Chapter Sixteen #3
He shrugged faintly, his eyes on the swell of her breasts.
“He shall want to know. But I am not sure when I plan to tell him. Mayhap tomorrow. Mayhap in ten years. I simply do not know.”
He was still aching with the estrangement and she did not push him. As much as he tried to pretend that she and St. Cloven were his life, she knew he was still hurting a great deal.
Seeking to lighten the dampening mood, she cocked an auburn eyebrow tauntingly. “Any regrets, my Alec?”
He looked entirely serious. “Christ, where to begin?”
She pinched him lightly and he laughed, pulling her close.
As she burrowed against him in preparation for sleep, his smile faded.
Any regrets? Only one. That he would be separated from her for an indeterminate amount of time when he joined Edward’s cause.
Already, he knew the isolation would drive him insane.
Christ, he loved her so. He cursed himself yet again for being too weak to tell her.
Peyton had fallen asleep when sentries sounded the alarm from the battlements.
With nearly four hundred crown soldiers housed within the grounds of the fortified manor, Alec was unconcerned as he carefully disengaged himself from his wife and went to the lancet window, peeling back the oiled cloth to gaze over the compound.
Below, there was a heightened level of activity, but nothing that warranted panic.
One of the gates had been opened and he could see a single horse and rider surrounded by his own elite guard in the center of the bailey.
Moving from the window, Alec donned his clothing and was in the process of pulling on his boots when a faint knock rattled his door.
Toby stood in the archway, half-dressed in a disheveled tunic, hose and boots. “A lone rider, Alec. From Blackstone.”
Alec’s eyebrows rose faintly. “Blackstone? Christ, what’s he doing here at this time of night?” Suddenly, his face paled and his eyes widened. “Oh, Christ…. my father. Something has happened to my father.”
Toby could read the panic in Alec’s face and quickly sought to calm him. “The rider says that your father sent him, Alec. Nothing has happened to Lord Brian.”
Alec visibly relaxed. “Thank God,” giving his sleeping wife a final glance, he moved into the corridor and closed the door softly. He found himself passing a second glance at Toby’s unkempt appearance, uncommon for the usually-polished knight. “What in the hell happened to you?”
Toby looked as if he did not understand his meaning. Then, he glanced down at himself and noticed faint blood spots staining the midsection of his tunic. He ran his finger over the area. “Oh…. I guess I cut myself.”
Alec frowned and attempted to lift the garment. Toby protested weakly and tried to move away, but Alec was far superior in strength and ended up in a wrestling match with his younger brother.
“Damnation, Toby, hold still!” he snapped, shoving the man against the wall. “Let me see what you have done!”
“’Tis nothing, I tell you,” Toby tried to yank the tunic free from Alec’s grasp.
Alec put an elbow against Toby’s chest to slow his struggles, knocking over a chair in the process. Perturbed, he grabbed Toby by the neck.
“Cease your wrestling, boy, or I shall bind you hand and foot,” he snarled. “What in the hell do you not want me to see?”
A perfect set of teeth marks appeared in the weak light. Alec’s very perplexed look met with Toby’s guilty expression.
“What is this?”
Toby averted his gaze. “A bite. What does it look like?”
Alec’s eyebrows rose and he refocused on the wound. “That’s not merely a bite, Toby. Someone tried to have you for supper. Who did this?”
Irritated, Toby yanked from his brother’s grip and straightened his tunic. “I am a grown man, Alec. What I do is my own business.”
Alec folded his thick arms across his chest. “And I never said otherwise. You are not into peculiar sexual thrills, are you? I can tell you from experience that you might end up seriously injuring yourself.”
Toby cocked an eyebrow at his brother. “You can tell me this as fact?”
Alec shrugged faintly. “I was young once and eager to sample anything remotely erotic.”
Toby raised an eyebrow. “Does your wife know that?”
“She does not, and you will not mention it lest I castrate you the hard way,” his gaze turned to that of genuine concern. “What happened?”
Toby absently touched his abdomen, moving his gaze to the floor. “I…. oh, hell. Jubil bit me.”
Alec nearly keeled over with shock. His eyes widened and his arms uncross.
“Jubil bit you?” he clapped a disbelieving hand to his forehead.
“Christ, I do not want to know anymore,” he turned away, pretending to storm down the hall when he suddenly whirled on his heel and was back in Toby’s face. “Jubil bit you?”
Instead of cowering in fear of his brother’s anger, Toby faced him openly. “She did. And other things.”
Alec’s mouth gaped open, and then promptly shut. Suddenly, his eyes twinkled. “Did you…. take her?”
“Several times.”
Alec’s mouth was open again, but there was a curve to the corners. “You…. several times? Christ, Toby, she is old enough to be your mother!”
Toby scratched his neck thoughtfully. “Your point being?”
Once again, his mouth closed and Alec blinked thoughtfully. “Nothing, I suppose,” he said slowly. “Except…. I will not allow you to make a sport out of her. She is my wife’s aunt and a respected member of the family. Do you comprehend me?”
“Indeed,” Toby nodded. “And who says I intend to make a sport out of her? I…. well, I just might marry the woman.”
Alec’s shocked expression was back, greater than before.
“Marry her?” he repeated, then rolled his eyes as if unable to believe what he had heard.
Grabbing his brother about the neck, he started down the corridor.
“You and I must have a talk, Toby. You do not marry the first woman who pleasures you beyond reason. You may believe yourself in love with her simply because she has made you mindless with erotica but, believe me, that is not love.”
Toby allowed his brother to lead him away. “I never said I was in love with her. What I do with her is my affair and there is nothing to say on the matter.”
Alec cocked an eyebrow. “Aye, there is a good deal to discuss, but now is not the time. I have a messenger from Blackstone waiting for me and I shall not be distracted.”
Toby did not say anything more, unable to decipher the confusion he was feeling and unwilling to discuss it further at the moment.
Since the first instant he had beheld Jubil, he’d been in the grip of something powerful, something he had been unable to resist. Something he could not put into words and he was glad Alec had not pressed the subject. He wasn’t sure exactly how to answer.
Alec released him from his grip when they hit the stairs and he silently, pensively followed his brother out into the courtyard.
The damp night air was filled with smoke from the torches as Alec approached the messenger. He recognized the man as one of his father’s household soldiers, and the warrior saluted him smartly.
“Greetings, my lord,” the soldier said formally. “I bring a message from your father, Baron Rothwell.”
“My father is well?” Alec couldn’t help himself from asking; he’d frightened himself with thoughts of his father’s demise and wanted a bit of simple reassurance.
“Aye, my lord,” the soldier replied, eyeing Alec hesitantly for the first time. “Would you prefer that I deliver the message in private?”
Alec almost demanded that the man spill his message immediately and be gone, but something in the soldier’s expression made him pause. Without a word, he beckoned the man to follow.
Ali met him in the foyer, passing an eye over the familiar soldier. Alec led Ali, Toby and the soldier into the small solar and closed the door softly. As Toby lit an oil lamp, Alec faced off against the messenger from Blackstone.
“What is it?”
The messenger did not hesitate. “Your brother Paul was killed in an unfortunate mishap earlier this day. As the new heir to the barony of Rothwell, your father requests your presence at your brother’s funeral the day after tomorrow.”
Alec did not react for a moment, but Ali and Toby passed astonished glances. “How did Paul die?” Alec asked, his tone considerably more subdued.
“He was apparently attempting to ride your father’s destrier and the horse trampled him, my lord,” the soldier replied quietly. “Your sister’s betrothed discovered the body in the stall.”
“Warrington?” Alec’s jaw suddenly developed a tick. He slanted Ali a disbelieving gaze before returning his attention to the soldier. “So my father requested my company at the funeral, did he?”
“Aye, my lord,” the soldier nodded firmly. “And your mother sends her warmest regards to you and your lady wife.”
Alec’s gaze rested on the man a moment longer before turning away, moving pensively towards the wide oak desk that used to belong to Albert. Ali and Toby watched him closely as he digested the news, wondering if he were going to refuse outright to all questions posed.
When Alec reached the heavy piece of furniture, his focus trailed across the surface, lost in thought for the moment. Eventually, he sat heavily in the hide-covered chair behind the desk.
“You will return to Blackstone this night and inform my father that my wife and I will attend my brother’s funeral as requested,” he said quietly. “Be gone with you.”
The soldier faltered a moment, expected to carry a much longer, far more emotional reply, but saluted sharply and spun on his heel. When the door closed behind him, Toby let out a sharp hiss.
“Paul hated horses!” he blurted. “There is no possibility that he would have been anywhere near Lord Brian’s charger!”
Alec did not reply for a moment. “I am particularly interested in the fact that Colin Warrington discovered his body,” slowly, he looked to his ebony friend. “Mere coincidence, mayhap?”