Desired (33 page)

When Joan left, Adele said practically, “You had better pack a night rail and your toilet articles.”

“Oh, do you think Joan will spend the night?” asked Brianna as she pulled a violet tunic over her lavender underdress.

“My lamb, once Edward gets her to himself, you don’t imagine he’ll unlock the chamber door before tomorrow, do you?”

Brianna blushed. “I hadn’t thought,” she murmured. When she arrived at Joan’s chambers, she was surprised to find Lady Elizabeth Grey. She had come to ask a favor of Glynis, who often dispensed herbal love potions and spells. When Brianna entered the room, the other girls fell silent. She noticed the look of panic on Elizabeth’s face and then
she saw that she had been crying. “Elizabeth, whatever’s amiss?” Brianna asked with concern.

“I’m … I’m with child,” Elizabeth blurted. “I want Glynis to give me something to bring down my courses.”

“Oh, Elizabeth, no!” Brianna’s heart wrung with pity for Lady Grey.

Glynis said, “I do know of something, but it’s very dangerous. I know a maid who died after she dosed herself.”

“I don’t care, I don’t care! I’d rather be dead than face a terrible scandal. If Princess Isabel learns my secret, she’ll spread it all over Windsor.”

Brianna had a very good idea who was the author of Elizabeth’s misery. If she was right, marriage was of course out of the question. “Is Prince Lionel responsible?”

Elizabeth nodded miserably, blushing furiously before Lady Bedford and Lady Kent.

Joan’s soft heart melted. “Don’t be shamed, Lizzie, none of us are virgins here,” she confessed. Joan thought that might cheer her up, but Elizabeth burst into tears again. “Oh, Glynis, please help her,” Joan pleaded.

Glynis looked from Joan to Brianna and back again. “You two be off. I’ll take care of Lady Grey. ’Tis a private matter between her and me, and you must both forget what you have heard here today.”

After the ladies left, Glynis took out her herbal chest and mixed bayberries into a syrup made from figs. “You’d better stay here with me, Lady Grey. Your pains will be fearful for the next few hours.”

“Thank you, Glynis,” she said with fervor, swallowing the not unpleasant mixture. She sat down and nervously fingered the links on her silver girdle. “Prince Lionel isn’t the father,” Elizabeth blurted.

“In that case, my lady, perhaps the gentleman can be persuaded to marry you.”

Elizabeth shook her head. “He’s betrothed to Lady Bedford. Robert de Beauchamp made me pregnant.”

“Judas, never let Brianna hear a hint of this. It would ruin her life!”

Elizabeth couldn’t respond because at that moment she was taken with a cramp that almost cut her in half.

J
oan and Brianna were unusually silent on the wherry ride down the river to London. Each was lost in her own thoughts. Finally Brianna murmured, “But for the grace of God, either one of us could be in Elizabeth Grey’s predicament right now.”

“Oh, Brianna, Edward will look after me,” Joan said innocently.

Brianna sighed. It had just been forcibly brought home to her that it was up to a woman to look after herself, and from now on she swore she would never behave wantonly again. Her brow creased. She wished Joan was a more sensible girl. She was a little hoyden, far too mischievous and affectionate for her own good.

The two girls, each carrying a small overnight bag, climbed the water stairs and hurried along Fish Street to the tall stone house belonging to Edmund of Kent. He was awaiting their arrival and gave his sister a brotherly embrace. Then with a twinkle in his eye, he embraced Brianna. She gave him a playful slap when he tried to kiss her lips instead of her proffered cheek.

“You can’t condemn a man for trying, especially when he’ll be riding into battle soon.” His glance swept her from head to toe. Her skin was more translucent than the pearls she wore. “De Beauchamp is a lucky bastard.”

Brianna’s color heightened.

Edmund led them through to the back of the house into the small yard. “I want you to meet my new next-door neighbor.”

Joan’s eyes widened with joy as she realized Prince Edward must own the adjoining property.

Edmund escorted them to the back door and turned them over to John Chandos, the prince’s squire. He took Joan’s bag and pointed down a corridor. “I believe you will enjoy the view from the front rooms, Lady Kent.”

Joan flew down the hallway, all save her beloved prince vanished from the world. Chandos stood awkwardly beside
Brianna, quite at a loss how he would entertain Lady Bedford.

She knew she must put him at his ease. “Pray, John, don’t worry about me. I have brought my sketch pad. All I need is a chamber with a view of the river.”

The squire, more at ease with a sword in his hand, tried not to let his relief show on his face. He led her up a narrow staircase, then along to a bedchamber at the front of the stone house, overlooking the Thames. “We are fortunate to enjoy the services of one of the best cooks in London. The smells coming from the kitchen will make your mouth water.”

“It smells like treacle tart,” Brianna said hopefully.

“I’ll bring you some and whatever else I can steal.” He blushed endearingly. “Cook has developed a soft spot for me.

With a cry of joy, Joan ran across the room into Edward’s waiting arms. He swung her into the air, marveling again at how unbelievably dainty and feminine she was. She wore palest seafoam green, edged in ermine, her platinum tresses threaded with seed pearls. Her eyes sparkled with love and laughter and the knowledge that this rendezvous was secret and forbidden. “Edward, I feared you had abandoned me,” she said breathlessly, not believing for one moment that he had.

“My little Jeanette, my thoughts seldom stray from you, even when they should be elsewhere.”

She threw her arms about his neck and kissed the blunted end of his aquiline nose. “I love you.”

“And I adore you, my angel. It seems an eternity since we loved.”

Brianna sat by the window sketching the traffic on the busy river and the colorful people who walked below on Fish Street. As the light began to fade, she thumbed through her sketchbook assessing her work, and she came upon a drawing she had made of Christian Hawksblood. Her heart contracted painfully as her mind winged back to the first time she had seen him, then relived every look, every word, every touch that had passed between them.

She stared out at the lights on the river with unseeing eyes. Why was it that duty was always unpalatable, while daydreams were perfection? Her senses became saturated with his essence. The door opened and he filled the frame with his overpowering presence. By all the saints in Heaven, why hadn’t she realized he would be here with the Black Prince?

Brianna jumped up so quickly, the stool overturned. Christian strode across the chamber and took her shoulders in his powerful hands. His dark face was fierce, his eyes aquamarine chips.

She closed her eyes against his raw male magnetism. He was such a dominant force to be reckoned with, she trembled at the thought of defying him. But defy him she must. “We lost our heads in Bedford. I should never have given myself to you when your brother had a prior claim. Now that he has a lame leg, I cannot be heartless enough to reject him.”

“Ah, you are quite capable of being heartless, Brianna. You are
my
lady,
my
woman. You have belonged to me, body and soul, since the dawn of time.”

“Stop it, Hawksblood! I belong to Robert de Beauchamp. Your father has drawn up the contracts and our betrothal is inevitable.”

His hands gripped her painfully. His face was fiercer than any hawk’s. “Know this, lady: You will never belong to Robert de Beauchamp, not in this life or the next. There is a blood bond between us. We are one!”

“Christian.” It was a cry from the heart. “I will never regret what we shared. If they cut my heart from me when I die, it will be filled with my love for you. But I am drowning in guilt over Robert. He will be crippled for the rest of his life. I must do my duty!”

“Your first duty is to me,” he ground out. “I have chosen you, and only you, to be the mother of my children.”

“Christian, that can never be,” she said sadly.

He thrust his powerful arm beneath her knees and swept her up in his arms. “By Christ, I’ll take you to bed now and plant my babe in your belly.”

“Put me down … stop this at once!” she cried, but he strode swiftly from the room and swept up the staircase and
into a chamber that contained a very large bed. She doubled her fists and smote them against the hard muscles of his chest. He ignored her struggles completely. He put his lips to her ear, whispering all the words of love for which she’d been starving the last three days. “Yield to me, love, yield to me now.”

Suddenly she was filled with dread. This might be the last time they would ever be together. He was going off to France to fight a war. How would she bear the separation? How would she bear the heavy guilt of refusing him her love if he was killed in battle? His words were fast melting her resolve of chastity. It would be an act of cruelty to deny him. She stopped struggling and slipped her arms about his neck.

He sank down on the bed and crushed her in his embrace. When she lifted her trembling mouth from his, he said, “I don’t want you to merely submit to me, Brianna, I want you to take joy in it.”

Suddenly, she wanted exactly what he wanted.

Brianna ran a provocative tongue over her lips and Christian set his mouth on hers capturing the pink tip before she could withdraw it. Though the afternoon sun was still high, they both decided it was bedtime. Brianna kicked off her slippers as Christian’s hand stole beneath her skirts to pull off her lacy stockings. Her garters came off with them and Christian stared at what he held, totally bemused by the beribboned confections. Everything about her was delectable.

She undid the lacings of her tunic so he could remove it. Then she undid the tiny buttons on her underdress, watching the hunger grow in his aquamarine eyes. She stood upon the bed naked, giving him a chance to undress, but he pulled her to him, unable to keep his hands from her. Her skin was like cream velvet against the dark pewter of his doublet. He lifted her hair, then let it fall about her in golden splendor. The thread of her pearls broke and they fell to the bed in an iridescent shower. She laughed at his look of dismay, then scooped up a handful and let them roll down her upthrust breasts and belly.

Christian joined in her laughter as he grabbed for them and caught them as they cascaded into the abundant curls
between her legs. By Allah, this woman mesmerized him and held him in thrall. It was unthinkable that he give her up, she was his heart’s desire, now and forever. She tugged at his doublet, wanting him to be naked with her. Christian obliged immediately, groaning as her fingertips grazed across the sable pelt on his chest. He rolled onto the bed and pulled her down on top of him. He began kissing her everywhere, searching out fragrant alcoves he’d never explored before. She was delicious to taste, intoxicating to smell.

Her hands caressed his body with equal delight until they lay enthralled, panting with desire, trembling with need, incoherent and love-drunk with unquenched passion.

The whisper and sleek slide of skin upon naked skin was so erotic Brianna was aroused to madness. When she began to bite him and her cries turned to little screams, he covered her body with his. She opened to him eagerly, thirsting for him with every pore of her body, every fiber of her being. Her thighs fell apart and she arched her body up to meet his thrust. She cried out at the pleasure-pain and Christian stopped in midthrust. She pressed her face into the warm flesh of his shoulder. His lips touched her hair and he murmured, “My darling, I didn’t want to hurt you.”

She was so full of him she thought she might burst with the fullness. “I love your bigness. Am I too small to give you pleasure?”

“Nay, my heart. You feel so good I could die from it.”

She closed upon him so tightly he could not withdraw if he had wanted. And God forgive him, in very truth he did not want to. Brianna slowly relaxed her death grip upon the head of his shaft and whispered softly, “Come into me all the way.”

Christian touched his lips to one sensitive nipple, then when it ruched, he took the whole crown into his mouth and sucked hard. She moaned with the intense pleasure of it and he plunged into her quickly until he was seated to the hilt. He began to move with small thrusts, knowing the friction would make her slippery. Gradually she became wet and sleek, enabling his strokes to slide all the way in and all the way out of her tight sheath. She felt like hot silk as he surged into her and he watched her face intently.

He saw her pupils dilate with pleasure, her nipples turn to hard little diamonds, and a flush of passion turn her throat and breasts a delicate shell-pink. Her lips parted with a deep, sensual need. She brought his hand to her mouth and began to suck on one of his fingers. It was unbelievably erotic to Hawksblood. Her pleasure was so intense she began to arch against him sensually. Quickly he withdrew his finger and crushed her lips with his, sliding his tongue into her seeking mouth and thrusting deep with the same throbbing rhythm as his manroot.