Читать книгу A Knight and White Satin - Jackie Ivie - Страница 10

The disgust started the moment he disengaged himself from her and rose from her bed. Dallis knew what the sensation was and welcomed it, and then used it to temper and cover over what she’d done. She’d failed clan creed. Not only had she been taken by an enemy, but she’d failed to exact the proper revenge for it. It no longer mattered about the funds she’d used against him, or the sleepless nights she’d undergone plotting her vengeance, nor what emotion she’d vowed to show him if he dared be in her presence again. She’d schooled herself to show nothing but disdain and hatred.

And her own body had betrayed her!

She could hear him fussing with the basin of water at her long dresser, splashing a bit. That raised the gall, as well. He was washing the proof of her maidenhood from himself. Her blood…not his.

It was better to stay buried with her face in the mattress than witness any of it. Maybe that way, it would all stay hidden.

“Wife?”

The title was smoothly said and in a low grumble of voice, alerting her to his approach. Her back tightened.

“My name is Dallis,” she replied in a stiff voice.

He chuckled and the mattress bowed with his weight.

“I ken as much,” was his reply.

“Then use it.”

There was silence for a bit and then there was a slap of a wet cloth upon her backside, followed by her gasp. And that was accompanied by a jerk in the bed he couldn’t help but feel.

“Here.”

His warning was too late, but she should have known a man whelped by a she-wolf had little manners and less sense.

“Wash yourself.”

“Nae.”

“We’ll work on obedience to your husband after we work on your lying tongue,” he replied.

Dallis pushed her teeth together to halt the immediate response. She couldn’t do anything about the pull of breath that came with it that was loud enough he heard it. And would know what caused it.

“So do as I say. Wash.”

She shook her head, rolling her cheek against the satin sheet.

There was a moment respite before what had to be his hand came down on her buttock. Fully and with a loud slap.

Dallis whirled onto her back, making the mattress sway as much as their mating had, and she was glaring at him when it was done. He wasn’t witnessing her expression, primarily because he wasn’t looking at her face. He was looking at her bosom and liking what he saw.

She pulled at the bedding and almost had it to her breasts before he stopped her with a fist full of material directly between where she held it. Despite her straining against his one hand, all that happened was a slight ripping noise somewhere in the fabric and his amusement feathering every breath across her exposed skin, lifting rivers of shivers she’d die before she admitted.

“I said, wash yourself.”

Now, he was talking to her bosom.

“When you’ve gone.”

He pulled on the coverlet she held, raising her into a sitting position with the motion and proving the power in just one arm, as well as her obstinacy in not letting go.

“What makes you think I’ll leave?” he asked.

“You got what you wanted. You’ll leave.”

He swung his gaze to hers and even steeled for the contact, she had to force her jaw not to slacken when she got it. She told herself it was due to his handsomeness and not any other reason, and then worked on believing it.

“Do you na’ listen, either?”

Dallis straightened her back, which was pure stupidity, since that just made every bit of her jut right at him, catching his glance before he moved it back to her face again.

“Say something I wish to hear. I’ll listen.”

“You’re a bonny one, Wife. Right bonny. I’m man enough to appreciate it. And hold on to it. You ken?”

“That is na’ what I wish to hear.”

Both sides of his mouth quirked, and the line beside his lips followed as he smiled. And she didn’t need to note any of that!

“I suppose you’re wishing it was your intended husband in your bed and at your side…and with the right to your body?”

“Nae man has the right to my body. Including you. Especially you.”

It would help if he wasn’t rubbing the sheet between his thumb and fingers with a mesmerizing tempo, right between her breasts. It would also be beneficial if her body wouldn’t note that he was doing so. Nearly touching her. And all that was made worse when she couldn’t prevent the tightening of her breast tips at the possibility of such an event.

“And with the proper size and prowess to grant such satisfaction to you that your skin still tells of it?”

If there was a purgatory ripe enough to place him in, she hoped he’d fall into it and then stay there!

“I dinna’—”, she began.

“Kilchurning is too small to satisfy you, Wife. Much too small. Near shamefully so.”

“How would you ken?” Dallis shot back.

“Wenches talk. And gossip. They’re heavy with their praise, while blunt with their stings.”

“You listen to women’s gossip?” Now it was her turn to put amusement in the words and she did so with such satisfaction, she was probably glowing with that. Which was a better thing than the other reason, the sensual response he was lifting in her. That she was definitely keeping hidden.

“When they’re beneath me and I’ve failed to keep their lips busy with something else…aye.”

Dallis’s face fell. She felt it. “Get out.” The tone she used would have made Leroy’s eyes puff up with unshed tears. She already knew that. The man holding her sheet didn’t seem to be affected in the slightest.

“When I’m good and ready to. And na’ one moment a-fore.”

“Now, Dunn-Fadden. Out.”

“We’ve been wed years, Dallis.” He emphasized her name, and she tried to tell herself that at least he’d used it this time. “I’m your husband. Dunn-Fadden clan…which makes you Dunn-Fadden clan. Legal and right and justly.”

“You are na’ my husband!”

“Would you be carin’ for a repeat? I’m man enough to bed you again. And willing, as well. Or, perhaps you’d like to test that.”

She couldn’t control the response her body was giving him, and watched as he saw it. All of it. He scanned from the tight pinch of her nipples to the slight opening of her lips to gasp breath in and then caught and held her gaze from beneath lowered eyelids. It wasn’t her fault! She wasn’t versed in what to do when a man lowered his voice, moved a fraction closer to her. Or maybe it was the pulling on the sheet she held that took her closer to him, but it had the same effect, and all of it was to demonstrate the status of his arousal. Dallis had never been around a virile male before Payton Dunn-Fadden. The Caruth clan made certain of that. And she’d never had a man place that manliness in her face before. She didn’t even know they did such.

She settled with shaking her head.

“You surrender? Already?” He was pulling her closer as he said it, and she either had to go with the sheet or give it over and be naked. Either was bad.

“I doona’ wish a…repeat,” she whispered just before knocking her shoulder into his chest. Both his arms went around her, locking her where she was, and then she knew what was worse.

He snorted, the air from it tormented her shoulder while what had to be his mouth touched at her neck. “Your frame says different.”

“We both ken…I canna’ prevent…you from taking me,” Dallis stammered it in a throaty whisper. “You’re too…strong.”

“I’m fond of your wording even if it’s a lie.”

“Payton—.” What was meant as a curt tone, came out breathless and warm.

“Aye?” he murmured against her skin.

“Why…are you doing this? Now?”

“Why na? I’ve an estate to secure and a wife to do it with. And I find her womanly and ripe and verra pleasing to the eyes. And the touch.”

“Nae, I…” She was losing her thought to his tongue against her shoulder as the spot sparked, and then warmed, markedly and rapidly.

“And now I wish an heir.”

“A…bairn? You wish a bairn?”

“What man does na’?”

He was rolling her in his arms, placing her fully against his chest and putting her in a twist since she refused to split her legs to straddle him.

“But—.”

“You’ve too many words and none of them worth the listen,” he replied.

She shoved at him and gained herself stronger bands about her torso. And not much else. “But…we already did that,” she stammered.

Payton hooted what was probably laughter and it lifted her with it. It also lifted his mouth from her. “Once? You believe I’ll gain an heir with but once?”

She nodded.

He grunted, settled back onto the bed, and then pooled her into the cavity of his thighs, causing a contact with his arousal that speared her in the lower back. And that caused him to stammer. “’Tis possible…I’ve heard. True enough. Dallis, lass. With enough luck. I’ve about spent my share of luck. Aside from which…I want to.”

“Well, I don’t.”

“Jesu’, Wife. Do you never tell the truth?”

He had every right for the confident way he said it, since she’d taken off shoving at him and had her fingers threaded through his midnight hair and was sliding her own mouth along his jaw preparatory to securing his kiss.

“It is…the truth.”

She lost the last word against his mouth as her lips melded to his, and the moan that escaped them probably had more of her voice to it than his. She’d worry about that later. After he left. And when her conscience returned from wherever it had hidden.

“The next thing you’ll be speaking is that you wish it was Kilchurning gracing your bed and pleasuring your body.”

“Kil…churning…” She split the name with her breaths, but that was his fault.

“Aye—”

“Kilchurning!”

The guttural cry coming through the door interrupted him. Dallis’s eyes met his for a fraction. She watched the black of his enlarge to overshadow the intense light blue color and wondered at her sanity in noting that.

“Laird Dunn-Fadden! ’Tis Kilchurning!”

“Where?”

Payton yelled it as he shoved from her, making a buzz in her ear with the volume of voice he gave it. He pushed her into the mattress in order to spring to the floor. From there he went to a squat, shoving aside his discarded clothing for his weapons. Dallis pulled the covers to her chin and shimmied to the far wall, putting her back against it and ignoring the cold from the stone.

“Here!”

He growled it as a dirk was tossed her way, landing in the sheet at her knee. He’s giving me a knife? For a scant moment she felt like giggling, and then put it aside.

She didn’t have time for such an idea. Payton’s tupping with her had taken the choice away. She didn’t have the luxury of wedding Kilchurning once she proved her virginity. Like before. Now, all she had was the right of captive.

“Well? Where?”

Payton was at the door, pulling the bolt out of its socket, rather than lifting it. He wasn’t wearing a stitch of clothing.

It was the man that had been with Payton earlier. In the shadows of the hall he looked even more massive. And he was fully dressed. Dallis caught his glance and went so warm with the blush the wall at her back lost its chill.

“At the woods. Inside the demesne.”

“Jesu’, Man! You interrupted me for that?”

Payton straightened and pulled himself into a full stretch, while Dallis tried to ignore the winter light as it caressed sinew and muscle and buttocks. It wasn’t possible! She had to turn aside.

“You were warned,” his man continued.

“Aye. ’Tis why I posted guards. You ken that.”

“I also ken our numbers.”

“So? Each one is worth three men. And he’ll be spent. ’Tis a fair ride from Castle Kilchurn,” Payton said.

“Unless he encamped closer.”

“Why would he do that?”

“To gird you in this accursed tower the moment you’re spotted outside Edinburgh’s high walls…what else?”

“Only if he had warning. Who would give him that?”

Both men turned and looked toward her. Dallis could see it from the corner of her eye. She kept her gaze fixed to the footboard. She supposed they thought they were whispering.

“’Tis a blizzom outside. Kilchurning is daft.”

“The man is burning with vengeance. Warms a body in the coldest of climes. You ken this. ’Tis your own creed.”

She waited for Payton to answer, then had to look at what was taking so long. He’d donned the shirt and was shaking out his plaid, prior to winding it back onto his frame. And then he secured it with the immense silver belt of the King’s Champion. “You sent Daws?” he asked, when the belt was affixed.

“And Graham. To Edinburgh. Upon your order.”

Payton nodded. “We’re ten then.”

“Aye.”

“And Kilchurning?”

“Forty.” The man in the hall shrugged. “Perhaps more. Less. ’Tis difficult to be certain in the storm. Dugan dinna’ wait around to count fully.”

Dallis was going cold again. And it wasn’t from any element outside her body anymore. Forty…or more? Against ten? Payton was mad.

“Heat the oil. Prepare the pitch. Gather the men. Check for an armory. If I still possess such. And see if there’s a catapult with any service to it.”

The man in the hall nodded, and didn’t move.

“What are you waiting for?” Payton asked.

“You.”

“I’ll be down shortly.”

“I’ll just wait that event. Right here. Watchful.”

Payton probably had the same expression she did. Dallis didn’t need to verify it. She felt mystified and Dunn-Fadden looked it as he turned his head toward where she was still shoved against the wall. She raised her brows and shrugged when all he did was stare, and then relaxed as he turned back to his man. She hadn’t even known she was tense.

“What for?”

“The wife.” His man gave a nod in her direction in the event anyone questioned who that was.

“We’ve more worries than a lone woman, Redmond.”

“She has one of your dirks. I want it back. On your person.”

Dallis had forgotten it. So had Payton, although the outline was easy to see amidst the mass of white satin all about her. She watched him glance there and then to her face.

“She’ll have need of it,” he replied finally.

“You planning another romp?” Redmond asked. “Now?”

Payton chuckled. “Nae. I’m planning a battle. With your help. Go. See to my orders. I’ll be down shortly.”

“She’s already proven treachery, My Laird. Dinna’ gift her with your life.”

Payton turned back to his man and lowered his voice so far Dallis couldn’t catch what more he said. It must have reassured him, for the hulk turned and vacated the space he’d been in.

And then she had Payton’s full attention again. But at least, he was dressed. That didn’t help much as he moved across the floor to stand at her bed, feet apart and hands on his hips. He flicked a glance to the knife and back to her face. Dallis kept everything blank.

“If I allow you yon dirk, will you use it properly this time?”

“This…time?” She had to clear her throat of the dryness to get the words out.

“Kill the man who claims you without the right. Doona’ just stick him in a non-vital spot.”

He moved a hand to the scar at his left side. It wasn’t necessary. She already knew what he meant.

“You dinna’ have the right.”

He lowered his chin and regarded her through his eyelashes. “’Tis why I gift my blade to you now. Use it. But doona’ go for his manhood. ’Tis powerful hard to spot.”

“Payton Dunn-Fadden!”

The name carried a bit of sob at the end of it. That matched the blur she was looking at him through. God was cursing her worse than ever to make it so! She wasn’t crying and she definitely wasn’t heart-sore at anything attached to him. She cared little that he was facing a force four times the size of his and was making plans for defeat. She was Dallis Caruth. She cared only what it meant to her. She didn’t even care if he had his head cleaved clean off his shoulders. She didn’t care—

“Or so I’ve been told.” He stopped her thoughts with words, accompanied by a grin. That expression creased his forehead with one small line across it, while one black lock decided to caress the spot as well.

“What?” Dallis wasn’t feigning the bewilderment. She was infused with it. Which was better than thinking herself saddened at what could be his demise, and her freedom from him!

“His manhood. Dinna’ go for it. Go for a soft spot in his belly. Right here.” He pointed to a spot above his belt. “Na’ only will that prevent him from taking what’s mine but t’will make his death a surety, as well.”

“Payton?” The name was whispered.

“Aye?” he asked.

“I dinna conspire with Kilchurning.”

“I dinna’ ask if you had,” he replied.

“I have na’ even seen the man since…” Her voice trailed off.

“Since a-fore our wedding?” he supplied.

She nodded.

“Good. A loyal wife is a great asset to a man. One who cares and protects her husband’s property in his absence is an even greater one.”

Her eyes went wide and she knew he was watching for it. As well as the color in her skin as she blushed severely. Heat spiked through her, followed by a pallor severe enough to make her dizzy with it. And through it all, he didn’t even blink. That much of his intense stare was too much. Dallis moved her gaze slightly and focused on the open door behind him, with the bolt that was broken and lying at an odd position on the floor, rather than upright beside the door in preparation of being lowered into place.

“I still dinna’ betray you with Kilchurning,” she finally answered.

“And I repeat that I doona’ ask it. Here. Take the blade. Protect what’s mine.”

“Yours?” She was showing emotion and bit down on her tongue to still it. She’d been taught better!

“I’m speaking of my heir. Should God be gracious enough to grant that you carry one. Here. Take it.”

Dallis looked. He held the blade out toward her, handle first. And then Dallis had it in her hand and was testing the weight. A good silversmith had smelt it for him if the balance was any indication. She tested it briefly and looked up. And watched him leap backward with both arms out.

“Dinna’ fash yourself, Dunn-Fadden. I’ll na’ carve on you. Na’ yet, anyway. Mayhap…later.” Her attempt at humor would have worked better if she could curb the odd sensation that might be sorrow and loss.

His grin was back and it had a devastating impact on her tongue. And her heart. Dallis didn’t know what the sensation that made her heart lurch in a huge motion was. She didn’t want to find out, either. She was too afraid.

“You’ll protect my heir? Should we have created one?”

Dallis blinked the moisture away and nodded.

“Better than you protected and cared for my keep?” he continued.

“Damn you, Payton! Can you na’ just leave?” The feeling overtaking her was so close to crying it wasn’t to be borne! Dallis pushed her teeth together and shoved her chin up and blinked until the room went back to being just a room.

“You’ll keep it safe?”

“I kept my silence for a reason. Dinna’ it ever trouble you what it might be?”

He shrugged. “I doona’ know the workings of a woman’s mind. I dinna’ ken any man who does, either.”

“You looking to be carved on already?” she asked.

He shook his head. “Only speaking my words a-fore I meet my maker. As short or as long as that could be.”

“There is only one thing worse than you. And that is the laird of Kilchurning.” She whispered it.

“Truly? Why?”

“Have you na’ seen him?” She shuddered.

He grunted; straightened; lifted an eyebrow; speared her with a gaze that had her heart doing such antics she didn’t know how to stop it, and then he tossed his head back and laughed. It was such a full and hearty noise that it brought his man, Redmond, from wherever he’d been hiding. And two others as well.