Warriors Of Legend (52 page)

Gavin let out a grunt of disbelief. “After that display downstairs, do you still think I can trust your father to keep his word? I will carry you away with me, and marry you on my own terms.”

Estella’s entire body tensed. Did he know of her father’s plans? “I will need to change,” she said, blurting out the first thing that came to mind. She searched frantically for a way to avoid going with Gavin, but her mind was as silent as the bailey at nightfall. She closed her eyes briefly, willing for someone to hear her silent pleas for help.

When Estella didn’t immediately move from her spot, Gavin turned to look at her, his gaze dropping to the thin linen shift that she wore. His scorching gaze settled on her breasts as if he wanted to see past the material, to know what she looked like underneath. She suddenly felt hot, which was impossible because the flames that had burned in the fireplace had died long ago.

“Well change,” he said. His voice gentled when he saw the expression on her face. “Don’t look so frightened, my lady. I have not come to harm you.” He took her arm and steered her to the chest at the side of the chamber. “You will need something warm since we’ll be riding for several days.”

She stared at his back as he turned to give her privacy.

Run!
her mind screamed. But even as she thought that, she knew that by the time she reached the door, his long strides would have already caught up with her. Then she would have to deal with his wrath.

“But my sisters…” she said. “They will think something happened to me if I disappeared into the night.”

“They’ll be informed of your whereabouts once we’re married.”

Estella bit at her bottom lip, trying to wrack her brain for some other thing to stall him with. She debated whether she should yell for help. The guards down below would no doubt hear her and rush to her rescue.

But she quickly staunched that idea from her mind. From Gavin’s massive size, he could easily take down the two guards stationed at the bottom of the spiral steps. Did she really want unnecessary bloodshed on her behalf? If she was honest with herself that was the last thing she wanted.

And of course her screams would awaken her sisters in the adjacent chambers. They would come running into her room and place themselves in unnecessary peril. She could do only one thing, and that was to leave willingly with this hulking brute. Her father’s men would surely track her down later and bring her home.

Trying to suppress a shiver that had little to do with the cold draft in the chamber, she bent over the chest. Estella rifled through it quickly, and found a simple woolen over tunic and heavy cloak. She tossed on the gown over her linen shift, and put on the cloak. Its warmth enveloped her almost immediately.

“I do not understand how you got into my bed chamber, sire.” She found her leather boots and slipped them on. “I know that there are guards below, and my father’s men are not lax when it comes to protecting our home.”

At the sound of the chest closing, Gavin turned to face her. “I scaled the tower,” he said. He watched her with a strange light in his eyes. And for some inexplicable reason, she felt naked even when she knew that she was fully clothed in heavy wool.

She folded her arms over her chest. “I did not know that could be done. The master stone mason and cutters my father hired are experts in what they do. They would not make our castle so easily scalable.”

“Even stone workers are mere mortals,” he said. “Come, we don’t have all night to speak. We must leave this place.”

Estella took a deep breath, and walked toward the door. But she didn’t make it very far when Gavin grabbed her arm and pulled her back. He steered her toward the small window at the far end of the room.

“You do not expect me to go out that way, do you?” she gasped, as she realized his plan. “‘Tis dangerous.”

“Nothing will happen to you,” he said, and stopped briefly near the bed. A ghost of a smile flitted across his lips when he saw the doubtful expression on her face. “I bribed your maid to hide this sack in your chamber.” Reaching under the four poster bed, he pulled out a sack. He opened it and removed a large, thick rope. “Ulric will be waiting as I lower you from the window.”

Estella shook her head in disbelief, vaguely noting that she needed to reprimand the maid who was so easily bribed. “How are you going to get me out of here without my falling into the moat and getting myself killed?”

“Easily,” he said. Estella watched with growing horror as he took out two thick iron stakes from the sack. At the base of the window, he wrapped one spike with the burlap sack, and pounded the other one into the floor. The burlap muffled any hammering sounds.

In a matter of minutes, he looped the rope through a circular hole attached to the top, and secured the rope onto the spike. He gave it a hard tug to test its strength. Then he nodded, satisfied that it would hold.

He walked over to her, and ignoring her protests, he tied the other end of the rope around her waist. He nudged her toward the small window. “You’ll go down first and I’ll follow.”

She looked at the widow ledge. “I will fall,” she said in a shaky voice.

“If you value your life, then don’t fall,” he said. “Take hold of the rope, and I’ll lower you to my man. Use your feet to walk backwards. This way you’ll prevent yourself from swinging and bashing against the stone tower. I’ll stay here to ensure that the rope is secure while you go down.”

Estella swallowed hard, unable to prevent the fear from creeping into her chest. “In all my years of instruction, scaling down walls was not part of my study.”

He grunted. “Just don’t look down,” he said.

All she could do was let out one long breath. What in heavens was she getting herself into?

She grabbed hold of the rope as Gavin directed, and scrambled onto the window’s edge. She glanced over her shoulders at the expanse below, aware of how high she was. The land beneath her stretched beyond the horizon, covered in winter’s white blanket. If she were to fall, it would be unlikely that anyone would find her body until the spring thaw.

Wrapping the rope around her hands, she prayed that she would be able to see the light of day. But even as she prayed for God’s deliverance, her fear rose higher and higher in her chest.

She glanced over at Gavin. However he had a focused, determined expression on his face, an expression that was unlikely to relent from this awful plan.

“Are you sure there is no other way out? We could go down the spiral staircase —”

He shook his head impatiently. “There are guards below as you mentioned. Climb down the rope,” he said, “and cease your chatter.”

Estella closed her eyes, desperately wanting to block out her terror. But that one action proved to be a terrible mistake. She didn’t see the patch of ice on the ledge just near her foot. And she slipped, releasing her grip on the rope in her moment of surprise.

But even before she had a chance to scream, Gavin’s strong hands reached over and grasped her wrist, hauling her back into the chamber.

“When I told you not to look down, I didn’t mean for you to close your eyes,” he growled. He untied the rope around her waist. “You’ll have to go down with me.”

She quirked an eyebrow at him. “How could that be possible?”

“I’ll carry you,” he said.

Her eyes widened in disbelief. “Will the rope hold the two of us?”

He gestured to the stake that was fully imbedded in the stone floor. “The iron spike is secured into the stone. With the rope tied to it, it won’t unravel,” he continued. “Now you need to wrap your legs around my waist.”

Estella opened her mouth to refuse his ludicrous command. Her denial was cut off, however, when in one quick motion he lifted her, and placed her legs around his hips. Then as if he saw the fear behind her shock, he softened his tone. “I’ll tie this rope around us for safety.”

But his words didn’t make her feel any safer.

“Can we not wait until morning?” she asked in a last attempt to stop their descent.

She looked back longingly at her bedroom chamber. No one would burst into her room and stop this dark stranger from stealing her into the night.

“We don’t have all night,” he said impatiently.

Estella let out a quick breath, and held onto to him more securely with her arms and legs.

But it was after she tightened her grip around his hips that Gavin started to wonder about the wisdom of his plan. He tried to trample down the desire that was threatening to emerge.

Irritability surged into his chest, and he cursed himself for allowing a moment of weakness. He should already have had her out the window, and riding away from this place.

When Estella stood up to him earlier, he decided that she suited his purposes better than her sisters, even though she was not as attractive as they were. He needed a woman who was responsible and not vain and tempted to preen in front of the mirror like his own step–mother. He had no patience for that kind of woman. But she wasn’t supposed to be a distraction like this. She wasn’t supposed to have
any
affect on him.

Gavin tried to focus his mind on something else. But it was no use. He couldn’t think of anything or anyone else except for the woman clinging firmly to his front, her arms wrapped around his body, her hot breath at his neck.

He stifled a groan when Estella shifted and squeezed her legs around him. All he could think of was how perfectly her soft curves shaped to his hard planes. And even as he fought back the urges, his body responded to her nearness as if it had never been with a woman.

Even through the thick layers of wool, he could feel her soft breasts. He could only imagine how they would feel rubbing naked against his own skin. And the exact positioning of her sex so near his own nearly drove him insane with want. In any place but this, he would be thrusting into her hot body. God, he didn’t realize that it had been so long since he was with a woman. Either that or he had reverted back to being a randy page with nothing other than thoughts of fair maidens on his mind.

He gave himself a mental shake, and concentrated on placing one foot behind the other, moving back slowly down the rope. It felt good to feel the rope biting into his hands as he fought against gravity. Indeed if he didn’t focus, both of them would tumble into the empty moat beneath them. But at least with that end result, he thought wryly, the torture he endured now would be finished.

CHAPTER 5

Gavin climbed down the rope with confidence, as if he scaled down walls on a regular basis. Estella closed her eyes, somehow trusting this strange knight. She could feel the cold wind whipping through her hair. She pressed her body closer, her arms wrapping tightly around his neck, her legs gripping his waist. She refused to dwell on how inappropriate her position was. There was no choice, she told herself. Gavin was the only solid object that she could cling to, the only person that could prevent her from falling to her death…

When they finally touched firm ground, she was surprised that she was still alive. Ulric helped ease them down and began to untie them from the rope.

But Gavin wasn’t in a hurry to release her. “Ulrich, retrieve the two horses near the outer wall,” he said, not taking his eyes off of Estella. “I’ll take care of the rope.”

As Ulric moved away, Gavin held her closer. He pressed her more intimately against him while he reached behind her to release the rope.

She had once overheard the servants speaking about the
act
and the manly parts that came with it. But when she made her presence known, the servants became mum about the subject. She had seen animals mating in the barns and just assumed that there was nothing special about it.

But this — this feeling that she had when her body was pressed closely against his…it made her feel dizzy with wanting something that she couldn’t quite describe, something dark and exciting. And dangerous, a small part of her brain warned.

A sizzling heat zipped through her body and left a strange, fiery sensation curling, churning in her belly. And even as she wondered about this odd feeling, her body began to soften, to mold to his hardness as if it she was made to fit together with him.

Estella took a staggering breath in to calm her nerves. But then the smell of him filled her senses and made her light headed. And even though she knew she should let go, she remained still, wondering about how pleasurable it felt being in his arms. Yet she was wary of this enticing sensation.

What was it like to kiss a man who was as dark and as frightening as Gavin? Every nerve in her body told her to be on her guard. She was mad to be even thinking about kissing a scheming outlaw, one that was so ready to take advantage of people in dire straits… But all the same, her gaze fell to his sensual mouth.

Then as if he could read her thoughts, he bent his head, his lips a hair’s breadth away. He was going to kiss her! Estella held her breath. She was acutely aware that she still had her legs wrapped around his waist, and his large hands were splayed across her backside.

“Are you all right?” he asked quietly.

Her eyes flew to his, surprised. She was so used to taking care of the needs of others — her sisters, her father and the castle inhabitants. But to see the concern in his eyes, she felt…unsettled.

One of the horses Ulrich returned with snorted behind her. And suddenly the spell that surrounded them faded like warm breath in the winter evening.

She shook her head to clear her mind. This knight was far from the stories of old. He was a liar and a thief. If anything she should hate him for the insult that he gave to her and her family. The last thing she should be doing was to be thinking lustfully about him. He didn’t save her father as he claimed, and there was nothing that she owed to him. And besides, she chided herself. The stories that the minstrels sang about didn’t involve a lady being dragged out of her warm bed at night. Nor did it involve a maiden forced to marry a man who had a false claim to honor.

She straightened her legs, intending to free herself from their erotic embrace, but he didn’t let her go. Instead, he allowed her legs to dangle in the air while his strong arms kept her in place.