Ruby - Book 1 (Daughters of the Dagger Series) (11 page)

“You fool!” she cried out. “Take me now
before I die from want and you have another death of a wife on your
conscious.”

“Do you mean that?” He pushed up on one
elbow and she could see the hope, the want and the need within his
inquiring eyes.

“I do,” she said loud and clear, as a
reminder of their wedding vows.

He didn’t ask again. He entered her then and
she felt her body stretch to take him in completely. There was a
slight tinge of pain and then it was followed by glorious vibrating
of her nether regions as he thrust into her over and over again and
claimed her as his wife. She reached a peak of elation that she’d
never felt before, and knew that the fear she’d held of the stories
she’d heard about making love were all in vain, as this felt
wonderful and she couldn’t get enough. He let loose with his
emotions and spilled his seed within her. Then he rolled over,
calming his breathing and they both just lie there staring at the
ceiling.

“You are amazing,” she said, meaning it in
every sense of the word. She had never known that a man could make
her feel this way.

“You are now my wife in every way,” he told
her, and she liked the way it sounded as well as the way it felt.
Mayhap she could accept being married to him and learn to like it
after all. Because this was a side to Nyle that she’d not seen
before now, nor did she expect. He actually seemed as if he cared
about what she wanted for the first time since she’d met him. She
could only hope it would last, as she rather liked it.

“Do you still believe I am trying to kill
you?” he asked.

“Well,” she said with a smile. “I almost
died when you were going to pull away, so mayhap you are after
all.”

That made him laugh, and she liked the way
the corners of his mouth turned up and way his straight white teeth
looked against his sun-kissed skin. His silver eyes seemed to
sparkle like gemstones, being several shades lighter when he was
happy. That pleased her, as Ascilia had seemed to think Ruby could
not please her lord, yet it seemed to her that she’d made him very
happy. She was happy too.

This man was her husband. This beautiful man
with his muscles and tanned skin and long dark hair and sparkling
eyes. Why hadn’t she noticed before not only his beauty but the
genuine caring side of him? There were parts of him that he seemed
to keep hidden away. He would have stopped and not made love if she
had so desired. He’d actually cared what she thought and had given
her the choice. No man capable of murdering a woman could act so
gentle and caring as he’d just done. She could see now she was
wrong about him all along. She wasn’t sure what happened to his
wives, but he couldn’t be the assassin she’d thought him to be.

“Can I ask you something?” she said, running
her finger through the hair on his chest, making a path in little
circles.

“Only if I can do the same to you,” he said,
pulling her closer so she could nuzzle her head into the crook of
his neck.

“Aye,” she answered. “Do you want to
start?”

“Nay, go ahead,” he said to her.

“I’m sorry to bring this up now, but can you
please tell me how your wives died?”

“Of course, I owe that to you, Ruby,” he
said. “I should have told you before now.” He rubbed his face
against the top of her hair as he spoke. “My first wife, Henrietta
died in the garderobe. I was told she slipped and hit her head on
the stone and died instantly.”

“Oh, that’s horrible.”

“And my second wife, Prudence was lying in
bed waiting for me to consummate the marriage, and when I entered I
found her dead.”

“From what?” she asked.

“No one knows but ’tis my suspicion she was
smothered with a pillow.”

“So you think someone truly killed her?”

“It could be so.”

“And what about your third wife?” she asked
curiously.

“Millicent never made it past the wedding
feast. She choked on the wine and died right there at dinner.”

“Couldn’t you save her from choking?”

“Nay. Because I believe the wine was somehow
poisoned. She spilled her goblet and I noticed an odd odor from the
cup, but I cannot prove it at all.”

“But wouldn’t you have drank from the cup as
well and been poisoned too? After all, we shared a goblet of wine
today.”

“Millicent had her own goblet she liked to
use. No one but her drank from it as it was a gift from her
father.”

“So I’ll bet all these girl’s fathers are
upset about this.”

“Of course they are. And in order to prove
my innocence I had to return each of their dowries.”

“I see. Well, at least you won’t have to do
that with me. I survived the cursed wedding night. I do believe my
ring is luckier than the one you wanted to give me.” She held up
her hand and looked at the ruby on the ring flickering in the
firelight from the bedside candle.

“The night isn’t over yet,” he said. “And
that’s why I am not leaving you even for a second. You will stay by
my side and I will protect you every minute of the night.”

“I’m sure I’ll be fine,” she said. “After
all, I have my dagger should anyone come after me.” She reached
over to the bedside table and under the tunic he’d thrown on top,
looking for her dagger. When her hand came up empty, she sat up
quickly, throwing his tunic to the floor and looking for her
weapon.

“What’s the matter?” he asked, his eyes
half-closing. He yawned and flipped onto his back.

“My dagger, it’s gone!”

“Where did you leave it?”

“On this table, but now it’s not here.”

“It probably fell under the rushes when I
threw my tunic atop it.” He pulled her back to him and wrapped an
arm around her. “Now it’s my turn to ask a question.”

“Oh, that’s right.” She looked over to the
table again and then down to the floor. Perhaps he was right. It
must have just fallen under the rushes and herbs of lavender and
rosemary covering the floor creating a sweet scent.

He reached over and turned her face toward
him. “Why did you ask me if your breasts were too small?” he
wondered. “What would ever make you think I even cared?”

“Because Ascilia told me that you liked big
busted women.”

“What the hell?” He scrunched up his face
and narrowed his eyes. “What would give her that idea?”

“She said that Jocelyn had big breasts and
that you were in love with her as well.”

That took him by surprise. He pulled back
his arm and sat up on the bed. “Why would she say that?”

“Mayhap because it’s what this Jocelyn told
her?”

“It’s not true,” he said. “Don’t believe
it.”

“You seem to be getting very upset about
something that is not true.”

“I don’t want you to say that name again, do
you understand me?”

“Whose name? Jocelyn?”

“Stop it! I mean it.” His smile faded and
his sparkling eyes turned dark once again.

“All right,” she said, turning on her side
so as not to have to face him.

“Good night,” he said, turning on his side
with their backs now together.

“Good night, husband,” she said, thinking
how foreign the word husband sounded on her tongue. She wanted to
ask him about the child and also about the fact that Ascilia said
he only married her to take care of it. None of it made any sense,
since there was no child of his in Sheffield that she knew about.
Mayhap the handmaiden was just addled and making this all up. She
closed her eyes and fell asleep, hoping it was all just a lie.

Chapter 9

Ruby was having a bad dream that Nyle was
holding a pillow over her face trying to suffocate her. She tossed
and turned and then stopped suddenly, as she thought she heard the
sound of the latch moving on the door. She opened her eyes,
realizing it was still night and the candle in the metal holder
next to the bed had yet to burn out. Then she heard it again. The
sound of someone trying to enter the room.

She looked over to Nyle who was snoring on
the bed next to her, then back over to the door. It was probably
nothing, she realized. Then she thought about waking her husband,
but after that nightmare she’d just had, she was glad just to
awaken alive.

Instead, she slipped from the bed, finding
her shift and throwing it over her head quickly. Then she looked
once again on the table for her dagger, and when she didn’t see it,
she got down on the ground on her knees and dug around in the
rushes, hoping it had just fallen.

The door squeaked open then, and she looked
up to see a big man – one of the soldiers she’d seen in the great
hall last night sneaking into the room. He had a knife in his hand,
as she could see the blade glimmering in the candlelight above her.
Since she was low, he didn’t see her at first, but then he caught
site of her and she gasped. Too frightened to call out to Nyle for
help, she was frozen to the spot as he lifted his blade and rushed
toward her.

Nyle shot out of the bed and in one motion
reached over her and grabbed his sword and knocked the man to the
ground. He kicked the man’s blade away with his foot and held the
tip of his sword to the man’s throat.

“Don’t even breathe or this blade goes
through your neck,” he ground out. Then he talked to her without
turning his head. “Get behind me Ruby, I want you far away from
this murderer.”

She quickly stood and crawled across the
bed, straining her eyes in the dark to see what was going on.

“Who are you and why have you been killing
off my wives?” Nyle asked.

The man didn’t have time to answer. Ruby saw
the door open and in rushed the old handmaiden with Nyle’s sister,
Linette with a lit candle in her hand beside her. One of his
knights was right behind them. Nyle’s back was to the door.

When Linette saw her brother standing there
naked, she hid her face with her hand and looked away. The knight
rushed past Ascilia with his sword raised. Then suddenly, he seemed
to have tripped on something, putting out his arm to stop himself,
and stumbling right into Nyle. The impact jerked Nyle forward,
sending the tip of his blade right through the attacker’s neck.

“Nay!” she heard Nyle shout out. The
soldier’s eyes bugged open wide and blood covered him instantly.
Nyle turned around with eyes of fire. “Sir Elwood what in the name
of devil is wrong with you? I almost had that man spilling his guts
and now because of you he spills his life blood on my floor
instead.”

“I apologize, my lord. But I seem to have
tripped on something, but I don’t know what, as it is very
dark.”

“Damn it,” Nyle ground out. “I was so close
to finding out who hired him.”

“Brother, are you clothed yet?” asked his
sister, still not turning around.

Nyle removed his blade from the man’s throat
and threw his sword to the floor in disgust. He grabbed his braies
and pulled them on. “You can turn around now,” he told her.

Ruby noticed the way the handmaid was still
eyeing Nyle’s chest and she didn’t like it. She crawled over the
bed and grabbed his tunic and handed it to him. “Please put this
on,” she said. Then she looked over to Sir Elwood. “What did you
trip on that made you fall forward with such force?”

“I don’t know,” he said, looking at the
ground. “’Twas almost like something just shot out and tripped
me.”

Then Ascilia bent down and picked up
something and held it up for them to see. “Oh, ’twas this, I am
sure.” She had Ruby’s dagger in her hand.

“My dagger!” Ruby rushed forward and grabbed
it from the woman.

“See, I told you ’twas here somewhere,” Nyle
said, donning his tunic.

“Yes, I guess you were right.” Ruby eyed the
distance from the table where she’d left it over to the other side
of the room where it had just been found. Nothing made sense. And
tripping on a dagger seemed ridiculous to her.

“Who is he?” Linette held her candle over
the dead man’s face.

“He’s a hired mercenary sent to kill my
wives, that’s who he is,” answered Nyle. “However now that he is
dead I’ll never find out who he was working for or why someone
wants my wives dead to begin with.” He reached out an arm and put
it around Ruby. “Are you alright, sweetheart?”

Reality finally hit her. This man had truly
meant to kill her. And if it wasn’t for Nyle jumping over the bed
and coming to her safety, she would be dead right now. Her body
shook with fear and she pulled herself closer to him in a
protective hug.

“I’m fine,” she said. She looked to the
dagger in her hand and grasped it tightly. “But I’ll tell you now
that this is never leaving my side again.”

“You don’t have to worry about that
anymore,” said Ascilia. “Now the murderer is dead and you can all
relax.”

“I’m not so sure this is the end of it,”
said Nyle. “After all, the man had to be taking orders from
someone. Now I need to figure out who that is. If only he was still
alive.” He looked at his sister and her handmaiden and an odd
expression crossed his face. “What are you two even doing here in
the first place?”

“Ascilia woke me and told me she’d heard a
noise and looked out the door to see a strange man entering your
chamber,” Linette explained. “She was afraid for Lady Ruby’s life
and we came to see what was happening.”

“I followed him here, my lord,” said Sir
Elwood from behind them. “I’d been watching for him in the great
hall and am sorry to say I dozed off. When I awoke I saw him
leaving and came after him, anon.”

“And no one thought to wake me in the
process?” He looked down to Ruby when he said it.

“I didn’t want to disturb you,” she said,
knowing how ridiculous that sounded, but not wanting to tell him
about her bad dream.

“Get this dead man out of here,” he ordered
Sir Elwood, picking up his blade and wiping it against the dead
man’s tunic. “And make sure the room is cleaned from his blood, as
I want my wedding chamber in order. And everyone else - out, as I’d
like to speak to my wife in private.”