Chapter 13
Thirteen
It was long after midnight before Sin ventured toward his bed. Callie was sound asleep, curled on her side.
He stood there for quite some time, staring at her features as they were highlighted by the firelight.
She was so breathtaking in her slumber. Nothing would give him greater pleasure than pulling the blankets back and joining her in bed.
Of gathering her in his arms and making love to her until the sun was high.
The taste and feel of her was branded into his soul and he wondered if he would ever have the courage to leave her when the time came.
What would it be like to spend the rest of his life with her? To have laughter and love...
He closed his eyes. It wasn’t for him. He’d learned long ago to hope for nothing except a comfortable bed of his own and a good meal. Those things he could possess.
Having Callie in his life would be like trying to contain the wind. She was beyond his reach. Far beyond it.
You could have her.
Nay, he could not. If he betrayed Henry for her, Henry would kill him and attack her clan. And if he betrayed Callie for Henry, she would hate him for killing her brother. Either way, he was damned.
Either way, he would lose her.
How could he choose between the two people he owed the most to? Henry, who had given him back his life and Callie, who had given him back his soul.
God, how he wanted to hold her and just forget about his duties. Forget about the man he’d been. To have her soothe him in the way only she could.
The pain and fear inside him was so raw. So jagged.
Shaking his head to dispel the thought of her hating him, he made his way to the hearth. Weary and soul-sick, he lay down on the cold floor and forced himself to go to sleep.
Callie woke up a few hours after sunup to find her bed empty. Tears filled her eyes as she realized her husband had never come to her.
She wondered where he’d spent the night until she rolled over and saw him alone on the floor. A nasty burst of anger tore through her. She narrowed her gaze on him.
Why would he have done such a thing?
Suddenly aggravated beyond reason, she was seized by a childish impulse. Normally, she would squelch it, but as she sat there, she realized one of the problems with her husband was that he’d been too stern and serious in his life.
A few childish antics would do him good. Aye, she’d love to see the man who had been chased by his brothers into her barn. Sin needed many more such moments.
Before she could stop herself, she lobbed a pillow at his head.
Sin came awake instantly. His heart pounding, he rolled over with a dagger in his fist to confront his attacker. To his complete shock, he saw his wife approaching him with a pillow in her hand.
Sheathing his dagger, he relaxed, until she hit him with her pillow.
“What are you doing?”
She answered him with another smack. “I gave you a weapon, defend yourself, knave, or surrender.”
Sin grabbed the pillow she’d tossed from the floor where it had landed and came to his feet. He fought her back as she beat him with the pillow and giggled at him.
In spite of himself, he laughed with her. She was so wonderfully beautiful in the morning light with her coppery hair tousled, her cheeks rosy and her bare feet peeking out from beneath the hem of her white, linen kirtle. Her smiles and laughter took his breath away.
He backed her toward the wall as feathers began to fly about the room. Just when he was sure he had her cornered, she dropped her pillow and ran at him.
Unprepared for her movement, he stumbled back three full steps. She ran her hands up and down his ribs, tickling him unmercifully. Sin laughed, dropping the pillow and wrapping his arms around her to stop her.
“Do you surrender to me?”
“Never,” he taunted.
Fire glowed in her eyes. “Never? We shall have to see about that.”
Sin picked her up and tossed her gently to the bed. He grinned triumphantly, then turned his back.
She launched herself from the bed and wrapped herself around his waist, piggy-back style.
Sin was laughing even harder as the door to their room opened.
They both froze to see her maid standing in the doorway, her eyes bulging at the sight of Sin wearing nothing but his breeches while Callie was draped over his back with her shapely legs bare and wrapped around his waist. Feathers were still hanging in the air and unless he missed his guess, both of them had feathers in their hair.
Braden glanced into the room as he walked past outside. Then he returned to stand behind the maid and eye them curiously. “Should I ask?”
Callie buried her head against his neck and howled with laughter. Trying to look casual and normal, Sin shifted his weight and cleared his throat. “You see something unusual about a man waking with his wife?”
Braden exchanged a puzzled frown with the maid.
“I’ll be back later.” The maid backed out of the room and shutting the door.
Callie slid slowly down his back. But she didn’t release him. Instead, she wrapped her arms around his waist and kissed his bare shoulder blade. “Good morning, Sin.” The cheer in her voice astounded him.
Sin glanced at her over his shoulder. “Shall I ask now what brought on the pillow madness?”
“I was angry with you.”
“For what?”
“Sleeping on the floor again. What is it with you and the floor? Most women have to fear their husbands are in the bed of another. Me, ‘tis the hearth I envy.”
Callie saw the wave of seriousness descend over his face. She narrowed her gaze at him. “Don’t you dare.”
“Dare what?”
“Turn those serious eyes on me, Sin, or else I’ll bash you with my pillow again.”
An astonished look replaced the sternness. “You’ve gone daft on me, haven’t you?”
“Not daft. But definitely in the mood to do harm to you if needs be. I am proclaiming this Fun Day. There will be no earnestness today. No moodiness or brooding.”
Sin stared at her in disbelief. “You’re serious?”
“Quite. For every stern look I see, I shall punish you for it.”
He arched his brow at that. “Punish me how?”
“In ways you’ve never been punished before. With pranks and tricks guaranteed to make you want to strangle me.”
He smiled in spite of himself.
“See. It’s easy to smile and make merry.”
How he wished he could do as she asked. Spending the day with her would be wonderful indeed. But he had duties to attend. “I have a rebel to find.”
“Then you can look until you go blind from it, but you’ll enjoy this search or else I shall tickle you until you beg me for mercy.”
The woman was insane. And yet he liked it. She reached up and brushed feathers out of his hair. “My first rule of business today is to make you wear something other than your armor.”
“I won’t wear a plaid.”
“Fine then, no plaid. But you’ve other clothes. I have seen them in the trunk.”
True, he did own a pair of cloth breeches and civilian tunic. But he couldn’t recall a single time he’d worn them.
He had no idea why he was even considering her request, except for the strange realization that making her happy mattered to him. It shouldn’t, but it did. And it was such a small request...how could he deny it?
“Very well, milady, no armor for today.”
The pleased look on her face sent a raw stab of desire straight to his groin. The woman was truly beautiful. “There will be a quiet picnic for us at noon out in the meadow behind the castle.”
He opened his mouth to protest, but she placed her hand over his lips. “No arguments. For this day, you will be mine and I will show you around the village. Look for your rebels if you must, but I intend to show you the other side of life.”
“What other side of life?”
“The one worth living.”
His eyes turned dull at the bitter reminder of his past. He had seen that side many times in his life and had no wish to see anymore of it. “I have seen it, milady.”
“Aye, but today you will live it.”
This was complete and utter madness. And yet he couldn’t find it within himself to turn her away.
She rose up on her tiptoes until they were eye to eye. He saw her desire for him and a tender emotion that made no sense to him whatsoever.
“Just give me this one day, Sin, and I will ask no more of you.”
By her face, he saw how important this was to her. For whatever reason she wanted to do this, he would humor her. “Very well. You have this day where I shall try and be a non-brooding, happy,” he cringed at the word, “man. Come the morrow, I return to being an ogre.”
“I’ll accept that so long as you agree to being mine completely today.”
“Agreed.”
Smiling, she kissed him lightly on the lips.
Sin growled at the satiny feel of her lips on his. Before he could stop himself, he crushed her to him and opened her mouth with his to taste the heaven of her tongue. She ran her hands over his naked back, her nails gently scraping his flesh.
Oh but this woman felt incredible in his arms. So warm. So giving.
Closing his eyes, he lifted the hem of her kirtle until he could touch the bare skin of her hips, her back. Dear Lord, how he craved her.
“Make love to me, Sin,” she whispered against his lips.
Her passion-laden words tore through him. But his reason still reigned supreme. “What if I leave you pregnant?”
She cupped his face in her hands and stared up at him with earnest eyes that scorched him. “Then I will love our child. Whether you stay or not, I shall keep our baby safe and make sure no one ever harms him. He will be as dear to me as his father is.”
He felt his resistance slipping.
She returned to kissing him and trailed a hand down the front of his body, over the planes of his chest and stomach. Then, she reached into the waistband of his breeches, her fingers brushing gently against his lower abdomen, until she could take him into her hand.
Sin hissed in pleasure as his thoughts scattered. His emotions raw, he reacted on primal impulse. Unable to wait another instant for her, he tore her kirtle from her and carried her to the bed where he lay her down to devour her.