Lady Gallant (53 page)

Midnight cursed as Christian turned his head to look at him and chuckled. Pulling the rope taut once more, Midnight grabbed a handful of Christian's hair and forced his head back.

"Remembering old times, love?"

"May the heavenly Father rot your cock."

'That's my Kit," Midnight said. "You were made to prey on the innocent, not swoon over them.'' The thief gave the rope a jerk, and smiled when Christian's face drained of all color. "Join me of your own will, love. What else is left to you, now that you've had your fill of marriage? I'll help you get rid of your wife."

"Leave me be," Christian said between gasps.

Midnight shook his head. "I can't do that. Besides, one more tug on the rope and you'll beg me to do what I want with you as long as I stop the pain."

"No wonder your lord threw you off your land. Did you starve your own wife and child?"

The highwayman rammed his fist into Christian's stomach and pulled hard on the rope at the same time. Christian screamed this time, a scream that would have satisfied Jack Midnight's craving if it hadn't been for the mounted riders that charged at that moment.

In his pain, Christian was only aware of the sound of hooves and the clash of swords after Midnight had dropped the rope. The noise of battle pierced his senses as he fell. Midnight stopped his descent, hauling him to his feet. Christian stumbled forward over the arm that braced his body, and the thief grabbed his neck. Forcing Christian's head up, he put a knife to his captive's throat.

As his head came up, Christian beheld his father and three knights battling with Midnight's men. The Earl leaned to one side on his horse and slashed a man almost in two. Midnight bellowed at the Earl, and Sebastian looked at his son. There was a moment's pause during which the Earl stayed his sword. Christian tried to struggle against Midnight's hold, but his arms wouldn't move. Numb and useless, they were trapped between his body and that of the thief.

"Surrender, my lord," Midnight called, "or I'll kill your son."

Horror filled Christian's brain at the thought of his father in the hands of Midnight. "No!"

Writhing in Midnight's grip, Christian paid no attention to the blade that cut his skin as he fought. Sebastian shouted at Christian to stop, but he was past reason. Flinging his body to the side, he cursed as his small strength proved no match for his enemy.

"Hold still, love," Midnight said to him as he tightened his grasp, "for I want your head on your shoulders a bit longer."

Seeing his father dismount, Christian yelled a protest and renewed his struggle. Suddenly Jack Midnight yelped. The highwayman's body jolted, and Christian thrust a leg out to trip the man. Midnight lost his balance and fell to the ground with Christian beneath him.

Christian's head pounded the earth. Midnight's weight crushed his already tortured arms and chest, but he heaved violently anyway, throwing the man off him. The sounds of battle renewed as he scrambled to his knees.

Tossing hair away from his eyes and spitting dirt, Christian whirled, looking for Midnight. His jaw dropped when he saw Nora standing over the highwayman, a log in her hand. She bashed at Midnight's head as the thief lunged to the right. The wood caught him on the side of his head, and Midnight grunted and swayed.

While Christian watched, Nora darted forward and pulled her own knife from Jack Midnight's right buttock. The thief cried out and clamped a hand over the wound as he scrambled for safety. He crawled away, only to run into the braced legs of the Earl. Sebastian lifted a booted foot and jammed it into Midnight's shoulder, then pointed his sword at the man's nose and smiled.

"Well met, sirrah."

The skirmish subsided with the taking of Midnight, and still kneeling in the dirt, Christian looked, up at Nora.

He met her eyes reluctantly. "Sweeting."

"What a crackbrained, goosewitted, addlepatted fool," she said. "You have the wits of a hobbyhorse."

Nora's fear for Christian brought tears to her eyes. She wanted to throw herself in his arms and spank him at the same time..

"You galloped off into the forest with no weapons and no escort," she scolded instead. "It's feverish mad you are."

"He said you brought him here."

"And you believed him? You faithless weathercock. You have a goose quill for a spine if you can't fortify yourself with trust in my love for you. Oh, beshrew that." She knelt beside him and touched his bruised cheek. "I would have your word, at once, that you will never frighten me so again.''

"Stop him!"

They both turned at Blade's shout. Jack Midnight raced away from the Earl and bounded onto a horse. He yelped when his buttock met the saddle, but kicked the horse into motion.

"Midnight!" Christian yelled.

He struggled to his feet, but Nora grabbed him. "No, Christian."

"Let me go. He's getting away."

Desperate, Nora clutched at her husband, but Christian managed to throw her off. He took three bounding leaps in the direction of his horse. Blade ran up, holding out a key, and she watched the youth free her husband of his manacles.

Nora stretched out a hand to him, but he wasn't looking. He sprang for his horse, running lightly while holding his arms bent and close to his chest. As she beheld Christian succumbing once again to his obsession, she let her hand fall to her side.

"But what about me?"

She'd spoken to herself. He couldn't have heard her, for hopelessness had weakened her voice, yet his steps slowed. Hurt at his desertion when she wanted so desperately to hold him and be held, she dared not hope. Yet he stopped and turned back to her.

Midnight had already vanished with two knights in pursuit. She knew well that the thief was capable of escaping them, and that Christian knew it, too. Yet he had stopped.

She held her breath as he looked at her, then looked to where Midnight had disappeared. He stared in that direction for a long time and then turned his back to it. A thrill rippled through Nora's body as he took a step toward her, and another. He was coming back.

He stopped close to her and gazed into her eyes. His own were filled with pain. He didn't touch her, though he stood so near, his disheveled beauty a siren's call to her senses.

Nora's heart overflowed with love and longing, but she was uncertain. Her confidence in his love was too new, and he had proved his distrust of her twice in one day. All her old fears returned, gnawing at her faith in her worthiness. Mayhap he couldn't believe in her because there was so little in which to place his faith.

He touched her hand, and she gathered up enough courage to meet his gaze.

"If you can forgive me once again," he said, "I will devote the rest of my life to proving my love."

She hesitated, then said, "There is a thing I wish for."

Taking both her hands in his own, he stepped closer. "I will grant any wish."

"Wait before you promise," she said. "Will you give up this mad vengeance? You feed it daily, and in doing so, starve our love. And Midnight could destroy us both."

She waited, her fear held at bay only by her will. Christian lowered his head and kissed her hands before straightening to look into her eyes again.

"I was going to jump on my horse a moment ago and chase him until one of us dropped. I was almost there when I realized that my arms were too weak and I might not be able to get on the horse, much less ride. Then a strange thought occurred to me." He smiled and bent to kiss her cheek. "I found that I was chasing Jack Midnight out of habit rather than need. I've lost interest in him."

"You have?"

"Do you know what does consume my thoughts?"

She shook her head.

"The question of how my ferocious little dragon of a wife might punish me for my lack of faith."

She threw herself at him, wrapping her arms around his neck, and burst into tears. Groaning as he lifted his arms to her waist, Christian murmured comforting words to her. Nora only cried harder.

"Y-you could have been ki-illed!"

"I'm sorry."

"Never d-do that again."

"Never."

She bawled louder, and she felt his lips on her ear and her neck.

"Nora, don't. If you weep much more, I'm going to have to pick you up, and that will hurt my arms. You wouldn't want that."

"Oh, your arms." She pulled back from him, wiping her cheeks. "Do they hurt much?"

"They feel like they're stuffed with lead."

"A well-deserved punishment," said his father.

Sebastian was seated on a nearby log, wiping his sword with a rag.

"Sire," Christian said.

"Hold your tongue, baggage' I'm all distempered because of you. I dislike having to save your life before dinner."

Nora giggled, but covered her mouth with a hand when Christian tried to quell her with a threatening scowl. She placated him with a hand on his chest.

"Don't you want to know why I asked your father to give chase?" she asked.

"It would be a courtesy," Christian said.

"If you had listened to Inigo, you would have known that he got word that Jack Midnight had left the city. Poor Inigo came to warn you, but you wouldn't listen. And when you ran off, he told me instead. Marry, I near lost the beat of my heart with fear for you."

Christian started to lift a hand to his brow, but winced and lowered his arm. "I begin to think those spells I got from good-wife Winnie went awry and leached my brains."

Nora smiled at her husband. Even with his clothing torn, his face smudged with dirt, his body still called to hers, bewitching her as no spell could. His doublet was torn open, and the shirt beneath as well, revealing smooth skin that glistened with perspiration.

She hadn't yet had time to consider her response to his violence and jealousy. Now that he was calm, she found herself in awe. He was jealous. From the way he still eyed Blade, she could tell his anger at the youth hadn't faded completely. Poor Blade was helping the Earl's men tie their prisoners and kept a considerable distance from the viscount.

Nora was jolted out of her own thoughts by Sebastian's voice. It snapped with impatience as he castigated his son.

“If you had behaved yourself in the first place, she would have thrown herself at your feet, and you wouldn't have had cause to be jealous of an eighteen-year-old boy. God's blood, I've seen you charm jaded harlots and court matrons stuffed with virtue. How could you not win back the favor of so gentle a maid?''

Drawing closer to her husband, Nora watched shame and grief steal over his face. She took one of his hands in hers.

"Please, my lord," she said to the Earl, "he had won my favor and regained my love some days ago."

"You don't have to lie for me," Christian said.

"I'm not lying. It's only that I'm such a coward. I was afraid to trust again, until I saw you trying to cast a spell with Cat's aid. Before that, you were so… so… well, you're a frightening man, but there you were, in the middle of the night plotting to enslave me with a puppy and a magic spell."

The Earl howled his laughter, almost falling off his log. Christian muttered something Nora couldn't hear, then bent down to whisper in her ear.

"Did you have to say that in his hearing? Beshrew you, woman, I'll not have my wife telling stories about me to my own father."

Noting the rosiness that crept over her husband's face, Nora bit the inside of her cheek to keep from smiling. Newly burgeoning confidence flooded her. "But Christian, you're so wondrous."

He stopped his fuming and gaped at her. "Think you I am wondrous?''

She snuggled close, lifting his sore arms so that they rested on her waist. Raising her head, she looked directly into his eyes, letting him see all the worship and love she felt. She'd been afraid to reveal to him the whole of her enslavement, but now that she knew of his own captivity to her, she could be honest.

Christian was still frowning at her and didn't seem to know that he was rubbing his hip and thighs against hers. Her breasts tingled, and she stroked the soft flesh at the base of his throat. He murmured her name on a gasp and nuzzled her cheek.

"Wonderful," she whispered in his ear. "Beautiful, wild. You heat my blood just by walking into a room."

"I rejoice to hear it, for I plan to walk into rooms constantly. ''

Standing on tiptoe, she kissed him. He remained quiescent while she explored his mouth, but soon rammed his tongue deep and thrust his hips against hers.

"Lewd baggage," the Earl said.

Christian lifted his head to smile into Nora's eyes. "We're lost to shame, sire."

"Your pleasure will have to be delayed, Chris. You haven't noticed, but darkness is upon us, and I'm hungry. If you keep me waiting much longer, I'm going to throw you over my saddle and you can ride home like a sack of turnips."

Nora giggled, and Christian released her.

"Please, sire. How can I teach my wife to respect me if you make such threats?"

Taking Christian's hand again, Nora said, "You may ponder that dilemma on the way home, my lord. And I will help you mount. A good wife would never risk having her husband look like a sack of turnips.''