Seduced (15 page)

Raik sighed, knowing the laird wouldn't be
satisfied until he answered.

"I asked Muriele to wed with me. She denied
me. That is all there was to it."

Raik finished dressing with the squire's
help. His headache had quieted to a softer throbbing, thanks be to
whatever concoction Ranald had added to the wine. He felt better
already. Hot water and Catalin's expert kneading of his stiff
muscles had relaxed his sore body.

All he needed now was the steaming food
servants were carrying into the room. Soon the table was near
groaning from the weight of platters and bowls.

He spied the lamb shanks. 'Twas his favorite,
for cook coated the lamb with honey mixed with crushed mint leaves
and other spices. His mouth watered, reminding him he had not eaten
since the cheese the night before. Smoked haddock, quail pies and
roasted fowl rounded out the meats. Peas and beans, loaves of white
bread, plum tarts and cheeses completed the meal.

Jugs of ale kept cold in the well within the
keep stood at each end.

He sighed with pleasure when he speared a
juicy shank and dropped it on his wooden plate. For a while,
everyone was content to eat while the food still had its warmth.
After they had satisfied their hunger, Catalin left to be with her
son. The men sat back, stretching and belching, something they
couldna do with Catalin there.

"Laird, I thought yer face would split
holding back yer wind with Catalin at the table." Raik grinned at
Broccin.

"Aye. 'Tis only while she is carryin'. Says
it makes her ill."

Ranald sprawled back against the wall, his
legs outstretched.

"Now we can talk freely, Raik. What are yer
plans?"

"Find the woman! Ye know I have never sired a
bastard. Always, I have withdrawn afore I spent my seed."

"Aye." Ranald studied Raik's face.
Understanding flashed through him. He drew his legs in, sat upright
and leaned his arms on his thighs. "Hm, until now, eh? Ye didna
pull away?" His brows shot upward.

"Not by choice. They must have added an
aphrodisiac with the poppy. I was near bursting with lust. I tried
to hold my seed. Her legs clamped me too tightly. I couldna free my
cock until I spilled within her." He pressed his lips together,
thinking on it.

"She was strong, then?"

"Oh, aye. Strong. Never have I swived a woman
who met me thrust for thrust with equal passion."

Surely, she was not wed. No man who had ever
rested between her legs would allow another to know that same
wonder. Anger sizzled in him that he had no idea who she was.

"Somehow, I will find reason to return to
Seton. And when I do..."

Over the next fortnight, Letia tried to calm
her mind by filling her days as she had before Raik of Scotland had
been an unusual guest at Seton Castle. By the time night fell, mind
and body were equally ready for rest.

In their sleeping chamber, Warin propped his
sword against the side of the fireplace. "I watched the young
slingers this day. Sybilla's girl has a good, strong aim." His eyes
twinkled as he added a square of peat to the dying fire.

"You saw?"

"Aye."

"She is angry because that handsome horse
trainer will not allow her to help groom his horse. I scolded her
for it."

"He near jumped into my arms when her stone
hit. He wanted to do more than scold her. He did not fancy that
whelp on his arse."

Letia bent her head as Maud helped pull her
green woolen kirtle over it. She became tangled in the cream smock
beneath, and while she fought it back down around her body, the
floor seemed to tip. She steadied her feet. When her head slid
free, she blinked and grasped the end bedpost. Bile surged to her
mouth. Had she eaten too quickly this eve? Swallowing, she stood
very still, willing the feeling to go.

"What is it, lovey?" Maud's gaze studied her
face.

"Mayhap bending over with too much food in my
belly has unsettled it?"

"Pfft! Not likely. You did not eat as much as
Sybilla's girl."

Warin slipped his arm around her waist and
eased her over to sit on the bed.

"How can I help you, wife? Do you feel
ill?"

"Hmm." Maud tilted her head and studied
Letia's face again. "Of late, have you had other times ye felt this
way?"

"Aye. After our noon meal when I tended
Freki." She stopped and thought longer. "I thought 'twas the look
of the slops all mixed together that did it. For the last sennight,
though I grow hungry enough, I have not enjoyed my evening
meals."

Maud went across the room and broke off the
end of a small loaf of bread. When she returned and handed it to
Letia, her smile near reached her ears.

"Eat. This will settle your stomach."

Letia nibbled at the crusty end of the
bread.

"Is it?" Warin's brows rose, his eyes
hopeful.

"Nay. How could I be breeding? I have no
trouble of a morn. Only when the sun seeks to hide."

"Aye. You are. Your time of the moon has long
passed. You have been so busy seeing to storing food for the winter
months that you did not note it. Some women are as likely to be
sick of a night as they are in the morn." Maud said.

Warin murmured softly. His face brightened
with hope as he cupped her face and kissed between her brows.

"Beloved," he whispered, "I am deeply happy.
This child is my heir, be it a boy or girl. I will send missives to
kings Stephen and David at first light."

Letia near banged her head against Warin's
when shouts rang out from the great hall below.

"Watch out! Don't let him reach the
stairwell!"

"Where did he come from?"

Swords shrieked from their scabbards. Heavy
booted footsteps made a clatter as men chased someone up the stone
stairs, their sword hilts banged against the curved walls.

Warin sprang to fetch his sword beside the
fireplace.

"Stay," he commanded as he whisked Letia
behind him.

His sword at the ready, his feet braced and a
protective snarl on his lips, he watched the door.

Something crashed against the sturdy oak,
followed by loud, violent scratching. Letia knew no man's hand
could make such a noise.

Freki's arrogant bark was clearly an
impatient, demanding summons. From the sounds of it, the men must
be falling over their feet in their haste to get out of the beast's
way.

"Saints! 'Tis the hairy beast." Maud shoved
between Warin and Letia, making an extra shield with her own frail
body.

"Let him in." Letia, her dizziness under
control, started laughing. "I guess he has decided where he wants
to spend his night."

Warin's fist tightened on his sword's hilt. A
wry smile covered his lips.

"Stay back. Just in case he decides to bite
the hand that feeds him."

He lifted the door latch. When the door burst
open, he jumped back. Freki, a startled look on his face, tottered
on his back legs then came down on all four paws.

Leofwan and Giles stood paces behind the dog,
weapons at the ready, their eyes fixed on the animal.

Freki ignored them. And Maud. His head turned
back and forth, as he examined the room. His gaze stopped to study
Warin from head to toe then sought Letia. His nose wrinkled and
twitched as he sniffed the air. He nodded at their familiar scent.
His tail wagged so forcefully his hips wriggled back and forth. His
tongue lolled as he sauntered further into the room. At the far
corner, he plopped down on his stomach and faced the door where men
stood jostling each other, red-faced and sweating from the
chase.

The beast took a casual glance at the
warriors then ignored them as if they were no longer there. He had
put the humans in their place. With a huge yawn that showed his
tongue and the roof of his mouth, he relaxed and licked his
outstretched paws, sighed and closed his eyes.

Tension left Warin's body. He looked down at
Letia and shrugged.

"With a guard such as him, we should sleep
soundly." He cleared his throat and whispered, "He did eat a hearty
meal this day, did he not?"

Letia giggled for the first time in many
months.

o0o

Warin awoke afore first light streaked the
sky the next morn. Before he slipped out of the bed, he pressed his
pillow and body-warmed covers against Letia's back. Slowly, so as
not to awake her, he slid from the bed. Freki stirred, his head
lifted high watching him. Warin put his finger to his lips
gesturing for silence then squelched a chuckle.

How foolish! Freki would not know what he
meant. Surprisingly, the beast nodded, lowered his head and
proceeded to sleep.

He slipped a cloak around his shoulders and
eased from the room. No matter what time he chose to rise, his
squire Edulf and Leofwan were there in his solar afore him. It
puzzled him that they knew when he would awaken.

The young squire tended a wooden rack
standing close to the fireplace where he warmed Warin's
clothing.

"Just in time, sire. It looks to be a cold
day today." Edulf helped him to don his breeches quickly along with
a blue wool tunic.

"Ah," Warin sighed with pleasure when the
heated fabric slid down his body. Once his squire had finished
lacing his boots, he nodded.

"Thank you. After you break your fast, you
may bring Leofwan and I our own."

The young man nodded and left the room. Warin
beckoned his old friend to sit with him at the table. Leofwan was
the only one who knew of his plans between kings David and Stephen,
and he wanted to get his thoughts in order before he wrote his
missives.

His important papers were in a locked chest
on the mantle. He brought it over to the table, talking as he did
so.

"What I have seen of Sir Raik shows him to be
an honorable man." Taking a key, he opened the chest and removed
several scrolls then sat and readied the parchments in front of
him. "Though he has oft pricked my temper, never has he done harm
to Seton. This border raiding seems bred into a Scot, do you not
think?"

Leofwan hunched his shoulders and straddled a
chair. "Aye. He has made a game of it since the Treaty of Durham.
The border is to the south of us now. For truth, they can no longer
be deemed border raids."

Warin nodded. "It has been five years and
more that Northumbria has lived under King David's control. Though
it does not protect us from Maud and Stephen's feuding and the
local barons from trying to wrest more land.

"David wants Anglo-Norman tenants. Still,
treaties do not last forever. We must gain both kings'
agreements.

"Laird Douglas, where Raik fostered, was most
open in telling me of Raik's mother Joneta. She is sister to
Broccin of Raptor Castle. Though it was kept a secret, he hinted
Stephen knew Raik's sire. Before I set my plans in motion, I needed
to know who he is. As should Raik."

Leofwan folded his left arm across the
chair's back and scraped his chin against it, as if soothing an
itch there. He looked down at the floor then back up at Warin
before speaking.

"So ye plan to ask, then?"

"Already did."

Warin laughed at the look of surprise on his
old friend's face. He delighted in teasing him a bit longer and
withheld the man's name.

"I watched Sir Raik closely while he, uh,
visited with us," Leofwan paused. "He was always respectful in his
speech with those who tended him. His bearing and grace are that of
one well born. As for a warrior's skills, he is the Black Raptor's
right hand."

Warin quirked a brow at him. "Are you going
to give a long list of his attributes and the reasons I should not
worry after I cease to take breath? Or do you want to know who
sired him?"

"Pft! Ye will tell me in yer own time."

Leofwan tilted forward, holding the chair's
back as he would a saddle's pommel.

"'Tis no other than Stephen's friend, Symon
de Mortimer."

Leofwan's head jerked up and the chair
righted. His back straightened when the chair's four legs met the
floor.

"From old King Henry's court? Is he not the
man who wed the d'Aunay's only child?"

"Aye. Mere months afore Raik was born. Old de
Mortimer pressed the issue. 'Twas too wealthy a match to allow his
son to follow his heart."

"What does King Stephen propose?"

"He is sending for Raik. Baron de Mortimer
has legitimate sons but wants to claim him as his natural son. A
nice way of saying 'bastard' is it not?"

"Aye. How does this help our cause?"

"I must let the kings know that Seton is to
have an heir and ensure my lady will be secure. If de Mortimer
acknowledges his son, I pray the kings will have no objection to
him as Baron of Seton and husband to her."

"'Tis good news." Leofwan nodded his head,
his expression solemn.

Warin forced his lips to smile. "It
is
good news. We could not do better. Sir Raik and the
might of the Black Raptor will protect Lady Letia and Seton from
the likes of Julian and the greedy wolves roaming from castle to
castle. I would not rest gently in my grave if I did not secure a
protector for all here."

He flinched when sadness flitted across
Leofwan's face. He had not meant to trouble his old friend. Friend?
They were more akin to brothers than that. 'Twas Leofwan who
assured him when he feared what he had asked of Letia was more than
she could stand. 'Twas he, too, who soothed other fears.

What if Raik learned what they had done? He
was a proud man, bastard or not. He would be enraged if he ever
learned 'twas Letia who had stolen his seed and had his child.

Should that come to pass, Leofwan would
protect her. And he truly believed that Raik's heated dislike of
Letia was akin to another powerful emotion. Over time, such strong
feelings could turn to an equally passionate love. He prayed
Leofwan was right.