A Year & a Day (34 page)

"Ladies, I need your help. The Bruces have just arrived en masse and there is no one in the hall to welcome them. Would you be so kind?" Lynx saw the pretty blush that suffused Elizabeth's cheeks and knew he had dangled the perfect bait to lure her downstairs. He did not notice the green flame ignite in Jory's eyes, but was grateful when she followed Elizabeth from the chamber.

Lynx secured the door against all intruders and came back. He could not take his eyes from the enchanting picture of his son suckling his mother's breast. "Are you exhausted?"

"No, no, I'm too filled with happiness, there's no room left for exhaustion."

If only she'd admit to being tired, his next words would be easier. "I've appointed Grace Murray as the baby's nursemaid. She's a capable woman who will give you all the help you need."

Jane's face fell as she clasped her son closer to her breast. "I don't want any help. I want to look after him myself!"

His hand reached out to lifta silken curl from her shoulder. "Sweeting, you may not
want
help, but you
need
help. The young pup kept you up all night. How long can you keep that up? Jane, you'll still be in charge. Grace will take her orders from you. When you've tended him all day, doesn't it make sense that Grace look after him through the night so you can rest? She can share this room with him."

"But he needs feeding in the night," Jane explained.

"Then we'll get a wet nurse. God's teeth, you can't nurse him day and night."

Jane glared at him defiantly. "I will and I shall!"

He looked at her in disbelief, yet he felt admiration for her. "You shout those bloody words at me like a battle cry. Lady, are you not willing to compromise?"

They stared at each other for a full minute, but this time Jane refused to lower her eyes from his.

Then the corners of her mouth went up. "You are conceding a great deal, Lord de Warenne, to compromise with a woman. I agree to have Grace as his nursemaid, I even agree to let her share his chamber, but day or night he will be brought to me to be fed at my breast and no other."

Since he had accomplished what he came for, Lynx acceded to her declaration graciously. "It shall be as you wish." A teasing light came into his eyes as he brushed back a red-gold tendril from her temple.

"This stubborn streak of willfulness you have developed is damned attractive. I like nothing better than a challenge."

She ran the tip of her tongue over pink lips. "You thought the harmless little kitten you handfasted had no claws."

Watching that tongue, Lynx grew hard. His son's eyes closed in contented sleep and a bright nipple popped from his mouth. Lynx's cock began to pulse.

"I am no harmless kitten, I am the mother of a lynx cub. I not only spit and scratch, I bite too!"

A blazing hot desire spread through his veins until he could feel his need pounding from his throat to the soles of his feet. His groin was so engorged, it felt as if it might burst. It was the very first time Lynx had ever felt lust for this woman
. His
woman, he reminded himself. She was doubly desirable because she was forbidden to him for a few days yet.

With an iron will he tried to banish the lust that raged within, but he found it impossible. The best he could do was bank

the fires in his blood so that he did not lose control. If he could keep his rampant sexuality caged for two or three more nights, he would be able to unleash it and let it run wild. He tore his glance from her lush breasts and forced his mind from erotic thoughts.

"I know the hour is advanced, but would you consider having a late supper with the Bruces and letting them have a glimpse of our son before you retire?"

Jane's dimples came out of hiding. "I can't wait to show Robert my beautiful little treasure."

Lynx's shaft bucked again as her words provoked his wicked thoughts. Not until she handed him his sleeping son did his blood begin to cool.

"I'll be down as soon as I've bathed my breasts and changed my gown."

His blood began to heat up again at the thought of watching her do these things. "I'll wait for you and we'll go down together," he said thickly.

Jane was surprised that Lynx had not whisked away his son to display him like a trophy before his friend Robert and the Bruce brothers. She had given him the opportunity to take the baby, but he seemed intent upon lingering in her chamber.

Was he just being polite, offering to wait for her, or had she at last taken his fancy? If such was the case, she had Jory to thank for it. Her advice had been priceless.
Men don’t admire meek and
submissive women
,not real men anyway. They admire women who are willful and a little bit wanton.

More of Jory's words came back to her. You must become a challenge to him. Jane smiled; had Lynx not just admitted that he liked nothing better than a challenge and that he found her willfulness damned attractive? Jane's lashes swept to her cheeks. If she wasn't mistaken, she had heard Lynx's voice roughen with what might be desire.
Men want what they cannot have.
Since willfulness had worked out in her favor, was it not time to try being a little bitwanton}

The front of Jane's gown opened and closed to allow her to

feed the baby. She deliberately left it undone and reached behind her to unfasten the back. She pretended a great deal of difficulty and smiled a secret smile as Lynx laid his son in his cradle and hastened to her aid. She presented her back to him, knowing full well that his view of her breasts from his great height would be totally unimpeded.

Jane drew in a swift breath as she felt his fingers come into contact with her naked back and she allowed him to hear it. She was amply rewarded when she felt him sweep aside her hair and touch his lips to her nape. Was it gratitude or was it desire? Jane decided to find out.

She leaned back against him and instantly felt his erection against her soft bottom. Pretending to notice nothing she moved away, stepped from her gown, and walked over to the washstand to pour rosewater into the bowl. Lynx followed her as if she were a lodestone. She felt his hands cup her shoulders, then slide her shift down so that she was naked to the waist. When his lips touched her bare flesh, a delicious shiver ran down the entire length of her spine. She turned her head to look up at him over her shoulder and their gazes met and held.

She saw green fire burning in his eyes as he lifted a handful of her hair. He rubbed the silken tresses against his cheek, then inhaled its fragrance. "I want to wrap myself in your hair. The feel of it arouses me to madness," he said huskily.

Slowly, she turned to face him, and watched as his possessive gaze was drawn to her upthrust breasts. Silently, seductively, she offered him the sponge in blatant, sensual invitation. Lynx took the sponge from her, dipped it into the rosewater, and with gentle, loving hands bathed her beautiful breasts.

Jane gasped at the exquisite sensations he was arousing deep inside her. His touch was a silken torment, teasing and arousing her until she was smokey-eyed with desire. When Lynx dried her breasts with the towel, its rough texture made her cry out with pure pleasure and she felt her nipples harden into erect little

buds. With deliberate slowness, Jane took up a tiny pot and lifted off its lid.

"What's that?" he asked in fascination.

"Glycerin ... I put a drop on each nipple to keep them supple." She watched the dark pupils of his green eyes dilate.

"Let me do that," he said thickly.

"If it would give you pleasure." Jane knew it would certainly give her pleasure. His faintest touch made her weak with longing.

As he touched his fingertips to her nipple, she watched him almost come out of his skin, but she did not count on the effect it would have on her. As he moved to her other breast and rubbed the bright tip with the glycerin, she felt a wetness begin between her legs, then she felt her woman's center convulse and she was taken with a delicious shudder. She watched his eyes lift to her mouth and knew he was about to take her in his arms and cover her with kisses.

Though Jane wanted nothing more in the world, she remembered Jory's infallible advice.
Refuse
him, and he will turn over heaven and earth to get you.
She was ravenous for the kiss and decided to allow him just one, to whet his appetite for more. As his mouth came down on hers, her lips parted to welcome the savage ravishing. She realized the moment his lips took possession of hers that he was the one in control, not her.

Lynx did not release her mouth until their kiss built to an intensity that neither of them had ever experienced before. With a little cry, she pulled away quickly and went to her wardrobe for a fresh gown. "We must hurry, my lord,'tis very rude to keep our guests waiting."

As Lynx descended the staircase with his son clasped in his right arm and Jane holding hisleft, the cheers and applause of the Bruce brothers standing at the bottom rose up to surround them.

Jane felt herself lifted from her feet by Robert's massive arms as he planted a kiss upon her mouth."Well done, Jane!"

Then he took the child from Lynx, unwrapped the shawl, and inspected him from head to foot.

"Looks like a lynx cub to me . . . You do realize he's a Scot?"

Until that moment Lynx hadn't thought of it, but he realized he'd be ragged unmercifully for producing a Scot and might as well concede with good grace.

"I've brought him a magnificent Bruce cradle on condition you'll name him after me," Robert declared.

Lynx took back his son. "He's already got a cradle I hauled all the way from Edinburgh and his name is Lincoln de Warenne the Third."

Jane slipped between the two rivals. "He can use two cradles; one upstairs in his nursery and one down here in the hall. And I've decided his name shall be Lincoln Robert de Warenne."

Robert slapped his friend on the back. "Ho! The lass is ruling the roost now, I see."

Nigel and Alex Bruce hooted. "Better get her under control or she'll put a ring through your nose and lead you about like a prize bull!"

"Let's get our feet under the table so we can start the toasts. Bring on the whisky!" Thomas Bruce demanded.

Marjory said to Jane, "We can toast with hypocras. It's deliriously spicy, you'll love it."

"Malt whisky not good enough for you, Jory?" Thomas teased.

"I've developed a taste for some things Scottish, but whisky isn't one of them."

Lynx laid the baby in the cradle and they enjoyed an intimate supper with only the Bruces for company. The de Warenne heir slept blissfully through the noisy toasts and raucous laughter. When they were all replete with food and drink, Jory signaled Taffy, who brought in an armful of presents that St.

Nicholas had left on Twelfth Night.

Each gift bore the name of one person sitting at table. Most of the men found a dagger or dirk when they unwrapped their

favors, but Robert Bruce was momentarily puzzled when he opened the wrapping and found a piece of ribbon onto which had been stitched two Christmas bells. He turned the piece of frippery over and over in his hands, trying to recall where he had seen a similar object before. Then it came to him and he quickly stuffed it inside his doublet as tears of laughter rolled down his face. He was well aware that Jory was delighted with his reaction, though he was far too discreet to glance her way.

All eyes focused on Jane as she unwrapped her gift. Marjory had had the castle needlewomen working for days on a gown that would show off Jane's slim figure. It was fuchsia velvet with long trailing sleeves, lined in white satin. The low neck and the hem were bordered with a wide band of pearl and crystal beads.

Jane gasped, then burst into tears. "Oh, Jory, it's the loveliest gown I've ever seen, how can I thank you?"

"By wearing it tomorrow and taking your rightful place as Chatelaine of Dumfries."

The Bruces heartily agreed, telling her she was the most beautiful mother in Scotland.

"Thank you for coming to our celebration," Lynx said warmly. "We planned it for Twelfth Night, but the lynx cub decided to put in an appearance, so tomorrow will be more like Fifteenth Night."

"I'm Lord of Misrule," Nigel Bruce declared, "and I want no arguments from the old men of the family."

Marjory gave Robert a saucy wink. "Since we have so much to celebrate tomorrow, I suggest we have an early night."

Without glancing in Jory's direction, Robert winked at Jane and declared, "Well, I'm certainly ready for bed."

Jane knew Robert and Jory were sending each other messages right under the others' noses, and her laughter trilled out like silver bells. Lynx frowned. Why did Jane find everything Robert said so damned amusing?

When Jane arose and went to the cradle to lift her son, the men watched her avidly. All four Bruces envied Lynx de Warenne

his woman and his son this night. As Jane headed toward the stairs, Lynx took his sister aside.

"Jane was so thrilled with the gown. I want to give her something like that, but I brought gifts only for the baby."

"It's a good thing I know what a thoughdess swine you are. I had another gown made and hid it in your own wardrobe. Since she's never had anything pretty, she lusts for lovely things. Can you imagine how rewarding it would be to gift her with furs or jewels?"

Lynx felt his erection start and cursed softly under his breath. "You are a paradox of bitch and angel."

"And I've taught Jane everything I know, you lucky lout."

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