Linna : Historical Romance (The Brocade Collection, Book 5) (13 page)

“I’ve rarely been sick a day in my life!”

“Carrying the child doesn’t make you ill?”

“Only its father.”

Cord narrowed his eyes. “There’s your trunk. Make yourself comfortable. I’ve duties to see to.”

“Thank you for pointing out everything
. Rest assured I can find anything else I need. Shouldn’t be hard. There’s no place to hide anything. You don’t even have a cot.”  

Cord’s lips twisted before he moved, taking them both to the doorway
. He pulled on the rope that released his bed. That it consisted only of a narrow plank, a thin mattress of ill-used, clumping feathers, and two frayed quilts made it look even more squalid than he recalled.

“You got taken for your coin, Cord,” she said finally.

“I’m not a paying guest. I work. I’ve a shift ahead. I spoke of it already.”

She blew the sound of disgust through her top lip
. Cord flushed.

“It’s not as bad as it looks,” he said.

“Oh please. I’m jammed into a box, and he’s saying it’s not as bad as it looks? The man needs lessons on diplomacy.”

“Do you talk to yourself often?”

“When I’m surrounded by nincompoops, incompetents, and imbeciles, yes.”

“Which am I then?”

She looked over at him. Cord tensed for what she’d say. He was doing his best to hide any reaction to whatever she said, but she had a way of getting under his skin. He was beginning to think he needed to work his shift just to get away from her and gather his wits.

“None of them
. I forgot to add barbarians.”

He grinned
. “Oh. Barbarian I can handle. Avail yourself of the accommodations. You’re going to need your rest.”

“And where am I to sleep?”

“On the bed I just showed you.”

“That’s a bed?”

He shrugged. “It’s secure enough. It handled my weight and I’m not light. I’ve got quite a bit of meat to my frame, as you may have noticed.”

He moved his arm from behind her shoulder, put both his hands together
, and flexed everything to see her reaction. He knew he had a physique men envied and women purred over. He’d never failed to get cries of amazement from the women. That’s why Cord always got his pick. Always.

He knew his body was
impressive. Simons hadn’t ceased talking about it after he’d fitted him for clothing. Linna hadn’t been disappointed on their one night either. None of his knowledge helped though. She had her face away so Cord couldn’t see her reaction or if she even had one. For some reason, the disappointment was a harder emotion to stanch than the coldness of her reaction to his caress. He frowned and brought his arms back down to his sides.

“Anyway, if it can handle my weight, it shouldn’t have much problem with yours
. It can probably handle both of us. We’ll test it, if you’re worried.”

She made a choking noise
. Cord had to shut his eyes to kill that feeling, too. She didn’t want him. She didn’t appreciate him. She didn’t desire him. She hadn’t missed him and what had occurred. She probably wished he’d left her to that twit she’d been marrying. He lifted both hands to pull his hat off his hair and hang it from a rafter.

“Wh-what are you doing?” she asked, in a small voice.

“Getting ready. Hats blow off. They block your view. I scale the rigging. I can’t afford that sort of distraction.”

“Scale the rigging
? What does that mean?”

“Climb it
. I move sails, check lines, scan water. Sailor things. You needn’t fret. I’m very good at it. I can do it with my eyes closed.”

“Can you do that at night?”

“When necessary. I don’t work the night, though, unless you wish it.”

“If it will get you out of my cabin, yes
. Please. Work the night.”

He sighed
. “That wasn’t my meaning. Let me make it quite clear. If I work through the night, I’ll be working...in here. With you. You’re quite the taskmaster, as I recall. I could scarcely walk after the night you put me through.”

She wasn’t just choking now
. She sounded like she was gagging. Cord’s mouth thinned. Rejection wasn’t an easy emotion to ignore, he was finding. He reached for his kerchief and tied it about his head, knotting it with too much force at the back. He knew he’d be paying for it if he left it that tight. He didn’t loosen it. He’d rather concentrate on a headache than the cold-hearted woman before him.

“You should have everything you need.”

“And if I don’t?”

“Make me a list
. I’ll see about your requirements when I return.”

“You’re returning then?”

He swallowed before answering. He needed the time. “It’s my cabin. I return. I sleep here. So do you. I suggest you get some today while I’m gone.”

“I can’t sleep in that
thing
.”

“Try
. You’ll need it.”

“Why would that be, I ask?”

“Haven’t you been listening? When I get to bed, it’ll be late, and I’m especially restless then. You should know. You’ve seen it.”

Cord watched the expressions crossing her face
. He was hard put not to laugh as she  closed her eyelids for a fraction and let a completely satisfied look creep back onto her face before changing it. It revealed what she was hiding. It had an instant effect on him, as well. He had to turn aside. Her mouth may be rejecting him, but that look nearly undid him. He wasn’t due at the crow’s nest for another hour, but he’d be early. Any longer in her presence, and he’d be tossing their bargain to the winds, making certain of her acceptance, and showing her what the bunk was good for.

“Besides, with your eyes closed, you can imagine yourself in a castle or anywhere else, for that matter
. I should know. I’ve had a decade of practice.”

“Ten years?”

“Ancient history. I’ll tell you sometime if you’re interested and I can keep my mind on it, instead of—.”

“What if I try and escape?” she interrupted
.

“Don’t bruise yourself overmuch at your attempt
. You’re carrying my son. Always remember that. I am.”

“I’m serious, Cord.”

“So am I. Look. You’re terrified of the route to get out of here, you’re safely wed, and if I find you outside this cabin, I’ll have to touch you again when I carry you back.”

“So?”

“I’m a man. You’re a woman. You’ve already labeled me a barbarian and a stallion. I can prove both.”

“Despicable was too good a word now that I’ve heard this
. I’ll improve on it, and your idle threats won’t keep me here. My fear of heights? Maybe. You finding me and carrying me back? Necessary touching. I survived it before. I don’t see the threat.”

“
Is that a challenge? Because I told you once I don’t need a bed. We’ll find out how adept you are while standing. It’s been three months, darling. I’ve not had a woman since you…and I’m a hard man to satisfy. Remember?”

He closed the door on whatever her reaction was
. He didn’t want to see it.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Sunlight from the window slit woke her
. Linna lay for a moment, enjoying the warmth as it touched her cheeks and eyelashes. She felt well-rested, and despite every appearance to the contrary about the mattress, comfortably secure, too. She stretched on the bed, pulling her covering awry as she did so.

Cord had been right and she smiled slightly, digging her toes further into the quilt
. It was easy to pretend to be anywhere with your eyes closed.  

The door creaked shut and Linna’s eyes flew open
. She barely had time to clasp the quilt to her throat as she sat up, narrowly missing the ceiling beam holding his hat. She knew the covering wasn’t enough. She knew and didn’t even have to ask. The angle of his eye told her as much, and the nonchalant way he leaned against the door while he untied the scarf about his head.

Linna gulped
. She probably shouldn’t have changed out of her clothing, but he hadn’t come to her room all day and all night. She knew because she’d waited for him until exhaustion had set in, and beyond a plate of food left at her door, he hadn’t even checked on her.

He was still
silently appraising her. Linna lifted her chin. She hadn’t any control over the way her body had changed since the baby, but it was easy to see the increase to the size of her bosom. She watched as he went from looking at it, to her face,  then back again. Despite her every effort, she felt her own nipples tighten at his actions. The fine lawn of her chemise felt teasingly rough, too.

That isn’t fair
, she thought.

“Miss me?” 

“What...ever gave you that idea?” she answered back. She was pleased that after the first word, her voice came out as authoritative as usual.

“You’re especially beautiful when you sleep,” he answered, finally moving the moss green of his gaze from her chest.

Linna’s eyes widened the instant they connected with his. She had to look away. He was worse than unfair.

“A man can
almost forget the venom that comes from your mouth.”

The look she favored him with was meant to be as icy as possible
. She only hoped it worked. She sucked in on her cheeks, puffed her lips out, and narrowed her eyes. He was still doing devastating things to her pulse. She could only pray it didn’t show somewhere for him to read.

He hadn’t changed his clothing
. It didn’t detract from him, but she’d guessed as much at the church.
He does look good in anything
, she decided. There wasn’t a hint of whisker on his finely chiseled jaw, and it would have been helpful. She needed it to keep her mind off how gorgeous he was. She didn’t need a reminder of
that
.

“Don’t you need to shave?” she asked.

“Would it please you if I were to do so?”  He stroked a hand across his face and  smiled at her.

Linna sucked in a response before she could acknowledge it
. Or worse, he saw it. “I don’t give a damn what you do,” she replied finally.

At her words, his eyebrows lifted
. Linna clenched her teeth.

“Well that answers my question, I suppose
. Move closer to the edge.”

He started unbuttoning his shirt
. Linna was rather grateful he hadn’t begun sooner. She wouldn’t have been able to find her tongue. She didn’t know the size shirt he wore, but it probably wasn’t easy to find replacement ones. That made it especially stupid of him to yank his shoulders out of it as if he had another one available. She already knew the truth of that. She’d been over every inch of the cubicle he’d put her in. He didn’t have any spare clothes that she could see. She had to narrow her eyes even further on what he was displaying for her. She already knew how perfect his physique was. She didn’t have to see it again, especially as his stomach and chest rippled with his every movement.

She very nearly sighed before catching herself
. She knew the blush wouldn’t go unnoticed. She didn’t know how to stop it.  

He hadn’t moved his eyes from her face the entire time
. “If you’re on the edge, my weight will balance better.”

“Your weight....?”  She would have finished it, but her mind didn’t seem to be functioning enough.

“When I join you.”

When he joins me
? Linna swallowed around the shock and confusion. At least, she told herself that’s what it was. “Well! Let me disabuse you of that idea, Mister Larket.”

He decided to ignore that statement and moved his glance
. Linna watched as he poked his finger into a knothole at the side of the door with more force than it appeared was necessary. Then, he pulled. She gasped as a rack slid right out, holding replacement shirts and a very recognizable burgundy velvet jacket. Her reaction had to do with her failure at finding it herself, not at the ripple of muscle he’d just put on show, she told herself.

She hoped he didn’t think it for any other reason, she decided, when he turned back to her.

“I am joining you,” he said in a quiet tone, carefully enunciating each word. Linna felt the shiver up her back as she heard it. She hoped it wasn’t obvious.

“I
—I refuse...to allow such a thing!”

He sighed heavily and moved his hands to his trouser buttons
. Linna begged her own eyes to move, but they weren’t obeying. His seemed to have the same problem as he glared at her. He didn’t appear to be enjoying it.

She wasn’t either, she told herself
.

“I’m sleeping
. I just spent a long night. I have very little time for rest. I’m willing to forego it for other activities, however. Trust me on that, at least.”  He finished, yanked open his trousers, and shoved them down his legs.

Everything stopped
. Her mind, her breathing, her pulse; her sanity. She was hard-pressed to find her next breath.

Linna was grateful the cot blocked her view
. Cord put a hand on the bed right beside her leg, to leverage himself as he released one foot, then the other. He wasn’t watching her as he did so.

What had he said
? Get to the edge
?

Linna wasn’t pretending as she scooted as far as she could without falling through the space between the bed and the opposite wall
. She was frightened all right, but it wasn’t at him. It was at her own response. She only hoped he wore something beneath those trousers. She prayed he did.

God hadn’t been answering her prayers for some time though
. Linna gritted her teeth together, huddled against the edge and kept her eyes as tightly shut as she could. The board creaked in protest, bent slightly, but didn’t give. Linna had her breath held the entire time. She didn’t dare breathe. She had to be as quiet as possible to order to find out where he was.

“Nice backside,” he commented, the air from his words flying down her spine.

Linna stiffened. There was no way he could see her backside! He only said that to disarm her. The chemise wasn’t opaque. It was made of finely woven lawn. It wasn’t remotely see-through. She almost groaned. That kind of material clung to every curve.

“I thought you said you were going to sleep,” she whispered.

“First idea. Other…urges keep getting in the way. I don’t suppose you’d oblige, would you?”

Linna’s eyes flew open as an arm snaked about her
. This was against their bargain. Totally. She wasn’t his physical match, but that was no consolation as she was pulled easily toward his chest. She would have moved the arm, too, but she already knew how far struggling with him would get her. She only had two weapons against him, her cold-hearted responses and the baby.

She wondered the best way to use them.

He murmured against her neck, molding himself to her as he did so. He poked his nose against her collarbone, nuzzling into her throat. “Nice. So nice.” 

Linna tried to pretend that what she was being clasped against wasn’t Cord Larket
. She tried to pretend that it was just the quilt. She tried to pretend it was Luthor. She tried any number of things. Nothing worked. He was still the man capable of stealing her reason and leaving a wake of passion in its place.

Linna’s breasts tightened against the arm resting just below them
. He had his hand hooked under her ribcage, leaving her absolutely no way to escape this forced embrace. Despite her every effort to the contrary, Linna felt her body warming, her legs growing weak with remembered ecstasy, her nipples hard against the chemise. She barely caught the movement to arch herself into the heavy bulge at the backs of her thighs.

What is happening to me
? Linna wondered, in an agony of embarrassment.
I’m no wanton. Why, I’m cold-hearted and ruthless. Everyone knows this. Everyone
.    

Cord’s breathing deepened, coming with a slight grunt of noise each time
.

Linna felt the hairs at the back of her neck prickling with it
. She scrunched her shoulder, without thinking.

She was still holding her breath when it occurred to her that he’d given no response
. She didn’t realize he was actually sleeping, until the rhythmic rise and fall of his chest swelled deeper, moving her slightly each time.

He’s sleeping
? She wondered it, with surprise and a stab of what could only be disappointment.
With me, barely clad and held fully against him, he’s sleeping
?
How dare he
? Before she could gather another indignant thought, she groaned. What kind of an idiot was she turning into? She didn’t want him wanting her! She didn’t. Well...maybe a little bit.
Oh, very well
, she admitted it to herself. She wanted him panting after her, so she could toss it in his face. The one thing she didn’t expect was for her to desire him and be rejected and ignored.

How dare he?

Linna waited what seemed hours. His breathing only deepened. She moved her hand to his arm and slid her fingers along it, until she reached the back of his hand. How well she remembered clasping it! Linna flushed, warming her clear to her hairline. The heat he was giving off made it even more noticeable.

She waited for any change in him, and receiving none, she got braver
. She traced the spines of his hand before spreading her palm over it. Even his hand was enormous.
Stupid girl
. She already knew that, Linna chided herself. Everything on Cord Larket was built on the same lines. The man was a giant.

He was also used to a lot of physical labor
. Linna wondered how she’d been so blind the night they’d met. No French aristocrat would have the calluses and roughened skin Cord did. Linna’s mouth thinned. She’d been taken in like the densest idiot. She traced the underside of each of his fingers, feeling each hardened spot. This explained his physique.

He was a common laborer
. He had to be. She wondered for whom.

Cord snorted  then resumed his steady breathing
. Linna had lifted her hand the instant he’d made that noise and had to wait for her heart to calm before she realized the obvious. Cord was a snorer. He even grunted in his sleep. She’d heard such things before. It wasn’t like she’d never been around men. The Daniels Plantation had been overrun with all kinds of them, from slaves to soldiers passing through. They’d been everywhere. Just not in her bed. Not one of them would have been acceptable enough to wed with her!

Linna rolled her eyes
. What was she thinking? She’d wed so far beneath her scale in society, it was a blessing she hadn’t had time to show him to Rhea. For all his faults, at least Luthor Evans had been on the same social level.

Linna turned, as slowly and deliberately as possible, until she lay on her back
. His arm was even heavier in this position. She turned her head to look at him and caught her breath for an entirely different reason.

Moss green eyes blinked at her, once, then twice as if he didn’t believe what he saw
. Then he raised his brows.

“This isn’t
—! I don’t want you to think—.”

“Shh,” he interrupted, sliding a leg up to encase her thighs  then he lowered his mouth to hers.

Linna was actually amazed that she waited until he reached it before struggling. She clamped her lips together and pushed at the constraint of his limbs at the same time. Arching her back to heave him off had no effect either, except that the ropes holding their plank groaned with each of her lunges.

He was actually chuckling at her
as Linna beat at him. She stopped when he tightened his leg and arm on her. His strength was her undoing, and he was catching each of her exasperated gasps in the caverns of his mouth. Linna was forced to stop and use her weapons.

What are they again
?
Oh yes, my cold heart, and the baby.
She stopped all movement and lay as docile as possible, while she waited for her heartbeat to calm and her breathing to return to normal.