The Iron Knight (The De Russe Legacy Book 3) (26 page)

He loved that she was such a soft-hearted woman. Rather than be jealous or petty towards the girl he was betrothed to, all she could think about was the girl’s feelings. It was the true mark of maturity.

“I know,” he said. “Would it make you happy if I speak to Juno and tell her of the situation? I was going to leave it to Holderness to inform her of the change in plans, but if it will make you happy, I will tell her myself. Mayhap that will ease her pain a little if I explain that my heart belongs to another. Surely she will understand that.”

Sophina’s heart skipped a beat. “Your… your heart belongs to another?”

His eyes twinkled. “It does.”

“Me?”

He grinned and kissed her on the forehead, releasing her face and turning back to the table with his tack on it. He picked up his leather belt again.

“More than likely,” he said, trying to sound glib, embarrassed that he was already talking about his deep feelings. “It is too early to say. You have not yet earned it yet although you are well on your way.”

Sophina could see that he was being evasive, but it wasn’t a bad thing. He was simply trying to jest his way out of a very serious subject. She fought back.

“You have not earned mine, either,” she pointed out. “But I will give you every chance in the world, so fear not. There is still the opportunity.”

He cast her a sidelong glance. “Cheeky wench,” he muttered. “I had better have your heart by sunset or I will not be a happy man.”

She lifted her eyebrows. “Oh?” she said innocently. “Pray, what will you do if I withhold my affections?”

“Dare you taunt me?”

“Never, my lord. It was simply a question.”

He couldn’t keep the smile off his face. “It is too horrible to speak of,” he said as he fastened the leather belt around his waist. “I will not tell you so that you can wonder all day long and be afraid. You will have no choice but to surrender to me.”

“That hardly seems fair.”

He burst out into soft laughter. “Mayhap it is not fair, but it is the way of things,” he said, finishing with the belt. The broadsword scabbard was next. “I must say that I am looking forward to spending the coming years bantering with you. You lighten my heart.”

Sophina’s eyes glimmered at him. “And you make mine sing,” she said, her expression rather coy when he looked at her. It was a sweet gesture. “Now, I must go to the kitchens and you must go to the wall. I will ensure that the keep is locked up tightly until you tell me otherwise.”

“Have you been through this before, then?”

She shrugged. “Many years ago when I was fostering,” she said. “But, as I said, my father’s home is peaceful. I cannot say that I ever remember it having been attacked.”

He nodded, hating that they had to get back to the business at hand. But there would be all the time in the world in the future to laugh and joke as they just did. He’d never looked so eagerly towards something in his life. He finished tying off the scabbard.

“Excellent,” he said, moving towards her. “I know the keep is in good hands with you in charge. And speaking of being in charge… I did not have an opportunity to ask you what happened with Susanna yesterday. I have not seen you since I left you here in the keep,”

“I know.”

“Did you speak with my daughter?”

Sophina was reluctant to answer him, for obvious reasons, but she had little choice. If she didn’t tell him what had transpired, Susanna surely would.

“Aye,” she replied evenly. “I did speak with her. I tried to explain how good behavior is much respected and bad behavior is loathed.”

“What did she say?”

“She threw pewter cups at me.”

He grunted, embarrassed. “I am very sorry she did that. She is….”

Sophina cut him off. “I spanked her for it.”

His eyes widened. “You did?”

She nodded, unable to tell if he approved or disapproved of her actions. She decided to give him the all of it, her reasoning behind what she did. “Lucien, I am under the impression that Susanna has never been disciplined in her life,” she said. “She is spoiled, willful, and deceitful, and when speaking of what she did to Juno’s father last night, she was very plain in telling me
why
she did it. She was angry you were not in the hall with her and she knew if she hit Holderness, you would come to her. She wants what she wants and she does not care who she hurts in the process.”

Lucien was trying not to look too embarrassed and foolish. “Aye, I did go to her, didn’t I?” he asked, but it wasn’t a question. It was a statement of resignation. “She told you that she hit him so that I would come?”

“She did.”

He sighed faintly, turning back to the table that still had daggers on it. His movements, so sharp only moments before, were now slow and pensive. “I am afraid I have not been a good father to her,” he finally said. “You know what happened when Laurabel died. I have told you all of it. With my son, I fear it is a lost cause. He hates me and has every right to. But with Susanna, I did what I thought I needed to do for her. I bought her everything she wanted. I never denied her anything. But I have created a monster and I know that, so nowadays, I try to spend as little time with her as possible. It is difficult for me to admit, even to myself, that when I look at her I see my worst failure. I fear that Laurabel would be very ashamed of how I have raised our daughter.”

Sophina went to him, putting a gentle hand on his arm. “She would have done what I did, I am sure,” she assured him softly but firmly. “She would have put that girl over her knee and spanked her. Susanna needs spankings and she needs them often until she understands there are penalties for her behavior. And she is not to have those canes back, Lucien. I threw them out of the window and she is not to have them back. She uses them as weapons and she must not be allowed to terrorize people with them.”

He looked at her, still feeling deeply ashamed in spite of her words. “You did what with them? Oh, it is of no concern. You are correct, of course,” he said. “I will make sure she does not have them returned. It is ironic; I command thousands of men who jump to do my bidding but I cannot command my own child. I will admit that she has been my greatest source of shame. I pray you do not think too badly of me upon realizing this”

Sophina shook her head. “We all have weaknesses,” she said. “You are no different, but I admire you for your admission. I do not think badly of you at all.”

He nodded faintly, feeling comforted by her reaction. Knowing she did not view him unfavorably, it gave him the courage to ask for help. “Then I will ask you,” he said, “how can I fix my failure? I am not one to ask for help, but I will ask if you will help me with her. I do not know what to do with her any longer and the older she becomes, the worse she becomes. You have such a lovely daughter so it is clear you know more about childrearing than I do. I would consider any advice a personal favor.”

Sophina touched his cheek, a sweet gesture. “Of course I will help,” she said. “I am willing to believe there is a sweet child under all of that naughtiness. I will help you find her if I can.”

Lucien was feeling a tremendous amount of hope and gratitude in her reply. So many emotions were swirling around in him that he reached out and pulled Sophina into his arms, his warm mouth slanting over hers. She fell against him, his hard mail against her tender body, but it didn’t matter. She snaked her arms around his neck, pulling herself closer to him even as he nearly crushed her in his embrace. He was seriously regretting the fact that he’d put his mail on because he very much wanted to feel her against him, her warmth to his.

Her scent.
Something sweet and musky filled his nostrils as he kissed her, causing instant arousal. God’s Bones, it had been years since he’d bedded a woman who meant something to him. Not since Laurabel, really. He’d had women since then, of course, whores who would follow the armies and were simply a warm body to release himself into, but to lie with someone he felt something for… it had been a very long time, indeed.

Lucien was consumed with the smell and feel of her, his mouth on hers, his arms around her, but soon enough, his grip loosened and his hands began to roam. She was wrapped up in his big robe but that that did not deter him; he was a man used to getting what he wanted. He was not subtle. His lips still fused to hers, he pulled open the robe, exposing the shift that she had slept in. It was Juno’s pale blue shift, finely woven, and her hard nipples pushed through the fabric. Lucien could feel them when he dragged his palms across her breasts and it drove him mad.

Something in him unleashed.

With a growl, he grabbed her by the waist and lowered his head, suckling her hard nipples through the fabric. Sophina gasped as he suckled and bit and tugged at her breasts, her hands finding their way into his long hair, holding his mouth against her breast as if to nurse a staving child.

Still gripping her waist, Lucien lifted her up onto the table that had so recently held his war tack. He wasn’t sure what he was going to do with her up there, but it was something instinctive.
Needful.
Her legs were parted as he yanked her to the edge of the table, wedging himself between them. One hand left her waist and snaked underneath her shift, moving for the unfurling flower between her legs. She didn’t stop him. The moment he touched her, he groaned.

“God’s Bones,” he muttered, his mouth still on the wet fabric against her nipples. “You are as wet as rain.”

Sophina didn’t have a chance to answer as he thrust fingers into her quivering body, first one and then two. She groaned softly, throwing her head back as she lifted her knees higher, giving him unhindered access to her tender core.

Her movements blinded him. All Lucien could think of was thrusting himself into her slick folds and he fumbled with the chain mail, trying to pull it up, trying to untie his breeches at the same time as his painful erection strained against them. He managed to push the mail coat aside, untying his breeches and working them down as much as he could to free his erection. Yanking Sophina forward so that her buttocks nearly hung off the side of the table, he arched his big body over hers and thrust into her willing, waiting body.

Sophina was so highly aroused that she bit off a cry into the side of his head as he plunged into her. It was the most wildly pleasurable thing she had even known and, almost immediately, her body began trembling with what was the first of several releases.

Lucien, feeling her body react to his in a most erotic way, didn’t wait to extend his pleasure. He could feel her body milking his, demanding his seed, and he was so wildly stimulated that in little time, he was answering her, climaxing so hard that he bit his lip in the course of his pleasure. But, God’s Bones, it was worth it. Every move, every grunt, and the terrible inconvenience of holding his mail coat up with one hand as he made love to her was worth it.

She
was worth it.

Everything about her was worth his life and more.

Beneath him, Sophina was still twitching, still weeping softly with continuing releases as Lucien gently thrust into her. He wanted to stay that way the rest of his life, buried in her sweet body, feeling her flesh react to his. He’d never experienced anything so satisfying. But along with that sweet thought was another harsher thought; reality was crashing. He could hear voices in the bailey and knew he’d been over-long. He had let his time with Sophina extend well beyond what was reasonable. Someone would come looking for him sooner or later and he certainly didn’t want to be caught with a woman impaled on his manhood. As much as he was loath to, he had to get moving.

“I am so sorry,” he whispered. “I should not have… but never have I known anything so glorious. My lady, would that I could take the time for…
this
. I should have taken the time. But….”

Sophina put her fingers to his lips. “Stop talking,” she murmured, grinning. “You have men to attend to and I must go to the kitchens. But I am not sorry in the least that we have been delayed.”

He returned her smile, rather slyly. “I look forward to revisiting this moment when I am not rushed,” he said. “In fact, I should go chase the incoming army away right this very minute. They must understand that I have more important things to attend to.”

Sophina laughed softly and he shifted, attempting to withdraw from her body. But the mere stimulation from his movement caused her to climax again and he felt her body throbbing around his semi-flaccid member, feeding his lust. He swooped on her, his lips suckling hers, grinding his hips against her Venus mound to soak up every last quiver from her body.

Gasping as the tremors died away, Sophina fell back on the table, watching Lucien as he pulled himself from her body entirely and pulled up his breeches. He tied them off, letting his mail coat settle down again, but when he looked up and saw Sophina laying there on her back, her legs still spread, he growled.

“Get up,” he told her, feigning sternness. “Get up and go about your duties. You are like a siren, luring me to my doom. I would rather bed you a thousand times on this table than tend to duties that cannot wait. You will be the ruin of me.”

Sophina sat up, smiling at him because he had winked at her. He’d meant everything he’d said as a compliment and she knew it. With his help, she slid off the table, pulling the robe around her body again and securing the sash. He was trying to straighten his coat and scabbard, helping her in the meanwhile, smoothing at her robe but he ended up grabbing her buttocks, instead. She laughed softly and moved away from him.

“You have more pressing things to attend to,” she reminded him, moving for the door. “I will be here in the keep and I will ensure that no one leaves or comes in unless I have your approval.”

He was following her out of the solar, so much lust in his eyes that he was certain every man who saw him from this point forward would know exactly what was on his mind. He didn’t much care, to be truthful.

He was officially smitten.

Lucien and Sophina parted ways at the keep entry, him heading for the gatehouse and her for the kitchens. But their parting was not without tender glances and a bold wink on his behalf, for now, things had changed between them. It was no longer a mutual attraction and a marriage proposal.