One Knight's Return, page 11
He sat on the side of the bed. “It seemed to me you enjoyed the fact that you were not alone last eve.”
It was true and Melissande knew it. She tightened her lips. “I was seduced against my will. I was led astray.”
“Nay, my lady.” Quinn shook his head, his voice a low burr that made her blood simmer anew. “You might have been seduced, but you were willing.”
Melissande could not argue otherwise.
He shook a finger at her. “I was not the only one who savored the consummation of our match. I strove to try to please you, but you met me halfway. We both enjoyed it. Do not deny that truth.”
“Do you call me a wanton?”
“I do not.” He was resolute. “I call you my wife. It is right and good that we should find satisfaction together.”
“And the linens will provide the evidence.” She knew she sounded bitter, but it was all so vulgar. To have every soul in Tulley know that her maidenhead had been claimed the night before was most troubling to her. She left the bed from the opposite side and went to the basin of water, then halted, modest again. How could she wash without Quinn seeing her nudity? Why did she care since he had seen her the night before? Melissande felt shaken and overwhelmed and she blinked back tears that would be of no aid.
It was folly to wish that all might be as it had been before. She was wed. She should accustom herself to that. How many would witness her nudity when she bore a child?
Melissande could not even think upon it.
Quinn, as she should have anticipated, came to stand behind her. His hands cupped her shoulders and he bent to drop a kiss on the top of her head. “Shall I remind you of your passion, my lady?” he whispered. “I am certain it can be awakened again.”
He kissed her ear, arousing her desire with such ease that Melissande was dismayed.
“There is no need,” she said. “I am no better than a harlot, it is clear.”
He paused then turned her to face him. She kept her gaze downcast, but he placed that fingertip beneath her chin and compelled her to meet his gaze. She knew he saw her tears, for his expression turned serious. “You are dismayed that we found pleasure in intimacy? Would you rather it had been painful?”
“I cannot believe that I was so able to forget myself,” she admitted. “I was taught to maintain my dignity in all circumstance.”
Quinn smiled crookedly. “I think it fair that there be one exception.”
“This is no jest!”
“I do not jest,” he said, sobering. “I thought last night a fine omen for our future.”
“I did not!”
His eyes narrowed, as though he suspected she might not say words he liked, but he waited and listened. Melissande already saw that was his inclination.
“It was the wine,” she said. “The wine betrayed me and I forgot myself. I should never have accepted it from Berthe here. I indulged too much and that undermined my dignity.” She frowned. “But I did not feel its effects so greatly until dinner.” She remembering her enchanted cup, then looked at Quinn with newfound suspicion. “How curious that my cup was never empty.”
He looked discomfited and she guessed the truth.
“You ensured as much,” she said. “You wished me to be too besotted to avoid your touch.”
Quinn colored. “I thought the wine might ease your fears,” he said. “I thought you might be more at ease.”
Already he chose for her, assuming he knew her desire and her need better than she. Melissande found that a terrifying portent. “You should have asked me. We should have discussed the matter together.”
“You had already been drinking wine,” he said. “I smelled it upon your breath. I did not think any discussion would be reasoned as a result.”
“I saw my fears eased. It was not your responsibility to choose for me.”
“Of course, it is my responsibility to choose for you,” Quinn replied, his voice rising. “You are my wife!”
“I will not be your chattel!”
His eyes flashed and his voice rose higher. “Recall, my lady, that both of us had the same intent last eve, for we had both agreed to Tulley’s terms.”
Melissande retreated behind the table with the pitcher of water, hating how she wished to touch him even in this moment. She could just reach up and ease the crease from between his brows with a fingertip and perhaps dismiss his annoyance. That she wished to do as much was a treacherous indication of his power over her. “You thought the wine might grant you an easy conquest.”
“There could be no easy conquest when you are bride,” Quinn replied. He cast his hands skyward. “Zounds, woman, is any matter simple with you?”
“Of course!”
“You were concerned about the pain,” he continued, then made a fist. “If you had clenched, the deed might well have hurt you. I tried to make matters right, Melissande!”
“You should have spoken to me.”
“You should have spoken to me.”
“How could I discuss such intimacy with you, a veritable stranger?” Melissande demanded.
“I am your husband!”
“And still there are matters that are delicate...”
“If you do not discuss carnal union with me, who will you discuss it with?” he demanded, his eyes blazing.
“There is naught amiss with decorum and dignity. There is naught amiss with granting value to wit and intellect and skill...”
“There is naught amiss with passion between man and wife.”
“You will not have my passion, sir!”
Quinn chuckled, curse him. “I already have it, my lady,” he murmured in that low tone that still weakened her knees.
Melissande was more than halfway in his thrall already and she knew it, so she struck back. “Do you always ply women with wine to lure them to your bed?”
Quinn’s eyes flashed fire again, his teasing mood banished. Indeed, he swore with a vehemence that made Melissande suddenly afraid. She feared she had pushed him too far and would see all too soon that he did resemble his father.
To her astonishment, though, he abruptly turned and crossed the room. He flung open the shutters, admitting a cold wind, and glared into the mist of the morning. Annossy’s tower was obscured by the fog on this day and the air was chilly. Melissande did not dare complain, for she halfway feared he would fling her to the courtyard below. But Quinn folded his arms across his chest and tapped his toe, as if he counted.
“The wine cannot make you act as you would not,” he said finally, without glancing her way. He bit off the words and spoke with precision, a sure sign that he was angry.
Melissande waited, warily, uncertain what to expect.
Quinn took a deep breath when she did not speak, then another. After the third such, he spoke again and his tone was remarkably temperate. “You have told me only half of the tale,” he said with a perceptiveness that startled her. “Tell me what truly troubles you this morning.”
Then he pivoted, his gaze locking upon her as if she was his prey. Melissande’s mouth went dry, for she sensed that he would not abandon the quest for this truth very easily.
Even through her dismay, she noted that his tone was even, his words compelling in their demand. He had not struck her.
He had scarce shouted at her.
She locked her hands together before herself. If naught else, she owed him the truth.
“You know that I had no interest in this match.”
Quinn snorted. “Yet I did?”
Melissande eyed him. “Why would you not be? I have a holding and some affluence. I am young enough to bear children and...” she faltered, unable to claim her own beauty as an asset. She was aware of it—how could she not be?—but she was not vain.
“And?” he prompted, teasing her as she blushed.
“You did express an admiration for my hair.”
His smile was quick and when his gaze swept over her, she saw his gaze heat. She was surprised by how much it pleased her to have some influence over him.
“Make no mistake, my lady, you are fair to look upon, to be sure, but I had always hoped to choose my bride. I had hoped to make a match to suit both my heart and my lady’s.” Quinn raised his gaze to hers and the intensity of that look pierced Melissande’s very soul. “I dared to hope last night that, despite the odds, we might have made such a match.” He held her gaze for a long moment, his own searching. “Was I mistaken?”
Melissande turned abruptly away. “Aye, you were.”
“Ah.”
The chamber filled with silence, but it was not one of expectation or desire. Melissande found tears pricking at her eyes and felt that she had lost something precious, and that by her own folly.
It was all a trick, she reminded herself, a feint by Jerome’s son to fulfill his father’s fondest dream. How strange that each time she told herself such things, they seemed less plausible than they had before.
Was she falling under Quinn’s spell, just as he planned?
“Tell me then, as you seem so inclined to do so,” he said. “What was your objection to this match? Is my father’s shadow so long that you cannot judge me in my own right? Or do you find me lacking so grievously that you would have chosen any other man in my stead?”
Melissande did not like to see this bitterness in Quinn and liked even less that she had provoked it. But he had to know the truth.
“I am pledged to another,” she confessed.
“What madness is this?”
Melissande met his gaze. “You heard me.”
“Pledged to another man?” Quinn ran one hand through his hair in his agitation. “Yet you did not imagine that this detail might interest me?”
“Tulley did not care.”
His eyes flashed and Melissande braced herself for his fury. Already, though, she began to trust that the sum of it would be shouting.
“I am not Tulley!” he roared. “Do you think that I am such a selfish cur? Do you think that I would care naught for a pledge you had granted? Do you think that I would not have walked away if I had only known?”
His reaction chilled Melissande to her marrow. Was it true? “You would not have abandoned Sayerne,” she insisted.
“I would not have willingly wed a woman sworn to another man. I would have told Tulley as much and insisted he change his terms.”
“He would not change them for me.”
“I might have been more persuasive,” Quinn said grimly and she had a moment to wonder what he might have said or done. Then he pointed at her. “You owed me the truth before last evening and you know it well, my lady.”
Melissande did not know what to say. He was right, of course.
Suddenly, Quinn’s eyes narrowed and Melissande did not trust the abrupt change in the direction of his thoughts. He crossed the floor with angry steps to confront her. “What will you do when he comes for you?” he demanded. “Whose side will you choose?”
Melissande was astonished. She had not considered the possibility, though now that Quinn mentioned it, she wondered how likely it might be. Would Arnaud come to her?
What would she do?
“I cannot say,” she admitted. “I had not considered the matter.”
“Then you should do as much with all haste, my lady. Word of our match has undoubtedly flown from this keep already. If a woman was sworn to me, I would be quick to take vengeance upon any man who dared to claim what I knew to be my own.”
“He would not,” she protested, although she was not certain. Their gazes locked and held for a moment, long enough to make her conviction fade.
“What is his name?” Quinn asked. There was a quiet precision in his tone that made Melissande shiver.
“Why?”
“Perhaps I am curious about the manner of man who captured your heart.”
Melissande opened her mouth to correct his assumption, then closed it again. Her heart had naught to do with this matter. It was her word alone that stood compromised, though perhaps there was no need for Quinn to know that.
“You wish to be forewarned.”
“Can you blame me?”
She could not. “I would have your pledge in exchange.”
Quinn folded his arms across his chest and Melissande noted the sign of his rising impatience. She realized also that he had not hurt her or raised a hand toward her, no matter how much she had pressed him.
Was it possible that he was not like his father?
Or did he simply bide his time? How she wished she knew!
“What vow?”
“Not to touch me again,” she said. “Our match is consummated. Both you and Tulley have what you desire. Now I would have what I desire.”
Quinn dropped his voice low. “You would have me never touch you as I did last night? You would not feel such pleasure ever again as we shared just hours ago?”
Melissande blushed. “Nay.”
Quinn placed that finger beneath her chin, then tipped her gaze up to hold his. His very touch sent a thrill through Melissande but she dared not let her gaze flicker. Some trace of her weakness must have shown in her expression, though, for suddenly Quinn smiled.
“You lie, my lady,” he whispered. He waited, giving her time to recognize that he spoke the truth, then bent to kiss her.
He was making a point and Melissande knew it. She wanted to defy him to prove his assumption wrong. But Quinn had anticipated her and as before, her body seemed to be on his side. She wanted his kiss and once his lips touched hers, she was lost anew. He was gentle, coaxing and tender. His kiss was beguiling and surrender was inevitable. It was frightening to Melissande how little difference the wine had made in her response.
She wanted him again.
Such weakness could not be borne. She must eradicate it before it became worse.
Melissande broke their kiss with an effort and stepped away from temptation. “Nay!” When Quinn did not retreat but merely stood watching her, eyes ablaze with desire, the very look of him tempting her again, Melissande flushed at her own weakness.
She could only make him retreat with harsh words.
“You will not force me to your bed again,” she said with heat. “I will not become a slave to pleasure and forget all that I was raised to believe.”
“I have never forced a lady in all my days.”
“To be the first has no place of pride in this matter,” Melissande said. “Make no mistake, sir. You will not so weaken me again. You are forbidden to cross the threshold of my chamber from this day forth, whether we be wedded or not.”
There was a terse silence, but Melissande turned her back upon Quinn. She sat on a stool and donned her stockings, ensuring that he could not see her bare legs and wishing that she were not so aware of his watchful presence.
“We have need of a son, and there will be none this way,” he said, his voice taut.
“You cannot know that. The feat might be accomplished.”
“If not, you must invite me to your bed, my lady. To have no heir is a vulnerability that cannot be endured.”
Melissande closed her eyes against this appeal, for she saw the good sense in it. Perhaps in time, she could meet him abed without losing her wits. Perhaps it was the novelty of this union and its pleasures that disarmed her.
“Promise me,” she said instead and heard him growl beneath his breath.
He paced the width of the chamber, his frustration clear. She strove to ignore him and failed utterly.
“What is his name?” Quinn asked an eternity later.
“I do not have your vow.”
“I will touch you only when you desire as much,” he replied tersely.
Melissande turned to study him, surprised to have him concede this. Quinn looked more grim than ever she had seen him. Even in his chemise, he was evidently a warrior, and one who would undertake any risk for the sake of justice. He looked powerful, formidable even, yet he surrendered to her request.
Perhaps Quinn was precisely as he appeared.
“I will have you pledge that you will not tempt my desire.”
“The pledge you have is the sole one I will grant, my lady,” he said and his eyes flashed anew. “We are wed. I vow to let you decide the timing of our unions and will pledge no more.”
Melissande dropped her gaze, knowing that she had won more than expected. It was not time to press for more.
“Now, tell me the name of the man who holds your heart captive forever.”
“Arnaud de Privas.” The name sounded hollow. Melissande tried to recall the face of the man to whom it belonged and could not.
It had been so long. In all honesty, giving her word was all she recalled of the matter.
And that glorious summer day. Her recollection of her father’s delight was more clear than any memory she had of Arnaud.
Had Arnaud truly wed Marie or had Tulley lied? She did not know, so did not share that detail with Quinn.
“Privas borders Annossy and Sayerne.”
“Aye.”
“How is it that I do not recall meeting its ruling family?”
“It has been impoverished longer than Sayerne. Since the death of Arnaud’s father, who was a great friend of my father.”
“And your betrothed?”
“Left to seek his fortune, much as you did.” She turned to watch him, curious about his reaction.
“Arnaud de Privas.” Quinn repeated the name once more under his breath, as though committing it to memory, then met her gaze. “I will keep my vow, but you will invite me to your chamber and soon, my lady.”
“I will not!”
“Aye, you will, for there is a passion between us that even you cannot deny, even though you clearly would like to.”
“I say not.”
Quinn smiled slowly and she rose to her feet, aware of him yet again. He strolled closer, his gaze fixed upon her, his smile alluring, his confidence unassailable, then tugged his chemise over his head and cast it aside. “You shall invite me now, my lady,” he murmured and Melissande’s heart fluttered.
He was magnificent.
And he was aroused.
By the sight of her, in her chemise and stockings, her hair tangled about her shoulders.
Melissande caught her breath, astonished yet again by Quinn’s effect upon her. It was a lie to leave him believing that Arnaud held her heart, but if it kept him at a distance, she could not afford to tell him the truth. The man had no lack of confidence in his own persuasive abilities—and his conviction was not without cause.
