Chapter
25
The softness of a feather mattress embraced me, and cool, clean sheets covered me. I didn’t have to open my eyes to know I was in bed. Immediately I sensed I wasn’t in my own bed inside Wigmore Castle or even at Ludlow.
Where was I? Had someone returned me to Lord Pitt’s?
I sat up and surveyed my surroundings. I was in a large four-poster bed with thick embroidered bed curtains of the richest royal blue. The chamber was enormous with a stone fireplace covering one wall, several long windows along another, and a polished mahogany table with chairs near the hearth.
One of the chairs had been pulled alongside the bed but was empty. A leather-bound book with gilded corners lay on the floor, not upon rushes, but upon a thick patterned rug of the same deep blue as the tapestries.
I slid to the edge of the bed, noting the exquisite nightdress I was wearing with tiny embroidered roses at the scalloped neckline. My hair hung loose in silky waves, as if someone had recently brushed it. I lifted a hand to my nose and caught the fresh scent of lavender and realized I’d been bathed as well.
With a start, I stood, but immediately sat back down as a wave of dizziness overtook me. My head throbbed, and I gently touched the aching spot at my temple. It was still slightly swollen and the gash was tender. But it seemed to be healing.
From outside the long windows, a sweet melody of birdsong entered the room with a cool breeze that belonged to the morning. How long had I been asleep? What had happened to me?
The battle between Lord Pitt and my father came rushing back. I remembered fighting Eldridge away from Aldric, but somehow he’d managed to hit me. After that I knew nothing. What had become of Aldric? Had he escaped?
With a new sense of urgency, I rose to my feet again, this time going slower. Muted voices in the hallway outside the room came through an open crack in the door. Carefully, I made my way across the room until I stood by the door and could hear more clearly.
“Collin has already left,” came Bennet’s voice. “The Lady Juliana is expecting their first child, and he wanted to make certain he’s home for the birth of the babe.”
“Then I’ll send him a gift with my gratitude.” It was Aldric. I released a low breath of relief that he was here. Perhaps he’d been the one sitting by my bedside. He’d obviously stepped away for only a moment, not anticipating that I’d awaken.
“Collin has no wish for a gift,” Bennet said. “He’s a wealthy man in his own right and has no need of repayment. Such a gesture would only offend him.”
Aldric sighed. “Very well.”
“He was only glad he could be of service to you and the king.”
“Then you will at least allow me to repay you for all your help.”
It was Bennet’s turn to release a breath of frustration. “You were there for me during my greatest moment of need. And I was there for yours. We help each other, Aldric. That’s what family does.”
“You’re sure you won’t reconsider my offer to take Maidstone as your own? You’re more suited to it than I am.”
I straightened at Aldric’s offer. Were we at Maidstone? Their home? I glanced back over the room. It was spacious enough to be the master’s chambers.
“You know I love it,” Bennet said gently. “But I have Sabine’s home now. I have no need for another castle.”
The two were silent for a moment, and I considered making my presence known and ceasing my eavesdropping. But Bennet’s next words stopped me. “You’re the baron, Aldric. It’s in your blood. Not mine.”
Baron?
Was Aldric a baron? All this time, he’d led me to believe he was a poor landless knight when he’d been a baron?
Frustration flared to life, and I swung open the door.
The two brothers started at the sight of me. I had sights only for Aldric. For a moment, I forgot about my questions and frustration. He was simply too stunning for me to think of anything else. With the half-moon bruise under one eye and the layer of stubble covering his chin and jaw, he was even more ruggedly handsome than I remembered. His dark hair was slicked back and freshly groomed, and he wore a clean white tunic edged with a golden braid, fine hose that defined the muscles in his legs, and tall leather boots.
He was attired casually but in a refined manner that displayed his wealth. And his status as a baron.
“You are a baron?” My voice rang with accusation.
He hesitated and then glanced at Bennet as though seeking help in answering the question. Bennet only shook his head, clearly unwilling to answer for his brother.
Aldric lifted his shoulders and chin and stared back at me. “Yes, I’m Lord Windsor, Baron of Hampton.”
“Then why did you lead me to believe you were an untitled knight?”
Bennet’s gaze swung back and forth between the two of us, and he backed away. “I think I’ll go find my wife and allow the two of you some much needed time to talk.”
“Stay,” Aldric ordered in a low voice that made Bennet freeze.
“No,” I contradicted. “You may go.”
Bennet watched us another moment, attempted unsuccessfully to hold back a smile, and then backed away.
Aldric shot him a dark glare as he departed, and Bennet responded with an innocent shrug.
Once Bennet disappeared around the corner, I turned my full attention back upon Aldric.
“You lied to me.”
“I didn’t lie,” Aldric responded. “I chose not to reveal my true identity to any of my men so that I could lead them more effectively. Only Lord Pitt was aware of my true status.”
I studied his face, the strong features, the intense expression, the deeply moving eyes. “You could have told me,” I finally replied, the hard edge of my tone softening.
He took a step closer. “Would it have made any difference?” His voice softened too.
“No.”
“I’ll give up my title if you’d prefer.” Another step closed the distance between us so that he was standing in front of me only a breath away. “It means nothing to me.”
I was aware of our close proximity, of the magnitude of his presence, of the broadness of his chest.
“You have proven yourself worthy of your title.” I suspected he’d renounced it along with his home as self-inflicted punishment for his past mistakes with Giselle. But he’d proven time and again that he would face his fears and be stronger for it. “You have learned from your past mistakes and now must stop punishing yourself for them as well.”
His keen eyes seemed to see right through me. For a long moment, he was silent as though contemplating the truth of my statement.
Then he surprised me by lifting his hand to my hair and brushing a long strand off my cheek and tucking it behind my ear. “How did you become so wise, my lady?”
At his merest touch, I melted. I couldn’t stay frustrated with him. Maybe he had withheld an important part of himself from me, but he hadn’t done so maliciously. Because he’d been bold enough to initiate contact with me, I reached up and let my fingers make a trail across his scratchy unshaven cheek.
At my stroke, his dark blue eyes turned a rich hue that somehow warmed me all the way through to a place deep in my soul.
“Have you brought me to your home, my lord?” I used his proper title, but it was a whisper almost as soft as a caress.
“Yes. We’re at Maidstone.” He lifted his other hand, started to reach for a strand of my hair on the opposite cheek, but then hovered just out of reach.
I nearly quivered with the need for him to touch me again. I wanted to lean in to his hand, but I waited breathless for his next move. “Am I your prisoner again?”
“Were you ever my prisoner?” He finally let his hand brush the strand of my hair. His fingers caressed the length of it before he tucked it behind my other ear.
The gentleness of his every move embodied who he was—a man of both tenderness and strength.
“If anyone has been a prisoner, it’s been me,” he said softly. “From the moment I laid eyes on you, you have held me captive.”
“Is that so?” My voice was winded with expectation, and delicious warmth pooled in my belly.
“You know it, my lady.” His hand slid from my hair to my neck.
I nearly gasped at the touch of his fingers upon my throat, against my wildly beating pulse. His hand spanned around to the back of my neck in an almost possessive manner, one that made my anticipation rise.
“You have my heart now,” he whispered. “And it shall be loyal to you forevermore.”
I couldn’t think to respond. So I said the first thing on my mind. “Then if you are mine, I command you to kiss—”
His lips descended upon mine before I could even finish my sentence. His hand positioned already at the back of my neck brought me against him firmly, letting me know that while I might command his heart, he was still very much in charge.
I lifted on my toes to meet his kiss. The danger of the past days, the knowledge that I’d almost lost him, the delight of being together again—the emotions swirled in a passionate dance as my lips moved against his.
The power of the connection overtook me, and my legs gave way. I broke from him with a gasp and nearly collapsed to the floor. He caught me, his brow furrowing.
“You have the power to weaken me, my lord,” I said in an attempt to make light of my weakness.
But he didn’t share my mirth. He swept me up, cradling me in his arms. Then he stalked back into the bedroom and crossed to the bed. He lowered me to the mattress and placed me upon it carefully like a cherished treasure. Then he straightened and glared down at me. “If you don’t stay in bed, I shall chain you there.”
I was breathless and my lips warm from his kiss. I could only stare up at him and smile. “I love you.”
If my words took him by surprise, he didn’t give it away. Instead, he lowered himself to one knee next to the bed and reached for my hand. “I would carry through with our betrothal, my lady, not out of obligation but out of my desire for you and none other.”
My heart pounded a resounding answer. “I would carry through with our betrothal, my lord, not because anyone has forced me to it but because I willingly desire to spend the rest of my life with you.”
Only then did he smile, a slow and devastating grin that lit his eyes and made him irresistibly handsome. His smile matched the joyous one that started in my heart and spread all throughout my body.
When he lifted my hand to his lips and brushed a soft kiss on my knuckles, I gave him my heart too. My loyal heart.