The Mercenary Knight (7 page)

Chapter
Seven

Conrad bit the inside of his cheek. He tasted blood and was furious. Why had he sent Gregorii and Wybert to Tanya’s room? A little voice in his head answered him:
You became scared
. He was a fighting man. He’d seen some terrible things in his life and did not fear death or pain. And yet, he’d barely brushed the wench’s lips and had run off like a coward. Conrad turned in bed and clapped a hand to his ears, trying to fend off the unmistakable moans of pleasure issuing from the room next door.

He should have possessed her right then and there. The moment his lips grazed Tanya’s, he should have succumbed to desire and claimed her. Instead, he’d made the terrible mistake of sending Gregorii and Wybert to protect her. Conrad swore under his breath.

“Protect her, please,” he snorted. By what he was hearing through the paper-thin inn walls, they were all fucking each other’s brains out.

Conrad felt he should have known better. Neither one of them had had a woman in bed for months––and Tanya was no lady. She had made that clear, but had also stated that she was no whore. Well, she was certainly acting the part now. Conrad slammed his fist against the cot as a particularly loud cry reached his ears. He would be surprised if the whole inn did not hear the scandal they were making. He could make out every single one of her cries, her moans, her whimpers… And at every one of them he wished he was the one pounding into her and making her climax, kissing her pouty lips, stroking her ripe breasts, running his fingers through the damp curls between her legs. Conrad sighed. His cock was so hard it hurt. He ground his teeth together as he heard one of the men say something. He would have expected something like this from Wybert, but Gregorii? His best mate. Conrad had saved his entire goddamn village, and this was how he was to be repaid? By Gregorii taking his woman?

Conrad opened his eyes to the gloomy room. Where had that thought come from? His woman? Since when did he have a claim over her? He’d barely known her for two days. He had no right, and yet…He turned in his bed, trying to ease his discomfort.

It was her sexual appeal. He hadn’t had a woman in months either, and Tanya was a woman in all senses: Her soft supple curves, the soft locks of her hair, her yielding mouth. He heard Tanya cry out in what he guessed was another orgasm. But she was a woman like any other. What he needed was a pussy. Any pussy. And he needed it now.

Conrad sat up in bed and began to put on his boots in the darkness. He glanced at Johann’s cot and noticed the man watching him dress. “I’m going out,” Conrad declared, donning his tunic.

He heard Johann’s cot creak as he also got up. “I’m going with you. I think Wybert and Gregorii are able enough to care for her.”

****

Conrad trudged up the stairs. It was almost daybreak, and if Tanya wanted to leave the town without attracting any notice, it was best to do it at this hour. Besides, they’d have to either buy a horse for her, or steal one, because he would rather she didn’t ride double with any of them any more.

Conrad rubbed his tired eyes and stroked the shadow of the beard that darkened his features. As the night wore on, his fury still had not abated. He and Johann had gone in search of a prostitute in the small town. They’d found two willing ladies for a considerable fee. Johann had gone up to one of the rooms in the brothel and he’d gone to another with a redhead. He had kissed her, stripped her, and touched her, but his cock had gone flaccid. He kept seeing the damn wench in his mind, and it was not the prostitute. The whore didn’t have the rounded milky white breasts he knew would fit perfectly in his hands. She didn’t have the narrow waist and wide hips. She didn’t have the buxom bottom that had slid over his cock when they had ridden together. She didn’t possess the soft lips he had kissed before. And what’s more, she didn’t have those passionate amber eyes that caused Conrad to squirm so. He’d paid the girl for her time and gone for a walk.

Conrad stood at the door to the last room on the left of the staircase and hesitated. He passed a hand through his hair. What would he find in there? Would he be able to stomach it? He couldn’t imagine his Tanya sandwiched between his two men. He shuffled his feet. It didn’t matter. He had given her his word that he’d get her out of there, and they had to leave now. He knocked on the door. There was no reply. He knocked again. Nothing.

Conrad’s rage increased and he pushed open the door. He stared for a moment in shock. The three of them lay on the floor, a simple sheet covering their naked bodies. His glance focused on Tanya, asleep between Wybert and Gregorii. Her hair was tousled, her pouty lips partly open. Conrad could just glimpse her soft curves from underneath the white sheet and his cock began to stir.

“Get up, you lazy louts,” he bellowed.

Gregorii and Wybert jumped up, startled.

“And you call yourselves mercenaries? I could have gutted any of you in a moment and you wouldn’t have batted an eyelash to stop me.”

Tanya hurried to cover herself, her face bright red with embarrassment.

“Get dressed and come downstairs to the stables. We leave in an hour’s time.”

With that, Conrad was off. He thought he heard Tanya calling, but ignored it. He hurried to the common room where the innkeeper was already preparing the day’s meal and ordered ale, downing it in a single gulp. Hadford was the next village, a week’s ride away. That meant another week with Tanya at his side. Conrad cursed and ordered another ale. It would be another week of trying to fight off whatever it was he was feeling.

****

“Conrad, I think we’re being followed.”

Conrad jumped at the sound of Johann’s quiet voice next to him. He realized that throughout their five-day trip, the usually introverted man had been quieter than customary. He berated himself for not noticing before, and made a mental note to speak to the lad at their next stop.

“Go back and scout,” he ordered the blond.

Johann nodded and turned back his horse. They were barely two days’ ride away from Hadford, and had not encountered any problems so far. That is, if you didn’t consider Tanya. Conrad glanced her way. She sat atop the horse he had bought her at the inn, quietly staring at the road ahead. Almost as if she knew he was watching her, she tilted her head to the side. Before their eyes could meet, Conrad looked away.

Conrad had been battling with a surge of conflicting emotions. He had barely been civil to Tanya during their trip, addressing her only when necessary and avoiding her at all costs. Yet, he could not restrain himself from gawking at her like an idiot. Once or twice she had caught him and tried to talk, but he would scurry away, making up some excuse or another.

It’s not that Conrad didn’t want to talk to Tanya––he did. He ached to hear her melodious voice speak directly to him, to see her amber eyes flash with passion and her hands swipe the air as she told one tale or another. But Conrad avoided it, running from her like the plague, partially because he wasn’t sure of his own feelings. At times, he longed to gather her into his arms and kiss reason into her. Conrad wanted to show her that Wybert and Gregorii were nothing compared to him. He was all she needed.

At other times, Conrad was so angry with Tanya for bedding Gregorii and Wybert, he didn’t want her close, didn’t want to remember that they had touched her intimately, or that they had stared into her amber eyes filled with passion and she had surrendered to them. That thought also reminded Conrad just how furious he was with his two men. He ignored them too, and when they sat around the campfire at night, he would sit a little apart, watching them as they laughed and talked and shared a secret bond of which he had no part. The anger would abate as soon as he settled into sleep, and then he’d hate himself for being a fool with no guts to admit that he had fallen for the tavern wench.

Conrad nodded. He raised his arm and motioned the men to follow him into the forest. He doubted they were seeking Tanya, but he decided not to risk it, preferring instead they wait for the cavalry to pass and then continue on their way. They rode deep into the woods until Conrad found what he was looking for. They stopped at a small gully that was easily defendable on all positions.

“We’ll wait here until they pass.”

No one questioned his orders. They waited. None spoke. The men hadn’t drawn out their weapons but they stood ready to pull them out should the need arise. After a half hour, Conrad sent Johann to check that the horsemen had passed. He returned with the news that the road was free, so they continued on their way.

The closer one got to the Kingdom’s capital, the larger the surrounding villages became. Hadford was no exception. It was a buoyant town of commerce. Vendors approached them as they rode past the city gates, selling items that ranged from hairbrushes to amulets to crockery or clothes.

Conrad ignored them all and wound his way around the city. Finally, they reached the inn he wanted, The Pilgrim’s Rest. The building, not particularly large, rested at the city’s postern’s gate. It wasn’t the best inn in Hadford, but it did have exceptional food.

As they approached, a young boy appeared to take their mounts. Everyone handed him the horses except for Conrad.

“Go on ahead. I’ll catch up with you in a bit, I’m not sure the boy knows what he is doing, and I’d like to oversee Splendida’s care.”

Before any of the men could question him, Conrad turned on his heel and followed the boy into the stables. He didn’t hear any steps behind him so he assumed they had obeyed. Conrad threw the boy a coin and the lad showed him to a stall where he could keep his animal. Conrad sighed. He knew the youngster was capable of caring for the animals but he needed the time to be alone. He unbuckled his sword and set it to the side. Then he removed the baggage his animal was carrying. Finally, he took off his tunic. The night air cooled his skin and cleared his mind. What he really wanted, he admitted to himself, was to relax for a bit before confronting Tanya at the dinner table. Conrad removed Splendida’s bridle and saddle. The animal nudged him, clearly expecting him to give her a treat. Conrad searched in one of the pouches he had just removed and brought out some oats.

“Well, Splendida,” he said in soft tones, “it looks like Reynard’s men have ridden past Hadford. So that means we’re free of Tanya.” The horse nickered. Conrad lifted an eyebrow. “What? You disagree?” The animal bumped his hands in search of some more food. Conrad steadied her head and scratched her behind the ears. “Yeah, I know. The men could be back but I mean, she’s old enough to care for herself and—“

The horse seemed to give him a baleful look. Conrad couldn’t help laughing. “All right, I know you’re right, but—“ He left the thought unfinished, afraid to say it aloud. Conrad began to brush the animal vigorously. He couldn’t just give up on the girl. He had to talk to her first, make her understand.

Conrad ceased brushing the animal. A rustle of cloth, barely audible, made him pull out the dagger hidden in his boot. He stood to one side, ready to attack first and question later. He blinked in shock as Tanya came into view.

“What are you doing here?”

“Do you always pull your sword out at the slightest sound?” She laughed nervously. Her eyes darted from the knife in his hand to his naked chest and back to the knife. The tip of her tongue grazed her lower lip as her gaze landed once more on his chest.

“Forgive me. I did not hear you coming.”

He lowered his weapon and noticed her hands. They were clenching her long skirt so hard her knuckles were almost white. As Conrad took a step forward, he noticed her eyes rise to his face. Abruptly, he changed his mind and turned his back on her.

He flinched at the pain in her voice, but refused to look at her again. Not after what he had just seen in her eyes: that intensity, that burning lust, that aching care which he did not dare label as love. He continued brushing down Splendida, hoping that she would leave him.

Conrad heard her hesitant step, her skirts rustling against the scattered hay. He thought Tanya had moved away, but instead a jolt of electricity slammed against him as her small hand wrapped around his arm. He jumped back at the contact, almost dropping the brush at the shock.

Tanya released him as if burned. She lowered her hand to her skirt, pretending to brush off some invisible lint. Her cheeks glowed and he fought against the urge to take her into his arms and feel that astonishing bolt of lightning race through him again.

“Conrad, why are you angry with me? What have I done to displeasure you?” The question was unexpected, barely a whisper. Tanya’s eyes searched his face and he forced himself to look away. Conrad was angry, but not at her. He was angry with himself for being a fool. He was angry because he wanted her so badly it hurt his very soul.

“What have you done? Nothing,” he lied.

“Then why won’t you look me in the eye?” she demanded. He glanced into Tanya’s fiery amber eyes and almost smiled. Barely moments ago she had stood before him, a figure of disappointment. Now, her temper was rising, her character much like his. Unpredictable. Perhaps that’s why he was so attracted to her, he mused.

“I asked you a question. Why have you been avoiding me throughout the week? Why are you so mad at me that you glare at me at every given opportunity? You won’t look me in the eye, you won’t—"