His Lady Fair

She drew her knees to her chest, pulled the soft quilts up around her shoulders and thought about leaving Castle Kirkham. She was torn between her need to get to Rockbury and her desire to stay and explore the possibilities with Lord Kirkham.

What were his intentions toward her? Surely they were honorable, for he believed her to be a noblewoman. No man in Nicholas Hawken’s position would seduce a woman of gentle birth. And Lord Kirkham believed she was “Lady Maria.”

Ria told herself she truly was Lady Maria. She did not know if she would ever become accustomed to hearing herself addressed as Maria, or Lady Maria. ’Twas doubtful.

She considered telling Lord Kirkham of her quest for Rockbury, then decided against it. She was not sure of anything regarding her inheritance, and did not want to be embarrassed if it turned out she was wrong. She could not tell Nicholas she was the daughter of a duchess and heir to Rockbury until she verified the truth of the matter. Better to remain quiet until then.

Still, there was the matter of this attraction that blazed between them. How would a noblewoman act in these circumstances?

Ria thought about the many times young men had visited Alderton, and how her cousin Cecilia had behaved in their presence. Cecilia had spent several seasons at court in London, and was quite adept at managing all her young suitors.

Ria wondered if she could be as brazen and flirtatious, yet modest and demure as Cecilia was. Surely Cecilia would have known how to deal with Lord Kirkham when he’d arrived in her room last night.

“Oh! My lady!” a pert young voice said quietly. “’Tis early…I didn’t expect you to be awake yet!”

’Twas one of the young maids from the previous night. She turned and picked up a basin of steaming water she’d set behind her, then entered the room, closing the door behind her.

The prospect of hot water was appealing, and Ria slipped her legs out from the warmth of the quilts. She had decided nothing about her actions today, but much depended on the condition of her ankle. If it was well enough to travel, she would go.

If not, then another day or so at Kirkham would not harm her.

All was quiet in Kirkham’s stables. None of the grooms were about as yet, and Nicholas enjoyed the serenity of the morning. All too soon his guests would be up and about, searching for new and ever more wicked diversions, even as they suffered the effects of the previous night’s festivities.

Nick paced the length of the low building until he reached the last stall, where Lady Maria’s mount had been stabled for the night. Unlatching the gate, he stepped in with the aging mare and looked her over, though his attention was not fully on the horse.

Instead, he could only think of the hour he’d spent after his encounter with Maria during the night, tossing about in his bed, deliberately restraining himself from returning to join the lady in hers. He hadn’t been so stirred by a woman in…well, in quite some time. Perhaps never.

And he did not know why.

’Twas not any one feature that made Lady Maria so enticing, though she intrigued him as no woman had managed to do before. Nay, he could not quite determine what made her so attractive to him.

Perhaps it was her injury that made him feel so protective, so possessive. After all, he’d been the one responsible for her fall from this sorry nag.

Nicholas ran one hand down the horse’s forehead to its muzzle, then glanced at the teeth. He wondered how far Maria intended to travel on this ancient beast.

More than that, he wondered how he had allowed his attention to become so sidetracked by Lady Maria that he’d spent no time at all considering the Duke of Sterlyng and his treachery against England.

Nicholas barely knew John Burton. The man was of his father’s generation, and his friends were older noblemen. As far as Nicholas knew, Sterlyng had never expressed any wild tendencies in his youth, as so many well-born young men often did. The duke had been in the service of Henry of Lancaster when Henry had taken the throne from King Richard, and had been a loyal Lancastrian ever since.

To Nick’s knowledge, the man had no family, but was entirely dedicated to the service of England.

Was it possible he’d gone traitor?

If he had, Nicholas would prove it. Then he would personally see to the man’s execution.

Chapter Seven

Typically, Henric Tournay had seen to all the details for the day’s hunt. There was nothing left for Nicholas to do but ruminate over the letter he’d received on his arrival at Kirkham, regarding Sterlyng’s alleged treason.

Thinking of the methods he would employ in his investigation of Sterlyng, Nick took a leisurely stroll back to the keep and circled ’round toward the garden in back, where he and Edmund used to play as children.

The gardeners had done their work well, for the flower beds were raked out, and there were new, young shoots just beginning to poke through the winter-ravaged ground. ’Twas difficult for Nicholas to understand how anything could grow after the past winter, which had been uncharacteristically harsh, but he supposed that was life. It always seemed to renew itself.

He followed the footpath through the squat fruit trees with their gnarled branches covered with early buds, and headed for the secret part of the garden where he and Edmund used to hide from their tutor. Though not quite a maze, it was a winding path, and the deeper one followed it into the garden, the farther away from the world it seemed.

He had nearly reached the low wall where the vines grew thick when he heard a low, feminine voice speaking.

“Come down, you fierce little beast!”

Vaguely, Nicholas recalled similar words being spoken to him years before.

He grinned and walked on, following the cooing voice, and stopped when he rounded a set of tall evergreens. Lady Maria stood on her toes, trying to coax a kitten out of the crotch of a tree.

Regrettably, she was quite properly dressed this morning, in a deep blue velvet gown with long, flowing sleeves and a high neckline that would have pleased a nun. Her head was covered, as well, though her golden tresses were partially visible through the headpiece and veil.

He wondered how she’d managed to walk all this way unaided.

Unless her ankle was better…?

“Come now, poor kitty,” she said, unaware of Nicholas’s quiet approach behind her. She raised one hand invitingly toward the tree, and Nick hoped the kitten wouldn’t give her a nasty scratch. “I do not want you to fall. Where is your mama?”

The kitten finally relented and moved tentatively, stretching its paws and taking one step toward Maria. She reached up and allowed the kitten to come to her. When it was close enough, Maria took it gently in her hands and cuddled it to her breast.

Nicholas stopped to observe the sensuous stroking of Maria’s small hands over the tawny fur of the cat. A stab of desire, as fierce as any he’d ever known, shot through him as he watched.

He regained some semblance of self-possession and approached her, taking care not to startle her.

“I daresay I wouldn’t mind your hands doing that to me, my lady fair,” he said. To his delight, she blushed sweetly and allowed the kitten to drop to the ground and scamper away. Then she reached awkwardly for the crutch that was propped against the tree.

“My lord,” she said. “You should not say such things.”

“No?” he asked, moving closer. He lifted her chin with one finger and looked into her eyes. “Your little friend shed his fur all over you.” Keeping his eyes locked on hers, he gently began to brush away the cat hair from the velvet bodice.

He knew he was out of order, touching her this way, but when she trembled at his touch, he could not seem to help himself. He did not want to help himself.

Again he was unsure of her reaction to him, though he remembered how she’d felt against him during the night. Soft. Lush. Inviting. His palms itched to have her naked beneath them again, with her breasts tightening in response to his caress.

His body screamed with the urgency to touch her, and he wanted her more in that moment than he could remember ever wanting anyone.

She suddenly moved her crutch and stepped away, breaking all physical contact with him. She turned and surveyed the area between herself and the garden wall.

“This part of the garden is unusual,” Ria said once she was able to trust her voice. It had never occurred to her that Lord Kirkham would be out wandering the garden while he had so many guests to attend to. And somehow he’d done it again—managed to disconcert her with his eyes, and a mere brush of his hand. “I’ve never seen vines that grow so thick….”

Nicholas cleared his throat. “My brother and I used to hide here,” he said as he approached her again. He looked dark and cross, and more dangerous than ever. Maria could not keep herself from envisioning his naked chest, broad and muscular, with its spattering of dark hair and flat brown nipples. She hoped he did not notice her unease.

“We had a particularly nasty tutor,” he continued, his voice low and intimate, “who liked nothing better than to thrash us whenever we slipped away from our lessons.”

“And your parents allowed this thrashing?”