One True Knight (The Knights of Honor Trilogy) (29 page)

Jonathan could feel the heat rising to his face and was glad that the shadows hid his embarrassment. “I sent her away,” he said. “I had planned to see you safe until your return to Ravenhearth tomorrow.”

He launched into details about the Airndale attack. But after she heard that her father had not come to rescue her, she barely heard anything else that he said. She rested her chin on her knees. There was always something that occupied her father. She hoped that in her time of greatest need, threatened by real danger, he would come to rescue her himself. Only then, could she believe that her father cared for her still.

“I am not certain that I want to return to Ravenhearth,” she said, her voice sounding thick. She looked past Jonathan’s shoulder, trying to hold back her emotions.

Jonathan drew his eyes brows together in puzzlement. “Your father would not be happy to hear this,” he said.

“Then he should have come after me himself if he wants me to return. Instead he sends someone else in his stead. He always sends someone else.”

“Is that so bad? I am your husband after all.”

She raised her head, her eyes blazing. “He does not care for me,” she said. “
You
do not care for me. You are likely here at my father’s prompting.”

“I would have come for you even if your father had not asked this of me.”

“I do not believe you,” she said. “As I recall, marriage to me is the last thing you desire. You made that quite clear.”

“Aye,” he agreed. “The last thing I need is a wife. However you were the one who deceived me. I —”

She shook her head. “Nay, I did not deceive you,” she denied, unable to hide her bitterness. “I came to assist you with your injury. I was offering you the salve, and was planning to leave your tent when you begged me to apply it to your wound.”

“Beg?” he said, cocking an eyebrow in disbelief. “The salve that you offered was clearly a ploy to get into my bed.”

Rowena narrowed her eyes. “I was
innocent
before my virtue was stolen from me! If anything I was the one who was deceived here. Had I not been seduced, I would be marrying a man of my own choosing.”
And not you
. Her unspoken words hung in the air like a thick cloud of smoke.

“Perhaps I was wrong to accuse you,” he said at last.

She looked down at her hands. Her hair was loosened and she looked young, vulnerable and achingly beautiful. “I understand that you are here because you feel a sense of duty to me. Perhaps you should have left me to die in the hands of that monster. Then we would not be subjected to this mockery of a marriage.” Her voice quivered and a tear escaped and fell on her hand. “My father could live happily with his new wife and neither you nor King Edward would not need to spare any thought of me.”

He sat down on the edge of the mattress, and brought his hand under her chin, gently lifting it up until their gazes met. More tears were shimmering just below the surface. “I’m sorry,” he said, his voice full of regret. His gentle tone broke open the dam that held back her emotions. A flood of tears escaped. He drew her close until her head rested on his chest. “I regret that you have become entangled in this debacle. I admit ‘twas entirely my fault. Had you stayed away from me then perhaps you would be safe, tucked into your own bed, and not sitting here with me.”

Her ear was pressed to his chest where she heard the heavy, rhythmic thudding of his heart. After a while, she pushed away from him, wiping the tears from her eyes. She hadn’t cried like this since she was a small girl.

She clasped her hands on her lap, and looked at him, a sad expression on her face. “If you are truly sorry,” she said, “you will agree to undo this wrong and have our marriage annulled, as it has not been consummated since the ceremony. We can return to Ravenhearth as you have said, and speak to my father about this.”

Jonathan frowned but didn’t say anything.

“We can make my father understand,” Rowena continued, mistaking his silence. “He cannot force us to stay married if both of us are vehemently opposed to it.”

“We shall speak of this tomorrow,” Jonathan said, his tone almost too curt. Then as if he realized how harsh he sounded, he gentled his voice. “You should get some sleep since we have a fair distance to cross before we reach Raventhearth.”

She wrapped her arms around herself. “Sir Raulf said he will come for me,” she whispered, unable to keep the fear from creeping into her voice.

“The bastard can try but I won’t let him,” Jonathan said. He touched his sword at his hip. “I carry this everywhere I go, and as long as I am near, no harm will befall you. I will not allow him to harm you as he did Amelia.”

“Your betrothed?” she asked. Jonathan acknowledged her question with the barest of nods. She didn’t know why she asked him, but there was something inside her that wanted to know. “Did you love her?”

She held her breath as she waited for him to answer.

When he didn’t answer right away, she gave him a rueful smile. “Forgive me for asking. Of course you loved her. After all, you would not be pursing her killer for all these years had you not cared for her.”

“Aye, I cared for her,” he said. He looked as if he wanted to say more. Instead, he reached over and trailed his calloused fingers along her smooth face, caressing her. “I care for you also. If you need me, I will be sleeping on the floor.”

He made a move to get up.

She caught his hand, stopping him. “I would feel much safer if you would stay with me,” Rowena said softly.
He cared for her.
“If we plan to annul this marriage, we can at least leave on good terms.”

Jonathan paused, searching her liquid grey eyes, and what he saw there made him swallow hard.

“Are you certain?” he asked. “Do you know what you are asking of me?”

Rowena nodded. “We shall have this one night, this one last memory before we part ways.”

He let out a groan. He had no intention of getting the marriage annulled but this he didn’t tell her.

He took her in his arms, hauling her up against his hard, muscular length, and kissed her. A streak of pleasure made her quiver, filling her with languid warmth that spread immediately to her woman’s core. It was a kiss like none of the others because she knew the direction it would lead — a kiss of breathtaking restraint, of pagan hunger. And she matched it with equal ardor. The knowledge that he didn’t love her was pushed out of her mind, for the moment forgotten, as she gave into the instinctual need that built up inside her.

She felt herself falling, falling into a sea of sensual pleasure and exhilaration. With a silent moan of exquisite surrender, her hands slid over the hard planes of his muscular chest and shoulders, and then wanting to get closer still, she wrapped her arms around his neck.

He tugged at her gown. His hands glided restlessly, unbridled, caressing her breasts, sliding along her back, urging her closer, more intimately, to his rigid erection. Rowena moaned at the thrilling erotic torture that he stirred in her with such deliberation and skill.

She saw him poised over her — the fierce warrior who brought fear into the hearts of men, the same man who held and kissed her with such tender passion.

She opened her arms to him, inviting him to join her.

He looked down at her, his eyes raking hotly over her body, taking in her naked splendor. “My God, you’re beautiful,” he whispered in a husky voice. His gaze moved slowly upward to her alluring face. “And you belong to me.”

Bending his head, he put his lips on hers just as he eased into her.

He felt her silken warmth expanding, encasing his hardness. He broke out in sweat, and his breathing became labored. He wanted nothing more to continue pushing, driving into her to the hilt, but he wanted to allow her to experience pleasure first before he lost all control.

“Please, Jonathan,” Rowena moaned.

The sound of her sweet passion filled voice was enough to break him, and unable to stop his body from taking control, he plunged further into her.

He switched to deep, rhythmic thrusts, and felt their bodies begin to move in unison.

Rowena’s cries filled the room as she reached her peak. And with one final thrust, Jonathan’s control shattered into a million pieces, as he let loose a torrent of passion that had built up inside him ever since he met her in the darkened alley.

Jonathan buried his face in her hair and breathed in the faint scent of summer lavender. He let out a deep sigh of satisfaction, collapsing on top of her, his energy spent. Rolling over, he pulled her along with him. And within a few minutes, he could hear her deep, even breathing.

In her sleep, she snuggled closer to his side as if she wanted to be near him even in her dreams. Why he didn’t bed her after their quick marriage, he didn’t know. He reveled at the feel of her soft body molded to his side, and he felt content just to have her in his arms. He brushed a wayward lock of hair from her sweet face. He never felt like this before. Not with Amelia, not with any woman. An annulment was definitely out of the question.

CHAPTER 29

It was hours later when Jonathan awoke, the feeling of contentment still warming his body. When was the last time he felt like this?

He remembered last night and how Rowena gave herself so freely, so sweetly to the sensual heat that engulfed them both. The mere thought of her intoxicating presence made him hard again.

Smiling, he turned to his side, reaching out his arm, expecting to find Rowena beside him.

But he was alone.

He allowed his arm to drop down onto the bed. The cold sheet revealed that she had been gone for at least an hour. But how did she leave so quietly, and without him noticing? He trained for years to become a light sleeper, to detect the slightest movements. Yet somehow she managed to slip away?

Feeling unnerved, he rolled out of bed and searched for his clothes. His earlier happiness clouded into annoyance as he mocked himself for being such a fool. He let his guard down, allowed himself to get distracted with Rowena even though he knew Raulf was still roaming free. He promised to protect her. But if he was sleeping like the dead, then he could not fulfill that promise.

Even though he stationed guards throughout the castle, Raulf could still lurk within the walls of Blackburn, waiting for a moment to strike. And Rowena was alone right now. As long as there was no one at her side to protect her, she was vulnerable.

Jonathan pulled on his tunic and hose, and slipped into his boots.

Striding to the door, he jerked it open. Not surprisingly he found his squire lying in front of his door. Albert must have followed him to the chamber last night. He sat up from the makeshift pallet, and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. “You didn’t call for my assistance, sire,” he said, eyeing Jonathan’s clothes.

Jonathan waved his hand. “I don’t want to be suited in armor today.” He paused looking around him. “Do you know where Lady Rowena went?”

“To the main garden, sire.”

Jonathan frowned. “Why would she go there?”

Albert pushed off the floor and stood up. “I’m uncertain, sire. She didn’t say why she was going there. She just asked me for directions.” A sheepish look crossed his face. “I was half asleep, and I didn’t think to question her any further.”

Jonathan closed his eyes briefly. “That is the last place that she should be. The main garden had been neglected for years and is filled with overgrown trees and shrubbery. I should have cleared that area a long time ago.”

As he spoke, Albert studied his face and little by little his alarm began to show. “Sire, do you think Lady Rowena is in danger? I didn’t think —”

“She is and will remain in danger until that bastard is captured or killed,” Jonathan said. “I want you to have the horses prepared. We ride to Ravenhearth as soon as I find her.”

He moved away, not bothering to see if his squire followed his order. He was walking toward the outer bailey where the main garden was situated when Gareth caught up to him.

“What news do you have of Raulf?” Jonathan asked.

“None,” Gareth said, shaking his head in frustration. “Why are these criminal becoming so elusive? We searched the forest with the best trackers and hounds, yet we found no trace of him. The horses in the stalls were also accounted for. At this point, we can assume that the bastard is still hidden here at Blackburn.”

“Did you search the gardens?”

Gareth nodded. “We are search —”

A sudden scream erupted from the direction of the garden, shattering the early morning stillness.

Jonathan let out a loud curse and broke into a run. Gareth followed closely behind.

And when Jonathan arrived at the garden a few seconds later, his worst fears were confirmed…

CHAPTER 30

Rowena had seen the garden from the bed chamber window and decided to go there. The events over the last few days were making her head spin. Raulf was on the loose, intent on using her as a pawn for revenge. And then there was Jonathan. She didn’t know what to think about him. She felt certain that having her marriage annulled was what she — what
they
wanted. But a heavy gloominess settled over her shoulders every time she thought about the end of their short marriage.

An old bench that was partially covered by a shrub caught her eye, and she made her way toward it. The garden at Ravenhearth was the place she went to when she wanted to take refuge, and even though this particular garden was overgrown and neglected, it was still peaceful, still a good place to sit and think.

From her vantage point, she had a clear view of the battlements, and there were several guards stationed along the ramparts, alert even at the blush of dawn.

Rowena settled down on the bench, half listening to the birds’ early morning chatter as her thoughts began to wander to the previous night.

She was so deep in her musing that she didn’t notice a shadow crossing over her. And when someone caught her arm and pulled her toward the undergrowth, it was almost too late to react.

“I came back for you like I promised,” Raulf said in her ear. She let out a startled scream before he cupped her mouth with his hand, and snaked his arm around her waist in a vice like grip.