Gem of Gravane (The Northern Knights) (21 page)

She gave up as ecstasy hummed
through her veins. “My father, in trying to teach me to ride and in his anger
over how long it took for me to learn, forced me to ride an unbroken, spirited
stallion when I was but nine summers. The poor creature threw me from its
back and came do-down on my leg while my father stood there and
watched. When it reared again…Well, I can only say, if not for Edie’s
father, our blacksmith at that time, I would not be here today.” She felt him
stiffen against her leg, and then his hands continued their gentle assault. “The
bones in my foot healed, but the ones shattered around my knee- well, the
healer did what she could. It never set correctly and I always looked at it as
a reminder of how things were between father and me. The good that came out of
it, was Edie. We practically grew up side by side. Always together. Her father
was more of a father to me than my own.”

Aric lifted his head and his eyes
met hers. “Now I fully understand the bond between you two. I am sorry,
Danielle. I cannot take the pain or aches away, but I can ease them for you.”

She caught
her lip between her teeth at the huskiness of his promise. She was so hot and
wanted him right now. His soft laugh against her leg caused a moan to
escape her. 

Sliding a hand to her
undergarments, Aric felt her moist heat.  Those unique eyes shone
brightly, a dark smoky blue with her blazing desire. She looked beautiful
with the black and blue sky behind her and her brown hair blowing in the wind.
He would give her pleasure. The look in her eyes went right down to his
heart and something warm opened in his chest. 

Her hips did a sensual dance
against his fingers as he teased her, reaching deeper to the core of her heat.
He smiled when she grabbed his hand to hold him there tighter against her
wetness. Her breath came in heavy pants from her parted lips.

Unable to resist, he leaned down
and kissed the spatter of freckles on her face, then moved to her mouth. He
kissed her again thoroughly, taking her soft moans into his mouth.

He pulled back in time to listen to
her cry of sweet surprise as she found her release against his hands fast and
hard.  Aric reveled in the sight as she rode the wave. 

“Sweet Danielle.”  He heard
the raw desire in his own voice when he spoke. He ducked his head once more and
heard her whimper in delight as he tenderly made love to her with his mouth.

Later, he held her in the crook of
his arm. Her head on his chest as they lay on his cloak near the stream where
he’d spread it to make love to her after the exquisite gentle torture his mouth
had created upon her flesh. 

 “We leave for Egway come the
dawn,” he told her. She sighed and snuggled closer against him and he
continued. “Now, about your blasphemous tongue.” 

Danielle’s head came up quick just
as the first fat drop of rain hit his cheek and thunder split the sky.

****

Rose rolled off Harvey, satisfied
and with a grunt moved away from his perspiring frame to the edge of the bed.
His heavy breathing behind her churned her stomach. The man gave her what she
wanted, but he was not Aric Claydon. She had given up on her plan to entice the
dark lord to her bed when the man had sent for his mistress, another fat
sow.  Then to only send the woman away over the choice of choosing her
cousin.

 Had she been given the
chance, Rose told herself she would have gotten her hands on his rod.  Her
thoughts turned to her cousin and she smirked but a moment at the feeling of
regret that washed over her at the horrible treatment she had bestowed upon
Danielle over the years. 

Yea, a moment and she’d waste not
another on something she could not change. Besides, it had really been all
Thomas’s idea.

 Laughing, she rose naked from
the bed. 

Harvey called out to her from his
languid pose, “What is so amusing, milady?”

With her back to him, Rose rolled
her eyes. He did his duty, but she wanted nothing else from the stable master.
Sighing with irritation, she used her fingers to comb through the tangles of
her long blonde hair and forced a bite of sweetness in her tone as she answered
him. “Nothing of import, Harvey.” 

A drowsy grunt was his response.

Why could it not be Aric Claydon
that lay there instead of him, Rose smirked in disgust.

Loud voices coming from the other
side of the screen reached into her inner thoughts. Recognizing one of the
voices, panic rising, Rose turned and snatched up her clothing. She whispered
to Harvey, frantic, “Get up you sloth!”

“What? What-“Harvey said
groggily.  He was nearly asleep and slapped her bothersome hands away as
she prodded him in the ribs. 

“Thomas comes. Get up, you smelly
fool!” She ordered through clenched teeth as she hurried to dress.  Rose
gasped when her maid, Hilda came from the other side, off the kitchen,
panting. 

“Milady. Your brother is back.
Hurry.” 

Rose gave her a look and shook her
head as the maid helped her to dress. She had been so excited when she’d
spotted Harvey crossing the hall earlier and had jumped at him, demanding that
he take her right then. Not caring that the nearest bed had been in her
brother’s nest. 

And why should she care? 

Thomas had been gone for days,
conspiring with that filth of rebels trying to usurp King William. Her brother
was indeed a simpleton. 

Wanting Gravane was one thing, but
to spread his greed beyond that was just plain stupidity and dangerous. She
liked her brother, mayhap even loved him a little in her own way. But loved
herself more and she would be damned if the whoreson would bring her down with
him.  His treason like actions and talk of retribution reached her ears
even now.  

He rounded the screen and she
froze. The look on his face said it all. His beady eyes went to all three of
them before settling on Harvey who was shucking on his tunic.

“I see, dear sister that you could
not even wait for word to come if I lived or not before you took to my bed with
your filthy cock.” 

 The derision in his tone did
naught. Rose stared Thomas in the eye as Hilda laced up the back of her
gown.  “Nice to see you, too brother dear. ‘Twould be polite of me to say
that I am glad to see you have crawled out from under your black rock and
decided to join us again. But, then I would be lying.”

He ignored her and Rose bristled.
He was dirty from head to toe and the ripe scent, stronger than usual, which
clung to his frame, confirmed it. He quickly ordered Hilda to see to his bath.

Rose’s head shot in his direction
in disbelief and she exclaimed, “She is my
maid
, Thomas.” 

“She eats
my
food and rests
her head here. She is whatever
I
say that she is.” 

The animosity between them had
thickened to almost intolerable since they’d been banished from Gravane manor.
Rose blamed him for all of it. His greed and violence toward their cousin had
driven him to think recklessly. How he’d thought for one moment he’d be able to
continue his plight under the nose of a man as intelligent as Claydon, Rose
could not fathom. She would never forgive him and hated him for what they’d
lost and for bringing her back to this filthy hellhole.  

His murmurs to the two men that
stood at his side drew her back and she said, “When will you give up these
foolish ideas and just move on, Thomas? ‘Tis time to put all this behind you.
Aric Claydon is too powerful of a man for you to fight.”

His face twisted with rage as he
turned a slow gaze upon her. “You know nothing. Still your tongue, dear
sister.”

Rose shook her tresses in response
to his warning and stepped down from the raised dais near him. “Haven’t your
fruitless actions cost us enough already?  Always the one with high
aspirations you were, no matter the idiocy of them. What more needs to be done
or happen for you to stop this foolishness?  We have lost-“

His hand wrapping around her throat
stopped her words. Spittle flew into her face as he yelled while he throttled
her. “
We
? What have I cost you? The opportunity you never had of that
bastard Norman riding between your thighs? Hmm?”  He choked her until her
eyes bulged. Yet he did not release her as he concluded, “Never speak of my
plans or ideas ever again, lest I forget that you are my sister.”

He thrust her away from him hard in
that familiar way he used to do with Danielle and Rose stumbled, falling into
one of his men. “You despicable beast!  I am ashamed to call you
brother.  How
dare
you lay a hand upon me?” She spat at him. 

Thomas gave a nod and the man next
to her grabbed her elbows in a tight vise. Rose yelled at the man, “Release me
at once!”

The man did not. She struggled and
then her maid moved to come to her aid, but Harvey grabbed Hilda roughly and
threw her to the ground. 

Rose’s wide eyes shot to Thomas.
“Have you gone mad? What are you thinking? Harvey, I will have you horse
whipped for this!”

“I don’t think so, dear sister.”
Thomas told her as he came to stand in front of her. One of his bony fingers
slid along her jaw and she twisted away, but he grasped her chin. “A whore for
a sister.  You make me sick!  You have been more of a burden to me
all these years than our dear cousin Danielle I’ve come to believe. Sour goods
that no man of stature wished to take for a wife. You are supposed to wait
until you
marry
, Rose before you spread your thighs for any cock that
waves in front of you. You stupid bitch!  Now, what am I to do to be still
your tongue?”

Rose stared at him in horror. She
saw the madness in his eyes.  What had happened to him? 

She said, her voice cracking from
the strain on her throat. “You are as much a whore as I, Thomas. I was not
alone in my wish to get that Norman into my bed. Am I correct? At least I lay
with the opposite sex.”

His expected blow was not long in
coming. The men that held her pulled her back upright.  Tasting the blood
that filled her mouth, Rose spat a mouthful into her brother’s face. Thomas’s
shriek of rage filled the room.

 Still, Rose went on, fear and
hatred in her tone. “You will bring not only the wrath of Claydon down upon our
heads, but the wrath of our King. Do you not care? Do
not
be a fool,
Thomas!”

As soon as the words left her
mouth, she knew she had said the wrong thing, for when he turned his beady eyes
upon hers; she saw his dark intent within and knew true horror. The scream that
bubbled within her chest did not surface as her brother’s hands circled her
throat. 

Chapter 23

Dawn came too soon
for Danielle with the rain threatening the skies yet again. Then her mood
changed when she found out that Aric was going to allow Edie to travel with
them. She was ecstatic. Now, she was running late and soon she knew Aric’s
booming voice would be calling her name. But she could not leave just yet
without a peek at her garden to make sure last night’s storm did not wreak too
much havoc on her cultivation. 

She was almost done when she felt
someone at her back.  

Turning she saw Balwain standing
there with an uncomfortable expression upon his face.  Aric had probably sent
him.  

Straightening, she stood, holding a
rose in her hand. “I am ready.”

Balwain returned her smile and
stepped into the garden. “Milady, a word, if you would please.” 

Danielle tilted her head to look at
him. Her eyes widened. “My husband?”

Balwain gave her a bright smile of
reassurance.  “He is fine, milady. His bellow will soon fill the courtyard
and manor with both of our names.” Balwain was thoroughly pleased when his
lady held a hand to her breast with relief.  He was doing the right thing,
even if his lord and friend would have his head if he ever found
out.  “Your husband is well known for his fierceness in dispatching
men without hesitation, milady. His prowess on the battle field has men
fearing him. Aye, we’ve fought many a battle together over the years. But
know that he is a man of honor and his word. He is honorable.”
 Turning to take his leave, Balwain moved back toward the
manor.  

“Are you trying to tell me
something, Balwain?”

He turned, with his large frame
half facing her and said, “He is a man of few words. When it comes to
you, I say proudly 'tis he that fears you.”  There, he’d said it. “You are
a gem, milady. I know you are good for him. Now come, I hear his call
already.”

Balwain disappeared as quickly as
he’d appeared. His last words had Danielle standing there with her mouth
agape until she heard the man in question indeed bellowing her name through the
manor. 

Danielle didn’t want to look at
Aric. He stood near Thunder with Balwain at his back as they chatted away,
although she could feel his heated gaze on her every movement. She had hurried
and still he was looking at her with that irritated glance of his. The
rain had not yet started, even though the black clouds filled the skies. She
turned her back to him and walked around to the other side of her mare to check
her things once again before moving to the cart that carried Edie. 

Aric watched Danielle as she
chatted at the back of the cart with her maid. He caught her eye every
time she glanced furtively in his direction and he had to force himself not to
smile. She had delayed their departure in her quest to make sure
everything was just right before they left. 

 He’d known it was not just
that, it was because she was nervous about leaving Gravane. 

As with the villagers here that had
been under Thomas’s thumb and had turned their backs on her, he knew she was
afraid that she would face the same on her other lands. 

 She did not know that word
had come from Roger and Hunter that those that followed Thomas were no longer within. She
had to trust in him to protect her and he knew for the most part that she did,
but the many years of being trodden on  by her own family was going
to be hard to get her to surface again.