Page 24 of Bold Angel
“Do you never wish to have children?”
Caryn’s head came up. ’Twas a subject she hadn’t expected. “I love children. I might have wished for them one day—but not with a man like you.”
Eyes that had been cool and appraising now turned dark and inscrutable. “You are certain of this… that a marriage in truth is not what you want?”
An odd pang rolled down Caryn’s spine. She felt as if she were losing something, but she knew not what it was. “Quite certain, my lord.”
Ral turned away and walked toward the door of the hut. Rain clattered on the roof. She could hear his steady breathing. He turned to face her but remained where he stood.
“If that is your wish, then so be it. Even as your husband, I will not force you into my bed. Just remember the words I have spoken. Should you not go through with this marriage, Malvern will claim you as his leman—youandyour sister. He will use you until he tires of you—in ways you cannot imagine. Then he will share you with his men.”
Caryn shivered and not from the cold. “De Montreale would use me, but you—I am supposed to believe—will not force me to endure your lewd attentions.”
“Lewd attentions? That is the way you would see it?”
“Aye, why should I not?”
The Norman’s sensuous lips grew thin. “What happened here this night could not be helped. Should you gainsay me again, you may count on more of the same, but I will not take you against your will. You have suffered enough already.”
“Why should I believe you?”
His cool gaze raked her from head to foot. “Mayhap because your tiny woman’s body holds little appeal for a man like me. Mayhap because I do not desire you.” Ral expected to be struck down any moment for the lie he’d just told. By Christ, he wanted her more every moment. He had been glad for the blanket disguising his lust when he had seen her beautiful bottom, felt those smooth round curves beneath his hand.
“Should I agree to wed you, you will keep your leman?”
“If you wish to avoid my bed, that is the way it will be.”
The girl bit her lush lower lip and watched him from beneath her thick dark lashes. Ral felt an urge to sweep his tongue across her mouth, to thrust it inside and sample the sweetness he had found there once before.
“All right,” she said, “then I will agree.”
***
Ral slept fitfully, all too aware of the half-naked woman sleeping across the tiny airless room. In the middle of the night he dreamed of caressing her soft little bottom, of cupping it in his hands as he drove himself inside her.
He had awakened bathed in sweat, his rod high and hard against his belly. Christ’s blood, he’d been a fool to agree not to bed her. Yet mayhap it was for the best. She was tiny and fragile—Hardly that, he amended, thinking of her defiance, her escape from the castle, seeing her racing the small gray palfry, handling the horse as well as any of his men. Still, he could too easily imagine thepain he would cause should he drive his heavy shaft between her shapely little legs.
With a groan that betrayed his arousal, Ral turned on his side and forced the image away.
In the morning he dressed quickly, then left the hut while Caryn put on her clothes. As he rounded a corner, he stopped. Camped in a clearing not far away, Odo and several dozen men-at-arms made ready to return to the castle. They had followed his trail, keeping him safe through the night, yet remaining discreetly away.
“We were worried about the brigands—or de Montreale.” Odo strode forward to greet him. “By the time we arrived, you had things… well in hand.”
Ral cocked a brow at the smile that hovered about his friend’s lips. “So you weren’t so far away after all.”
“’Twas a lesson well deserved. She will not gainsay you again.”
Ral only grunted. Not gainsay him? The girl would continue to plague him—of that he had no doubt. “I would see one of the men assigned to watch her. I’ve enough to do without running after a wayward wench.”
“Geoffrey is the youngest. The duty should fall to him.”
With his fair-haired good looks and easy smile, Geoffrey de Clare was the last man Ral would have chosen. Yet Odo was right, as the youngest, the unwelcome task should fall to him.
“Give him the news. Remind him of de Montreale’s interest. If he believes he protects her, the job may be easier to swallow.”
Odo laughed softly. “Better he see himself as her savior than her gaoler.”
“Exactly,” Ral said.
