Unleashed (7 page)

“Only when Father and Bettina gave me no choice.” A shudder rippled through her slight frame. “There were some friends of Aaron’s that always seemed to appear. I…” she swallowed, and he imagined she was remembering the scene in the garden.

“What did these young men say to you?” he asked quickly to get her mind off the morning.

“It wasn’t so much what they said,” she replied, choosing her words carefully. “But more how they said it and the way they looked at me. Aaron told me I had to be nice to them, but I think his definition of nice was very different from mine. If it hadn’t been for my cousin that last day I went to the art gallery…” She fell silent and shivered.
Lord Wulfgar was quiet a moment, noting that she made no mention of confiding in her father and the obvious lack of protection provided by her brother. Socton wondered again at the character of Amanda’s brother and the quality of his associates in the capital. Considering the value of the objects the young man had tried to steal, he realized that Aaron might have owed the men a great deal of money. Aaron had wanted his sister to be “nice” to them? How nice? Had Aaron unwittingly or even knowingly involved his sister in his own misdeeds? The look on Aaron’s face in the library came to mind. What would Aaron have done if he’d succeeded in leaving the manor? Who were his friends? Were they nearby?

The lord leaned back in his chair as Mrs. Anders came in with the teacart.

At their silence, the housekeeper glanced at her master then at the young woman’s troubled face.

“Something wrong, miss?” she asked with concern.

“I…no,” Amanda shook her head. “It’s been an emotional day.”

“Drink your tea, love,” came the motherly advice. “Then get a good night’s sleep. Tomorrow things will seem clearer.”

Amanda nodded but didn’t pick up her cup.

Wulfgar glanced at her as Mrs. Anders left them.

“Not going to drink it?”

“I’m not sure I should,” she whispered. “I’ve been having very…odd dreams.”

“Nightmares?” He frowned.

“No,” she replied, shaking her head. Wulfgar saw the blush even in the candlelight. “Just…I’m not sure it’s proper to discuss such things,” she finally said.

“Well, there’s no one else here,” he shrugged, growing more convinced in his heart even if his head told him he was foolish. “So…if they weren’t nightmares, did someone attack you or hurt you in anyway? In your dreams?”

“Oh, no,” she exclaimed. “Not at all…it’s just…” She frowned slightly. “I’m not sure how to describe it, my lord. I don’t know such things and…”

Intrigued, he watched her blush deepen from the roots of her hair down to her neckline. He swallowed, knowing what his dreams would be of that night.
More!

“I’m not sure I understand,” he replied with a casualness he didn’t feel. “But if you have dreams that frighten you, then call out and I’ll hear you.”

“Thank you, my lord,” she whispered in a barely audible voice.

He paused a moment.

“Amanda, I realized something while I was checking the estate,” he started. She raised her gaze from her still untouched teacup. “While to most, your father and Bettina are present, there is a chance that word will get out that most of today we were and are unchaperoned. I don’t want your reputation to be harmed, nor for anyone to even think such a thing of you.”

He stopped at the mixed look of horror and astonishment on her face. He covered her small hand with his. “Nor is your reputation my primary reason for bringing up the subject. I just thought you would be concerned about it. We have much in common and…” He swallowed. She stared at him, mouth slightly open, as if unable to think or react.
Best to plunge right into it,
he decided.

“Amanda,” he started over, voice deepening. Her mouth opened and closed soundlessly. “I realize now that you hadn’t thought about what could happen, but I would be honored to have you as my wife.” He could tell she wanted to say something. Her face went pale and her eyes dropped to their hands. He felt his confidence waver, and he floundered for the right words to say. “Today has been very difficult for you. Think on it tonight then,” he suggested. “Perhaps tell me in the morning.”

She looked at him, a mixture of horror, shame, and longing in her eyes. With a strangled cry, she jumped up from her chair and fled the room. Astonished at her reaction, Wulfgar could only stare at her empty chair. Mrs. Anders was in the room immediately.

“What did you say to the poor girl?” she demanded. “She was in tears.”

“I asked her to marry me. I hardly think that would drive a girl to tears,” he replied, insulted by both female’s reactions. How had
his
housekeeper switched loyalties? That bode well for the relationship between the two women, but still, Amanda was not yet Lady Socton.

“Well, something has absolutely terrified her. She looked like she’d seen a ghost. You better find out what it is. You can’t ask a girl to marry you and then not keep her safe.”

Remembering Amanda’s comments about her brother’s friends, Wulfgar nodded.

“I’ll find out now.”

He strode from the dining room and glanced about. Timson pointed toward the library and bowed at his lord’s thanks. Amanda was curled up in a chair in front of the fireplace. The expression on her face as he entered told him that she hadn’t thought he would find her so quickly.

“Amanda, who or what is frightening you?” he demanded, striding toward her.

She just looked up at him. A sudden, dire thought crossed his mind and he hooked a stool closer with his foot. Sitting down, he gently took her hands.

“Do I frighten you?” he asked quietly.

“No, milord,” she protested with such sincerity that his relief must have been visible on his face. She smiled. “It’s not you. It’s…”

“Your dreams?” he guessed, fearing the worst now.
But that means she remembers them. They’ve affected her.
“Your dreams frighten you?”

“Not frighten. Just…” She sighed. “I’m sorry, my lord. I’m not usually so flighty. Nor do I let dreams unsettle me. It’s just…”

“Things happen in your dreams that you don’t understand?”

“Things I know nothing about, so how can I be dreaming them?” she fretted.

He chose his words carefully.

“Amanda, sometimes dreams are the way our hearts and minds give us answers. It’s how we prepare ourselves for something or find the courage to change our lives.”

“They could use things I understand,” she grumbled.

He smiled at her spunk and thanked God. He wanted a wife who accepted his decisions, but also was strong in her own right. Any woman marrying into his family had to be.

“Perhaps your dreams are telling you that you need to be ready for a change.”

She frowned at that. With a slow smile, she nodded.

“Thank you for being so patient with me, milord,” she smiled. “I promise to ask my dreams for an answer to your proposal.”

“Just don’t have a nightmare?” he requested, standing and helping her to her feet.

She laughed, a dimple flashing. He escorted her out of the library toward the grand staircase.

“I don’t think I’ve had a nightmare since I was a little girl.”

“What was it about?”

She paused, a sudden odd expression on her face. He watched her intently, not daring even to breathe.

“I was in an unknown woods,” she replied, her voice soft as she remembered. “I was being chased by men. The snow was very deep. Up to my knees. I could hear someone ahead of me shouting my name. Someone I wanted to get to, but the men behind me were closer. I was very frightened because I knew that whomever was trying to save me wouldn’t get to me before the men did.”

“Is that when you wake up?” he asked, his mind pulling up faint memories of dreams of fear, a desperate need to reach someone. Dreams he’d thought gone.
She
is
the one!
The beast exulted in his mind.

“No,” she shook her head, gathering her skirts up in her hands so she could go up the steps. “I’m saved.”

He frowned, moving beside her, a hand at her elbow. “But you said…”

She stopped on the landing and looked up at him.

“A wolf saves me,” she said softly. “A very large wolf tears apart the men the way Aaron was torn apart this morning.”

He closed his eyes briefly. The snow that morning had been nearly to her knees. And more was falling. He remembered his concern about Aaron pushing Amanda into a marriage with him in the hopes that Wulfgar would pay off his debts. Perhaps realizing that, even if the pair wed, the Baron wouldn’t help his wife’s brother, Aaron had stolen numerous valuable objects to sell or barter for payment. Which meant, Wulfgar realized, the men Aaron owed might have followed the family from the capital. Perhaps to convince Heinrich to pay his son’s debts. Or to catch them on the road where it would be an easier matter to take Amanda from the carriage. Whether or not they knew that they would incur his wrath, the men would try to recoup whatever was owed to them by stealing Amanda. She was his to protect, he vowed. In silence, they continued up the stairs and stopped at her door.

“I’ll make sure you meet Bane tomorrow,” he promised. “Sleep well, Amanda.”

“And you, my lord,” she replied in a low voice.

Chapter Six

Thoughtfully, reviewing his words, Amanda changed into her nightgown and washed her face. Sitting up in bed, she said her prayers and stared at the fire for several moments. So much had happened.

It was incredible that her brother had died that morning and she wasn’t grief-stricken. She puzzled over that until she realized that he’d been her brother but he had been a stranger. Aaron had been full of discontent in their town, eager to be away and frustrated at anything or anyone that seemed to oppose him. Soon after her mother died when she ten, Aaron had been helping their father with some papers and realized that her mother’s family had no titles. Money, yes, but absolutely no “quality” to their blood. As his mother had been the granddaughter of a duke who had been on the king’s council, Aaron had lorded that over her and, she sighed, bullied her unmercifully whenever their father wasn’t around.

Her father and Bettina were somewhere in the manor. She wondered if her father would sort out his marriage. She hoped so, for his sake and Bettina’s. She had liked Bettina until they’d been married. And she didn’t like Bettina’s mother. Amanda scowled at the fire. Katerina Grunden was an interfering bully who belittled everyone who didn’t agree with her immediately. Amanda had long suspected that Katerina was responsible for the change in Bettina. Her father asserting himself as Bettina’s husband would displease Katerina mightily and, for that alone, Amanda hoped her father and Bettina emerged with closer marital bonds.

And to top off the day—Lord Wulfgar’s proposal at dinner. That he should be in her dreams and then propose had totally unnerved her. She had longed to say “yes” immediately, but was terrified of telling him of her dreams and what she was. To not tell him would be deceitful, and she could not deceive him if they were to be married. But she was so afraid that if he knew
what
she was dreaming he would be shocked and scandalized. Surely he would cast such a wanton out of his home.

She thought about his words. He thought dreams could give her answers or prepare her for something. That was worth considering. Could her dreams be trying to prepare her for being married to him? The memories flooded her mind and warmed her body.

She suddenly smiled. There was someone who might understand her problem and help her. She glanced at the clock and closed her eyes.

Cousin? Karl, are you there?

A moment later, she heard his startled thoughts. She sensed him waving off those around him and going into an alcove surrounded by potted palms.

Mandy? Where are you?

There was a blizzard. We took refuge at the manor of Baron Socton.

Socton is a good, honorable man, Mandy. He served the realm well during the Southern Rebellion.
She felt his pause and gentle probe.
You’re upset. What else has happened?

Aaron is dead. He stole valuable objects from the baron’s household. He was trying to leave the manor when…
Her breath caught in a sob.

Socton’s beasts stopped him. Did Socton tell you about them?

Yes. Father and Bettina are in a different wing of the manor. And… Cousin, he…he proposed to me tonight. I don’t know how to tell him…

Tell him.

I’m scared.

Don’t be. Trust me, little one. If anyone beside us two can understand, it’s Socton.
Again, her cousin paused.
If you can, try not to bring me into the conversation. Especially around your father.

You and the baron aren’t friends?

I’ve had to play a different game of survival than Socton. And he has some things to tell you as well.

Such as?

Those are his secrets to tell. Not mine.

Men!

His laughter filled her mind.
It’s late for you, Mandy, and if you’re that far, this will exhaust you. Good night. And congratulations.

Good night.

She snuggled deeper into the covers and fell asleep with a smile on her face.

For a third night in her dreams, Wulfgar opened the bedroom door. Pulling the covers from her, he gazed down at her a long moment. She saw fire in his eyes as he reached for the neck of her nightgown with both hands. With quick jerks, he tore it in half down the front. Shocked, she couldn’t move. He sat on the bed and covered her breasts with his hands. She sighed as he fondled the soft skin. He lowered his head and suckled on her tight nipples. He nibbled and licked them until they were peaked and aching. She gasped as his teeth nipped the hard peaks of her breasts. He caught her hips, holding her still as his mouth roamed her upper body. He seemed to relish the reactions when he touched her breasts and focused on them. Her hips shifted restlessly on the bed.

Relentlessly, he tormented the sensitive skin, his long fingers fondling the soft mounds, pinching and pulling at the nipples until she was moving frantically on the bed. Her skin was glowing with need. Her breath came fast and shallow. Her core tightened and ached. And her mind…her mind was demanding the explosion she’d felt the night before. The need became a hunger. She reared up off the pillows, reaching for him as she sat up. Her fingers tangled in his hair and forced him to look at her.