The Wolf and the Dove (11 page)

He smiled and her skin burned as her cheeks grew darker under his slow, deliberate stare. “Nay, damoiselle, I do not mind.”

Aislinn sat back in a huff, splashing water over the side of the tub and onto him. She eyed him distastefully, loathing his casual manner that, she was sure, marked them in the girl’s eyes as lovers.

Wulfgar gestured toward Hlynn. “I believe Ragnor is looking for her.”

“I have need of her,” Aislinn answered. shortly. She swept her hand indicating her bath. “As you can plainly see.”

“Strange,” Wulfgar mocked as he feasted his eyes upon her swelling breasts. “I thought you bathed at morningtide, when I am gone.”

“Usually I do,” Aislinn retorted. “But with so much mauling, I felt in need of extra cleansing.”

Wulfgar chuckled and rubbed the nape of his neck. “Tell me, damoiselle, is it because you cannot stand the thought of De Marte riding another wench that you keep the girl with you?”

Aislinn threw him a murderous glare. “De Marte may enjoy any Norman slut of his choosing, but Hlynn is unused to the crude ways in which you foreigners take a wench. He hurts the girl, and if you had any compassion in your soul, you would not give her so freely to him.”

“I have no part in the arguments of women,” Wulfgar shrugged, reaching out to tease a stray lock of coppery hair which tumbled from the heavy mass of curls tied upon her head.

“I know,” Aislinn snapped. “You seek to discredit me in the sight of my betrothed with your fondling of me. If he were free, you would not handle me so casually.”

He laughed lightly as he perched upon the rim of the wooden tub. “Shall I free him, damoiselle? But I think the little Saxon is far more fond of you than you of him.”

He glanced toward Hlynn who all but cowered in a corner away from him. His tone was impatient as he questioned Aislinn.

“Does she have to look so frightened? Tell her it’s her mistress I fancy in my bed, not her.”

Aislinn considered the trembling girl. “My lord wouldst do you no harm, Hlynn,” she said in English. “Mayhap if he can be persuaded, he’ll even give you his protection. Calm your fears.”

The pale-haired girl settled herself to sit upon the floor, still wary of the tall Norman, yet filled now with a certain confidence that her lady could save her if anyone could.

“What did you tell her?” Wulfgar questioned.

Aislinn rose from the tub, reaching for a linen to wrap about her and felt Wulfgar’s devouring gaze upon her. She quickly covered herself and stepped out to stand beside him.

“I said you wouldn’t hurt her,” Aislinn answered. “ ’Tis what you told me to say.”

“If I knew your tongue, I could be sure you do not play me for a fool.”

“A man makes himself a fool. ’Tis hard for another to do so unless the first allows it.”

“You are wise as well as beautiful,” Wulfgar murmured. He ran a finger down her arm in a slow, unhurried caress, and Aislinn turned to look pleadingly at him. She stood so close that the side of her leg brushed against the inside of the thigh he had perched upon the tub. It was as if a charge of a storm’s bright fire arched between them with the contact jolting each with an abrupt shock of passion. Aislinn felt weak and unsure with his nearness. Wulfgar’s reaction was more physical and his breath drew harshly between his teeth as if he had been struck a blow. He clenched his fists in the effort to endure her nearness without snatching her into his embrace and stilling the throbbing in his loins then and there. He knew Hylnn watched them and he was amazed that he could respond so quickly to a wench when others looked on. He was grateful for his mail hauberk, but his self-control was sorely shaken by the dampened cloth Aislinn had wrapped around her. Though it had proven a most strenuous feat,
he had steeled his body against his raging desires as he watched her bathe. But with the proximity of her supple form with only the wet linen draping her, he found it more of a task to think logically than he had before. His passions rode him hard and goaded him almost beyond the limits of his own iron will.

“My lord,” Aislinn murmured softly. “You have said we are no more than slaves. It is surely your right to give Hlynn to anyone of your choosing, but I pray you will be merciful with her. She has always served well and is willing to do so again but not in the manner of harlot for your men. Her feelings are tender. Do not tread upon them and make her loathe you as well as the men who take her. Please be compassionate. She has done nothing to warrant such cruelty.”

Wulfgar’s brow lowered. “Are you bargaining for another life, Aislinn? Are you set to share my bed that this girl may not have to yield to Ragnor?”

Aislinn took a deep breath. “Nay, Wulfgar. I am pleading, only that.”

Wulfgar stared at her. “You ask much but are willing to give nothing in return. You have come to me for yon Kerwick, now this girl. When will you come for yourself?”

“Is my life at stake, my lord?” she questioned, her eyes searching his.

“And if it were?” he pressed.

“I think I could not find the way to play the whore for even that,” she answered slowly.

“Would you come freely if you loved me?” he asked. His gaze penetrated into the depths of her soft eyes.

“If I loved you?” she repeated. “My love is all I have left that I can give of my own free will. The man I loved would not have to beg me to be a bride or to give him all the rights that brings. Ragnor took what I held for my betrothed, yet my love is still my own to gift a man or withhold as my heart would bid me.”

“Did you love Kerwick?”

She shook her head slowly and answered truthfully. “Nay, I have loved no man.”

“And I no woman,” he returned. “Yet I have desired them.”

“I desire no man,” she said quietly.

His hand caressed her cheek and moved downward to the slim column of her throat. He felt her tremble beneath his touch, and smiled with a hint of mockery.

“I think you lightly ply a maiden’s dream, damoiselle.”

Her eyes flew to his face and she saw that he was laughing at her. She lifted her chin proudly and would have retorted angrily to his quip, but he shushed her by placing a finger upon her lips.

“The girl, Hlynn is bidden to attend you ‘til Ragnor leaves on the morrow. He will not seek long for her ere he finds another. And unless you wish to act in her stead, I bid you stay close upon my hand for your own welfare. It is common truth ‘tis you Ragnor wants and he is no different in that respect than any man of his camp or mine. While my men will keep their distance, his may not. I think you would soon discover the safety of our nest in yonder chamber if left to your own defenses.”

Aislinn smiled and a dimple flirted at the corner of her mouth. “I am quite aware of the benefits of sleeping near you, my lord, if not with you.”

Wulfgar grinned like a devil, and he rose and walked to the door. “You will soon learn those benefits also, my lady. Rest assured.”

At the evening’s feast, Aislinn sat at her usual place beside Wulfgar but found Ragnor had taken a chair next to hers. He feasted his eyes upon the brilliant hair coiled in a glorious mass upon her head. Her creamy skin glowed with a luster of youth and a healthy blush of pink flushed her cheeks, setting her eyes a-sparkle. As she turned to answer a question Wulfgar presented her, Ragnor’s eyes raked her slender form adorned in forest green velvet and lingered a moment where her hair was lifted from her neck, baring a soft, tempting nape. He knew a deep, fermenting hunger that he could not ease, and he felt cheated, robbed of this sumptuous prize by the bastard’s own greed and lust. He bent to her.

“He sends me to William,” he muttered. “But he will not always be able to keep me from you.” He brushed his knuckles gently along her sleeve. “I can give you more than he. My family is important. They can be counted on when I want to further my position. Come with me and you will not regret it.”

Aislinn pushed his hand away in distaste. “My home is Darkenwald. I seek no greater treasure.”

Ragnor studied her. “Then you will go with the man who possesses this hall?”

“ ’Tis Wulfgar’s and I am his,” she replied coldly, thinking to settle the matter, and turned her attention to Wulfgar while Ragnor leaned back thoughtfully in his chair and mused on her answer.

After the meal Wulfgar left the hall for a short time, and Aislinn sought the safety of his bedchamber as he directed her to. But she did not count upon the fact Ragnor waited for her in the shadows of the narrow hall outside the room. He stepped from the darkness, and she halted abruptly in her stride, taken by surprise. A confident smile twisted his handsome lips as he came to her and took her by the arms.

“Wulfgar is careless with you, Aislinn,” he murmured huskily.

“He didn’t consider you had lost your senses,” she returned icily, trying to pull away.

Ragnor’s hand slowly moved over a rounded breast and came to rest upon her hip.

“I never thought the memory of a wench could haunt me as yours has these past days,” he said hoarsely.

“You only seek me because Wulfgar has claimed me,” she retorted disagreeably, pushing at his hard chest. “Let me go! Find some other wench to fondle and leave me be.”

“None pleases me as well as you,” he murmured against her hair, the hot blood surging like a swift river of passion through his veins. He reached behind him and pushed open the chamber door. “Wulfgar will tarry with his horses and his men, the fool, and Vachel has promised to sit at this door to watch upon his return. He’ll warn us with a rap on the wood when the bastard approaches. So come, my dove, we’ve no time to lose.”

Aislinn struggled now in earnest and sought to claw his face, but Ragnor caught her wrists before she could sink her nails in to do him damage and drew her arms behind her, crushing her against his chest. He held her in a savage grip as he grinned down into her piercing glare.

“Upon my word, vixen, you’re a livelier tart than that simple girl Wulfgar would give me.” He chuckled as he thought of the other man. “He’ll see I am not one to settle for meager fare when a feast of delicacies tempts me more.”

Ragnor swept her into his arms and strode into the chamber with her, kicking the door closed behind them.

“You crawling vermin! You viper from Hades!” Aislinn railed, straining against his overpowering strength. “I’ll die before submitting to you again!”

“Doubtful, my dove, unless you can command yourself to die in the next few moments. Now relax and I will be gentle with you.”

“Never!” Aislinn screeched.

“Then have it your own way,” he replied.

He threw her onto the bed and fell upon her before she could roll away. Aislinn fought him as any wild thing afraid of capture and a fierce battle raged between them. She lunged beneath him in an effort to escape and her hands quickly followed his to replace the clothing he pulled away from her limbs. If her strength would last until Wulfgar came back—But she had no way of knowing when he would return, and she was swiftly losing ground in her struggles to preserve what dignity she had left. Ragnor was tearing at her garments, ripping the gunna from her bosom. She felt his warm, wet mouth upon her breasts, and she shuddered in loathing.

“If you can bed that boar, Wulfgar, with ease,” he murmured hoarsely against her throat, “then you might find real pleasure with a more experienced lover.”

“You stumbling clod,” she choked, straining away from his insistent ardor, “you’re a weedling youth compared to him.”

Suddenly they both started as a loud crash resounded in the room. It seemed to vibrate the very walls of the chamber. With a jerk Ragnor rolled from her and stared agape at the source of that noise. Aislinn struggled up to see the door flung wide and Wulfgar standing inside its frame. At his feet lay the now subdued, limp and moaning Vachel. With a casualness that did not lend to Ragnor’s comfort, Wulfgar leaned against the doorway and placed his foot upon Vachel’s chest. His gaze first swept Aislinn, assessing the damage done to her as she hastily clutched her clothing over her bosom and covered the gleaming, pale thighs from his regard, then settled upon her tormentor whose pallor was well justified.

“ ’Tis not my wont to kill a man over a woman,” Wulfgar said slowly. “But you, Sir de Marte, draw my patience perilously thin. What is mine I hold and I can allow no one to doubt my possession. It is good that Sweyn came to tell me of some mischief he perceived brewing here with Vachel lurking in the shadows outside my chamber door. If you had proceeded further on the maid, you might have missed the dawning of the sun.”

Wulfgar turned and gestured outside the chamber and Sweyn came into view. Aislinn sat up and a delicious grin spread across her features as she watched the huge Viking come and drag the well-born Norman from her side. Ragnor struggled and cursed the Norseman and his lord as Wulfgar leisurely smiled.

“Throw his carcass in the nearest sty,” he bade Sweyn and then gestured toward Vachel. “Then come fetch this one here and do him the same. They should find sweet companionship there and reminisce upon the hazards of trespassing upon my property.”

When the room was emptied of their presence, Wulfgar closed the door and turned to Aislinn. She wore a bright, happy smile of gratitude but as he came forward, she quickly vacated his bed.

“Sir Ragnor will surely have reason to want your hide after this injury to his pride,” she grinned, her face beaming with her delight over his humiliation. “Without running Ragnor through you have served his pride a hearty blow. I could not have thought to settle my revenge upon his frame with such thoroughness.”

Wulfgar continued to view her lithe form as she strode jauntily past him like some regal wench, carefully holding the shreds of her bodice together.

“And that must certainly please you well, Aislinn, to have us quarreling over you. Which one of us, I pray, will you be most pleased to be rid of? I am more a threat to your peace of mind than he.”

Aislinn faced him and smiled slowly into his gray eyes. “My lord, you think me a fool? I do not dare walk the simplest path without being assured your claim upon me is my protection. That I have not yet paid for that defense I well know and am grateful for, but I continue to hope you will be of a gallant nature and not demand such unworthy payment from a lady unwed to you.”