CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Avrielle knew she was going to have trouble with Stephen this night.
He wanted to sleep with the puppy. It wriggled and peed and licked happily. After eating with their grandfather, both Sophia and Stephen returned to their chambers excited to see the puppy. Since they shared a bed, the dog was between them, under the covers, when Avrielle came in to make sure they were in bed. Originally, the dog had been on the floor near the hearth but, evidently, that wasn’t good enough.
He had to be on the bed.
So began the battle to keep Wolfe the puppy out of the bed. Avrielle had reasoned with her children and she had threatened. Nothing worked. Then, she’d simply taken the dog out of the bed over the protests of the children only for both of them to burst into tears. Frustrated, she knew they were excited about the dog and it was the animal’s first night with its new master. It was a dirty, annoying pup, but the children loved it so Avrielle began to rethink her stance. She wasn’t heartless. But the caveat to keep the puppy with them was that the children had to go to bed right away. This prompted both Stephen and his sister to quickly quiet down with the dog between them.
It was a victory of the sweetest kind.
The last Avrielle saw, Sophia was already asleep and Stephen nearly asleep as he petted the puppy. In fact, the puppy had been the only one to really obey her when she ordered everyone in the bed to go to sleep. The dog had settled down and promptly passed out. Avrielle stood at the door a moment, watching her children sleep, before quietly closing the door. With a smile on her lips at the joy her children were exhibiting after months of grief, she headed into her bedchamber.
The infant was being watched over by the old nurse and Avrielle sent the woman off to bed. A glance at the baby showed that she was sleeping peacefully so Avrielle would take the opportunity to sleep herself, knowing that the child would awaken in the next hour wanting to be fed. As a warm and bright fire snapped and crackled in the hearth, Avrielle went about preparing for bed.
The shift and cote came off, carefully hung on a peg inside the big wardrobe on one wall of the chamber. A sleeping shift was pulled forth from the same wardrobe and she pulled it over her head as she moved to the table that contained her personal toiletries – combs, horsehair brush, oils, and other items. Lighting a fat taper on the table, the soft glow filled the room as she sat down on a stool next to the table and uncoiled her hair from the heavy braid at the nape of her neck. As she began to brush her hair, her thoughts wandered to the events of the day.
So much had happened that it seemed as if it had been two or three days combined. The trip to the plant vendor, Scott declaring his intentions towards her, the puppy… all of it blurred together into perhaps one of the most monumental days of her life. There was so much about Scott de Wolfe that had her attention – her giddy attention – and she simply couldn’t think about the man and not smile. She supposed she should feel some guilt in that because Nathaniel had only been gone these few short months, but she didn’t feel guilty that her attention was with another man because she knew it was a man that Nathaniel would have approved of.
Nathaniel had told her on the last day she’d ever seen him alive of Scott’s tragic past and of his inner demons. But in that information, he also spoke of a man he had a good deal of respect for. It wasn’t empty praise because Nathaniel had been genuine in everything he said, so Avrielle knew that Nathaniel had meant it. To her, it was a seal of approval for Scott de Wolfe and, wherever he was, she was sure Nathaniel was glad that she was finding happiness.
Happiness with a man she’d once called stupid.
A soft knock at the door roused her from her thoughts and she stood up, the brush in her hand as she padded across the cold, wood floor.
“Who comes?” she called.
“’Tis Scott,” came the answer. “I must speak with you.”
Quickly, Avrielle opened the door, coming face to face with a man who made her heart soar as if it had wings. Her features bloomed with joy at the sight of him.
“Come in,” she said eagerly, stepping back to admit him entry. “And how is my brother this night? He has not taken a turn for the worse, has he?”
He looked at her curiously. “Why do you ask?”
She closed the door quietly. “Because you left the hall so quickly I thought that something was wrong.”
Scott realized what she’d meant. He’d nearly bolted from the hall when he saw that Stanley and Stewart had made an appearance.
“Ah,” he said in understanding. “Nay, nothing is wrong, at least not with Jeremy. His condition has not worsened. But we must talk. Something has come up that I must make you aware of.”
He seemed somewhat solemn and she indicated one of the chairs next to the hearth. “Of course,” she said. “Please sit.”
Scott did but, as he moved, he found it increasingly difficult to focus on the reason for his visit. Avrielle was in a shift, her hair long and unbound, and the mere sight was enough to cause his heart to flutter wildly. Everything about the woman made his heart beat wildly so it was a struggle to stay on task. He hadn’t even gone about any of the duties he’d discussed with his men in the darkness of Jeremy’s guard chamber; he’d simply come straight to Avrielle because he had to tell her what was happening. More than that, he desperately wanted to see her. He sat down as she pulled up a stool next to him.
For a moment, Scott simply sat and looked at her expectant face. God, she was a beautiful creature. Reaching out, he stroked her silken cheek.
“I am sorry to disturb you so late, but it is important,” he said. “But forgive me if I just take a moment to look at you. Your beauty by firelight is something poets could not adequately capture in a thousand years of writing.”
Avrielle blushed furiously. “You are too kind, my lord.”
He grinned at her. “It is the truth,” he said. His fingers trailed from her face to her hands and he collected one, holding it warmly in his big palm. “Before I begin, I must ask you something.”
“Anything.”
“Have you been in many battles? I mean here at Canaan. Have you seen action here?”
Avrielle shook her head. “Other than the battle when you first arrived, I have never seen a battle here. Why do you ask?”
“Because one is coming.”
The smile vanished from her face. “Here?” she asked anxiously. “To Canaan?”
He nodded, leaning forward in the chair so he was closer to her. “Unfortunately, there will be one, a small one if I can help it,” he said. “Since you must understand what is happening because it is important you are fully informed, I will explain the situation to you. I do not want you to be afraid. But I do want you to be vigilant and listen to me. Will you do that?”
She nodded eagerly. “Of course, Scott. I will do exactly as you say.”
He smiled and kissed her hand. “Good lass,” he said gently. “The situation is this – there is a local lord who has been conspiring with one of Nathaniel’s knights to steal Canaan away from me. We have discovered the plot and we must take action against it. A plan has been put into action on this night and it is well on its way to being completed.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means that we have sent false information to those who wish to harm us. That information will cause their destruction.”
Avrielle’s eyes were wide with astonishment and some fear as she tried not to panic. It was terrible news, indeed.
“Who has betrayed us?” she asked.
He softened a bit, seeing that she was frightened. “Adam de Ferrar,” he said quietly. “You must not repeat that. It is not known to anyone but the knights.”
She nodded quickly, but she looked rather dazed. “I swear, I will not tell a soul,” she said hesitantly. “God’s Bones… it is Adam?”
There was something odd about the way she said it. He peered at her curiously. “Do you know him?” he asked. “No one seems to know much about him. Both Jeremy and Gordon said he was a man who preferred his own company to that of others.”
Avrielle glanced at him but she seemed to have trouble looking him in the eye. “I do not know him well,” she said. “I have had little contact with him. But he is actually conspiring against Canaan?”
“Aye.”
“You are certain?”
“There is no doubt,” Scott replied, but it was clear there was more on her mind. “What is it? Do you know something about him?”
She sighed heavily and hung her head. “I suppose I can tell you since Nathaniel is dead, but…”
“What is it?”
She was clearly uncomfortable as she spoke. “Adam has only been at Canaan for five years,” she said. “He was newly knighted when he came to Canaan, escorted here by another knight, an older man who knew Nat. I did not mean to eavesdrop, you see, but I heard them speaking in the solar when I brought them refreshments. From what I heard, it seems that Adam is Nat’s son, a product of an indiscretion many years ago. I never asked Nat about it because I reasoned that if he wanted me to know, he would have told me. But I heard him speaking to this older knight about it. Adam was conceived by a woman Nat had met in a tavern south in Dorset. I believe she was a bawd.”
She whispered the last word and Scott’s eyebrows rose at this surprising bit of information. “A whore?”
Avrielle nodded quickly, just once. “Aye.”
Scott shrugged. “That is not unusual,” he said. “Why did he not acknowledge him as his son?”
Avrielle was whispering again, as if fearful the very walls would hear her. “He was married to his first wife, Lady Maud, when Adam was conceived.”
That made more sense to Scott. “I see,” he said knowingly. “I believe I understand. He did not wish to shame his wife with a bastard. That is why Adam does not carry the du Rennic name?”
Avrielle nodded her head. “De Ferrar must be his mother’s name. I do not know and I have never asked.”
“Does no one else know his parentage?”
Avrielle shook her head. “Nay,” she insisted. “At least, not that I am aware of. I am sure if he told anyone, it would have spread all over Canaan. For some reason, he has not told anyone of his relationship to Nat, so you must not tell anyone, either. If Nat had wanted anyone to know, he would have told them. He never even told my father, to whom he was close. I only know because I overheard his conversation.”
Now, Adam’s subversion was starting to make some sense. In fact, it was making a good deal of sense. “Revenge,” Scott muttered. “He is betraying a father who refused to acknowledge him.”
He wasn’t really talking to Avrielle but she heard him. “I do not know how Adam feels about Nat,” she said. “But knowing how badly Nat wanted a family with Lady Maud, it must have been very difficult to have a son he could not acknowledge. When Stephen was born, he lavished so much attention on him. I remember thinking once that surely Adam must have seen that at times. Surely it must have hurt him.”
The situation, to Scott, was becoming abundantly clear. “Painful enough that Adam has made a deal with the Devil to gain what he believes is rightfully his,” he said, shaking his head at the motive behind all of this. “We only discovered it quite by accident, but we anticipate that there will be a battle for the control of Canaan. Your brother has been shrewd enough to feed Adam false information to take back to his co-conspirators and we fully expect them to be upon us on the morrow. That is why I asked you if you have ever been involved in a battle. There are certain things to know.”
Avrielle was focused on the fact that her brother seemed to be party to all of this. “My brother has given Adam false information?” she asked, surprised. “He knows of the situation?”
Scott nodded. “Absolutely. Canaan is his command and the men within that command are his responsibility. He has agreed to help. We are united to prevent Canaan from falling into enemy hands.”
Avrielle had to admit that she was astonished to hear that. So her brother was finally coming to see the light? She was vastly pleased. “I am so thankful to hear he is cooperating,” she said fervently. “I know you and my brother have had a turbulent time since your arrival here, but I told you once before that he is not wicked. Jeremy is… stubborn. And he is passionate. I hope this means the relationship between you both can be repaired.”
“It means that as long as Jeremy behaves himself, he shall have my respect.”
That was good enough for Avrielle. Considering how her brother had been behaving the past two weeks, it was better than she could hope for. “I am very glad,” she said. “Now, you were saying there are certain things I need to know about the coming battle. I will do whatever you tell me to do, so do not worry over me. I will listen.”
He smiled at her, pleased with her obedient manner in so serious a situation. “Then you will stay to this chamber with the children and you will not leave. You will bolt the door and not open it for anyone but me or your father or even your brother. No matter what you hear, you will not leave these rooms. Is that in any way unclear?”
He sounded ominous, which frightened her. “I will not leave, I swear it,” she said. “But what about food? Surely we cannot starve to death.”
Scott shook his head. “Do not worry about that,” he said. “I will have it brought up to you. I do not want you wandering the grounds, Avrielle. There is too much happening right now and I do not want you caught up in it. Bring the children in here with you, put them to bed, and bolt the door. I will have supplies brought to you. Whatever happens on the morrow, I do not believe it will last long. But I want to know you are safe and well-tended.”
There was something reassuring and caring in his tone as he spoke. Avrielle suddenly didn’t feel so frightened anymore as she looked at him, this powerful knight who had captured everything about her. Had he captured her heart? Increasingly, she believed so. Truthfully, he had. She couldn’t remember ever feeling the way he made her feel, not ever.
“And you?” she murmured. “Will you be safe and well-tended?”
He gave her a half-grin although the tone of her voice had his heart racing. The long-dormant feelings of lust and attraction were bursting out all over the place when it came to her. There was something so sweet, so luscious about the woman that it was difficult not to throw himself at her and gorge on her flesh.
“Battle is never safe,” he said, pulling her hand to his mouth as he spoke. “But I have survived this long. I am confident that fact is not in danger of changing.”
Avrielle watched his mouth as his lips moved over her fingers and her breathing began to grow unsteady. “Do you think there will ever be a time when you will not be drawn to battle?” she asked, although her voice was hoarse. “Or is this something I must prepare myself for year after year?”
He laughed softly. “I am a knight,” he said. “More than that, I am a de Wolfe. Do you have any idea what that means?”
“That you run in packs?”
His laughter grew but so did his lust. Reaching out, he pulled her right onto his lap, his big arms wrapping around her delicious body. “It means that I have a great destiny to fulfill,” he murmured, pulling her face against his mouth and kissing her cheek. “Wolves mate for life, Avrielle. It means I will be true to you, and only you, until I die. And I do not plan on dying for a very long time.”
Avrielle gave in to the heat between them, spurred on by his sweet words and his hot breath on her neck. Nathaniel had encouraged her to be responsive to him, even showing her how to please him, so she wasn’t naïve when it came to romance. She knew what it was to have a man make love to her. She liked being touched and she knew how a man could give her pleasure. All of these things were rolling through her mind as she wrapped her arms around his neck and ran her tongue over his lips. It was a provocative move.
In an instant, Scott was on her.
Avrielle was more than aware that she had given birth a mere two weeks before. Her body felt healed, and there was no pain at all, but a physic had cautioned her about resuming her wifely duties too soon after Stephen’s birth. A woman must be completely healed, he’d told her. Nathaniel was quite the obedient husband and waited until his wife was ready to resume her duties, but that was then. This was now. She had a virile and powerful man in her arms in Scott de Wolfe, so the idea of waiting for intimacy wasn’t something she was inclined to do. She didn’t want to wait. All of those new-mother humors flowing through her veins made her desperate to have a male member penetrate deep into intimate places.
As soon as Scott lifted a hand to gently cup a breast, her nipples hardened and her milk soaked through the shift, so she quickly yanked the shift over her head and tossed the offending garment aside. Completely nude, Avrielle was becoming the aggressor as Scott matched her kiss for kiss, touch for touch. Her breasts, full and beautiful in his hands, were leaking milk all down her body in what was quite possibly the most arousing thing he’d ever seen. Grasping her by the waist, he held her firmly as he licked all of the milk droplets off of her and, when the droplets were gone, he settled in on her left breast and suckled hard.
Avrielle gasped at the pleasure-pain of his suckling, throwing her head back as she experienced the ecstasy. But very quickly, she pulled her breast away from him because she knew, through her haze of lust, that the baby would soon awaken for her feeding and she needed to have enough milk to provide for the child.
“I am sorry,” she whispered, kissing him deeply and tasting her milk on his tongue. “But the baby will need to be fed soon. You cannot suckle me.”
Scott’s response was to growl and pick her up, carrying her over to the bed and tossing her onto her back. She was at the end of the bed and he dropped to his knees beside it, grabbing her by the hips and pulling her towards him. With her legs over his shoulders, he planted his face in the pink flower of her womanhood, glistening with moisture, demanding satisfaction.
“Then let me suckle you here,” he breathed.
His mouth descended on her sensitive core and Avrielle’s back arched as he went to work, pleasuring her with his tongue. Somewhere in the back of his mind, the healer in him knew that she was still recovering from the baby’s birth, although at second glance she looked completely healed to him. In fact, she looked perfect but he knew she more than likely wasn’t. He wanted to be careful with her but it was a struggle. His manhood was fully engorged, straining against his breeches, and all he could think of was plowing into her sweet body.
Perhaps he still could…
It was selfish of him and he knew it, but he didn’t much care at the moment. His mouth was still buried between her legs as he untied his breeches, letting them fall to his knees. If her womb could not take his manhood, then there was another part of her body that could. He could see her second maidenhead, slick with moisture, so he inserted a finger into it, carefully, as Avrielle gasped on the bed.
“Oh… God,” she gasped. “Please… I beg of you, my lord… fill me…”
Scott couldn’t help the seductive grin on his faced. “If I do, this is where I will do it.”
Avrielle’s eyes were closed, completely in tune with what he was doing to her body, with where his fingers and his mouth were. This was no maiden with a maiden’s fears; this was a woman with body made for a man’s pleasure.
“I am not afraid,” she whispered.
That told Scott that she had never been breached there before. Perhaps Nathaniel had taken her first maidenhood, but he would take her second. This wasn’t anything opportunistic; this was lust and passion like he’d never experienced, bonding him to her like nothing he’d ever known. Four years of encasing his heart in stone now saw that stone wasting to dust and blowing away. His heart was now free to love and that was exactly what he intended to do.
Love Avrielle.
Standing up, Scott flipped her over so she was on her hands and knees, her buttocks turned up in his direction. He’d never seen such beautiful buttocks and he found himself biting at them, nibbling her, listening to her groan with pleasure. It was enough to drive him mad. His hands were everywhere, touching her, acquainting himself with her silky flesh. Oh-so-carefully, he entered her second maidenhead, being as gentle as he could as she bucked and gasped. Shuddering with the pure pleasure of it, for she was deliciously tight around his manhood, he was just gaining headway when a loud wail came from behind him.
Both Scott and Avrielle froze as little Sorsha awoke, ravenous and angry. Avrielle looked at Scott with such chagrin that he burst out into soft laughter, realizing their moment together, such a beautiful and sensual moment, was destroyed by the demands of a hungry child. There was no question as to who would take priority. Scott was selfish but he wasn’t cruel. As difficult as it was for him, he removed himself from Avrielle’s body.
“So sorry, my dearest,” he said, stretching over her and kissing her lips as he arched over her back. “The call of a hungry child is the most powerful call of all.”
Avrielle kissed him in return, feeling his rigid manhood rubbing against her buttocks. “I suppose this isn’t completely unexpected,” Avrielle said, disappointment in her voice. “But I am so very sorry.”
He simply grinned at her. “Don’t be,” he said, depositing a lingering kiss on her temple. “Consider it a taste of what is to come.”
Avrielle could only nod, deeply disheartened that their activities had been cut short. As Scott stood up and fastened his breeches, she climbed off the bed and collected her shift from the floor, pulling it over her head as she scurried to the cradle. Gently lifting the fussing infant into her arms, she crooned to the child, soothing her.
All the while, Scott was watching her, seeing how tender she was with the baby. When she finally sat down and pulled her shift aside to feed the baby, he came to stand over her, simply watching. It brought him great peace simply to watch something so natural, so simple. He put a gentle hand on her shoulder.
“When you are finished feeding the infant, bring Stephen and Sophia into your bed,” he repeated what he’d told her earlier. “Keep them here and bolt the door. I will send someone up with supplies for the next few days, at least.”
She looked up at him, anxiety on her brow again. “But you said you would keep the battle short.”
He patted her shoulder. “I will do my best,” he said. “But sometimes these things cannot be controlled. Have no doubt that I shall not forget about you, however. You will not starve, I promise.”
She simply nodded, returning her attention to the infant as Scott made his way to the door. He had just put his hand on the latch when he heard Avrielle’s soft voice.
“I am sorry we did not get to finish,” she said, meeting his eye when he turned around to look at her. “I feel guilty even saying that because I was compelled to feed my child rather than… finish.”
He shook his head. “As I said, consider it a taste of what is to come. You are doing what is most important now.”
“I know. But I want to make sure you understand that, too. I did not stop because I wanted to stop.”
A smile played on his lips. “Nor did I,” he said. Giving her a wink, he opened the door. “I will return at some point to ensure you are locked in for the night, so do as I say. Bring the children in here soon.”
“And the puppy?”
“The puppy, too.”
She made a face and Scott laughed softly. “No puppy?” he asked.
She rolled her eyes. “My children would never allow it. Wolfe the Puppy is sleeping between them, even now.”
“That dog will watch over them. You will see.”
She softened, just a little. “I think a Wolfe is already watching over us.”
“Always,” he whispered.
The glimmer in his eyes as Scott left the chamber told Avrielle everything she needed to know at that moment. This man of strength and power was also a man with the capacity for great compassion and understanding.
And she knew, at that moment, that she loved him.