Seduced (24 page)

"Do ye not recall I kissed her betwixt the
brows not long ago?" Cormac rolled his eyes at him. "Felt her, too.
Though I would much rather 'twas her shapely arse than her
shoulders."

Cormac vaulted over the table before Raik's
fist could reach his jaw. His laughter floated after him as he
headed toward a well-curved lass, her plump breasts bobbing as she
leaned across a table to spear a slab of cheese. Raik shook his
head, and as he did, spied Sybilla's gaze fixed on his carefree
friend. Hmm. She blushed.

He lingered, talking to the men his father
had provided. One man stood out amongst the sixty. Sir William. Not
because of his added height, though he was near as tall as the
Scotsmen were. He was a most comely man with shiny white hair, not
cut so close to his ears like the Norman's, but falling in waves
short of his shoulders.

Raik narrowed his eyes and studied him. He
looked to be past his fiftieth year. Considering his age, he was an
unusual choice as a warrior. Most likely, his ability leaned toward
judging all he saw at Seton and reporting it back to de
Mortimer.

William didn't seem reluctant to meet Raik's
eyes. Anything but. The man's gaze met his every bit as forcefully.
Huh! 'Twas a new way of testing strength? A staring match instead
of arm wrestling? Raik lifted his wine in a mocking salute before
he downed it.

Though loathe to do so, he must be off to bed
his bride, else all would think him unable to perform.... Cold
washed over him. For sure, pesky Lucifer chortled at having caught
him unaware to prod his manhood. The soft, fuzzy haze of time since
Letia had left the room soon became sharp and clear. He forced
himself to stand and ignore the shouts as he left.

Never before had he been reluctant to tup a
woman. So, why had he not followed when he ordered her to retire?
Mayhap because it lacked the secrecy of inching down a darkened
corridor, or slipping unexpected into a bed knowing that soft flesh
eagerly awaited his hands? He was still pondering his lagging
desire when he silently eased the bedchamber door open.

His desire far from lagged at the sight
within the room. Letia stood in a stream of moonlight bathing at a
basin. A dark blue robe draped low across her back and arms, its
weight held it there at the crook of her elbows, exposed the long
line of her back down to the dimples above her buttocks. A riot of
dark curls tumbled about her shoulder blades as she dipped her
head, engrossed in watching what she was doing.

Without a whisper of sound, he eased the door
to and moved in the shadows. His breath caught when she cupped the
weight of her left breast and lifted it. Slowly, she rubbed a soapy
hand over the plump flesh there, paying careful attention to the
straining nipple as she cleansed it of her mother's milk. Satisfied
now, she cupped her hand in the water and brought it up. Her teeth
worried her lower lip, and she shivered and squirmed while she
trickled water over her breast.

Raik's stones ached and grew heavy as he
followed the trail of water slipping down over her nipple, down her
rib cage, the wet flesh gleaming in the moonlight. His hand came
up, wanting to stop her from patting it dry with a small, white
cloth.

He barely drew breath. He did not want to
lose the vision of Letia as she turned her attention to her other
breast, treating it in the same way. Mannish his wife might be in
her daily pursuits, but inside her bedchamber, he could not deny
the desire she provoked.

His surging cock wouldn't allow him.

Raik shifted while he watched Letia, envying
her hand as it stroked over her snowy flesh. Had his clothing been
tighter, he would have urgent need to free his sex.

"I brought clean linen to bind your breasts."
Maud hurried through the doorway leading from the solar. She
skidded to a halt, the cloth sliding to the floor as her hand flew
to her throat. "Ack! Baron, you startled me." She plunked her
candle on the bedside table and picked up the spilled linen,
placing it away from the fluttering light.

Letia dropped her cloth and clutched the
sides of the robe to cover her gleaming nakedness.

"Why did you not announce yourself, my
lord?"

Though she had turned her back, he heard the
scowl behind the words.

"On entering my own bedchamber?"

"This is
my
chamber. Goda prepared
your room across the landing. You will remember it. The one you
slept in before." She turned to face him, holding tight to the
robe. He saw the missing tie on the floor near hidden by the
bed.

"Hm. And this room? Did ye not share it with
the late baron?"

"That is different. Warin brought me here
when we first wed."

He snorted in disgust. When a light mewling
sounded from the shadowed bedside area, he was sorry for his
irritation.

"This room has always been his. Ours,"

"Aye. And it is now mine. Ours."

Raik strolled over to find Aubrey still
sleeping, his little body moving quietly.

"I thought you would wish separate quarters,
since you no more wanted this marriage than I did."

"Ye thought wrong, wife. About the quarters.
Aubrey is my legal heir for all in England. I want a son, an heir
from
my
body for Scotland. I canna do that from across the
hall."

Maud snickered, reminding him she was yet
there. He could near hear Letia's teeth gnashing together.

Finally, she huffed and threw him a scorching
look. "Turn your back, sir, while Maud binds my...uh, binds me."
She beckoned to Maud.

"Nay, Maud. Yer mistress needs no bindings.
For truth, 'twould be even more like bedding a squire."

Maud stopped in mid-stride. He heard Letia
splutter but ignored her as he unclasped the gold pin holding his
red cape. Taking care to protect the yellow silk lining, he folded
the material inward. His gaze searched the room until he spied the
big chair beside the fireplace then sauntered over to drape it over
the chair's back.

"When ye leave, Maud, tell Edulf to bring my
things to the solar. Goda can see them brought here on the morrow.
You and Aubrey will take the room across the hall. Beginning
tonight. Cover yourself, wife."

He jerked open the door and called to the
sentry posted at the top of the stairwell. When the man came, he
ordered him to carry the cradle to the other chamber as gently as
possible so he would not awaken the babe.

"Nay. The child sleeps beside my bed," Letia
protested.

"I ken he was born in early May? Over two and
a half months past?" He quirked a brow at her. "Maud will bring the
bairn if he awakens and needs feeding."

"He stays with me. He oft needs feeding."
Letia's jaw jutted, her eyes glinted with determination.

"If he so oft needs feeding, then mayhap Maud
should see to finding a suitable wet nurse so ye can sleep of a
night."

Letia gasped. "A child should have his own
mother. He should not have to share another infant's mother."

"Then ye will no longer object to him
sleeping beside Maud's bed and having him brought here." Tired of
her trying to counter his commands, a streak of mean deviltry crept
in. "Besides, dear wife, if ye are as loud and lusty in yer bed
sport as ye are in anger, the little lad won't get his proper
rest."

She spluttered and sucked in her breath to
argue further. He crossed his arms and widened his stance.

"Enough. It grows late."

He stood, unyielding, as Letia gritted her
teeth and kissed the top of Aubrey's head. She glared at Raik while
the guard carried the cradle from the room.

"Maud, during the night, open the door but a
crack afore ye enter. If all is not quiet within, wait a bit and
return."

"Aye, my lord. To be sure."

Maud followed the guard from the room, and as
she passed him, only he could see the waggle of her eyebrows and
the long face she pulled at him. Why, she looked about to burst out
laughing!

He pulled the door to behind her.

Letia wanted to scream. Angry thoughts flew
about in her mind, making no sense.

How dare he banish her child from her room.
Uh, their room.

He wasn't Aubrey's sire... But he was.

He had no right... She gulped. He did.

Raik was the baron of Seton now, master over
all. Including her. Her scalp prickled. She scraped her fingers
through her hair then realized she had let go of her robe. Heaven
help her, she had flashed her nude body at him. She grabbed the
cloth and wrapped her arms around her waist.

Mayhap he had not seen. It was not so. His
lips lifted in a wicked smile and his eyes grew heavy with
lust.

His sword rasped over-loud in the silent room
as he removed it then strolled over to pass between her and the
bed. He placed it on the floor where he could easily heft it during
the night. She bolted to the far side of the bed and warily eyed
him as he unbuckled his belt and rolled it around the sheath. He
laid it on the edge of the table. As he crossed through a bright
shaft of moonlight, the red stone eye of the tunic's gryphon
glinted at her, as if it, too, eyed her with a disapproving
glare.

Tension crackled and swelled to fill the
room, pushing against the stone walls as if it would crumble them
outward.

She feared she'd lose what little she had
eaten and disgrace herself. What should she do?

What he expected.

All too conscious of her naked body beneath
the wrap, she eyed the bed. Mayhap it would be best to get between
the sheets. At least she'd be covered. Raik sat on the far edge of
the mattress removing his black boots. What if he turned as she
dropped her robe? She'd best hurry. Wetting her fingers, she
pinched out the candle. Her robe went flying with one hand as she
held the covers up with the other and jumped into the cold bed.

When the bedding rocked him, he glanced over
his shoulder and grunted. She eased further down in the sheets
until she was near off her pillow. She thought better of it. What
if he turned to lean on his elbow to say something and clipped her
chin? She wriggled her way back up.

"Do ye always root like a hungry pig around
the bed at night?"

"I was not rooting. The pillow was in the
wrong place."

He stood and the bed swayed again. She rolled
toward the middle.

"Ye're doing it again. Do ye intend to sprawl
over the whole bed?"

She huffed in disgust and scrambled back
toward her edge.

He grunted, satisfied. And continued
undressing. The room darkened as clouds built, heralding rain
before the sun next rose. She watched his shadows as he slipped the
red tunic over his head with a silky whisper, followed by the long,
yellow shirt. He seemed as careful with these garments as he was of
his cape.

As he crossed the room, the clouds passed and
he stood, his front bathed in bright moonlight. On that first
moonless night the year before, he had come to her and removed her
robe to hold her. She had been conscious of his height then and
felt the hard ridges of his muscled body. But she had not
seen
what her body had felt standing against him.
Naked.

Raik's beautifully defined chest was
impressive. Each section of muscles stood out, prominent and cut
into his body as if they were made of Scottish granite. They
tapered down to a trim waist and a dark, deep bellybutton and flat
lower belly. Black hair sprinkled his chest and trailed down. And
down. To a heavy nest of springy hair.

His tarse and balls were imposing. Aye, she
had glimpsed them before, inert as they laid there betwixt his legs
when she tended his injuries.

And she had known their hardness when they
coupled. But she had not expected to see them like this.

Lifeless. Uncaring.

He did not find her desirable.

Raik had no need of a seer's powers to know
Letia watched him. He felt her gaze probing the darkened room,
studying his body as he passed through the shaft of moonlight.
'Twas apparent he'd lost his urge to couple. He stretched out on
his back, folded his arms beneath his head and stared up at the
forest green canopy over the bed.

He would have to convince his unruly cock it
should raise to the occasion, for he had to consummate the wedding.
And not tomorrow or the day after. Tonight. What if on the morrow
she attempted to back out of the marriage stating he had not
fulfilled his husbandly duties? He would not chance losing Seton
and this single opportunity that he would ever have for a home and
land of his own. King Stephen would not put an official seal to his
possession until he knew Raik had done the deed.

His
bride
was as still and silent as
he. Mayhap if he pretended his Lily was abed with him his cock
would awake? Uh. He closed his eyes and pictured those nights. He
inched his hand down to feel his sex.

Soft….Lifeless…. Hiding against his
stones.

The room was too bright. Not near the same as
it had been those sensuous nights. He jumped up. The bed creaked
and swayed like a ship at sea. He stamped over to the window
opening and slammed the shutters together.

Ah, good. He turned and looked toward the
bed. It was too dark to see her eyes staring, mocking him.

Letia gritted her teeth and willed herself to
get through this. In those stolen, moonless nights she had spent
with him, he had been a careful, considerate lover. Surely he would
be the same with a wife—even a wife he had not wanted?

But what if he recognized her body in the
dark? Could a man tell when he had swived a woman before? Hmm. Her
shape wasn't the same, for her breasts were heavy and lush and her
stomach was soft and rounded.

Too, in that time before, she had come to
him, even seduced him as much as she had known how. Tonight, he had
invaded her room. The circumstances were entirely different. If she
remained indifferent, he would never know she was the same woman.
She intended to be as still and unresponsive as an oak tree on a
quiet day.