Enchanted Lover (15 page)

“Mayhaps we should get more men before we investigate
it further,” Keith suggested.

“I have not known you to be cautious, Keith.”

“These men have tried to kill you once already,
Milord.”

Shaking his head, Jared started down the narrow
trail. “You have become an old woman with your worries. Are you coming? Liam
and I go with or without you.”

Keith frowned before he kneed his horse and followed
Jared and Liam down the path. “I only think of you,” Keith grumbled. Jared
laughed.

After many twists and turns, the trail led to a glade
surrounded by a tall stand of pines. It appeared the area had been cleared in a
circular fashion. In the center was a fire pit dug into the earth. Near the
pit, a stone slab jutted out of the ground. It was flat across its eight-foot
surface and looked rather like a large table carved out of stone. Around the
slab were a series of logs in a circle.

Jared didn't know what to make of it, but he surmised
the men he was seeking might return here because it looked like a permanent
encampment. “I want you to keep this location just between us,” Jared told
them. “I'll return periodically to see if I can catch the bastards here.”

“This place has an evil feeling about it,” Liam
observed. “Mayhaps we should head back.”

Jared had to admit he shared his cousin’s intuition
about the grove but he couldn’t say that in front of Keith.

When they returned to Dunbocan, Jared sought out
Morven. “I'll hear your report on the whereabouts of the men during last
night's attack.”

“Few are unaccounted for,” Morven began, “but I have
no way of knowing the validity of their alibis. I tried to be discreet. It
insults an honest man to treat him like a traitor.”

“I agree, but we have a problem and I would solve it
before someone's life is forfeit.”

“Tynan surprised me,” Morven said. “I wanted to
question his wife. She is so full of grief. It wilna be not an easy task.”

“We'll go to her together,” Jared promised. Morven
looked relieved.

***

Asilinn woke to Wynne’s soft knock upon the door. She
sat up with a start and heard the chain move across the floor. “Milady, I’ve
brought you somethin’ to eat.” Wynne placed her tray on the desk. “Milord has
ordered I be the only one to see you like this. “

“Chained, you mean,” Asilinn said, throwing her legs
over the side of the bed and purposely making the chain rattle. “He makes me a
prisoner in the tower.”

“You should not have run from him, Lady Asilinn.”

“So I deserve to be manacled to his bed?”

Wynne could not suppress a small smile. “If that be
where he wants you, Milady, I dinna think you have much of a choice now.”

Asilinn stepped out of bed and tested the length of
her restraint. It was long and she realized she could move about ten feet in
any direction from the bedpost. She lowered herself into the chair and picked
up one of the biscuits Wynne had brought. “What did he tell the others? Do they
know I am chained in the tower?”

“The servants saw him bring the manacles to the
tower. They suspect your plight. A few know, he told the rest you didna feel
well and they were to leave you be.”

“No doubt I shall die of boredom before he decides to
release me.” She cast a glance around her prison. Funny, she had rather liked
the chamber until she was forced to stay within its walls.

“Would you like me to help you dress?”

Asilinn took a bite of her biscuit and smeared the
remainder with the honey Wynne had brought. She looked down at the simple,
linen shift Jared had given her to wear. “I see no reason to dress if I canna
leave the room.”

“I could tend to yer hair, Milady.”

Asilinn brushed her hair back out of her face. “No
Wynne, ‘tis fine. Best leave me and go about your duties.”

Wynne nodded. “I’ll come back later,” she said.

Glancing furtively around the room, Asilinn picked at
the food Wynne had brought her. Now she had hours to sit and mull over her
situation. It would be true torture. It was not in her nature to be still.

***

It was dark out before she heard him coming up the
stairs. He paused outside their door for a minute. She wondered if he was
coming in or not. Asilinn had been asleep on the bed when she heard his
footsteps. She sat on the edge of the bed and waited to see if he entered.

The door opened slowly and she saw Jared’s tall form
fill the doorway. He stood looking at her in silence, swung the door closed
behind him, and took a few steps towards her. She didn’t move but met his gaze
until he glanced away.

He turned his back to her and began peeling off his
clothes. Asilinn kicked her leg out and let the chain scrape across the floor.
He turned and looked at her, his eyes narrowing. “So, you do not like our new
arrangement.”

She moved the chain again and glared at him. “The damn
thing is rubbing my ankle raw.”

Arching his dark brows, he came over and knelt beside
her. He grasped her manacled ankle and examined it. “Aye, so,” he said. Taking
the key from a gold chain around his neck, he unlocked the crude ankle
bracelet.

“Thank you.” Asilinn broke off abruptly when he
wrapped a strip of soft cloth around her other ankle and fastened the manacle
on it, then snapped the lock into place.

“Better?”

“You cold-hearted bastard!”

“If that is how you feel, let me show you how a
cold-hearted bastard behaves.”

Asilinn’s breath caught in her throat when he pushed
up her shift. Running his hands up her thighs, he pressed them apart. His dark
head moved between her legs. He nipped the top of her inner thigh and then
moved to taste the heart of her. Asilinn grabbed his hair with both hands and
tried to tear him away from his task. Even as she did, she felt her insides
growing slick and wet under his skillful torture.

“Dinna do this,” she moaned, falling back on the bed.
Her legs dangled limply over the edge of the bed. He moved up her body. Jamming
the shift up under her arms, his hands found her breasts and squeezed hard. She
released her grip on his hair. He rose enough to drop his plaid and enter her
roughly, pushing hard to the very heart of her. To her dismay, she felt her
body contract around his steel shaft as he plunged into her.

“You are mine Asilinn,” he said, his eyes dark and
angry. “Tell me you dinna want this.”

“I dinna….” But she moaned and grabbed the sheeting
when he moved deeper.

“Liar.” He grasped her buttocks and forced her hips
to meet each thrust. He drove into her time after time.

The dark pleasure of him inside her took over and
soon she was wild beneath him—she scratched his chest, pressed him deeper, and
screamed his name when he came deep within her.

“You are mine, Asilinn,” he repeated breathlessly.
“Say it.”

Still flushed from the frantic fervor of their union,
she murmured, “I am yours.”

They were both panting when he withdrew slowly from
her depths. His eyes narrowed. He snorted as he stood and looked down on her.
The snort was a habit of his she was beginning to dislike intensely. “Remember
you belong to me.”

He turned away from her. She studied the firm curve
of his buttocks and his broad shoulders. As if she could ever forget, she
thought morosely. She belonged to the Dragon Lord of Dunbocan Castle who used his body to turn her flesh into willing clay each time he chose to devour her.

***

Jared kept her chained to his bed for a week. Every
night he came to her, coaxed her body to his will until she craved their union,
and then took her roughly. He made her want him but there was a terrible
coldness about the whole act that left Asilinn feeling dirty and ashamed of her
own raw need—a need he unleashed with his magic touch.

They had just finished another such episode and she
was lying beside him still breathing hard. He turned his back to her and
settled in the bed. “Jared,” she whispered. When he didn’t respond, she put her
hand on his back. “Jared.”

He turned to face her, his eyes wary in the dim
firelight. “What Asilinn?”

She could feel her eyes filling with tears. Asilinn
tried desperately not to let them fall. “You told me not to call myself your
whore, but that is what you have made me.”

He just stared at her in the darkness for a long time
and then turned over. Asilinn pressed her head into the bedding and wept.

When Asilinn woke the next morning, Jared was not
there. She flung back the covers and swung her legs over the side of the bed.
No weighty chain restricted her movement. The manacles were gone from her
ankle—gone from the bedpost. He heard her. She crossed herself and thanked God
for her good fortune, then rose to dance wildly about the room in celebration
of her freedom.

It was during this display Wynne arrived with
Asilinn’s breakfast.

“Ah, Milady looks well pleased this mornin’.” Wynne
grinned. “Milord wished me to tell you he hopes you feel well enough today to
begin yer duties as mistress of Dunbocan.”

“Aye, so, I will let milord see my worth by setting
his household straight, anything to get out of this room.”

“Milady, it will be a difficult day at best. He
wishes you to help him with Skye.”

Asilinn arched her brows. “He tests me. And I must
prove I deserve my freedom. Very well.”

Wynne helped her find a suitable work gown. When
Asilinn finished dressing, her hair was tied back in a single, long braid. Her
plain shift and surcoat were suitable for her intentions.

Her first stop was the kitchen. Flanna greeted her
warmly. “I’m glad to see yer feelin’ better.”

"I'd like to see the stores," Asilinn said.

Flanna looked a little taken aback at her request.
“Lady Asilinn, there be plenty of food for your table. Do you really want to go
down below and inspect it?”

“Aye, Flanna."

With a shrug, Flanna lit a candle and showed Asilinn
to a door at the far end of the room. A staircase led down into the blackness.
Flanna used her candle to light the torches affixed to the wall illuminating
the room. The large cellar extended far beyond the room above.

Asilinn was pleased to see how clean it was. In one
area, there was a large selection of smoked and salted meats hanging from
hooks, in another, sacks of four.

“Do you have a problem with mice or rats?”

“Milady, 'tis nigh impossible to keep the vermin out,
but I do the best I can.”

“We could bate them with some poison herbs.” Flanna's
eyes grew wide and Asilinn smiled. “Certain flowers when dried and ground can
be used for such purposes.”

“How do you ken this, Milady?”

“My grandmother was a skilled herbalist and I learned
her trade before she passed on. There's much to be gained if you use nature to
your benefit.”

“You know cures and such?”

Asilinn nodded noncommittally. As they walked back
toward the stairs, Flanna indicated another passage to Asilinn. “There's a wine
cellar with a door beyond. It leads to a spring, plenty of fresh water in case
of a siege.” Flanna's face flushed crimson. “Oh, Lady Asilinn, I didna….”

“It is all right. I know Laird Jared is well prepared
for war. ‘Tis all we've known, is it not? But now milord thinks we have a
chance for peace.”

“From yer lips to God's ear.” Crossing herself, the
housekeeper followed Asilinn up the stairs.

When they were back in the kitchen, Asilinn looked
into the cupboards and inspected the shelves. “It appears you are doing a fine
job here, Flanna. If you could find me a good place to dry herbs, I could make
some of my cures.”

“We could hang them from the rafters above the
ovens.” Flanna pointed to a beam over the line of stone hollows used to bake
the bread. “The heat rises nicely when I'm bakin'. They would dry in no time.”

“Now all I have to do is collect them.” Asilinn
doubted she would be allowed to venture outside the castle walls to find what
she needed.

“If you tell me what you need, mayhaps I could get them
for you,” Flanna offered.

Asilinn smiled. “I will discuss it with Laird Jared.”
Her response seemed to please Flanna. No doubt, the poor woman was sure Asilinn
practiced the black arts by now.

Asilinn was walking out of the kitchen when she
remembered her other chore for the day. “Flanna, have you seen Skye this
morning?”

Flanna avoided meeting Asilinn's eyes. “Nay, Milady.”
She dropped her voice to a soft whisper. “Lady Skye has been actin' very
peculiar lately. Please dinna be insulted by her behavior.”

“What do you mean? Is she ill?”

“Nay, Milady.”

“Well, what is it? You can tell me. I wilna be angry.
I'd be grateful for your confidence.”

“Skye is furious with her brother for marryin' you,”
Flanna said. “She has taken to roamin' around late at night and sleepin' most
of the day. I even caught her comin' in late one night dressed in men's
britches. The laird loves his sister, but she has been too long without a
lady's influence. God's truth, she'd like to be a man and fight with Laird
Jared's warriors.”

Asilinn sighed. “Wynne tells me Jared wants me to
help her choose some new gowns. I am supposed to help her become more
lady-like.”

Flanna's face lit with a radiant smile. “Oh Lady
Asilinn, I'm so glad. I been worried about Skye. I feared our laird with all
his more pressin' problems might not notice. Ivy keeps a closer eye on Skye
than anyone. Mayhaps she can help you find her.”

Asilinn thanked Flanna and went off to find the stern
housekeeper.

Ivy looked up warily when Asilinn entered the room.
“Good morning, Lady Asilinn. I see Laird Jared released you. He must have felt
bad after the news about your father and brother. Is there somethin' I can do
for you?”

A cold dread swept Asilinn. “What about my father and
brother?”