Dryden's Bride

“I object, my lord!” she cried, his strong hands on her back making her tingle in agony. What kind of magic did the man possess to cause such feelings? Why had she never felt these strange sensations…this odd yearning before?

It was awful! She had to get away from here, from him, before she was rendered incapable of rational thought, of movement, of escape. His touch was nothing like the soft, unwelcome pawing of the London dandies. The earl of Alldale acted with the potent certainty of a man. His was a bold and commanding touch, with strong hands honed in battle, and Siân could not help but wonder if there was any softness in him at all.

“Your objection has been duly noted, my lady,” Hugh said as he released the final loop of the lace. The stiff, blue gown fell away from Siân’s skin, dropping in a steaming heap to the floor. She was left wearing her thin, linen under-kirtle, which was also soaked, and not nearly as concealing. With her russet hair curling in a wild tangle down her back, she looked especially fragile, like a piece of vividly colored glass reflecting moonlight.

Siân lowered her head, puzzled by the strange feelings coursing through her. Did he feel it, too? she wondered. Did he ever long to be touched with care and tenderness?

Presumably not, she thought, certainly not from her. He’d called her foolish. He’d said she tried his patience. She was naught more than a pest to him.

Hugh stood rooted to the ground for an eternal moment, transfixed by the vision of Siân’s delicate back, her smooth buttocks nearly exposed through the thin material. Thoughts of her soft lips on his rough skin nearly made him tear off his battle gear.

Seeing her tremble suddenly, he gave himself a mental shake, then spun on his heel to reach for the thick woolen blanket from his bed. Quickly, he wrapped Siân in it, unable to avoid enclosing her in his arms momentarily.

With wonder in her deep blue eyes, Siân turned to look at Hugh, a crease of bewilderment marring the perfect skin between her brows. The moment grew thick and heavy as their bodies drew closer to each other. She felt his breath on her face, his heat warming her. Longing to touch him as he’d touched her, she stopped herself, remembering what he thought of her. Siân spoke quietly instead. “I thank you for seeing to my welfare again, my lord. I will try not to bother you again.”

Then she pulled the blanket tightly around herself and fled the earl’s chamber.

Chapter Three

The battle was long and fierce. Every able-bodied man joined in the fray, the untrained townsmen using whatever weapons came to hand: axes, hammers, poles and daggers. As the highest-ranking knight at Clairmont, Hugh decided the strategy of battle and commanded the troops, with archers in ambush on every rooftop. Still, they were outnumbered by the Scots, who were well-supplied, savage fighters.

It was the archers who finally won the day for Clairmont. A masterful strategy, keeping archers positioned on the rooftops, left the Scots unable to escape their deadly volleys. Arrows rained down whenever the Scots broached the town. Clairmont’s foot soldiers finished the job.

When it was over, however, the damage to the town was extensive. As he walked through the aftermath, Hugh felt strangely detached from the chaos around him. The burning thatch and smoldering embers…the bodies of the fallen men being gathered for burial…women and children weeping. There were moans of pain that echoed some distant agony of his own, an agony he could not bear to relive.

He made his way back to the castle, oblivious to the salutes and hails he received from the people within the walls, who now considered him a hero. They gave him credit for discovering the Scots early, forming a plan of attack, leading the soldiers in defense of the town…and emerging victorious from it all.

After so many lost skirmishes, this victory was sweet to Clairmont.

Within the walls of the castle, Hugh dismounted and left his horse in the care of a groom, then proceeded to the keep, where he sought the chapel entrance. Finding it on the eastern side, he slipped in quietly and stood with his eyes downcast, shivering in his sweltering metal shell, even as the autumn sunlight shone through the stained glass above the altar.

And Hugh Dryden then prayed for the souls who’d been dispatched this day.

Siân distractedly helped two little girls wash their hands in a trough in the outer bailey as she searched the faces of the men returning from Clairmont town. Battle-weary and bruised, bleeding and bandaged, the men had victory in their eyes nonetheless. The women and children welcomed their men back amid hugs and endearments, tears and laughter.

Hugh’s troubled visage eventually came into Siân’s view, and she started toward him, anxious to see him at close range, to assure herself that he was unscathed. She’d worried about him throughout the night and all day long, even though she knew he would never appreciate such attention from her. Her heart overflowed with relief when she saw him, and with the need to touch him. To feel his solid body near hers again, as she had the night before—only to affirm that he was unharmed. He was covered with the grime of battle mixed with blood, and Siân could only hope it was not his own.

When he was within an arm’s reach, Siân spoke his name, but he walked on numbly, ignoring her.

Irrationally hurt by his complete disregard, Siân looked down at herself, in the rough peasant’s dress she’d thrown on in the previous night’s confusion. It was ill-fitting and ugly, exactly the kind of dress a highborn man would abhor. The condition of her hair hadn’t improved much since he’d seen her last night, either. ’Twas no wonder he’d ignored her, though his indifference gave her a peculiar ache in the vicinity of her heart.

“God’s ears, Siân,” a harsh male voice said. Owen took hold of her arm and roughly ushered her to the rear of the kitchen. “Must you disgrace yourself at every turn?”

“Owen, I—”

“You are pitiful!”

“You’re hurting me, Owen,” Siân cried, dismayed by the anger flashing in his dark gray eyes. What could she possibly have done wrong? It was nothing but her Christian duty to help these poor people in their time of need. How could Owen construe it otherwise? “Please!”

He let go of her arm and pushed her through the kitchen door. The cook fires were being tended by maids, and Owen surprised Siân by refraining from giving her the tongue-lashing he obviously felt she needed. He propelled her beyond the kitchen and down a dark passage, till they reached a small, isolated alcove.

“Is it too much to ask you to comport yourself as becomes your station?” he demanded. “You are not some lowborn varlet, at liberty to dress as you please, to sully our already inglorious name.”

“Owen, I didn’t mean—”

“I am doing everything I possibly can,” he said, running a hand through his wavy, golden hair, “to restore honor to our name. To see that our progeny is afforded the respect it deserves! But you!” he cried in frustration.

Siân felt her heart would burst—not only in shame, but with sorrow. For this talk of progeny had nothing to do with her—not when she took the vows of St. Ann.

“You thwart my every effort,” Owen continued, pacing in front of her now, in his anger. “You lower yourself to the level of those villein, dressing like them, dirtying your hands with them. Why can you not observe and learn from your betters? Look at the queen, for example. Her Majesty is a woman above all others! She is kind and gracious, beautiful and refined. And Lady Marguerite…”

Siân bit her lower lip to keep it from trembling. She was powerless to stop the trail of tears coursing down her face, but she somehow managed to refrain from weeping openly. Owen was right, of course. Siân rarely ever thought of dire consequences before she acted, nor did she give much consideration to her clothes or the state of her hair.

As for dirtying her hands…Siân wasn’t afraid of hard work, nor could she see any dishonor in it. At home in Pwll, there’d been no elegant house or servants to take care of her. There’d been no one to tutor her in the fancy ways of the gentry, though she’d learned more than enough about aristocratic harshness from Edmund Sandborn, the arrogant Earl of Wrexton, whose English estates bordered Welsh lands near Pwll.

Years ago, Siân had sworn on the graves of two youthful Welsh friends that if she ever met up with Wrexton again, she’d somehow contrive to run a blade through his cruel, black heart.

Siân wondered what her brother would make of that.

“The lady’s hands were sullied in good cause, Tudor.”

Siân whirled, mortified, to see Hugh Dryden approaching from the vicinity of the chapel. Had he heard Owen’s scathing chastisement in its entirety?

“There is no shame in the help you’ve rendered today,” he added, taking one of Siân’s hands and raising the back of it to his lips. It was bad enough that he now knew what little regard her brother held for her…she could only hope the earl would not notice the quivering of her chin or the excessive moisture in her eyes.

“Get out of my sight,” Owen growled after Hugh had walked away. “And don’t return until you’ve made yourself presentable.”

Hugh Dryden sank down into his tub of hot water and sighed. Cupping his hands, he lifted water up and over his shoulders, down his powerful swordsman’s chest. As his tight, brown nipples beaded, droplets of water stuck in the thick dark hair that matted his chest.

“That’s a nasty-looking slice on your arm,” Nicholas said, making himself at home on Hugh’s bed while Hugh soaked his aching muscles. “Bet it smarted when you got it.”

“I was too well occupied at the time to notice,” Hugh replied dryly, thinking of how his shoulder piece had become dislodged just before the Scot got in his lucky strike. It was a terrible wound—a deep slice through the muscle below his shoulder that had bled and crusted over, then bled again. He had some salve to put on it, but he wanted to get it clean first. When it healed, if it healed, the scar would be just one more to add to his already well-marked body.

“That’s your bad shoulder,” Nicholas said. “You should have it sewn.”

Hugh made hardly more than a grunt in response. He’d had enough needles pass through his skin to last a lifetime. Still, it was a deep, ugly gash, and that shoulder had already undergone punishment enough during his imprisonment.

“All went exceptionally well today,” Nick said. “You should press your suit to Lady Marguerite now, while your victory is fresh in her mind.”

Hugh refrained from comment, other than a weary, noncommittal grunt. He’d hardly given Lady Marguerite a passing thought, yet he could not rid himself of the image of Siân Tudor being dressed-down by her brother for helping out in the courtyard. Hugh doubted that she’d slept at all this past night, and looked as if sheer willpower alone kept her from shattering under her brother’s harsh and unnecessary words.

The man was an ass.

“There will be more suitors, Hugh,” Nicholas said, forcing Hugh’s thoughts back to the matter at hand. “You must make your proposal now.”

Wearily, Hugh picked up a thick bar of soap and began to wash, wincing as he worked to cleanse the wound in his arm.

“The queen said that Marguerite has received missives from two other noblemen.” Nicholas stood and began pacing irritably. “There was one from some southern earl, and another from a London dandy, Viscount Darly.”