Seduced (12 page)

That part of her that throbbed was anxious to
enter the darkened bedchamber.

Her heart was shamed that she would feel
so.

Letia's footsteps lagged when she finally
reached Raik's door. Leofwan stood guard there.

o0o

By the time Raik's evening meal arrived
earlier, he was still tense with lingering anger. He didn't have
much hunger.

He carefully tasted and inspected the roasted
capons. Finding nothing unusual, he picked them clean to their
shiny bones. He eyed the carrots glazed with honey and cinnamon. It
would be too easy to lace them with a drug to increase his desire.
Surely, they had done so. Never had he had such need for any woman.
Frowning, he ate the hot loaf of bread, the cheese and fruits.

The guards hesitated, likely thinking it
strange when he requested ale, but brought it. Raik would easily
detect anything not brewed into it.

Each night, the busty laundress had brought
his evening meal. But Maud brought wine and cheese after dark. When
she arrived, she set it on the table and poured wine into the
goblet. He watched her every movement. She didna seem ill at ease.
Was she so used to dosing a man that it was normal to her duties?
She did seem to study him more this night than usual. Most likely
to see if any anger lingered for the way she had spoken to him.

He nodded his thanks, then picked up the
goblet, put it to his lips until he felt the wine there and
pretended to drink. "Um. Good. Thank you, Maud." He rubbed the
lingering wine off with the back of his hand as she watched.

Was that a slight nod of her head before she
turned to leave? He thought so and grinned. After her footsteps
faded, he poured the pitcher of wine into the white basin on the
washstand and waited. Ah. There was something mixed in with the
dregs that normally settled at the bottom of a pitcher of wine.

Now, how to get rid of it in case someone
should come to check how docile he was? He looked out the window
opening. Nay, it would not do to toss it. It would leave telltale
red stains splattered on the outer wall and below.

He drew back and glanced at the bed. The piss
pot beneath would do. He lifted the covers high to pull it out,
then carefully emptied the basin into the pot and shoved it back.
He poured a little water in the basin to rinse it then splashed his
face with it. Good. He would smell of wine. He emptied the water
out the window.

He took his time checking the room, making
sure nothing remained of the wine. He grinned and bent forward to
pull off his tunic. Did they think if he didna have his clothes he
wouldn't seek escape? He cared not who saw his arse. After all,
more than one beauty had raved over its fine shape!

He had forgotten. Last night, his lover had
dug her nails into his flesh in her frenzy for release. He walked
over to pick up the candle and twisted himself into knots trying to
inspect his nether cheeks. Aha. Was that a mark? He felt over the
area and noted it was slightly sore. Proof the woman was not his
mind playing him false.

He had to know who she was. Thinking about
her heated his blood, though he had never seen her. When she stood,
she was near up to his chin. Tall, then. Slender, for her body was
firm. Her hair was full, long. Halfway down her back.

Raik pinched out the candle and sprawled out
on the bed. He threw the corner of the sheet over his groin.
Folding his arms beneath his head, he stared at the blackness and
recalled his fingers feeling over her face. She had a broad
forehead. Her eyes were large with brows arched above them. The
nose would be graceful, her cheeks with high cheekbones. Lips. Hmm,
lips full and thinning at the edges that lifted slightly. How did
one judge ears? He had cupped them in the palm of his hands when he
held her head steady for his kisses.

Her neck was long, that hollow at its base
wide. He had kissed his way down that neck and over her breasts.
Hades! His damned cock was eager. It near bounced as it grew and
searched for that hot, tight home. He looked down at himself and
saw the white sheet tented over his unruly member.

He needed no love potions to harden on just
thinking of the woman. He would trap her tonight and find out her
identity.

When he left Seton, the woman would be with
him.

Even if he had to abduct her.

No son of his would be a bastard, having to
fight the way he had all his life.

His renewing anger near made him miss hearing
someone entering the room. Instinct told him it was not his beauty.
He tensed, listening to the footsteps. He recognized them.

Maud. She stopped and stood still. Listening?
To hear if he slept? He breathed heavy and even. She walked softly
to the table. So. That was how the candle was gone each morn. He
made a soft, snorting sound like an interrupted snore and shuffled
his legs. She stood still. He counted to thirty before she picked
up the candle and eased out of the room.

"You are sure he sleeps soundly? He was in
such anger over Storm. I fear the potion will not have the same
result," Letia whispered to Maud.

"I listened to his breathing, to his
movements. He feels the effects of the poppy. His legs search
around the bed no doubt looking for the woman in his dreams." Maud
patted her shoulder and gave it a light squeeze. "This should be
the last time. Any more and he will become needful of the poppy.
Too, the moon begins to grow."

"Do not leave, Maud. You won't will you?"

"Nay. I will stay outside the room." Maud
opened the door for Letia to ease into Raik's bedchamber.

Letia stood still for a breath. Listening.
Assured by his even, deep breathing, she padded close. Sliding the
ribbon free, her thumbs hooked under the velvet robe's soft collar
to send it sliding down her body to the floor. The warm touch as it
caressed her nipples, her flesh, heightened her senses. Between her
legs, her sensitive flesh quivered with need, making the muscles in
her thighs clench.

Taking deep breaths, she stood beside the
bed. Though he had not been within the woods for over a sennight,
his body still smelled of pine and musk. Her skin prickled. It
likely craved his touch. She bit her lips

She grasped the sheet's edge and carefully
sat on the bed then slid down on the sheets and lay still for a
while. Listening. His heat crept between them to warm her side.
With an agonized groan, she was unable to resist pressing her
length against him.

Such hard, firm flesh. Its heat and the feel
of the hair on his leg all teased her skin. Sighing, she rolled to
face him. She slid her arm over the soft hair of his hard, muscled
chest and eased her head down on his shoulder to breathe deep of
his intoxicating scent.

She bent her leg and rubbed it slowly up his
thigh as she slid it over his body.

Moist heat pooled even more at her center.
Her breathing quickened, feeling his engorged shaft, hot and silky,
rubbing and jerking against the top of her thigh. How could she be
so ready to receive him into her body when he had done naught to
tempt her?

Surely, only a shameless woman would have
such feelings for a man who looked on her with scorn…a man she
feared more than Julian?

Julian could cause her great physical
pain.

Raik could shred her soul.

Noting a faint light in the room, she glanced
toward the window opening. Clouds moved from the sliver of moon,
letting just the slightest shaft of light through.

Maud was right. This would be the last time
she came to him. She squeezed her eyes tightly together, praying
this terrible deception hadn't been for naught.

Mumbling, Raik turned to her. His arms folded
around her, gathering her close against his flesh. For a moment,
enclosed in his arms pressed against his hard frame, she gloried in
a feeling of safety.

Suddenly, his arms became a prison. His
muscles tightened like bands of steel.

He was awake!

He pulled her with him across the sheets to
the edge of the bed. She fought, pushing her heels against the
mattress trying to break away. As he stood, she gasped in
panic.

"Nay!"

She reared back in his arms and shoved at his
chest. Her feet beat against his shins. He did not slacken his
hold. Waves of terror welled up from the pit of her body. She was
near crazed. If he learned who she was, he'd throttle the life from
her. She fought like a barn cat forced by hunting dogs into a
corner where a wolf awaited, his teeth gnashing together in hungry
anticipation.

Her throat tightened as if Raik already had
his fingers clasped there. Her nails raked at his face. He reared
his head back.

He carried her pressed against his chest,
struggling and fighting, toward the shaft of light. The closer they
came, the more frantically she struggled. A faint glow edged over
her leg.

Why did she not strike his healing wound? She
could not bring herself to do such a cruel thing. She scratched and
pounded everywhere she could, leaving that one area untouched.

The soft glow from the moon crept up her hip,
her side.

She screamed. Fear added strength to her
voice.

She kicked out at the stone window ledge,
forcing him back. Not for long. He jerked away then turned so her
back was to the light. Did he plan to shove her through the
opening? She renewed her struggles.

Raik wrested her back into the faint
moonlight. His big hand clamped around her jaw. His fingers dug
into the soft skin of her cheeks, hurting her, as he relentlessly
compelled her to face him. She struggled harder. Near broke away
from him.

"Ah, lady of the night. I would see who
steals into my dreams and shares my bed unbidden!" His voice rasped
with fury.

No sooner had the last word left Raik's lips
than Letia heard a dull thud. His arms convulsed, near crushing the
breath from her lungs. His knees buckled and he started crumpling
to the floor.

As Raik slid down her body, she gripped her
arms around his warm chest, attempting to hold his weight as he
collapsed in a mass of muscle and bone at her feet. She folded with
him, trying to cushion his head from the cold floor.

At the last moments as his consciousness
faded, his muscles bunched in his struggle to twist his body. If he
had not, she would have landed beneath him.

Trembling from head to toe, she gasped and
looked up. She blinked rapidly to clear her eyes. Leofwan stood
over them, his face grim, holding the pewter pitcher with a sizable
dent in it.

"Oh, Heavenly Father, Leofwan. You have not
killed him, have you?"

"Nay, Lady. His head is far too hard for
pewter to crack. No doubt he will have a headache worse than any he
has had before," he muttered.

She shook her head, her hair flew wild and
flowed over her head, her face. She lay sprawled atop Raik, her
legs entangled in his. Faint moonlight lit his face. For half a
breath, he stared straight at her, his eyes puzzled. His lids
closed. With a sigh, his arms relaxed and fell away.

"Hurry, lady, afore the guards come." Leofwan
dropped the pitcher, extended his hand and kept his left eye
looking upward as he helped her to rise.

"Are ye hurt, love?" Maud whispered.
Snatching the robe from the floor at the foot of the bed, she slung
it around Letia's shoulders.

"Nay. He tried to drag me to the window to
find out who I was, that is all. He did not harm me." Letia's teeth
chattered as she knelt on the floor, running her fingertips over
the back of Raik's head.

"Close the door afore anyone else enters,"
Leofwan called out.

Letia heard the door shut and the latch
falling then soft footsteps approached her. 'Twas the young
laundress Goda.

"Saints! Looks like his visit has come to an
end, do ye not think?" Her voice was a harsh whisper.

Maud wrapped her arm around Letia and helped
her to walk. "Come, sit."

The laundress scraped the chair along the
floor, and Letia felt it at the back of her knees. She sank onto it
and wrapped her arms around herself, trying to still the tremors
that shook her from her head to her toes dancing up and down on the
floor.

She blinked, feeling a wave of sick dread.
Had they damaged him? Would he be right in the head after such a
blow? Bile surged to her throat. She swallowed. Rocked back and
forth. She should have listened to her own fear and never have done
such a lowly thing. She was not a common woman, a woman who could
only lure a man who was out of his head with potions.

Mayhap King Stephen would have controlled
Julian without her having to sink so low with such a deceitful
thing. She reached up to swipe tears from her cheeks. She stiffened
her back. Stilled her trembling and pulled her robe tightly about
her.

Leofwan pulled a sheet off the bed and
covered Raik's naked flesh. "I will bring the Baron. He will know
what is best to do now." He turned and hastened from the room,
pulling the door closed behind him.

"Come, quickly," Maud urged. "You must be
gone from this room."

Letia clutched the robe around her and
started for the door, Maud's arm around her waist. Goda raced
ahead, urging her to a greater speed. No sooner did they enter her
solar than warriors ran past, swords at the ready.

Letia's heart pounded with fear. Maud whipped
off Letia's robe and threw a heavy smock over her head. She settled
it around her shoulders then ran her fingers through her hair,
untangling and pushing it behind her shoulders.

"Take a deep breath and calm yourself. Look
merely interested in the events taking place, else someone might
suspect."

Letia nodded, took three slow breaths then
stepped briskly outside the door.

"What goes here, Piers?" Letia called to the
red-haired slinger standing at Raik's door.