Knight's Caress (21 page)

“Whatever you prefer, my lord.”

Tedric lifted a brow. “Icy cold are you? Well, my love, I have just the medicine for chill.” He kissed the beating pulse at the base of her throat, then laved the spot with the tip of his tongue. His hands moved from her waist to her buttocks and he pulled her up against him, and as on that afternoon, she again felt his arousal, but this time his shaft was harder and there was more urgency in the way his fingers moved over her body.

“Nothing will be mended by—by—this,” she breathlessly whispered, and stiffened beneath his assault.

“What do you mean?” he asked, and nibbled upon her lips.

Her hands settled between them as a barrier. His heart beat just below her fingertips as she turned her head to end his seductive assault of her lips. “Making love will not change how we feel about one another.”

“And how is that?”

Amberlie locked her dark gaze upon him. “You are my enemy, and I am yours. This changes nothing. I fail to see the point of our lovemaking when we distrust one another.”

A warning cloud darkened his features. An imperceptible twitch at the corner of his mouth was the only indication that she might have angered him. Instead of releasing her as she’d thought he would do, Tedric lifted her into his arms and carried her to the bed. He placed her against the pillows, her long hair spilling like a dark fan across it. Looking down at her, he seemed to trace each line of her face. “Do you enjoy what I do to you, Amberlie? Do you like when I pleasure you? Be honest for I will know if you lie,” he warned.

There was no way out of it. Tedric knew already how much she loved him to touch her. “I like it,” she admitted, and hated herself for the truth.

“Then there is no problem.”

“But we hate one another,” she persisted. “You know how I feel about you, and yet you’d come to me anyway when I can’t forgive you for what you did to my husband—” She caught herself, breaking off for a moment, and then said, “What you did to Henri.”

A light of understanding flared within his eyes. “Ah, so that is it. You still believe I killed Henri, and this is what eats away at you. What if I told you that I never touched Henri de Fontaine, that I have no memory of murdering him? What would you say then?”

“I’d say you are a liar.”

He heaved a gigantic sigh of irritation. “I’m not lying, Amberlie. Am I to be made to suffer the rest of my days for a crime which I deny? Your king has forgiven me my deeds. Why can’t you believe me?”

Why couldn’t she believe him? That was the heart of the matter. Tedric denied Henri’s death, but Henri was dead, killed by a Saxon’s hand while defending the keep. And everyone knew Tedric had had few scruples about reclaiming it. She was proof of that. Yet there was something about him, an earnest appeal in his voice, in his face, which caused her to doubt Tedric’s hand in Henri’s death. If only she could believe him.

“You are my enemy,” was all she could say.

“I am your husband!” he proclaimed, and kissed her with such outrageous passion that Amberlie clung to him to keep from drowning in her own tormented desire. He broke away from her and whispered huskily, “Remove your shift while I blow out the candles. In the dark you can pretend I’m your Henri, pretend I’m anyone at all, but I will gain your response, Amberlie. You will respond to me, or I will die in the doing.”

Rising from the bed, he blew out the candles. In the darkness, she heard his clothes landing on the floor beside the bed. Then he was beside her, and he took her in his arms. “You haven’t removed your shift.”

A tiny tremor rushed through her. “I see no reason to bow to your commands. You may take me clothed or unclothed, but the end will be the same. I shall not respond to you—ever. Perhaps you should seek out Glenna for a warm and willing response.” Where her courage, or foolishness, came from, she couldn’t guess. She only knew that Tedric had an overwhelming effect upon her body, one she intended to break. There was no love lost between them. Each mistrusted the other, so there was no point in pretending—especially not now, not when he’d humiliated her by not giving her the morning gift. But she’d be damned if she asked for it, damned if she responded to his experienced lovemaking.

She felt his roughened hand as he cupped her chin and turned her to face him. Even in the darkness, she discerned pinpoints of blue fire within the depths of his eyes. “Take the thing off, or I shall rip it off.”

She knew he meant it.

Moving out of his embrace, she kneeled upon the bed and pulled the garment over her head. Tedric, to her surprise, grabbed for it and threw it upon the floor. “Come here,” he gruffly ordered, and without a word, she lay back into his arms.

“Amberlie,
you must understand something,” he said in a strange and seductively husky voice after a few strained minutes of silence. “Our marriage isn’t one of love, but that isn’t unusual. Many marriages aren’t based on love, or physical attraction either. However, that is where our union differs. We are drawn together by our passion for one another, by the very thing which you deny.” To prove his point, he touched her breast and began massaging the nipple, nearly wringing a moan from her, but she kept her response in check. Still, he seemed to know he pleased her and continued playing with her.

“I enjoy touching you,” he continued, “and I believe you enjoy pleasing me. Pleasure isn’t wrong, nor is it anything to be thought sinful. Didn’t you like what I did to you in the meadow today?”

She had loved it, and the conceited man knew it! “I liked it,” she finally admitted in a small, tight voice.

“Do you think it was sinful?”

If that was sin, then hell must be filled with people like herself. But the pleasure she’d experienced was close to heaven. “I … I don’t know.”

“Well, it wasn’t,” he firmly stated. “Married people should find enjoyment in each other’s bodies, it is only right.” His hand moved lazily from her breast and lightly skimmed across her rib cage and abdomen, to finally find its home within the dark nest which hid her femininity. She smothered a small gasp when two of his fingers slid inside her wet warmth without warning. She could hear the triumph in his voice to find her already primed for him, and she silently cursed her own wanton response. “No doubt, Amberlie, you enjoy how I make you feel.” He kissed her softly upon the mouth. “What say we call a truce?”

“I … I don’t know what you mean.” Now her own voice sounded thick and husky. The man was breaking down her resistance!

Tedric sat on his elbow and continued to kiss her with tiny kisses which skirted across her lips and nose, up to her eyelids, down to her cheeks, and home again to her mouth. She felt his lusty smile upon her. “In the bedchamber, we will put our differences aside. When we come together, we shall forget we are enemies. Our passion, our desire for each other, will be most important when we’re alone. You’ll accept my lovemaking and will find pleasure in it. Our bodies shall have absolute rule over us. There will be no holding back, no coldness. Many marriages have survived on less than this, my heart. No matter how much you hate me, you can’t deny that what you feel for me is more overpowering than your own hatred. And I will be a husband to you, finding as much pleasure in your body as you’ll find in mine. No one need ever know our weakness, for in here, we’re powerful.” He kissed her lightly. “And wanton.” He kissed her again, and his breath sent waves of shivers down her spine. “And wild.”

It was all too much for her. From the seductive kisses to the way his voice moved over her, and the expert manipulation of his fingers as they worked upon her pulsating bud, Amberlie knew she was lost. Her own primitive yearnings and desires won out. In a blinding haze of passion, she threw her arms about his neck and kissed him with wanton abandon. “I agree,” she mumbled against his mouth. “I’ll do anything you say—anything you want—”

“Let me love you now, my heart, let me pleasure your beautiful body.”

“Oh, anything, anything.” He stilled her words with a fevered kiss which banished all thought. His hands moved across her flesh, but always they came back to pleasure the tiny ridge between her thighs, to make her so flushed with lust that she arched against his fingers, aching for fulfillment.

“Not so fast, slowly, my lady wife. We have all night. We have all our lives.” But even as he spoke, Tedric continued to arouse her, first by taking each nipple into his mouth and suckling until she thought she’d go mad with want, then by thrusting his fingers inside until she knew she was going to burst. “Please, please,” she begged in a haze, “I cannot wait—I must—please, Tedric—”

“If I give you pleasure now, sweet love, will you pleasure me in turn? My body still burns from this afternoon, and I would have some relief.” His teeth nibbled her earlobe. “I ache to be inside you, but I shall give you what you want. Do we have a bargain, like for like?”

She’d have promised anything at that moment. “Aye, I will pleasure you, my lover, I will do whatever—” But she didn’t finish her statement for Tedric masterly controlled her body and her senses. With skill and a wild hunger to match her own, Tedric’s fingers brought her to ecstasy. His mouth smothered her moans in a kiss which promised a great deal more to come.

Amberlie lay trembling, her body throbbing with its release. His wonderful hand had stilled as he gazed down at her flushed face, her satiated body. A sliver of moonbeam allowed her to see his eyes, and within their depths she saw a man who yearned for her hand upon him, waiting to see if she lived up to her promise to him.

She thrust her breasts against his chest, rubbing instinctively against him, glorying in the feel of his hard body against her soft one. Her hands stroked his broad-planed shoulders, the powerful muscles of his upper arms. She ached to touch all of him, to know every inch of him. Without thinking, with only passion as her guide, she slithered her hand down his taut abdomen to seek the muscle between his groin, which tormented and fascinated her. She enfolded it within her palm, feeling its power, the strength and hardness of Tedric’s desire for her. Her fingers moved over it, teasing and taunting, purposely making it harder. She heard Tedric’s sharp intake of breath, and he lay rigid beneath her exquisite torture.

“Does this please you, my lord?” she whispered.

“Aye, my lady, aye, it does.”

“Is there more you would have me do?” Vaguely, she wondered who this woman was who tempted this man beyond redemption. Was it herself? But there was something so freeing about being able to accept and give pleasure that Amberlie gave herself permission to behave wantonly, finding the only real joy she’d known in her life. Henri had been a considerate lover, but not like Tedric, nothing like Tedric. And if she’d have willingly enjoyed her husband’s body, she knew Henri wouldn’t have approved. But Tedric was different. He expected her to enjoy him. And what was so odd was that she did.

Tedric swallowed convulsively. “Aye, there is more.”

Amberlie grinned. “Whatever you prefer, my lord.”

And then she did the most preferable thing in Tedric’s mind by moving lower upon his body and tasting him. His groan of pleasure echoed in her ears. She’d have continued on, except Tedric urged her to stop. “No more, my lady, no more, for you’ve gone too far.”

Pulling her up to him, he then laid her on her back and rose over her. “Such sweet teasing must be rewarded,” he whispered raggedly.

Somehow, pleasuring him had aroused her again. Amberlie opened her legs to wrap them around his waist. The tip of his shaft penetrated her ever so slightly, almost teasingly, until she arched toward him, and he slid inside of her. She took all of him, every pulsing inch of him. His thrusts impaled her, bringing her to new heights of ecstasy, and with each one, Amberlie put the past further behind her. There was nothing but Tedric, had never been anyone but him, or so it seemed.

The moment she strained for was at hand, and she knew Tedric had reached his limit. The zenith of passion was but a heartbeat away, a second in time. And then when it happened, she pushed into him at the same moment that he spilled inside of her.

Their moans of completion mingled.

A slave, that’s what she was, a slave to her own base desires. Amberlie stared at the ceiling as dawn’s pale light stole into the room. In the dark of night, she’d felt safe to act out her desires, to become a woman whom she didn’t recognize. But now that light was breaking, and she could see Tedric’s face as he slept, an unwelcome blush crept into her cheeks. Never in her entire married life to Henri had she behaved in such a wanton fashion. She’d been happy with Henri but lukewarm about lovemaking. Sometimes she’d found pleasure in it, but most times she hadn’t, and she hadn’t minded.

But all Tedric had to do was barely touch her and she went wild with desire, acting like an insatiable pagan. What made her situation worse was that Tedric knew how he affected her—and he loved baiting her, seemed to truly enjoy watching her cry out in ecstasy. And how she had cried out, many times, as he loved her during the night. She pressed a hand to her face to cool her burning cheeks as she remembered. How would she continue living with this bull of a man, a man who never seemed to get enough of her? Was it natural to be taken so many times and so many ways in one night? she wondered. Yet she couldn’t deny herself, for Tedric was more than a wonderful lover. He was magnificent.

Truly magnificent, she decided as she gingerly picked up the pelt to stare at his bare body. Tedric was the most handsome man she’d ever laid eyes upon. He belonged to her now—all of him. And they’d made a bargain, a strange bargain; even to contemplate it sent odd tingles down her stomach to her toes. Physical attraction, not love, was the main ingredient. She’d learned an important truth last night—it wasn’t necessary to love with the heart to enjoy one’s self in bed.

“I hope you like what you see, my lady,” said Tedric’s deep voice next to her ear.

Like a little girl caught in some naughty mischief, Amberlie hastily dropped the pelt. “I—uh —was pulling up—the cover,” she told him, but the blush upon her cheeks told the tale. Dropping back upon the pillows, she couldn’t even look at Tedric she was so embarrassed. Instead she turned her attention to the brightening sky outside the window. “I must rise soon. Today is the last day the king will be at Woodrose. There is much to do before our departure to London on the morrow.”

“Aye, but that can wait, and I’m certain the king will understand if you aren’t immediately present at table this morning. After all, we’ve been married but two days.” Gently, he turned her face to his, and she gazed into twin sapphires, hot and glowing flames of desire. He couldn’t want her again; he couldn’t mean to take her to dizzying heights of ecstasy again. But he could and he did—exquisitely.

Over an hour later, Tedric left the bed and dressed. Amberlie dozed, waking when she felt his warm kiss upon her forehead. He stood over her, bestowing a tender smile upon her. A wild thought blazed through her mind. If she didn’t know better, she’d swear he might love her. Quickly, she shook the absurd thought away. Such a thing was impossible.

“‘Tis time to stir,” he said.

Nodding, she sat up and would have gotten out of bed, but Tedric didn’t leave the room. She pushed her long dark hair out of her eyes. “Why do you dawdle?”

“I like looking at you. I can wait for you to dress, and we can go below stairs together.”

Amberlie was horrified. He couldn’t mean to stand there and watch her while she completed her morning toilette, while she dressed. It was indecent, it was pagan—it was exciting. Tingles of anticipation raced through her as she contemplated rising from the bed, naked and flushed from his lovemaking, to preen before him in the daylight. “Magda must help me dress,” she demurred.

“I will help you,” he quickly volunteered, and bent down to pull the cover from her, but Amberlie’s modesty overrode her own desires, and she clutched tightly at the pelt.

“Please, I’d rather you didn’t. There are personal things…” Her voice broke off, her gaze moving toward the chamber pot.

Tedric seemed to understand immediately. “So there are. Forgive me, my lady, I didn’t think. I was but swayed by your beauty this morn and wished to bask in your loveliness for as long as possible. Night is a long way off,” he reminded her, and kissed the tip of her nose.

Amberlie giggled and blushed anew. “You’re a horrid man.”

“Nay, my lady, just one who is besotted with his bride.” He turned away and left the room, leaving her sitting in the bed with her hair tumbling past her shoulders in tousled curls and a satisfied smile on her lips. She couldn’t help wondering who was besotted with whom.

~
~
~

When Amberlie finally entered the great hall, no one was present but Runa. “How is your cold today?” Amberlie politely inquired. She bit into a ripe pear.

“Better, my lady,” Runa insisted, but wiped her runny nose on the back of her hand. Luckily the woman was cleaning the tables and not handling food.

“Where is the king?”

“Out hawking, my lady. He left shortly after light.”

“Lord Tedric went with him?”

“Nay, I saw him with Lady Glenna a few minutes ago near her room.” Runa immediately stopped speaking. Her complexion turned unusually white, then reddened. The dishes in her hands shook. “‘Tis sorry I am, my lady. I mean I’m not certain where he might be. May I go now?”

Amberlie nodded, unable to speak for the moment. So Tedric had left her bed only to seek out the woman who’d have been his wife if not for the king’s decree. Had the man no conscience, no morals? How could he make love all night long to her and then rush to Glenna in the morning? Was he that insatiable, or did Glenna truly own his black and wayward heart?

Once more he’d made a fool of her. To remember all she’d done with him and to him, the wonderfully strange things he’d done to her—well, she couldn’t bear thinking on them. Was he at this very moment pleasuring Glenna in such a way?

Acute feelings of jealousy bit at her insides and twisted her heart. She must discover the truth for herself.

Climbing the flight of stairs that led to the third floor, Amberlie didn’t know what she’d do when she found them together. Nothing had prepared her for such treachery. Though she had expected Tedric might seek out Glenna eventually, she hadn’t believed it would happen so soon. He’d humiliated her by not giving her the morning gift, and now to dally with another woman when the spell of his kisses still lingered on her lips … The idea upset her more than she cared to admit.

The door to Glenna’s room was ajar. With her hand on her throat, Amberlie peered in and found no one was there.

“Searching for someone?”

Guy’s voice startled her. Spinning around, she nearly collided with him. “Don’t sneak up behind me!” she harshly cried to hide her own embarrassment of being caught outside Glenna’s door.

“I beg pardon,
cherie,
but you were so involved in looking in Glenna’s room that you didn’t hear me. Now why are you here at all? My understanding is that you and Glenna despise one another, so I trust your visit wasn’t a friendly one.” He crossed his arms over his chest, a knowing gleam in his eyes.

“I wasn’t looking for Glenna.”

“Ah, then Tedric.”

“No!” she quickly retorted, biting down upon her lower lip at the hot denial in her own voice. She couldn’t admit the truth to Guy, though he might have his suspicions. “I was searching for Edytha—she has wandered away again,” she lied, and hurriedly fled down the passageway.

“Probably looking for her cloth baby,” he observed, following after her. Suddenly he stopped beside the window in the hall, which opened onto the bailey. Guy snickered and grabbed her hand to bring her to stand beside him. He leaned closer to the sill. “Look, there’s your beloved spouse now,
cherie.”

Gazing down upon the scene below, Amberlie felt her heart flutter like a torn banner in the breeze to see Tedric with his arm wrapped tightly around Glenna’s shoulders. Amberlie set her mouth in a thin line. So she’d been right to be worried that he was with Glenna. Evidently he still cared for the woman if he sought her out so soon after the night he’d just spent with his own wife. The cruel knowledge left her legs incredibly weak. She shouldn’t be surprised at Tedric’s actions, but strangely, she was quite shaken.

Amberlie couldn’t face Guy, expecting his knowing smirk.

“It seems your husband has betrayed both of us.”

“What do you mean?” She drew her face into a blank mask and turned her attention to Guy.

Anger deepened his voice. “No longer am I in charge of the soldiers, by order of the king. I suspect Tedric had a hand in appointing Sir Christophe to my position.” Guy’s mouth twisted into an ugly scowl. “I won’t overlook this humiliation easily.”

Amberlie suspected that Guy meant to cause trouble, but when or what she couldn’t fathom. “What will you do?”

He wagged a finger at her. “That,
cherie,
is something only God and I know, for I don’t tell my secrets to the enemy.”          

“I’m not your enemy but a Norman like you.”

Guy grinned in amusement and fingered his dagger at his side. “If you insist. Now don’t worry about my plans, or Woodrose either, for the keep will be in competent hands while you are away on your sojourn to London with our king—and your most noble husband.”

“Whose hands?”

“Sir Christophe’s, of course,” he replied in all innocence. “Now I shall leave you so you can spy on your husband and his lover without my interference.” With a nasty smirk, Guy bowed to her and left her standing beside the open window.

She wouldn’t look, she wouldn’t, but despite her resolve, Amberlie couldn’t help herself. Peering into the bailey, she saw that Tedric and Glenna were still huddled in the same position. Tedric appeared to be tenderly wiping a tear from her cheek.

Swift and fierce jealousy writhed inside her. She didn’t know how long she watched them, frozen as she was by their shared intimacy. Only when Glenna turned her head and happened to see Amberlie at the window did Amberlie discern the naked triumph on the woman’s face and draw back.

Brazen whore! she cried inwardly, and stilled her shaking hands by clasping them together. Though she willed herself not to care, she couldn’t chase away her own insecurity. Tedric had married her, but he hadn’t promised her that he’d never dally in another woman’s bed, just that when alone together, they’d succumb to their own lust and would freely enjoy lovemaking. He’d lived up to his end of the bargain, and heaven help her, so had she.

But so soon to be betrayed?

~
~
~

“Mother and Edytha will be fine with you watching over them. I know you’ll make certain no harm comes to them whilst I am gone.” Tedric wiped a lone tear from Glenna’s cheek. “Now don’t cry, you must be brave.”

Glenna nodded, and her hand clung to his arm. “Aye, but I fear being with these Normans.”

“‘Tis nothing to fear. Sir Christophe has volunteered to safeguard you. He shall make certain no harm comes to Mother, and my sister also.” Tedric hugged her around the shoulders. Her head tilted up at him, but somehow he didn’t think she was looking at him but at something else. Her fear appeared to have vanished when she again riveted her attention upon his face. He thought she looked odd, almost as if she’d won a small battle. “Is something wrong?” he queried.

“Nay, all is well, Tedric, all is well.”

~
~
~

Tedric didn’t understand Amberlie’s icy attitude. He’d come up behind her as she worked in the great hall and placed his arms around her waist and kissed her neck. She’d jumped as if he intended to do her harm, and shrugged out of his embrace, telling him that such behavior was unseemly and set a bad example for the serfs.

“‘Tis wrong to show affection for one’s wife?” he’d asked, and shook his head in a semblance of disbelief. “Norman customs are not to my liking, if indeed this is a Norman custom.” Suspicion coated his voice.

She answered him without looking at him as she went about checking the silver spoons for tarnish. “Misplaced affection is wrong, especially if it is displayed at the wrong time. We made a bargain, you and I, to only touch within our chamber. You aren’t living up to your word.”