tide.”

Royce had neglected to tell Julianna in
advance that they were not traveling with the king and queen. Not
until morning did he reveal his plans.

“You may cross to England on one of the royal
ships if you’d rather,” he said, stretching lazily beneath the
quilts, “though I would like you to come with me aboard the
Daisy
. Cadwallon and Janet and their children are using the
same ship. We are the advance group, assigned to reach Norwich
before King Henry and Queen Adelicia arrive, and to make certain
all is properly prepared for them.”

“To make certain all is safe for them, you
mean,” Julianna corrected. She sat up and swung her legs over the
side of the bed. “I much prefer to travel with you. I expect the
Daisy
, whatever her size, will be less crowded and far more
comfortable than any of the royal ships.”