Gem of Gravane (The Northern Knights) (12 page)

But he knew that was not the true
reason for his irritation.

He was almost glad to see the two
people at the hall’s entrance. The sight of them was distraction enough to keep
his mind off the other.  He turned away from the sight of Thomas and Rose
entering the hall.

 He spoke out of the side of
his mouth to Balwain. “Any news on that?”

“He has not made another move yet,
milord.”

“That will not last. The man
is ready to burst at the seams. Cunning little fellow, Balwain.”

Balwain grunted at his words and
Aric shot him an annoyed look. Balwain did not hesitate with his query. 

“Did you tell her yet about the
identity of
your
guests?”Aric’s scowl darkened. 

Now he knew the cause of Balwain’s
strange behavior. His friend’s mind was on his wife. “She does not need to
know.”  He stated, angry and defensive.

“Aye, that may be. But I
think, milord, that this is one time where you should have said something.”
 Balwain held his lord’s gaze even as he watched it turn battle fierce,
continuing, “Aught, I think, just to ease the way a bit.”

“Don’t think, Balwain. I have
been married all of a couple of days. She is no different than any other
woman despite your romantic ideals. That is enough.”  Aric’s anger
and jealousy reverberated in his deadly tone.  “She is my wife. Lady
of the manor, duty bound and the means to my heir. Naught more. She need
not know all I do.”

“She will be the mother to your
heir, this is true. However, you are wrong on the other. There is much more to
her than that. She is different and has done none an ill since we have arrived.
She already harbored far too many burdens before our arrival and now to contend
with this. Well, I think you are making a grave error on this,
Aric
.”

“Cease your opinion until I ask for
it,
my friend
.”  Aric’s voice boomed over the seriousness in his
friend’s tone, drawing the attention of the others in the hall.  Balwain
refused to call him by his given name since the day they’d met many moons ago
and only used it when he wanted his undivided attention on
something. Well, he was not going to get it.  Aric was already in his
own black churning storm and needed none to remind him of it.

Balwain said no more and with a
stilted nod of disagreement, he turned away and picked up his tankard of ale.

Aric glared at his longtime friend
and felt a moment’s regret.  Anger filled him. What should he care if
Danielle knew who his guests were? He grunted and his gaze returned to the
hall’s entrance.

That was the problem. He did care.
And taking the anger he felt over the truth of it out on his friend was not the
answer.

 There had been no time for a
messenger to be sent to halt the arrival and Aric had actually forgotten about
it until the other day.  He tried to focus his attention on the hall’s
activity, pinning his black stare upon Thomas and Rose.  The pair turned
away as did the others in the hall. Further agitated, Aric drank down his
glass of wine in one swig, his thoughts back where he’d been struggling all
morn for them not to be.

On his wife. 

 He had bedded her several
times since taking their vows and already he was plagued with images of
her in the throes of passion and the little sounds she made when she
climaxed.  The way her long fingers clutched and pulled at him when he
found his release.  She fit him well.  

Pleasure. 

Lust.

Aye, that was it. Just pure lust,
he told himself with a wave to the page to refill his goblet.  
 

 He’d plenty of women before,
but none brought chaos upon his thoughts as this one did.  Her shyness and
vulnerable character had gripped him from the moment the day they had
been wed.  Nay, the moment he’d met her.

He’d told himself he’d been kind to
her just to gentle the way, make things easier.  Give her time to adjust
to the changes of giving up her home to a Norman. 

 He’d told himself he’d tire
of her as soon as he got her with child.  He had wanted to believe
it.  He had vowed to be faithful and had meant it when he'd spoken the
words. 

Aric could still see the look on
her face when he told her to not expect love in their union.  And she
shouldn’t.  But, he knew it was more than that.   Her feelings
did matter to him and Balwain’s words only confirmed it.  He did not want
to care about them. ‘Twould make him weak. 

Danielle had known no love from her
father or her cousins. Hell, those two she didn’t need. 

Aye, her feelings mattered to
him. 

Why he knew not.  He only knew
that they did and he suddenly wished he’d not invited his guests to come to
Gravane manor after all.  But…’twas too late now. 

Chapter 11

Edie held her
lady’s hands together in between them as they stood in the chamber. 
“Please, milady, we must hurry before milord think we tarry. Much time has
passed.”
Danielle shivered.  Edie was right. 

Her bath had been done, her dress
donned and her hair in place.  All the while she had listened to Edie’s
responses to her questions. She could no longer drag her feet. 
Still, she hesitated for she was not satisfied.

“I have no one else to query on
these things, Edie and as you are like a sister to me, I need to ask you again
for your input. You told me what to expect on my wedding night and that I
was to obey my husband. I have. But he refuses to talk to me. I
do not wish to have the cold and distant marriage my father had with my mother.
He did not share many things with her nor did he include her much in the
matters of the manor.  They shared very little. All of Gravane knew this.”

Edie nodded, compassion filling her
expression as she smoothed her hand over her lady’s neck and tucked in the last
of the matching emerald headdress to match her lady’s gown. She smiled and
told her lady of how her own parents had shared nearly everything…in and out of
the chamber. Danielle smiled fondly remember the wonderful couple who had been
very kind to her as a child and then some.

“Then how do I make that happen
with my husband? He does not know I am here until we are in the chamber
and… in our bed.”  Danielle said sadly as she stood.
Edie’s answer was firm.  “You tell him, milady and show him that you will
not be just a vessel for his heir if ‘tis a true marriage you seek. And I
tell you, you deserve one. You are a beauty and ‘tis time for you to shine
now.”  

Danielle scoffed at her maid’s kind
words. Edie had always been one to exaggerate.  

Edie patted
her hands in reassurance.  “Aye,’tis true. You do not know your own worth,
milady. Show him that you are here. You have already changed more
than you know in these past days.”
They chatted on some more then quickly finished and hurried to exit the
chamber. Danielle was nervous and Aric’s refusal to tell her anything
about his guests told her a lot. Well, Edie was right.  It was time she
found out and stopped waiting. 

Aric knew the moment Danielle
entered the hall.  His men’s hushed voices were the second sign; the first
was the feeling in his chest that she was near.  And she was.
He swallowed hard and lowered his goblet. 

She wore an emerald gown with a
golden rope riding those full hips.  He could tell it was another one of
her creations. It was lovely, but he could not wait until the fine cloth
he’d ordered for her to arrive.  She would look even lovelier and the room
would surely burst into flame.  Frowning, he sighed heavily. Now he
sounded like Balwain with a head full of such ridiculous and flowery
thoughts. 
The gown was lower cut than her usual, yet possessed a modest neckline. 
Still, a glint of anger flared inside him.  Her full breasts were brimming
enough against it.  He did not need to look around the hall to see that
all eyes were on her.  Not just as expected to greet her, but because she
lit up the room. 

Her eyes met his.

Aric rose and met her halfway and
led her rest of the way to the seat on his right.  Her wide eyes roved
over him and he found himself hardening under her gaze. By the Saints, did
the woman not know how she looked at him?

Being so close to him Danielle
hoped he did not feel the tremor in her hand she had placed it on his
forearm.  He was dressed in a fine surcoat and hose, with his coat of
arms, a rams head on a red and black background emblazoned above his left
chest.  She was breathless. 
Aric’s expression was fierce and although he kept his gaze on the hall, his
eyes kept finding their way back to her.  The longer he stared at her, the
angrier he became.  He had thought he’d made a mistake with his guests
coming here. Now, he changed his mind. Again.

He had not. 

 He needed the distraction of them
to keep his mind off her.  Hell, he snatched up his goblet of wine, he
welcomed it.

Danielle had seen no new faces when
she’d entered.  Thomas and Rose stood near the other side of the lord’s
table.  She didn’t spare the two a second glance, although she could feel
Thomas’s watchful gaze following her every movement.  But now, the
commotion at the hall’s entrance reached her ears and as she went to turn her
attention there, but stopped when she saw the look on Aric’s face.  His
cheeks had a slight flush to them and his stance rigid as he stood stirred
something in her gut that made her uneasy.  After a moment, his unwavering
gaze on the entrance drew her eyes there too.   

A man and
a very stunning woman stood there. 

 The woman’s beauty was
enhanced by the sapphire gown she wore that clung to all her svelte curves and
the low cut bosom had all eyes trained on that part of her.  Her beauty
was far greater than Rose’s.  The uneasiness in Danielle’s stomach
ballooned and she felt light headed. Her hand reached out to hold onto
something. She realized when she felt his muscles bunch under her touch, she’d
grabbed her husband’s forearm.

The noble couple reached their
table. 
 “Lord Jamison and Lady Ella Frank, may I present… my wife, the Baroness
Danielle Claydon.”  

Danielle dropped her hand from his
arm and fought hard not to turn and look up at him.  The huskiness and
softness in his tone was soft when he’d spoken Lady Ella’s name. 

The sultry beauty’s dark eyes
sparkled as they rested on him far too long for Danielle’s liking.  She
found herself suddenly perturbed by the blatant adoration she saw there and
something else. 

Rose looked at him in that same way
often enough and Danielle saw now that Rose was for the first time looking
anywhere but at either of them and staring her displeasure upon the
beauty.  Her expression was part of how Danielle was feeling. 

As was custom, Aric planted a kiss
on the woman’s cheek and escorted the woman to her seat next to them.

 Danielle soon learned that
the couple was from Normandy.  Their kinship with her husband was still a
mystery question for her and she wanted to know what now what it was. The
feeling in her stomach now had her shaking. She clasped her hands together
to still the shaking in her hands.

As the morning wore on, the
invitation in the woman’s eyes had Danielle fuming and caused her to interrupt
their conversation about the trip. Aric seemed too rapt with attention on
the woman.  He refused to tell her anything so she would find out herself!

“Lady Ella. Will you and your
husband be staying with us long?”

Aric and Lord Frank seemed to be
the only ones who choked on their wine. 

Lady Ella sat up straighter, her
dark eyes darting to Aric as she smiled.  “My dear, Lady Danielle, I fear
there has been a misunderstanding. Lord Jamison is not my husband.”

Danielle felt Aric’s hand on hers
and she turned to look at him when he applied pressure.  The stunned
expression on his handsome face only fueled her anger and suspicions even more.

When he spoke, he sounded odd.
“Lady Ella is Lord Jamison’s brothers’ widow.” 

Danielle felt like an idiot and she
snatched her hand back from his grip hard and her gaze told him just as much.
Aric felt as though a fist slammed into his gut.  He’d read the brief flash
of confusion and pain in her eyes and it bothered him.

Danielle faced the beauty
again.  “My apologies, Lady Ella.”   She swallowed and
continued.  “How do you come by to know my husband?”

Danielle shot Aric another strange
look when he appeared to strangle on his food.  Lord Jamison
gave her an uncomfortable smile. 

Lady Ella looked from Aric back to
her, those dark eyes narrowed on her and Danielle did not flinch. Any other
time, a look like that would have caused her to recoil and look away, but not
this time.  Too many emotions were coursing through her and she was
thoroughly incensed feeling everyone knew something she did not.

“Lady Danielle, I believe your
husband would be the best one to answer that query for you.”  Lady Ella
smiled with a glint of something secret in her eyes.

Danielle didn’t know who she wanted
to strike first.  She looked at Aric. His gaze was on the inhabitants of
the hall.   Edie was coming up behind Balwain whose eyes watched her
husband with a look of anger also. Danielle waited and swore she’d stopped
breathing.

Finally he turned to her, his gaze
unreadable and simply told her, “I trained and fought alongside her
husband. He was a great knight.” 

The entire hall seemed to grow
quiet. 

Danielle felt uncomfortable under his
gaze, yet her anger did not subside.  His tone told her he had not spoken
the whole truth and she hated how much it hurt.

She could not concentrate on the
meal in front of her that she’d made sure had been plentiful and tasty for his
guests. Although to have fed them all molded trenchers now crossed her mind.