Return of the Rose (32 page)

“Don’t let your father’s hatred of women stop you from opening your heart to others. I can’t bear to see you suffer.”

“What do you know of my father?”

“Only that he was a deeply bitter man ruled by possessiveness and a suspicious nature.”

A sardonic smile curved his lips. “My mother ran off to share another man’s bed. Mayhap my father had reason to be mistrustful.”

“How can you be sure? Did your father tell you this or did you actually see your mother with another man?”

Derek stiffened. He did, in fact, see his mother leave Braddock for good. He would never forget it as long as he lived. Neither would he ever forget the sweet fresh scent of her or the softness of her skin when she used to tuck him into bed each night. “Do you know where your lover is right now?” he asked suddenly, ignoring her question, intent on changing the subject.

“He’s not my lover.”

“He is locked in the upper towers,” he said with much satisfaction.

~~~~

Morgan didn’t believe what Derek said about locking Robert in the towers. But maybe that was why Derek’s man had been so nervous when she’d questioned him as to Robert’s whereabouts. No, she told herself, it couldn’t be true. This was probably a test of Derek’s. She would show him that Robert meant nothing to her. She stared into his dark eyes, unblinking, her heart filled with love.

“Let your hair down,” he said curtly.

Startled by his request and surly tone of voice, she held his gaze and decided to do as he requested, now more sure than ever that he was testing her. She pulled the pins from the coil atop her head.

Derek stepped closer, his eyes resolute and vacant as though all emotions had been erased. She was conscious of a great fury burning inside of him, and yet, she could not resist the temptation to feel his arms around her, to feel the power of his touch. Her palms grew moist and her heart beat rapidly as he came close. Her skin tingled from the feel of his body pressed against her.

He felt warm and strong. It felt like years since they had made love. If only he could see that she truly loved him. A love like no other. Maybe if she could show him, he would give himself a chance to love her back.

She felt his hands slide up over her silk covered buttocks, over her hips and across her belly.

Morgan’s lids grew heavy. She was hopelessly addicted to his touch. “Derek, I love you—”

He stopped her words with his mouth, driving his tongue deep and pressing his body hard against her until she was backed against the wall. His hands and mouth devoured her.

Morgan was taken aback by the primitive, turbulent feel of his kiss and the urgency of his touch, but she was losing all sense as she arched into him, craving the feel of him. Thinking he would carry her to his bed and make mad passionate love to her, she was surprised when he quickly suffocated any lingering appeal by stepping back, pulling away from her. He took hold of her arms and returned them to her sides. Then he straightened, smoothed his hair back from his face, and headed for the door.

“What are you doing?” she asked, a flicker of pain crossing her face when it became clear he was done with her.

His eyes roamed over her and he said in a bored drawl, “That was very nice. Is that what you wish to hear?”

Morgan met his gaze squarely and straightened her shoulders. “I don’t understand. I mean nothing to you?” She felt only astonishment that after all they had been through he could so easily disregard her with such casual indifference.

He was a tall dark shadow as he turned and left the room without another word. Morgan stared at his broad back and shoulders as he walked out the door, her eyes stinging from the emotional blow he’d just tossed her way.

~~~~

Three days had passed since the siege. It was late at night and the moon was hidden behind a band of fog. Morgan tossed and turned in bed. She had stayed by Odelia’s side for most of the day. The bruises on Odelia’s face were now deep shades of red and purple. After eating all of her broth, Odelia had fallen fast asleep downstairs.

The castle was deathly silent and even the birds seemed to be waiting for the sun to rise and brush the sky with streaks of orange and red. This world seemed yet unspoiled, and Morgan decided that whatever happened she would remember only the beauty of everything she had seen and done while she was here.

Her thoughts turned to Derek. She had not seen him since their last encounter in his bedroom. She’d hoped time would bring him to his senses but now she was beginning to see that his heart truly was impenetrable. Matti had been wrong to think that she could break through his hardened soul when he’d worked so diligently to keep the stone walls surrounding his heart.

Unable to sleep, she wondered suddenly if Derek spoke the truth and Robert really was held within the upper towers. Why she thought of it now, she didn’t know, but she would not be able to sleep until she checked the towers upstairs. Sliding from bed, she put on a light shift and went to the stairs. She’d been up to the towers before and they were usually devoid of people, but she’d seen a maid descend the stairs only hours before she went to bed. She crept up the stairway and when she reached the top she tiptoed across the floor, peering into each room and alcove as she went. A noise caught her attention and she rushed to the next room. A guard slept on a cot before a cell, the guard’s loud snoring a constant, irritating wheeze. Her mouth dropped open when she saw Robert curled up on the floor in the corner of the cell.

Derek had indeed locked Robert up. It was simply incomprehensible that Braddock’s people would allow such a thing. Robert DeChaville had helped save the damn castle. And they all knew it. Her hands shook as she searched the room for the keys, her heart sinking as she spotted the metal ring attached to the guard’s breeches.

She took quiet steps to the man’s side and knelt slowly to the ground. The guard’s snore was stentorian and she nearly fell back from his dragon’s breath. Her brows drew deep in concentration as her fingers nimbly worked at the man’s belt. His hand jerked up to scratch his nose. She held deathly still, dared not breathe. The guard rolled to his side until she was forced to look him square in the face. She took in a slow breath through her nose. When his snoring resumed, she clutched the keys tightly in her palm to prevent them from clanking together as she slid the ring off of his belt.

For a moment she thought Robert might be dead as she slipped the key in the lock. The snoring behind her grew louder.

“Robert, wake up,” she whispered into his ear.

His eyes shot open. He stared at her in disbelief. “Has my dream become reality?” he asked in a whispered voice.

Morgan motioned toward the guard, gesturing for Robert to stay quiet. He sat up, taking quick notice of the key within the cell door. His grin revealed his joy at seeing her. He pressed his mouth to her ear. “You, my sweet one, never fail to surprise me.” He kissed her cheek. “‘Tis good to see you faring well.”

Morgan whispered back, “Go. Before someone comes.”

“You are not coming with me?”

She shook her head.

Robert tilted her face upward so that he could peer into her eyes. “Do you not remember the vows we spoke to one another before I set out to seek my fortune…our fortune? Can you recall thy very own words before you so casually let me fly away as if I were an old hawk of no use?”

He eyed her necklace, stared at it for a long moment before reaching for the pendant. His somber expression changed abruptly to wide eyes and a slack jaw.

The sudden change in his expression gave her chills.

His thumb rubbed over the rose-shaped pendant. Abruptly, he gazed back at her with narrowed eyes, confusion clearly lining his brow. “Look at me again,” he whispered, tilting her head upward toward the faint light coming through the high window.

Seconds rolled by.

“Why did I refuse to see it before? Amanda’s pendant is nearly identical to this one, only hers is of a bird in flight instead of a rose.” He pulled the leather strap from around his neck and showed it to her. “Amanda gave this to me for luck until we met again.”

Morgan could hardly believe what she was seeing. Amanda’s pendant was made from the same stone, carved with so much detail and sanded smooth.

Gently, Robert grasped her shoulders, perusing her thoroughly as though they had only just met. “‘Tis the truth you spoke all along,” he said.

She felt his hands tremble on her shoulders as he spoke again. “My Amanda is out there searching for the one who has unknowingly abandoned her for another. Is that not so?”

She nodded. Relief flooded her insides like a tidal wave within until the guard’s loud snoring snapped her attention back to the matter at hand. She grabbed Robert’s arm and gestured for him to follow her. Quietly, she led Robert halfway down the stairs to the weaving room.

“Good luck,” she called before closing the wooden hatch. Robert would be safe, she thought, which meant it was now time for her to leave Braddock for good.

~~~~

Derek watched DeChaville leave. He sent word to the guards at the tower to let him be. And he did not have to question his wife to know she was the culprit.

He slammed into her bedchamber unannounced, moving toward her with lightning speed. “Sit down!” he ordered.

Her face paled, but once again she refused to obey him. “I’m busy; what do you want?”

“I came to see what my lovely wife was up to. Does she sleep, I wondered? Or does she dream of the husband she loves so dearly?”

“If you didn’t come here to my room to talk rationally, I would prefer it if you left me alone.” She looked at him with sad, melancholy eyes. “You’re making a big mistake, Derek. But I’ve come to realize that it’s not me you’re mad at.” She stepped closer to him and peered into his eyes as if she could see into his very soul. “Who are you mad at really? Is it your mother?”

“You speak in riddles,” he said uncomfortably.

“No,” she said softly, “I only speak the truth. I love you, Derek. I’ve never loved anyone the way I love you. I only wish I had met you at a time in your life when you were ready to love me back.” She shook her head and turned back to her things on the bed. “You’re too busy holding on to the past. Condemning all women because your mother left you—it makes no sense to me, especially since you know she tried to come back for you.”

“I know of no such thing. And I do not appreciate your speaking of things you know nothing about.”

She seemed taken aback by his words. “You didn’t know?” she asked as she moved toward him again. “Your mother came back for you but your father would not allow her to see you. She brought her case to the church but as she waited for their guidance she was forced to watch you from a distance. She died before she ever received word from the clergy.”

He gave a small shake of his head. “My mother left for another man.”

“Your mother left because she couldn’t take your father’s abuse any longer. She was running for her life.”

“‘Tis rubbish. My father’s only failing was loving her too much.”

“You call that love? He nearly killed her with his bare hands.”

Derek gave her a slow, appraising glance. “Your stories never cease to amaze me. You, Amanda Forrester, have caused only trouble since arriving at Braddock. I gave you time to settle in. I listened to your endless falsehoods of being from another time, another place,” he waved his hands through the air and added scornfully, “And I allowed you to seduce me with your deceit. I must add though, how much I enjoyed your little game. I saw a side of you, or should I say, much more of you than I bargained for.”

Her eyes burned fire and yet her voice cracked. “You’re the one who doesn’t care to know what happened that night we arrived back at Braddock or how that one-sided kiss took me by as much surprise as it did you.” She touched his chest with a finger. “You shouldn’t be here accusing me of this and that when it’s you who is too wrapped up in your rotten past to ever let anybody through that scarred soul of yours. Many people in the world have been abandoned and abused as children, and yet many of them have dared to love and be loved.”

His eyes bore into hers.

“I feel sorry for you. You are loved by everyone around you, but you are too stubborn to see it. I had hoped that someday you might love me, but it seems you lack the capacity to love anyone in return.”

Husky laughter rumbled from his chest. “Once again you amaze me with your incredible acting abilities. Please, go on.”

Her cheeks turned fairly red and she appeared to fight back tears.

He felt the damning want of her, not just with his body, but with his whole being. But he knew he would never again give credence to a word she uttered. His pride would not allow it. He had seen her dancing with Robert at Windsor, even before Leonie had come to him with the news. He had told Leonie he well knew whom his wife danced with that night, and then he had waited patiently for his wife to explain. But Amanda never did. He had every intention of talking to her about the incident, too. But then he’d left his burning castle to go in search of her and found her in Robert’s arms. Seeing her in another man’s arms had been too much. He would not play the fool again. His father had been right all along. Women were shrewd, devious creatures and were not to be trusted.

He looked at Amanda through narrowed eyes, surprised by her unfamiliar silence. “If you are quite finished with your—I must say—most powerful scene yet,” he said derisively, “I have something to add to all of this. Sort of an ending, shall we say, to this incredible, long…played out scene.” His voice went from mocking to business-like as he added curtly, “In one week’s time we will be married formally before the king as he so wishes. Before and after this ceremony takes place, you will cooperate fully with my people to see to it that things run smoothly here at Braddock. As for the two of us, we will live our lives as we see fit. I almost forgot,” he said as if an afterthought, “as of tonight, you will share my bed. Give your room to your maid. I care not. You are my wife, and as long as I see fit to have you in my bed, you will sleep beside me.” He smiled as if they were good friends.