Rise of the Defender (83 page)

     Ralph laughed low in his throat. “Are you
feigning ignorance or are you truly unaware of our ties?”

     Christopher stood up. “Stop harassing my
wife, Fitz Walter.”

     Ralph smiled openly. “I am not harassing
her, truly, de Lohr. Your wife and I are related by blood.”

     “My wife would never be related to the
likes of you,” Christopher growled. “If you value your life, you will leave
this table posthaste.”

     Ralph stood back from the table but he
didn't leave. “I can see you are puzzled, so allow me to explain. Lady Dustin,
your mother was from Nottingham, was she not?”

     Dustin was seized with horror.
How did
he know that
? By not answering, she answered him completely.

     Ralph's smile was back. “You see, my lady,
your grandsire and my father are brothers. I did not know until I visited
Nottingham last month. Your grandsire is most anxious to see his only
granddaughter.”

     Christopher slammed his big fists down on
the table. “You are a liar, Fitz Walter.”

     “Not at all.” Ralph insisted. “Lady
Dustin's mother, Lady Mary Fitz Walter Barringdon, is Lord Bruce Fitz Walter's
daughter. Lord Bruce's younger brother is my father, Charles.”

     Dustin went white and she thought she might
literally become sick. Ralph could only beam at the two shocked people.

     “We're related, de Lohr,” he crowed
happily. “Isn't that amazing?”

     Christopher was furious. He pointed a thick
finger at Ralph, his manner slow and deliberate. “You will stay away from my
wife, and you will stay away from me. I want nothing to do with you, you
bastard. Get out of my sight.”

     “Anything you say, cousin,” Ralph said
flippantly, then gazed at Dustin. “Lord Bruce sends his love and regards, my
lady. He hopes you will visit him soon.”

     Christopher moved menacingly but William
Marshal grabbed him to halt any advance. “No, Chris, not here,” he said
quietly. “He is baiting you. Let him go.”

     Ralph flitted away, leaving everyone at the
table shocked and bewildered. Christopher, still inflamed, looked at Dustin.

     “You didn’t tell me your mother was a Fitz
Walter,” he said sharply.

     Dustin looked horrified. “'Tis a common
name.” she choked. “I didn't know…Oh, Lord….”

    
Then it is true.
Christopher
regained his seat and quickly took his wife's hand in a reassuring gesture. He
fought to calm himself.

     “I am sorry, sweetheart, I did not mean to
snap at you,” he squeezed her hand. “Calm down. Eat your sweets.”

     Much to his sorrow, she started to cry. He
immediately stood up and drew her with him, conveying his apologies to the
chancellor and the marshal, promising to return shortly. He would comfort his
wife first.

     He never received much of a chance to do
so.  By the time they reached their chamber, a messenger from John was waiting
for them. As much as he wanted to ignore the summons, Christopher’s curiosity
had the better of him.

***

     “Did you tell them?” John asked from his
vantage point.

     “I did,” Ralph was so damned pleased with
himself. “Quite a bit of luck, wouldn't you say, sire?”

     “Indeed,” John gazed off across the room to
the big table where Richard's loyalists were gathered. “I see her reaction was
as expected.”

     “Of course it was,” Ralph replied. “'Twas
only by chance I discovered the information myself. I know she had no idea that
I was her second cousin.”

     John glanced at him. “You look nothing like
lovely Lady de Lohr,” he said. “She must take after her father's family. Now
tell me, sheriff, now that the entire de Lohr camp is unnerved, what shall we
do about it?”

     “Do, sire? What do you mean?” Ralph sat
down.

     “What I mean is, we planned several months
ago to kidnap Lady de Lohr and spirit her off to St. Donat's Castle,” John said
shortly. “With the most recent developments, it is more imperative than ever
that de Lohr is put out of the way.  My mercenary army is even now in
Nottingham with your uncle preparing to strike Gloucester and it will only be a
matter of time before de Lohr mobilizes the crown troops. I want Lady de Lohr
taken away and hidden for safekeeping.”

     “You are planning to go to Nottingham, are
you not?” Ralph said. “’Twould be suspicious if you were both to vanish at the
same time. She either goes before or after you.”

     “Ralph, in light of the information we
received this day, I leave for Nottingham tomorrow,” John said irritably. “With
Richard a captive of Leopold and Emperor Henry, he is completely helpless and I
can rule England before the summer is out if I launch my army now to gain
control of his holdings. De Lohr will do everything in his power to stop me,
and I want his wife to be my secret weapon. I care not when she goes, just make
sure you follow through with it.”

     “I promised you I would, sire,” Ralph said
softly. “But 'tis the heart of winter now, and Wales will be hellish to travel
through.”

     John let out an annoyed hiss. “Then take
her somewhere else, Ralph, or do I have to do your thinking for you? Damnation,
I shall take her to Nottingham with me and she will be in good company with her
grandfather.”

     Ralph shrugged. “Verily - 'twould make
better sense,” he said.

     John liked the idea. “De Lohr would be busy
fighting your armies at Gloucester or wherever they go, never dreaming his wife
was with you, holed up in Nottingham. For her to be with you would be so
logical, he shall think it illogical.”

     John's gaze lingered on Ralph. “For months
now we have kept a low profile, building my army with Philip's wealth, the
stupid bastard. He thinks he controls me by it, when in fact, I may turn on him
like an ungrateful son,” he sat opposite Ralph, drawing forth his gaudy,
gleaming dirk and inspecting it absently. Suddenly, he tossed it sharply and it
sailed, blade first, into the banister of the balcony.

     Ralph eyed the blade, 'twas only inches
from his shoulder. “I look forward to leading your armies, my lord. Sir Dennis
and I will be an unbeatable team.”

     John watched his blade quiver, his thin
face thoughtful. “Victory is all that I ask. And de Lohr's defeat.”

     Ralph nodded slowly. “Success will be ours,
my lord.”

     “Send word to de Lohr,” John commanded
quietly. “In fact, send word to all of my brother’s loyal men. It is time to
put the last nail in my brother’s coffin, so to speak. I have need to speak
with his loyalists, and especially de Lohr.”

     Ralph carried out the prince’s directive
without another word.

CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT

     Marcus and, Dud were in charge of Dustin
while Christopher answered the prince’s summons. Reluctantly, Marcus had come
simply because Christopher had no one else to turn to because most of his
knights were too drunk or missing to attend his wife. Marcus was still smarting
from her rebuff earlier and he wanted to return to his bed. He hadn't even
fully dressed, only taking the time for breeches, a shirt and heavy boots.

     Dustin had been asleep several hours and, a
little after midnight, Dud complained of a sour stomach and left the antechamber
to seek relief. Marcus played with the monkey for a while before ending up
pacing listlessly in front of the windows.

     She was angry with him, he knew it. He felt
that if he could talk to her, reason with her, then mayhap she would see things
clearly. He had spent the week of her infirmary convincing himself that loving
Dustin de Lohr was a waste of energy, and vowed to move forward and put her
from his mind. It was growing easier bit by bit, day by day, and he knew he
would eventually be successful in chasing the woman from his mind. Already he
could look at her without feeling the strange, fluttering sensation in his
chest.

     But he needed to speak with her to settle
the air between them. With Christopher gone, he was alone with her and he
wasn't sure when he would have another opportunity to talk to her, just the two
of them. His courage rose and fell until finally, he bolstered the nerve to
open the bedchamber door. He hoped she wouldn't be angry at him for waking her,
but he felt strongly that he needed to do this.

     She was curled up at the edge of the bed,
and he could see that she was sleeping nude. Familiar feelings raced through
his veins, but he stopped them angrily and moved forward toward the bed.

     Bedclothes were bunched all around her,
covering her most intimate parts but leaving little to the imagination. Marcus
took a deep breath, trying to keep his mind on what he had come for. The room
around them was pitch dark, the only faint light coming from the dying fire
that hardly radiated beyond the hearth. Everything else was blackness as he
knelt beside the bed.

     He tried to speak her name but he choked.
Trying again, he leaned close to her. “Dustin?”

     She twitched a bit and he tried once more.
“Dustin, wake up,” he whispered.

     She sighed deeply and stretched, and his
mouth went agape as the bedclothes fell away from her magnificent breasts.
Marcus almost staggered back.
Jesus, I shouldn't be here!
But he forced
himself to stay. He had to talk to her, he admitted to himself, to ease his own
conscience.

     “Dustin?” he whispered smiling. “’Tis me,
Mar…..”

     Her arm suddenly snaked up and grabbed him
around the neck, unbalancing him in his crouch so that he toppled over on her.

     “You are back,” she murmured sleepily,
latching onto his earlobe. “I missed you.”

     Marcus' mind went into failure. Before he
realized it, his arms were going about her, responding to her. He knew he
should yank away from her, at least tell her who it was she was kissing, but he
could not force the words from his mouth. Guilt exploded within him but at the
same time, desire and lust such as he had never known flooded him like a
wildfire and he ceased to think, like a rational, moral being. All he could
think of was her, in his arms, as he had always wanted.

     In his blind lust, he was rough with her.
The fact that it was so dark in the room worked in his favor because she could
not see who it was and he had yet to utter a word. His mouth was all over her,
tasting, licking, sucking and she panted heavily in response to his less than gentle
ministrations.

     His clothes were coming off, she was
helping him. When his broad, bare chest met with her peaked nipples, he groaned
so low in his throat that he rattled his own teeth. Dustin laughed softly,
pulling him against her.

     He could not seem to touch her fast enough,
every inch of her skin covered with his hands or his mouth. His lips suckled
her nipples until they were raw, but she loved every moment of the sweet
torture and Marcus' mind was a black void, neither feeling nor hearing anything
but Dustin beneath his hands.

     He forged a trail down her flat belly to
her most intimate center, trying to be gentle with her but not being able to
control his want or his shaking. When his mouth came to bear on the pink folds
hidden behind the soft blond curls, Dustin nearly came off the bed with pure
passion. Her fingers delved into his hair, pulling at it insistently as she
encouraged him onward. His tongue was wild and wicked, driving her mad with
sweet torture as he savagely orchestrated her taut little bud. His hands, his
huge hands, never left her breasts.

     His tongue probed her passage, tasting her
with all of the hunger he had felt for her. He was beyond rationality, he knew
exactly what he was doing and who he was doing it to, but he suddenly didn't
care anymore. Had Christopher walked through the door at that moment, Marcus
would have fought him to the death. Some things in this life were worth dying
for, and she was one of them.

     When he could stand it no longer, he shoved
himself between her legs and drew her knees up, positioning his great shaft
against her orifice. Dustin had him by the hair.

     “Chris,” she whispered. “We shouldn't do
this. The midwife said….”

     He cut her off by thrusting headlong into
her, driving himself in the full long length and Dustin let escape a moan of
utter rapture. Marcus was unstoppable; he drove in to her again and again,
feeling her tightness like nothing else he had ever known, knowing indeed this
would be the greatest mistake of his life but knowing in the same breath that
he would die a contented man. He would live on this moment the rest of his
life.

     When he erupted, it was through clenched
teeth in the greatest explosion of pleasure. He pulled Dustin to him fiercely,
holding her with the most reverent of touches. He held her for the longest
time, caressing her, kissing her beautiful hair, until he felt her relax and he
knew she had fallen asleep.