What the Heart Sees (8 page)

“Where will you go in the meantime?” she asked, a little shaken to think he might sail for Normandy or Brittany to await the king.

“Not far,” he said through gritted teeth. “The greenwood is vast and thick and filled with others who wait patiently for the Lionheart’s return; we will join them. I will become an outlaw on my own demesne and attack, harass, and slay whoever Lackland sends to occupy these walls. If it proves to be de Caux, then all the better. If he attempts to plant a crop in my fields, I will burn it. If he tries to rebuild my village, I’ll destroy it. If he comes into my woods to hunt me, I’ll lay traps and send his head to the regent on a platter.”

He glanced over and studied her for the first time since she’d come into the chamber. She had a smudge of dirt on her cheek, and her sleeve was torn at the shoulder, but he thought he had never seen anyone so brave or beautiful.

Not knowing the thoughts kindling behind the pale blue eyes, Cassie pretended to focus her attention on picking a sliver of wood out of her hand.

He frowned and beckoned her closer to the window. “What have you done to your hand?”

She slid her hands behind her back. “‘Tis nothing, my lord. A nuisance sliver.”

“Let me see.”

“Truly. ‘Tis nothing.”

“If it truly is nothing, let me see.”

She blew out a breath and brought her hand forward, holding it palm up. It was her right hand and the sliver was embedded in the fleshy pad at the base of her thumb, which was awkward to pick with her left hand, especially when the fingers were trembling.

“You realize of course,” he murmured, taking her wrist and turning her hand into the light. “You are one of my most valuable assets at the moment, and should you suffer from a lack of care and attention, even for the smallest of injuries, it could entirely thwart my plans of becoming an infamous outlaw?”

“I am? I mean...I could?”

He plucked the sliver out with a minimum of effort and showed it to her before flicking it away.

“Your bow-arm is, indeed, a most precious asset, as is the hand that guides the arrows,” he said, and raised her palm to his mouth, pressing his lips over the tiny bead of blood that appeared to fill the prick-hole left by the sliver. “And I could scarcely step a foot inside that forest without becoming hopelessly lost if you were not by my side.”

“Oh.” The word came out more as a breath than a sound.

“Yes. Oh.” His lips moved to her wrist. “And since this precious bow-arm is attached to this shoulder and this shoulder to this neck and this neck to...well...to everything you are and everything that humbles me to the core,” he said, drawing her slowly into the hard circle of his arms, “it behooves me to take very good care of every part of you.”

Cassie’s lashes shivered shut as she felt his lips exploring the soft crook of her neck. Her senses were spinning, her body was hot and cold at the same time, tingling everywhere his hands brushed or touched. Her head fell back and his lips were there, caressing and exploring, travelling up the slender arch of her neck to her chin, her cheek, the tender underside of her ear.

“Please,” she gasped. “My lord—!”

“I am not a lord anymore,” he chuckled softly against her ear. “I am soon to be but a humble outlaw. But if you would have me stop...if my attentions are unwanted...?” He straightened a moment and the pale blue eyes stared down into hers. “By God, I never thought to ask if you even found me the least bit appealing. I never thought to ask if your affections were promised to another. I never—”

Cassie whimpered softly, curled her fingers into his hair and dragged his mouth down to hers. Any doubt he may have had was silenced through a kiss that ended with his body hard and their hands eagerly tearing at each other’s clothes. At the first press of bared flesh, he swore a soft oath and scooped her into his arms then carried her the few short paces to the bed. There, while she wriggled and twisted her way out of her leggings and tunic, he stripped off his own garments and flung them aside.

Naked, he joined her on the bed and without reservation, she parted her thighs to welcome the heaviness of his body between them.

Cassie had never lain with a man before, but she had certainly seen many a furtive couplings on the castle battlements these past few weeks. Her body was trembling, her heart was pounding in her chest. She had to curl her lip between her teeth to keep from crying out as she felt the solid heat of his flesh probe between the silky soft folds and begin to stretch up inside her. The cry turned into a husky groan as he pushed deeper and deeper, filling her, joining their two bodies together as one.

Her head pressed back into the bedding and her hands reached out on either side, grabbing at twists of the blanket. He was buried deep inside her. His lips were on her neck, she could feel his heart beating as wildly as her own. His hands skimmed down from her waist to her hips and lifted them, causing her to gasp and writhe as she realized there was more...so much more. With his guidance, she moved her body for him, opened herself wider, squeezed herself around him until his breathing was as ragged as her own.

When the spasms began, she let go of the bedding and clawed her hands around his shoulders. She moved with his thrusts, strained eagerly to meet each one, crying out, gasping, clinging to him as the pleasure exploded through her body.

~~~

It was Cassie’s turn to stand at the window, deep in thought. Full night had fallen; the sky was a vast black vault awash with stars. They had been abed since late afternoon and, as if to make up for the haste of their first coupling, Thomas had been taking his torturously sweet time bringing her to orgasm time and time again. She could feel the pearly slickness on her thighs, evidence of her most recent surrender to his skills.

At some point during the evening, her hair had been loosened from the braid and now fell in a pale yellow tumble around her shoulders. Once, when Edward had interrupted to bring food, she had snatched a robe from a wall peg and wrapped it around her shoulders—the same robe she wore now to guard against the chill from the open window. Aside from that, the two had remained blissfully naked and twined in each other’s arms all evening.

Hearing movement behind her, she half turned, but Thomas was already there, sliding a hand around her waist to draw her back against his chest. He buried his lips in her hair and nuzzled contentedly for a long moment.

“You are full of surprises, my lovely woodsprite. First you show me your talent with a bow, then your courage at venturing out into the forest at night to watch an enemy’s camp. You show me intelligence by turning leaves into maps, and cleverness in planning an attack that could have gone so very horribly wrong. If that were not enough, you bewitch me, body and soul, and keep me locked away in this tower room for hours that should have been spent planning how to begin my life as an outlaw.”

“I saw no lock on the door,” she protested through a smile, trying not to notice that his hand had slipped beneath the robe and slid deftly between her thighs.

“The lock is here,” he murmured, using his fingers to win a soft sigh from her lips. “And you notice I said nothing about your opportune meeting with Old Godfrey the Lombard. Without that we would still be walking the walls waiting for the next attack.”

“I cannot explain what I saw,” she said. “I only know I saw it. I saw him. He was as real as you are now. His hand touched mine and it was real flesh and blood, I swear it.”

“I believe you. I believe you saw something, because...because it happened to me too.”

Cassie turned around so swiftly, his hand was nearly broken off at the wrist.

“What did you just say?”

He withdrew his hand from the folds of the robe and flexed his fingers. “I was understandably embroiled with other thoughts at the time and not exactly certain what I was seeing in the reflection. But now, after tonight...”

Her eyes grew round and dark. “What did you see?”

“This,” he said, indicating the bed. “You and I together. Naked and blissful in each other’s arms.”

Cassie glanced past his shoulder to the shadowy corner where his writing table stood. She looked back up into his face...a face so sinfully handsome she had never dared to even hope...

The
Lombard
’s ghostly words came back to her then, brushing past her ear like an errant breeze, having no substance, no sound, just the impression of being there.

“He told me...what I saw was my own heart,” she whispered. “My heart’s fondest desire.”

He studied her face a moment then showed her what he held in his other hand.

It was the jewelled pendant and as she caught sight of her own reflection, she realized the robe she was wearing—his robe—was burgundy, embroidered with threads of gold. A slow smile of wonderment spread across her lips as she recognized it to be the same image she had seen the first time she had looked into the oval mirror.

“What do you suppose it means?” she asked.

He slipped the chain over her head and lifted the cloud of her hair free so that the pendant lay against the burgundy silk and reflected the contented smile on his own face. “I only know that the old man spoke the truth. I have found my heart’s desire.”

She sighed and rested her cheek against his shoulder. She felt the heavy pendant crush against her breast and as she lifted it to the side, she glanced down and into the mirror again. She closed her eyes briefly and looked again, but the image had not changed and what she saw there caused her to nuzzle her face back into the warmth of Thomas’s neck.

“I think Old Godfrey is working his mischief again.”

“Why? What did you see?”

She raised up on tiptoes and pressed her lips to his, murmuring through a grin as their breaths and tongues entwined. “I saw something that might well frighten you more than any life as an outlaw.”

He frowned and held her away a moment. “How so?”

“Allow me just to say that I hope you like children, my lord. A good many handsome
little yellow-haired children.”

I
hope you enjoyed
What the Heart Sees. To follow the journey of the magical brooch down through the centuries, you can find all six stories in the anthology
Masters of Seduction
.
To read more about my books, please visit my
websites.

www.marshacanham.com