Daughters of the Dagger 03 - Amber (13 page)

“Well, I didn’t, and I want to see how they look on you.” He didn’t give her a chance to say no again. He walked up behind her and fastened the necklace around her neck. From this position, he could see right down her bodice, and it was a wonderful sight indeed. “Here, put this on,” he said, handing her the ring and turning away quickly, trying to redirect his thoughts. The next time he turned back, she was standing there looking more like a princess than he had expected.

“You’re beautiful,” he said, not much louder than a whisper. He knew now he was only tempting
himself, not her, by doing this as Father Armand had instructed.

“Thank you,” she said, her hand caress
ing the necklace. Then she held out her hand to admire the ring. “These remind me of my mother. And I miss her so much.” Her face darkened and Lucas saw a sadness overcome her. “I can’t wear them.” She reached around the back of her neck and removed the necklace, then looked once more at the ring and removed it as well. Standing there with her arm outstretched she said, “take them. Put them back into the travel bag, and please don’t ask me to put them on again.”

He did as instructed, then looked back over his shoulder. He felt awful for trying to trick her.

“Come, sit next to me on the bed,” he said, walking over to the pallet. She hesitated, then walked over to join him. “Hold on, I’ll be right back,” he said, knowing she was never going to loosen up without some help.

He rushed from the room and down the stairs where he saw Sir Romney standing at the drink board paying for a flagon of wine. He had two goblets in his hand.

“I need that,” he said, taking the flagon of wine and both the goblets.

“That is for me and Mirabelle,” he said. “She
is waiting for me up in our bed.”

“I’ll m
ake good on it later, I promise.”

“Oh, bedding the little nun
are you?” he asked with a smile.

“Well, she’s waiting for me in bed also, but it’s not what you think.”

“Of course it isn’t,” he said with a wink. “Go ahead, take it with no charge. You’ll need the wine more than I will, I am sure. And good luck to you, my man.”

Lucas hurried back up the stairs and once inside the room, he locked the door.

She was sitting patiently on the straw pallet that was raised on a slight platform. Most pubs just had thin straw pallets right on the floor, but this pub had a few bedchambers that were slightly upscale since so many knights and noblemen passed through on their way to Canterbury.

“I thought
we might want a little wine while we talk,” he told her, sitting down next to her and pouring some into one of the goblets and handing it to her. He then poured one for himself and placed the decanter on the bedside table.

“I will have a little wine, but I don’t drink in excess,” she said, taking a sip and looking up to him as she did so. She must have noticed the lust in his eyes that he knew was there, as next she took a much bigger gulp and looked back the other way.

“I pulled off her wimple when she was sleeping,” he said.

“Pardon
me?” She looked up, and he could see the confusion in her big green eyes.

“Sister Dulcina.
You asked me how I knew she was bald. I was raised at the monastery and was always in trouble. When I was just a boy I decided one day that I didn’t like her, and that I wanted to know what she looked like without her wimple. So when she fell asleep in her chair saying her prayers, I snuck in and ripped it off. Now I wish I hadn’t, because the site of her bald head was scarier than the punishment I endured from doing it.”

“Oh,” she said with a small giggle. “No
wonder you were worried if I had any hair.”

They both laughed and it felt good. Damned good. Oh, if only she wasn’t going to be a nun. He’d never found a woman who interested him as much as she did. And now, once again in his life he was going to be disap
pointed since he knew he could never have her.

“You don’t sound surprised that I gr
ew up in the monastery,” he remarked.

“I’m not.” She took another sip of wine. “Sister Dulcina told me about you before we left.”

“She did? What did she say?”

“That you were an orphan abandoned on the steps of the church and Father Armand took you in and raised you. Also that you were supposed to be a monk but backed out at the last minute and turned into a mercenary instead.”

“Living a life of prayer and poverty, locked away from the rest of the world wasn’t for me.”

“I know what you mean.” Her smile disappeared and she seeme
d as if she were in serious contemplation. He had no doubt that she was questioning her choice as well. Deep inside he was glad.

“So tell me about you and your family,” he said. “I already know you are the daughter of an earl and have three sisters, all named after jewels, but you never told me why.”

“That was the choice of my mother,” she told him. “My mother was barren and wanted nothing more in the world than to give my father the children he desired. She’d heard of a superstition that if a woman bought a jeweled dagger from a blind woman, in return she would conceive a child.”

“You don’t really believe that?” he asked
shaking his head.

“I do. My mother bought four daggers and she had four daughters.”

“That is coincidence, nothing more.” He refilled her goblet as she relayed her story.

“The old blind hag she bought them from also told her that if she named her children after the gemstones in the daggers that they would someday find their true loves.”

“And did you all find your true loves as predicted?” he asked.

“So far,” she said. “My sisters Ruby and Sapphire have, but Amethyst has yet to marry.”

“And how about you, Amber? Aren’t you worried about finding your true love?” He bravely reached out and took her hand in his and surprisingly she didn’t pull away. He thought mayhap this wine was relaxing her after all, as he’d intended.

“I found God,” she said, looking down into her goblet of wine. “My true love is the love I have for God and the church. I’m sure of it.”

“Are you?”

She looked up at him then and he saw the confusion as well as a newfound tear in her eye. “My mother did something terrible,” she said. “That’s one of the reasons I joined the Sisters of St. Ermengild
in the first place. So I could help pray for her soul to be forgiven so she can make it to Heaven.”

“Seriously, I doubt she did anything that bad.”

“No, it’s true.” She took a good swig of wine.

“Pleas
e, I’m sure it’s not like she killed anyone.”

“No, that was my sister, Ruby.”

“What? Your sister killed someone?” he asked being very surprised. “Really?”

“It was in self-defense.”

“Then it’s not a sin,” he told her.

“No, it still is. And my sister, Sapphire committed adultery.”
The goblet lifted to her mouth again, and he watched the movement of her smooth neck as she swallowed.

“She did?” My, her family was turning out to be very entertainin
g after all. Not at all the conversation he thought they were going to have.

“She was tricked into marrying an evil man who beat her.”

“Well, then you can’t blame her for what she did.”

“And my mother … my mother,” she said with her eyes going to her goblet of wine. Lucas reached out and poured her more. After another swig, she continued. “My mother tried to steal a fifth dagger, just after pushing away a beggar boy four times. Because of this, she had only daughters
and was told she’d never have a son and that she would also lose her true love. She did birth a son who had two different colored eyes. It scared my father. All of us, actually. But both the baby and my mother died in childbirth. So you see, she ended up losing both her son, and my father – her true love, just as the old hag had predicted.”

“I’m sorry to hear that, Amber. I feel for your loss.”

“My father discarded of the daggers after that, saying they were the cause of my mother’s death.
” She lifted the goblet and drank again. “’Twas only because my sisters’ husbands found their daggers that they were able to find their true loves.”

“So you don’t have your dagger?” he asked curiously
, refilling her cup again.

“Nay. It’s still lost as well as the dagger of my twin sister.
”

“Then
I guess you’ll never find your true love, will you?”

“That’s not true,” she said, lifting the goblet and drinking eagerly. She lowered it and smacked her lips.
“I’ve already found it through my religion.”

“I see,” he said, putting down his empty goblet and laying back on the pallet. Then to his surprise, she finished off her th
ird full goblet of wine, threw it to the floor and jumped off the bed and started undressing.

“Amber?” he asked, pushing up on the bed. “What are you doing?”

She stood before him naked now, the firelight from the candles in the room making her skin glow like the beautiful angel he knew she was.

His head was spinning slightly from the wine as well, but he knew that she had no idea what she was really doing.

“I’m going to bed,” she said, pulling back the coverlet and crawling underneath. He just lay there motionless and stared, not believing this was really happening.

“Well?” she asked. “Are you going to sleep in your clothes? I hope not, because I feel a bed is sacred and the dirt from the road shouldn’t be brought into the clean sheets. Don’t you agree?”

“I agree,” he said, standing slowly and then quickly ripping off his clothes. He settled in next to her and she snuggled up under his arm.

“I really like you,” she said, sounding as if she’d had too much to drink. “I’d like to know just once what it feels like to couple with a man before I take my final vows.”

“What are you saying?” he asked, wondering just what the hell to do.

“I’m saying I want to make love with you,” she said
, reaching up and kissing him on the cheek.

“Amber, you have had much to drink and if we do this, you’ll regret it in the morning.”

“No, I won’t.”

“But you’ve taken the vow of chas
tity,” he reminded her.

“Then let’s do every
thing but the actual act of consummation.”

“I don’t think that’s the way it works,” he said. But before he could object further, she reached over and placed her voluptuous lips upon his. He felt as if he’d died and gone to Heaven when her tongue shot out and entered his mouth. The beast within him could be held back no longer, and he rolled atop her, kissing her lips as he straddled her naked body
with his legs.

“I’ve seen naked men before but I’ve never touched one,” she said with a giggle.

“Then tonight will be your first.” He took her hand and wrapped her fingers around his arousal, sucking in his breath when she worked her fingers up and down his shaft.

“This is so interesting,” she said.

“Keep that up and you’re going to find something else interesting in your palm in another minute.

“Touch me, too
,” she said, her innocent eyes looking up at him from the bed, making him wish now that she was wearing the damned wimple after all. If so, he wouldn’t be on the brink of pushing himself into her warm, soft body.

“I don’t think I should, Amber.”

“Then let me help you.” She reached out and took his hand, placing it over her breast. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, reveling in the feel of her warm, soft skin beneath his fingers. Then he opened his eyes slowly, allowing himself to fondle her, feeling guilty, especially when she started to squirm in pleasure beneath him. “I feel something happening,” she said.

“So do
I.” He rolled off of her and dragged a hand through his hair in frustration, then rubbed his face in his hands.

“Give me your hand again,” she said,
reaching out to grab it and pulling it to her, placing it at the juncture of her thighs. “Touch me again.”

He bit back a curse. “Amber, you’re going to regret this come the morrow if we go any further.”

“No, I won’t. Now do it, please.”

He
struggled with what to do. If he denied her what she asked, he’d save her from being defiled and keep her chastity intact so she could still become a nun. But, like she said, she’d never know how it felt to couple with a man and she’d be sad and very lonely for the rest of her life, always wondering but never knowing. He didn’t want to do that to her either.

She deserved a bit of happiness, he decided, slowly letting his fingers explore her womanhood, working his magic on just the right spots
until she squirmed beneath him, throwing back her head with her eyes closed and arching her back. She seemed to enjoy it so much, and he wanted to make her happy. And when he slipped a finger inside her and continued to pleasure her, she screamed out in ecstasy beneath him, causing him to almost spill his seed.