Conquering the Dark Axe (6 page)

The men set up the bath across the room in front of
the hearth; steaming buckets in quick succession were carried in and poured
in.  The maids helped prepare for her bath and Alexa wanted them gone. She
did not wish these strangers hands on her and she made it
clear.    She had not another chance to talk with Camm alone and
briefly cursed herself for having wasted the time she had had on being bashful
over her wedding night. When she should have been discussing what was going on
below stairs, under her roof, and her strategy for escape.  She would not
stay here with this man. What they shared last night only made her reason to
get away even more dire. 

Alexa caught every look the redhead shot her way and
again the maid was slow to recover by averting her gaze too late to cover
it. 

Alexa ignored the bold and rude servant.  Was
the woman not afraid that she could be cast out?  Apparently not, she
obviously felt secure in her position as her husband’s favorite wench and Alexa
felt a spark of anger rise in her as she thought of him being intimate with the
woman in the same way he’d been with her last night. 

Nay, she would not think of it.  He could have
the red-haired wench.  She didn’t want him.  Something in her nagged
at her on that and she ignored it.  She had other things to focus on.

Camm was the last to leave with the guards still at
her back.   

Alexa spit fire when she learned the Norman had
ordered that she was to stay in the chamber until he returned.  The 
two young guards had looked at her as though she were the enemy and she did not
miss the way their hands moved to their sword hilts as she glanced at the
chamber door ready to bolt.  Alexa let out a roar of rage and did not care
if the blasted Dark Axe heard it wherever his bastard hide was.

Seated at the window, Alexa looked down upon the
courtyard and tried to enjoy the light breeze of the afternoon but it was hard
to do with her heart heavy over her confinement.  All was a buzz down
below.  Barnett manor was always busy and was even busier now with the new
lord taking over.  Everyone seemed to be out and about below doing one
task after another. From the stables, the farms and to the manor, a sea of
unfamiliar faces filled the space as they moved about.  Now with winter
months approaching them the villiens and the manor servants were preparing to
get the storerooms ready for the brutal cold months ahead. 

  She knew before she turned that he had come
into the room, not because he’d made a sound, because he had not.  
‘Twas the tingle of warmth creeping up her spine that caused her to know he was
near.  Alexa turned.  He stood a few paces from her. 

His golden windblown hair was loose and caressed
those broad shoulders covered in a fine tunic.  Those full lips were set
hard and his emerald gaze locked on her.  The handsome face of evil. 
Alexa forgot to breathe.

Rourke watched her for a long moment.  Her hair
was still wet and tumbled in loose waves down her curved back.  Her big
eyes gazed at him in warning and something else he cared not to see or
name.  He could smell the lingering scent of her bath, lavender and
mint.  Her clean smell stirred his loins. 

“Noon.”  His voice came out gruff.

Alexa flinched.  His stare was so direct, as
though he was looking right through her.  “Noon,”she barked back.

He stared at her a moment longer, causing her to
shift uncomfortably as her body reacted to his nearness.  After a moment,
a look of boredom crossed his beautiful face and he turned from her and walked
over to the hearth.  Moving his sword aside, he sat on a one of the two
benches seated in front of it next to the tub. He waved an arm out for her to
sit on the other across from him.  Rourke looked her over for another
long silent moment; the long tunic she wore was belted at the waist and hugged
those curves that he had thought of all morning. He started before her bottom
touched the seat.
“A few things I want to make clear to you of this union.  As we start our
first full day together as man and wife.  My word still stands that you
will remain confined to this chamber until you are with child. 
Henceforth,” he continued right over her cry of outrage. “You will be fed and
well cared for ‘til that time arrives.  But-“ 

“What?”  Alexa’s words came out in a hiss as
she gripped the bench seat to hold her body from leaping on him.  His
green eyes were cold steel as he kept an unwavering glare upon her.  She
was ready to throw something at him.  

Rourke knew if it wasn’t so heavy that she probably
would have picked up and thrown the bench at him.  She was so readable,
like an open book.

She continued, her narrowed eyes warring with his. 
“Kept locked away in my own chamber?  I am not a child.  This is my
home- I will not be kept prisoner in my own home by you or anyone,
Norman.” 

So she was back to that again, Rourke noticed. 
But didn’t care or did he, because he had noticed.  She was shouting at
him.  Her amber eyes shot the biting ice right back at him.  

Alexa swallowed.  This cold man was like night
and day.  Where was the man that had touched, and caressed her ever so
tenderly last eve?  Alexa let out a deep breath at the surprising thought
when it popped in her head. The sting in her chest flamed. 

“First, never interrupt me again or you will get a
sound thrashing, hellion.”  His eyes told her the threat was true and he
stood to tower over her. “Second, you are wrong.  This is my home
now.  My rules and you will obey whatever I tell you.  Is that
understood?”

Alexa leapt off the bench with her hands fisted at
her sides to face him. She was furious and hurt and her eyes glinted with it
when she hurled at him.  “And I told you when we wed that I would not obey
any man, least of all you! You threaten to beat me if I do not listen to
you?  You dare much, Norman bastard. I will ne- ” 

His large hand strangled her throat and cut off her
words. His very presence seemed to swallow her.  She was so angry, more so
at herself than at him.  She had been a fool to let her guard down for a
split second last night and today over that pleasurable dalliance.  His
face told her as much and the thought of that angered her to no extent, even
more so than his threat to keep her confined.  Being a woman sometimes was
a curse, Alexa screamed inside.
Something had changed in her. But obviously not in him.  He’d not
forgotten the words they had spoken before they’d wed.  His face was like
stone, fierce and dark.

“I dare simply because I can and you can do or say
naught to change it.” The fact that she had called him Norman bastard again
raged through his veins. Her mouth was her downfall. And it made him want to
strike back. “Did you think that little affection I showed you last night
changed aught? It changed nothing.  What we discussed before that still
stands. As for being a prisoner, you would be one if I were to place you in one
of those cold dungeon cells in the lower level.”  He said with conviction. 

Alexa froze.  He wouldn’t? 

He must have known what she was thinking for he
said,   “Aye, hellion, I would.  Which is where you belong for
your threats and untamed tongue the whole of the manor heard.  Yet, I have
decided to be kind enough, to be lenient so to speak. After all we are now wed
and I am willing to grant you some freedom. Although you shall remain confined
to the luxury of this chamber… ‘twill be untied. Do you not know some men bed
their wives and leave them to live out their remaining years in a tower?
Chained and stripped of the life they had known before. But seeing that the
single tower here is in ill repair at the moment that option is out.”

Rourke knew he should have stopped when her eyes
went wide over his words, but his anger was too great the fury and hurt he read
in her amber depths only fueled his anger further. He had no wish to care about
her tender feelings. “I warned you before. Anyone that raises a weapon against
me has never lived and this….”   His free hand went to the fresh cut
on his throat that she had given him and where she’d kissed him and cried out
her pleasure last night. 

Her sword had done more than just prick his
skin.  A red scar about two inches long lay in a circular crest shape
there.  Alexa swallowed.   That would explain some of his fury.
Guess he’d gotten a better look at it too. 

Rourke fought not to shake her senseless.  He
pressed harder on her throat.  “This is why you will remain in this room
until you are with child.  Your own words have come true. You shall have
no freedom until then.  All your meals will be in here.  You will
have guards at the door whenever I am not present and as for any of your
hare-brained ideas on escape.  One will be posted below your
window.” 

How did he know about her thoughts of escape? Alexa
was ready to erupt, but the pressure he applied to her throat silenced her as
did his dark look. 

“I know what you think before you think it. Aye. You
may swing a blade like a squire in training, but your silly try at a man’s weapon
has cost you.  You will not even be allowed a knife for meals.  I
told you, I never break my word, hellion.”  Finally, he dropped his hand
from her throat.

Rage, hurt and disbelief blinded her and what caused
her to swing at him, but Rourke caught, to his surprise, her tightly balled
fist in his large hand.

“You, Norman bastard!  I am not your servant to
do with as you wish nor your property to do with as you will.”  Her gritty
voice grew raw as she yelled at him. 

Rourke snatched her arm and shook her,
replying.  “You are mine.  ‘Tis your mouth that gets you into
trouble.  This is the last time, I warn you, to cease cursing me and
calling me a bastard.  I will not tell you again.  Why your father
allowed you such liberties is beyond me. ‘Twas a grievous mistake. 
Saxons
.” 
He said the last with such derision and a sneer on those full lips that Alexa
flinched. 

“But you will obey me.”   Rourke finished
with a roar.

He saw the myriad of emotions in those eyes, but he
refused to acknowledge any of it and besides he didn’t want to.  He needed
to keep her at a distance. He’d felt more than he wished last night and it had
driven him mad all morn and was what drove him more so now than the small
scratch on his throat.

In the next breath, she tore at him like a wildcat
with her free arm and Rourke was taken aback at the punch she delivered to his
middle. He coughed in surprise.  She screamed at him and he grappled with
her long legs and arms.  She bucked against him.  He stumbled backwards
and fell with her clutched to him on the bed. Then he flipped her over with a
smooth maneuver and was on top of her.

“My father taught me well so I could fight over
Norman murdering bastards like you.  If he still breathed he’d have cut
your head off himself.”  Alexa spat as he pinned her body to the bed.
Enraged further by the feel of his hard body against hers and her volatile
reaction, Alexa felt tears sting her eyes.  “Damn you and this marriage to
hell. 
I hate you
!” 

Rourke captured both her hands in his and pulled her
arms above her head.  A cruel smile curled his lips and he said
calmly,   “Good.   At least we agree on that.  But no
hell until you grow fat with my seed and produce my son.  Then I will be
all too happy to let you use the rest of your days spent in misery and in your
own hell.  For that too, you will get your wish granted.” 

He felt her go rigid beneath him, ready to fight
again. He pressed down on her harder. “You will need more strength than this to
fight me. There will be no more talk on the matter.  Now cease your
struggles.  I can allow you to walk freely about this chamber or I can
easily strap you back down to the bed.”    He read the hurt of
his words in her wide amber eyes and ignored the pull of it.  Her soft
curves were starting to stir something inside him and he knew he needed to get
out of the room quickly. He felt her stiffen in anger and returned her gaze of
fury with one of his own.
Sorrow and anger seized her heart and Alexa embraced it.  Her life was
over.  He was wrong, hell had already arrived.

Hell had come the day he’d arrived and now it held
its fiery gates of purgatory wide open to her.  She licked her lips and
replied with as much menace in her tone as she could muster and told him, “You
do best to tie me.  For to let me be, I promise you, Norman, if I get a
knife in my hands, I will finish what I started.” 
The last thing she wanted was to be tied again, but she would die before she
let him know that.   Alexa refused to give him one ounce of
satisfaction.  The hope that she’d not known up till now that she
held, was crushed.   Engulfing fire now in its place.   She
had hoped for a difference, hell she had no idea what she’d expected, but it
hadn’t been this. Murder and something else sprung up in his stormy green eyes,
turning them almost emerald as he glared at her.   She cared not.

The silence stretched
long between them.  His breath as ragged and breathless as hers washed
over her face as he stared down at her.  She swallowed the lump of fear
lodged in her throat. He would kill her now, Alexa was sure of
it.   Those full lips pulled into a thin line and he dipped his head
and pressed them against her ear.  His breath was hot against her and made
her body, the betrayer that it was, shudder.