Claire Delacroix (56 page)

Alys had time to catch her breath and no more, before Burke’s lips slanted purposefully across her own.

urke’s kiss awakened a dragon within Alys that she would have preferred to leave slumbering until her dying day.

Indeed, his kiss was everything she remembered and more. Burke was gentle, as always he had been, his touch both strong and tender. He coaxed her response, the cursed knave, and made her want him with an unruly desire. That unwelcome desire gave credence to Aunt’s tales of Alys’s legacy from her mother, tales Alys would have liked to prove false.

To Alys’s embarrassment, ’twas Burke who broke their embrace, Burke who lifted his head and stared into her eyes. “I beg your pardon for being so bold,” he said softly, his thumb tracing a line along her rib. “But I could resist you no longer.” He smiled warmly down at her. “Or perhaps I had to assure myself that the sweet maiden of my dreams yet existed.”

As ever, his compliment recalled Alys to her senses.

“Rogue!” She swatted Burke’s shoulder and bounded from the side of the tub, retreating a good half-dozen steps before she halted.

Oh, Alys would not think of how many women had heard the same fine words fall from this man’s lips, she would not think of the ranks of willing maidens who had warmed his bed! And she would
not
join those women’s numbers, however
convenient
this knight might consider that possibility to be.

Alys wrung out her kirtle and glared at the man responsible for her turmoil. “You are overly confident in your charms!”

Again that beguiling smile lurked on Burke’s lips, and his eyes glowed as he surveyed her. “Truly, Alys, I have wanted another taste of your lips every day and night of these three years.”

’Twas precisely the wrong lie to make, if Burke intended to placate her. “Aye?” Alys challenged. “Then ’tis most odd you never troubled to travel this way again!”

Burke frowned. “I do not understand.”

“Nay! Nor did I!” she snapped. “You lied to me! You told me fine tales and, in the end, they meant
naught
at all! How could you simply leave?” She turned abruptly away, not wanting the knight to see the tears that had risen in her eyes.

“Alys, there must be some mistake,” Burke insisted, the determination in his voice making her yearn to believe him once again. Oh, she was weak! “I came back—”

“There
is
no mistake!” Alys interrupted. She whirled to face him, letting her words fall in haste. “You departed immediately after we were caught in the stables and never turned back this way all these three years.”

Burke shook his head like a great bear. “Alys, you have misjudged me and you must let me explain.”

“Save your pretty words,” Alys retorted, “for your deeds tell all that needs to be told.”

Burke scowled and flung out his hands, his composure slipping once more. “Aye! That they do!”

“Aye!” Alys shouted at him. “And what were those deeds?”

“What indeed?” Burke roared in his turn. “I invite you to examine them!”

“You took advantage of my innocence, then abandoned me, compromised, within my guardian’s household!”

“I did no such thing!” Burke shouted, then bounded to his feet. “I offered for your hand.”

“Not to me.”

“Nay, for you declined even to speak to me!”

Alys gasped that he should cling to this wild tale. “Nay, Burke, you made
no
such offer! You left immediately, I was told without even a backward glance!”

Burke jabbed his finger through the air. “And you never troubled to see the truth yourself! Ye gods, Alys, did it not mean enough to you to be
certain
?”

“Enough to
me
? I meant
naught
to you beyond the satisfaction of your lust.”

“My lust is of no import in this!”

“Nay?” Alys pointed to the knight’s erection. “But it attends nonetheless!” And with that, she scooped up the bucket of cold water at her feet and cast its contents directly over the knight.

Burke’s mouth dropped open in shock, and he blanched.

And then he bellowed like an enraged bull.

“That is ENOUGH!” he thundered, and lunged for Alys.

Alys did not wait to see what Burke would do.

She ran.

She flung back the bolt, ripped open the door, then fled toward the many servants crowding the portal to the kitchen as the door slammed closed behind her.

Their eyes were round with curiosity and ’twas clear that some of the argument—or at least its volume—had been overheard. Edana stood with a bucket of creamy fresh milk, one hand covering her open mouth, her eyes wide.

“ALYS!”

Alys was halfway down the corridor when Burke kicked the bathing chamber door open. It crashed back against the wall and Alys could not help but look. Burke’s eyes flashed, his jaw was set, and Alys could not keep her unruly gaze from slipping lower.

It seemed the cold water had had little effect. Her gaze fell
to the muscled strength of his legs, then over the broad expanse of his chest, and Alys caught her breath.

God in heaven, but the man was alluring! Alys looked up in time to see Burke realize that he not only had an audience but that he was completely nude.

The anger faded immediately from his features and he rubbed his brow, a rueful smile curving his lips. Though he had bellowed fit to shake the foundations of the keep, his fury was gone as swiftly as the wind.

’Twas only now that Alys realized she had never seen Burke angered before. He was always the heart and soul of diplomacy, his manners impeccable, his even temper unassailable.

Yet she had made him yell.

Indeed, he had prompted her to shout back as she never did. Alys wondered at that, even as she felt a peculiar tingle of pleasure.

If naught else, she had his attention.

“Ye gods, Alys,” Burke murmured intimately. “You do have a way of compelling me to forget myself.”

Alys blushed scarlet to hear so close an echo of her own thoughts fall from this charming knave’s lips. She had to fight her temptation to return his smile.

Burke—curse his perceptiveness!—clearly noted that she was not completely successful in doing that. Their gazes locked and held for a breathless moment, then the knight scooped up his discarded clothing. He paused on his return to the bathing chamber, his chemise held before himself.

“I would ask one favor of you, my lady fair,” he said softly, continuing without granting Alys the chance to respond. “I have listened to your charges against me, have I not?”

“Aye,” Alys conceded warily.

“Then ’tis only fitting you reciprocate and grant me the opportunity to defend myself.” Burke lifted one brow, as if he sensed her desire to refuse him. “ ’Twould only be fair.”

What was not fair was the way Alys’s heart began to pound at the prospect of spending time with this knight once more. She knew full well that she could not trust herself to resist any appeal he made, particularly if he punctuated his sweet tales with even sweeter kisses.

’Twas doubly unfair that his request was most reasonable.

Well aware of the servants clustered behind her, all avidly attending every word, Alys tossed her braid over her shoulder and struggled to look unaffected by Burke’s appeal. “I have labor to perform,” she declared archly, “and no time to indulge the whim of a visiting knight.”

“A pox on your labor!” Burke retorted. “You must at least hear out my defense. You have but to name the place and I shall be there.” His eyes narrowed. “Alys, I swear it to you.”

His very intensity nearly made Alys agree, but she caught her words in time. “You are quick to make pledges this day,” she charged instead.

And Burke smiled that slow sensuous smile, dissolving Alys’s resistance yet further. “Yet I would willingly pledge more to share the honor of your company.” He stepped forward, his charm resolutely in place despite his lack of garb. “Meet me, Alys,” he requested earnestly. “Meet me and let there be truth between us.”

Oh, Alys was tempted, but she forced herself to consider the facts. The truth simply could not show Burke to advantage. For if he had offered for her hand, why had she not known of it? Her aunt certainly would have welcomed an opportunity to be rid of her.

And similarly, Burke’s tale of returning here could not be credited. Alys had never left Kiltorren in all her days; if Burke had ever ridden through those gates again, she scarcely could have missed that fact. How would he explain that to his own advantage, without concocting a lie?

Curse her curiosity! She would grant him naught!

“I cannot linger and listen to your tales when there is much to be done,” she said haughtily, and turned to leave.

“Alys!” Burke cried, and she could not help but glance over her shoulder. “Have no doubt, my lady,” he insisted, his voice so low that Alys had to strain to hear the words. “We
shall
speak of this again. All is far from resolved between us.”

Alys lifted her chin, emboldened by the distance between them. “Nay, sir, ’tis not. Your apology is long overdue.”

“Fear not, Alys, you shall have more than your due of me.” Burke’s grin flashed, his eyes darkening with intent. “I swear it to you, damsel of mine.” Then he ducked back into the chamber, leaving Alys gasping.

She was
not
his damsel!

Nor would she ever be!

Alys willed her blush to fade as she drew near the crowd outside the kitchen.

Edana giggled. “Oh, Alys, to be the damsel of such a man!” She sighed and her cheeks pinkened with what must be wicked thoughts. She set down her bucket with a sigh of satisfaction. “How could you deny him
anything
!”

But before Alys could respond, her aunt’s cry carried from above.

“Alys? ALYS? Do not imagine that I did not hear our guest!” The others shrank away from Alys, dread lighting their eyes. At the echo of advancing footfalls, the entire retinue in the corridor suddenly disappeared. “What have you done to anger that knight?”

Alys’s heart sank to her toes and her mouth went dry. Indeed, Burke had made her forget herself in more ways than one.

Deirdre was not pleased and she did not care who knew it. She stormed down the corridor betwixt kitchen and bathing
chamber, not surprised to find her niece awaiting her. The girl held herself proudly, but her eyes betrayed her fear.

Alys
should
be afraid, after what she had done.

Oh, it had been years since Deirdre struck this one, and ’twas not for lack of cause that she had abandoned her willow switch. Yet again Deirdre considered that what had happened that last time had been but a coincidence, not an ill omen, and that ’twas time she lifted the switch again.

She was sorely tempted to fetch it now, for this one had a talent for making Deirdre’s most treasured plans go awry.

Alys backed into the wall but did not look apologetic in the least. “You called me?”

The cheek of the child was annoying beyond all. Deirdre strolled closer, still deciding how she would punish Alys. The girl had to learn that she was not in command of her own fate—and she certainly could not be permitted to mar the most promising opportunity to ride through Kiltorren’s gates in years.

“I heard our guest,” Deirdre said tightly. “He seemed
most
displeased. Did you fail to grant him satisfaction, Alys?” She deliberately let her voice drop. “Have you defied me
again
!”

Alys’s rebellious manner only intensified, the flash in the girl’s eyes doing little to improve Deirdre’s mood. “I did not bed him and I will not bed him, regardless of what you and he think of the matter!”

“Fool!” Deirdre felt her lips thin. “Your impertinence could send him away! Do not imagine that I will suffer the loss of a bridegroom for Malvina, regardless of the price!”

“Malvina is welcome to Burke de Montvieux,” Alys retorted.

Deirdre halted her advance to consider her ward, so surprised was she by this claim. She had always thought that Alys had an affection for this knight—no less than he had one for her.

“What is this?”

“I see no reason why my chastity should be sacrificed in pursuit of Malvina’s match,” Alys declared. “Burke and Malvina are welcome to each other—the matter has naught to do with me.”