Chapter 9 #2
His eyes hardened. “You mean will not. Christ almighty, you’re a goddamn tease!” He dropped her on the bed.
Gwen scrambled for her robe, her cheeks flaming. “Get out of my chamber!”
He smiled then, a feral, savage smile. “This will not be your chamber in two days. It will be ours. And nothing will save you on our wedding night.”
She wrapped the robe tightly around her and climbed from the bed. “’Tis not yours yet, so get out,” she snapped.
“Consider yourself lucky this night, Princess. I’ll not take by force what you so willingly offered only minutes ago.”
Gwen tilted her chin up and stared at him imperiously. “I never offered you anything.”
His voice was deadly soft. “Do not make me prove the lie, Princess. You desire me, whether you admit it or not.”
Damn the man! He was arrogant and insufferable beyond reason. And right, damn him. She was not about to admit it though. “I most certainly do not desire you, my lord.”
He gripped her chin in an iron fist and crushed his mouth to hers. Gwen forgot to fight. She opened, moaning as his tongue stroked hers.
“Liar,” he taunted.
Voices came from the antechamber. Welsh voices. Gwen’s heart leapt to her throat as she recognized Rhys’s. When she looked at Richard, his eyes were ablaze.
“Expecting a lover? ’Tis no wonder you wanted me to leave, sweet.”
Rhys burst through the door. Gwen shook her head in warning. But she knew Rhys would not back down. He stared at her and Richard, missing nothing. She crossed her arms self-consciously as Rhys’s gaze lingered on her silk-clad form.
One glance at her betrothed told her he had noticed too. And she knew a storm was brewing in that black heart, a storm of great power and violence.
She held out her hand in a desperate attempt to silence her childhood friend. “No, Rhys!”
“What has the bastard done to you, Gwen? I’ll kill him if he’s hurt you!”
Richard’s face darkened. A muscle in his jaw started to tic.
“So, this is Rhys ap Gawain,” Richard said in Welsh.
Rhys’s eyes widened.
Richard swept her with a menacing glare. “You are braver than I thought, Princess, to bring your lover to your own wedding.”
“Rhys is not my lover!”
He continued as if she’d never spoken. “’Tis sorry I am to disappoint you, sweet, but he cannot come to Claiborne castle. I may not have been the first, but I will be the last.”
Rhys put a hand to the dagger at his waist. “If you’ve hurt her, I’ll—”
“You’ll what, boy?” It came out as a growl. Gwen shivered. Black Hawk de Claiborne was capable of horrible, brutal things. He would kill Rhys without the slightest provocation.
Gwen grabbed him as he started to move. “Please, my lord, I beg of you. Leave him alone.”
“Why?”
“He means no harm. We grew up together. Rhys has always been protective of me.”
“Do you love him?”
Gwen hesitated. “He is the brother I never had.”
Richard didn’t believe it for a minute. The golden-haired young man glared at him, his knuckles white on the hilt of his dagger. Hardly a brother.
But her eyes were luminous with unshed tears, her face hopeful and expectant. Her hair had started to dry and a stray tendril hung over her shoulder. It was like a flame against the sky-blue of her robe.
Richard longed to twirl it around his finger.
One tear trickled down her cheek. His blood ran cold. She’d defied him at every turn, angered him without regard to the penalties he could exact, but when her lover showed up, she became all weepy and submissive.
He started to set her aside, but she clung to him suddenly, one hand gripping his surcoat so hard he thought she’d rip it.
“Please don’t kill him,” she whispered.
Richard struggled with his temper for a long moment. She actually believed he would kill her lover. He wanted to, God how he wanted to! He took a deep breath. “Very well, I will honor your request, sweet. This time.”
“Thank you, my lord.”
She sagged against him, and his anger surged anew.
“If I catch him here again, I will not be so easily persuaded. Now get rid of him,” he bit out.
Gwen wiped her hand across her eyes as she turned to Rhys. She used her most formal tone. “Rhys ap Gawain, you will go back to your quarters immediately. Do not disturb me again.”
Rhys’s blue eyes were murderous. “Gwen—”
“’Tis an order! Now, go!”
“Not until you tell me all is well.”
“I am fine, Rhys. Please go,” Gwen added softly.
Rhys bowed. “As you command, Highness.” He shot a look of pure hatred at Richard before stalking from the room.
“It seems your chamber is a popular destination today,” Richard said coldly. He stopped in the door where Alys stood pale and wide-eyed.
He raised her hand to his lips. “Forgive me, Alys. ’Tis your mistress’s place to give you orders, not mine. I am sorry if I frightened you.”
Gwen stood in shock for a long time after he’d gone. She’d never actually believed he would keep his word. Alys stared at the back of her hand and blushed.
A few minutes later, a clanking and scraping sounded outside the chamber. Alys went to investigate. Low voices came from the other side of the open door, then there was silence.
“What is it, Alys?”
“Guards, Highness. By order of Lord de Claiborne.”