Keeper of the Stone (29 page)

He strode towards the bed.  He knew Rhiann was aware of his presence by the sudden stiffness in her shoulders.  He sat down next to her, but made no move to touch her.  The silence extended between them for long moments before she finally broke it in a hushed voice.

“Do you think I’m a whore?”

Nathan clamped down on his renewed fury at the insult to his wife with an effort and responded just as quietly.  “No, wife.  You insult us both with such a question.  Do you think I would tarnish my honor by taking a whore to wife?”

“What if she was a duke’s daughter?”

Nathan understood the real question his wife was asking and knew Rhiann was still troubled over the circumstances that led to their marriage.  “Even if the king offered me a duke’s estates in return I would not have taken that bitter bitch as my wife or offered her the warmth of my bed.”

Rhiann finally turned and lifted an anxious glance to his face.  “Truly?”

Nathan brushed back a stray curl with a gentle hand.  “Rhiann, there’s a reason Lady Regina is still unwed even though her father’s estates were among the first captured in the war.”

“What is this reason, Nathan?”

“No one would agree to marry her no matter how large of a dowry the king offered to go with her.”

Rhiann giggled.  “Oh Nathan you are making that up.”

“No wife, I swear it is the truth.”

Rhiann laughed delightedly and Nathan felt his own lips curving at the sight of her hilarity.  “But Nathan, you could not have refused the king’s command.”

“The king does not command his vassals on the issue of marriage.”

He could see her taking in his information and sorting it through her head.  “You were not ordered to marry me?”

This time it was Nathan’s turn to laugh at the absurdity of her worry.  “Rhiann surely you realize our marriage was far beyond anything I ever dared hope for.” When she would have interrupted he placed a restraining finger against her lips and continued, “And I am not only referring to your father’s estates.  Had Lady Regina been the price I was forced to pay to acquire them, I am not saying I would have declined, but I would have regretted the marriage to my dying day, which likely would not have been long after the vows were spoken before the priest.”

“She said my father would turn over in his grave if he knew I was sleeping in a Norman’s bed.” Rhiann confessed in a soft whisper.

“And yet you wife assured me your father would be pleased with your choice of husbands.”

“He would be pleased.” She rushed to reassure him, falling nicely into his trap.  Recognizing the trick he played on her she added smiling, “Not that
I
was given any choice in the matter.”

“And of the two of you, who do you believe knew your father’s inclination better?”

Finally convinced, Rhiann smiled lovingly up at him.  “Oh Nathan, you always know just what to say to make me feel better.”

He grinned, his eyes roaming over her shining face.  He reached up and brushed the same stray curl away from her face, letting the back of his hand linger on her soft skin.  His fingers trailed down along the side of her throat and gently cupped her breast.  “I can think of better ways to make you feel better.”

“But Nathan we’ll be late for the king’s table,” she reminded him breathlessly.

“Not if we’re quick.” Nathan grinned into his wife’s wide eyes while his hands made quick work of the ties of her gown.  He was already pushing her back against the bed ignoring Rhiann’s laughing, half-hearted protests.

As it turned out, Rhiann’s prediction was correct.  They were definitely going to be late, especially if he waited for his wife to get dressed and see to her hair.  Nathan blamed himself for their tardiness.  Once he began caressing his wife’s soft flesh he could not bring himself to rush. 

It would be an act of blasphemy to gulp down in a single hurried swallow the finest wines of a master artisan. It would be worse blasphemy to take his wife in the hurried joining a man used on a whore.  Remembering the Saxon bitch’s accusation, he wanted Rhiann to know how much he valued her, so he took his time. 

He feasted on her, enjoying course after course of her slender body’s offering, savoring each taste, each tender bite, reveling in the finest of selections laid before him. In the end they were both fully sated and as after any fine meal ready to linger and sleep, savoring the delicious languor filling them both.  He smiled down into Rhiann’s dazed green eyes and trailed his hand across her skin, brushing the swell of her full breasts.

She smiled dreamily up into his eyes, her own still cloudy with passion.  Even as his body incredulously began to rise again, Nathan regretfully removed his hand and rose from the bed.  From the growing darkness outside the window, he knew a bath was out of the question.  He poured water into the basin from the pitcher and quickly used a cloth to cleanse himself.

Rhiann watched his quick movements with undisguised admiration in her eyes.  He dressed quickly and smiled to see his wife had yet to move from her place in the bed.  “Rhiann, do you not think you should begin dressing for dinner?”

She sighed and continued gazing up at him with a distracted expression in her eyes.  “I think you should tell the king I am not feeling well, Nathan.  I believe I shall just go to sleep now.”

He grinned as her eyes closed and she seemed intent on doing just that.  Regretfully he brought her out of her semi-conscious state.  “I shall do no such thing, Rhiann.  I am not inclined to lie to our king, nor would I give Lady Regina the satisfaction of thinking she chased you away from the king’s table.”

Rhiann’s eyes flew open at his comment.  “She would think that?”

“Yes and no doubt so would everyone else.”

Rhiann released an annoyed sigh.  “Fine, I shall get dressed, but you better go down without me Nathan, else we will both be terribly late.”

Nathan knew he would eventually have to address his wife’s habit of issuing him orders, but he was so pleased by her spirit, he was willing to let this one pass.  He finished dressing, then strode over to the wardrobe and pulled the doors wider, revealing his wife’s extensive array of fine gowns.  He examined them quickly then removed a flaming red one from amongst the more muted colors his wife seemed to favor.

“I believe you should wear this gown tonight.” 

Rhiann laughed appreciatively.  “Really, Nathan, I cannot wear the red gown.  Only a wanton woman would wear such a color.”

“Or perhaps a whore.” Nathan remarked drily.

Rhiann grinned in appreciation of his quick wit and reluctantly rose from the bed.  When she realized she was still naked and where her husband’s glance now rested, she swiftly sat back down and covered herself with the sheet.  She felt herself blushing even as she replied to her husband.  “Nathan, you are going to be late for the king’s table.  I shall dress and join you shortly.”

Smiling at her embarrassment, Nathan turned and hung the dress on the hook on the wardrobe door.  “It would please me wife if you would wear this gown tonight.”

Realizing he was serious, Rhiann protested. “Nathan, I already explained I cannot possibly wear that gown in the king’s hall.  Melissa ordered it as a joke.  My mother was furious and said the gown was completely inappropriate for an unmarried lady my age.  She made Melissa pay for it out of her allowance for wasting father’s hard-earned coins on such a foolish extravagance.”

“Then tonight you may honor your sister’s sacrifice by wearing the gown.”  He could see Rhiann was considering his point.  “Besides you are no longer an unmarried lady, wife.”

He saw her eyes stray to the gown.  “But Nathan, it is cut far lower than my other gowns.  And your mother would be appalled.  She already thinks I’m strange.  Would you have her add wanton to her low opinion of me?”

He came back to the bed and gripped her chin to lift her face for his kiss.  He brushed his lips across hers.  “I’m really not concerned about what my mother thinks.  It would please me if you wore the red gown this evening.”

Rhiann stared at the closed door for long moments after her husband passed through it, and then turned her attention back to the dubious gown.  Nathan knew it would irritate her to give Lady Regina the satisfaction of thinking she managed to upset her enough to hide in their room tonight.  The red gown would certainly make the statement she believed Lady Regina’s opinion irrelevant at most. She regarded the gown a little doubtfully, already blushing at the memory of the one time she tried it on after it was delivered by the dress maker. 

Her mother had been furious.  Melissa laughed at her mother’s anger and kept assuring Rhiann she looked gorgeous.  Rhiann was afraid of displeasing her mother by agreeing with her sister, but she did remember how grown-up she felt in the gown and was shocked and secretly pleased by the way it emphasized the new swells of her changing body. Of course, she had never actually worn the gown. And she doubted Nathan would be all that pleased when he realized the cut of the gown displayed a large expanse of her bare skin.  It would serve him right if she did join the king’s assembly tonight wearing the shocking dress.

Grinning at the thought, Rhiann jumped from the bed and donned her robe.  She sent for her maid, then regretting there was no time for a bath, washed herself with a fresh cloth the same way Nathan was forced to, then strode to the wardrobe to examine the red gown more closely.  It appeared brand new and should since it was never worn, but it was actually almost two years old.  She wondered if she could even still fit into it, as she remembered the top was rather snug even then.

Her suspicions proved correct.  The red gown fit more snugly than it did the only other time she put it on at her sister’s insistence, at least on top.  She was shocked by the way her breasts were revealed by the immodest gown.  They were all but spilling out of the neckline.  Well Nathan said it would please him if she wore the red dress.  She was ever the obedient wife.  She giggled at the thought of his reaction.

“Would you like a shawl to drape over your shoulders, milady?  It can be rather chilly in the hall at night.”  The young maid asked with a pointed look at the daring neckline of Rhiann’s gown.

Rhiann grinned at her doubtful tone.  “No, Lizzie, thank you.  I’ll send someone for one if I get cold.”

“Yes, milady.  I’ll leave one laid out for you.”

For all her anticipation of seeing Nathan’s reaction to her gown, Rhiann was far more uncertain about appearing in public in the low-cut dress than she let on to her maid.  Her hands were trembling as she opened the door.  Nathan’s soldiers’ stunned reaction to her appearance did not add to her confidence any.  After one quick glance, both men studiously avoided looking below her chin.  Gathering her faltering courage and smiling politely she asked if one of them would escort her to the hall. The younger of the two soldiers, nodded mutely, his blush matching Rhiann’s.

For no less than the tenth time, Nathan glanced over the head of the man he was engaged in conversation with in the direction of the stairs.  There was still no sign of his wife.  He wondered if she changed her mind about responding to the challenge he laid down, or if she merely leaned back against the sheets after he left and fell asleep.  If she failed to make an appearance in the next few minutes, he would send someone to check on her progress.  His attention was called back to his conversation, which surprisingly he actually managed to pay attention to for several minutes. 

At a lull in the conversation, he became aware of the abrupt silence that descended over the hall and looking around for an explanation, saw the covert glances cast in his direction. He swung around to the stairs and saw his wife making her way gracefully down them and into the hall. A point of fact, he witnessed a lot more of his wife than he was prepared to, even after Rhiann’s warning about the cut of the gown he incomprehensibly instructed her it would please him to wear. He was already re-evaluating that decision.  His companion forgotten, Nathan strode across the room to intercept his wife at the bottom of the stairs before any of his eager compatriots could do so.

He blanched noticeably when she curtseyed low before him and hoped there were no other introductions during the course of the evening requiring such an endeavor.  She rose and smiled sweetly up at him, but he was not blind to the laughter in her eyes.  “Does my gown please you, husband?”

“You might have been a little more explicit in your description of the neckline, wife.”

Rhiann stole a peek downward at the top of her gown, just to make sure she had not yet fallen out of it.  “Yes, well, the gown is a few years old.  I guess I was more slender then.”

Nathan’s eyes raked over his wife’s snugly clad form.  As far as he could tell the only part of her that was any less slender were her breasts.  Two years ago she was still a child.  Now there was no doubt she was a woman.  A dazzlingly beautiful woman.  “Don’t you have a shawl or something to cover yourself?”

“Nathan you were the one who insisted I wear this dress.  I told you it wasn’t appropriate for the king’s hall.”

Nathan was on the verge of ordering her back upstairs to change when the queen approached them.  “Rhiann my dear, you look radiant.  Red is such a lovely color on you.”

Rhiann curtseyed before queen.  Nathan was grateful his broad shoulders blocked the view of onlookers.  “Thank you, your highness.  Nathan must think so too.  He insisted I wear this gown tonight.”

Matilda looked from one to the other and commented drily.  “I imagine he’s reconsidering that request now.”

His wife and his queen shared a good laugh at his expense. Nathan excused himself with a bow to the monarch before he could give voice to his frustration and risk offending the queen.  His father met him half way across the hall.

“Good evening, Nathan.  Your young wife seems on close terms with the new queen.”

Nathan nodded and turned to regard the two women, their heads bent close together in conversation.  He was grateful for the queen’s protection as no one would dare approach his wife while the queen engaged her attention.  “Yes, Matilda is extremely fond of Rhiann.”