Seduced (35 page)

By the time he sought his bed, he was a bit
unsteady on his feet. He slept to dream about his earlier time at
Seton. How strange. He knew he was dreaming. His unseen Lady eased
the door open as she had before. The cloth of her robe rustled as
she slipped it off her body, and he felt her ease herself into his
bed. The bed seemed larger than it had before, but dreams were
never accurate, were they?

Her silken flesh pressed against him and she
sighed with comfort on feeling his warmth.

"Um, come," he said, gathering her into his
arms. "It has been so long."

The moment he kissed her, she pressed herself
tight against him. Her fingers played through his hair and caressed
his neck. He inhaled. Deeply. God! How could a woman smell so
fresh? So like a flower?

He turned to straddle her, impatient. He did
not want to prolong it, for what if he awakened before he took her?
He gathered her beneath him, putting one hand beneath her buttocks
to raise her hips. When his cock nudged at her entrance, she was as
ready for him as he remembered.

She wrapped long legs around his hips and met
him thrust for thrust. When their passions built, she dug her
fingers in his shoulders. Their kisses went deeper, wetter and more
frantic. When her first tremors started, he lunged deep and held
still as she convulsed around him. Afore he knew it, her arms and
legs clamped him tight, as if afeared he would leave her while he
climaxed.

Teeth clamped his shoulder. Not enough to
break the flesh; enough to clear the haze from his brain. It was no
feeling from a dream. He was awake!

He snarled and reached up to force her arms
from his neck. Surging up with his hips, he broke the hold her long
legs had around them. She struggled to get away from him. He
grabbed her wrists and pinned them beside her head.

He plunged his face close to her hair, her
neck. He took deep breaths. Lilies.

He smelled her shoulders, her breasts.
Lilies.

The force of his bellow rocked the bed.

"It could not have been ye!"

Raik dragged Letia from the bed much as he
had done so many months afore. She fought him. He heard her frantic
words through a haze of fury.

"Raik! Please! Let me explain."

Light spilling in from the window opening
shone on Letia's frightened face. Taking both her wrists in one
hand, he held her secure while he lit a twig from the smoldering
brazier. Soon, candles blazed.

"It
was
ye!"

He tossed her from him as if she was
loathsome carrion. She fell back across the bed, her hair twisting
around her face.

"Dinna dare move, or so help me God, I will
beat ye."

Freki, hearing the fury in Raik's voice,
leapt from his pad in the corner and sprang toward him, confused.
He grabbed the dog's leather collar and hauled him across the room
to shut him in the solar.

The bedchamber door crashed back against the
wall when Raik yanked it open. On seeing Cormac and Sir William,
their swords drawn running toward him, he snarled, "Dinna
interfere. Go to yer rooms!"

"Raik, give the lass a chance...," Cormac
began.

"Go!"

'Twas enough to awaken the whole keep. Edulf
appeared at the head of the stairway. "Fetch Leofwan. The two of ye
stand guard outside my chambers until I summon ye." He scowled at
people gathering at the landing. "Return to bed." His ending snarl,
every bit as menacing as Freki's, was enough to make them
hurry.

Maud, eyes stricken with worry, stood beside
the cradle waiting for him when he barged into the room. He looked
down at the sleeping bairn and took deep breaths, calming
himself.

"Be gentle with him, my lord. He has not
slept well tonight." Her voice quavered

He did not answer but waited for his raspy
breathing to calm, not wanting to startle the little mite awake.
Taking another deep breath, he released it in a slow sigh. Gently,
he eased one trembling hand beneath the bairn's legs, the other
behind his head. With the swaddling blanket around Aubrey, he
lifted him without startling him awake. When he had him securely in
his arms, he carried him back to his bedchamber. Letia stood beside
the bed. Her hands reached out for her son. Raik ignored her.

"I would see for myself why I have such
feelings for Aubrey," he muttered.

Carefully, he settled the boy on the bed and
gently unfolded the blanket. Aubrey stretched when he felt his body
freed. His face wrinkled in a huge yawn, and he stretched again as
his eyes opened. Raik made soothing, shushing sounds as he stripped
the boy. He hesitated at the last moment, near afraid to turn him
over. Aubrey let out a stream of urine that splattered the hair on
Raik's chest. He did not mind.

"Did ye think to christen me?" he whispered
to Aubrey as he turned him on his stomach. He straightened and
stared at the little nether cheeks. One slender finger rubbed over
the wee brown birthmark. Aubrey reared his head back, swatted the
bed and straightened his wee arms then rolled over. Raik smiled at
the surprised look on his son's face.

His son. His heart surged. His son!

His gaze lifted to stare at Letia and saw
Lady Joneta, one arm around her shoulder hugging her to her side.
When had his mother entered?

"Ye knew?"

"Aye. Letia wanted to tell you, but was
afraid of what you would do."

His jaw hardened. "As well she should be." He
lifted Aubrey and placed him in the middle of his blanket, then
folded it around the babe and handed him to her. "Take
my
son back to his bed, please."

He followed his mother to the door, then
closed and latched it, ignoring Letia's small cry of protest. Her
arms twitched and she clutched her robe tightly around her body as
if she needed to fill her empty arms.

He grabbed a shirt off a wall peg and pulled
it over his head then threw the solar door open and turned to her.
Anger flashed from his eyes like shards of blue lightning during a
summer storm.

"Come." His voice was as hoarse as if he had
bellowed commands during a raid. He gestured for Letia to precede
him into the solar. Without glancing behind him, he slammed the
heavy oak door shut with his heel as easily as if he shoved a
troublesome stone from beneath his boots.

Keeping his back to her, he stoked the fire
in the banked fireplace. When the flames caught, he straightened
and stared at her. Fear made her face ashen. He shoved back a chair
from the table.

"Sit."

Raik paced back and forth in the middle of
the room. His jaw twitched and ached from keeping his teeth tightly
clenched to keep from bellowing in rage. He did not want the whole
keep to learn of their secret. He threw the shutters wide, letting
the cold wet air strike his face. He stared, unseeing, and tried to
understand what had happened and why.

He could not.

Slamming them closed again, he stalked over
to where she sat wringing her hands in her lap and loomed over
her.

"Tell me. All of it."

Letia cleared her voice and squared her
shoulders. The worst had happened and now it was up to her to put
it aright.

"I should have told you when Warin died...,"
she started.

"Nay. From the beginning. Did ye plan this?
Did de Burgh know that while he slept his wife was swiving his
captive?"

"'Twas Warin's idea." Her voice was little
more than a whisper.

"His idea to be cuckolded?" He stepped back,
his eyes disbelieving. "Nay, woman. No man would plan that."

"Warin was desperate for an heir. He, uh, was
too ill to produce one. 'Twas the only way to save everyone at
Seton."

"And ye readily agreed to this?"

"Nay! When he chose you and told me of his
wishes, I refused."

"Ha! Ye didna seem reluctant when ye came to
me in the night."

"By then, I knew I had no other choice. Warin
made a pact with the kings. If Warin died while I carried Seton's
heir, King Stephen agreed to appoint a good man as the next
baron."

Raik hit the table with his fist. Letia
flinched. "I dinna believe a man of Warin's pride would allow this.
Who knew of it?"

"Leofwan and Maud. And I expect Edulf must
have. And Sybilla."

He went over to yank open the door.
"Leofwan!"

He crooked his finger, summoning the old
warrior, his back straight, his face set in hard lines, into the
room. Raik slammed the door closed once he entered.

"Aye, my lord?"

Raik studied his face and saw resignation
settled there. "Did ye know of de Burgh's plan?"

"Aye. Way afore Lady Letia knew of it."

Raik's eyes widened. "Tell me."

Leofwan walked over to stand beside Letia.
His left hand patted her shoulder then settled beside his leg. He
told Raik how the raids back and fourth had taught them much about
his character. How Warin chose him as early as Ranald's wedding,
and how the exchanges between King Stephen and Warin began. His
plans had been set in motion before he had even broached them to
Letia.

"King Stephen knew of this deceit?" The
nerves beneath Raik's right eye jumped.

Leofwan nodded. "He knew you were de
Mortimer's natural son. Sir William kept him informed of your
progress." He stopped and added an explanation. "Sir William's
sister married into the Douglas family. Ye knew her as Lady
Esther."

Raik saw Letia was as startled as he was by
this.

"Huh!" Anger tightened his face until it felt
set in granite. "So, Warin's last raid on Hunter was to set a
trap?"

"Aye. We knew you'd return for the missing
cows."

"So. Ye captured me and brought me here. Who
drugged my wine?"

Leofwan avoided telling him. "It was
necessary that you didn't know who came to you." Leofwan looked at
Letia, an apology in his eyes. "And we knew of your refusal to
spill on fertile ground."

Raik turned to scowl at Letia. "Ye ask me to
believe ye came willingly?"

"Nay. I knew how scornful you were when you
learned I was no cringing female. That you thought me more squire
than woman. I doubted I could please you."

He turned and went to brace his hands on the
mantle and stare at the leaping flames in the fireplace. He could
not picture the woman on the ramparts and the woman who had seduced
him as the same one. He slapped at the warm stones beside the
hearth and returned to loom over her.

"Why did ye batter me with arrows when I came
to Seton?"

"I feared you more than Julian."

He near exploded in anger. "Ye think me as
evil as that moat slime who glories in torture?!"

"Not evil, no! But a prideful man who
discovers someone has seduced him to steal his seed is far more
fearful." She hung her head, then straightened and held it high,
but avoided his eyes.

She had the right of it. Would she ever have
told him of his son if he had not discovered it for himself? He who
had never struck a woman could no longer trust himself. The muscles
in his arm and hand flexed, aching to lash out.

"Ye were right to fear me. Return to the
bedchamber. Ye will not leave it, nor will ye enter the solar
unless I say ye may."

Letia knew better than to protest. She had
argued with Warin that Raik would never forgive her once he found
out. She had expected no less.

Rising, her shoulders unbowed, Letia nodded
and tried to smile at Leofwan. Without another glance at Raik, she
returned to their bedchamber. Standing beside the bed, she looked
down at the rumpled sheets, the pillow where Raik's head had left
an impression. If she felt between the covers, would his warmth
still be there? Surprisingly, a sob welled from deep in her chest.
She grabbed her pillow to muffle the sounds she could not
control.

She would not have him think her a helpless
woman, a woman who keened over losing him. Losing him? She'd never
had him. Except for the nights he had made love to what he had
thought was a desirable woman. Once her tears slowed, she splashed
her face with cold water.

Letia carried the candle over to her clothing
chest and searched through it until she found a green wool kirtle.
Old and faded it might be, but it was always a comfort to wear it.
After pulling on a linen smock, she dressed in the kirtle. Though
it would be a long time afore the sun thought on rising, she tugged
the fireplace chair over to the window opening. The night was no
colder than usual, yet she could not get warm. She shivered
violently and her teeth chattered.

Gripping her arms together, she sought the
comfort that always came from wearing her mother's dress. She had
worn it while grieving her mother's death and again when her father
passed. She'd needed the courage it gave her to appear as if
nothing untoward had happened when she had sent for Warin. And she
had donned it again after Warin died.

Tonight, that courage was slow on coming. Her
mind was still in turmoil when she heard two men going into the
solar. Soon, footsteps came to a halt on the other side of the
connecting solar door and outside her bedchamber door.

So. Raik posted guards to make sure she
remained in the room. She could not blame him. Was he repaying her
in kind for being a prisoner in his bedchamber when Warin had
brought him here? When she had seduced him?

She would gladly suffer confinement if only
he did not keep Aubrey from her. The thought made her near frantic
with worry. Soon after, her mouth flooded with water. She
swallowed, willing the queasy feeling to go away. It persisted.

Always, she had heard that a nursing mother
would not increase until her milk stopped flowing. Her milk was
still adequate, though it had lessened somewhat. Still, she could
not ignore the early signs of breeding were there.

Raik deserved his revenge. Needed it.