Page 44 of My Warrior
Although it vexed him, he spoke calmly. “Cambria, I’m a man of honor. I intend to keep our agreement. There’s no need to wear chain mail in our bed.”
She bit her lip in humiliated disgust. “Malcolm is angry with me. He refused to help me disarm, and I can’t find a squire”—she hiccoughed—“sober enough to do it properly.”
He bit his cheek to hide a smile. Damn, she was an engaging sprite. He came toward her, past the popping fire.
“How did you manage to put it on?” he asked.
“I told the squire I would wear my chain mail or nothing.”
He smiled devilishly. “Well, I wish I’d stolen your armor then.”
He was sure she wouldn’t have gasped so loudly had she not been so drunk.
“Perhaps Ishouldlet you sleep in your armor,” he said with mock severity. “It would be a fitting punishment for your appearance at our wedding today.”
He could see that Cambria wasn’t certain whether or not he was jesting, but she sat as straight as a lance, determined to retain her dignity despite her tipsy state.
Finally, chuckling easily, he caught her arm and began unfastening the rivets holding the armor plate together.
“I haven’t performed squire’s services since I was a lad,” he confided, “and I’ve never performed them for a woman.”
Piece by piece, he stripped the armor from her shoulders, elbows, knees.
Cambria had never felt so relaxed in her life. But then she’d never been so drunk before. As the Englishman unbuckled her plate, she grew keenly aware of his proximity.
She sighed. Everything about Holden exuded masculinity, and yet his touch was as gentle as fleece upon her. His eyes, intent on their task, were a clearer green than she’d remembered. Even the smell of his hair was heavenly. She inclined toward him and breathed deep the dizzying scent. Faith, the wine seemed to have sapped her strength. She could scarcely move. It seemed perfectly natural that he should be undressing her.
Holden was not unaware of the effect he was having on his bride. She was dangerously appealing as she leaned wantonly against him, her eyes heavy-lidded from drink and arousal, but he was determined to adhere to the letter of their agreement. He would make her surrender her heart before he claimed her body.
Finishing with the hauberk and gambeson, he left her to take off her own undergarments beneath the fur coverlet. There was no point in prolonging his agony, after all.
At last, fully cognizant of her curious eyes upon him, he undressed slowly in the golden light.
Cambria was familiar enough with his body. She’d changed his bandages numerous times. But that had been when he was wounded and helpless. He was far from helpless now. His skin seemed to glow with virility. She turned away when he removed his undergarments, and, although it should have come as no surprise, she was shocked when he suddenly climbed in beside her.
He spoke then, and his warm breath teased her ear, the deep tone calling to primitive urges within her. “Don’t be afraid, Cambria. I keep my promises. I won’t take you against your will.” He brushed a lock of hair back from her cheek, and she shivered. “I ask only one thing of you tonight.”
“Aye?” she whispered, amazed at the huskiness of her voice.
“A kiss.”
It was little to ask, she knew, a simple wifely courtesy. Yet she feared it would be her undoing. The warrior in her told her to refuse his touch. But the woman wanted it beyond reason. Before a battle between the two could begin, she closed her eyes and lifted her lips for his kiss.
A long, silent moment passed. When she opened her eyes again, Holden was staring down at her with a queer half-smile.
“Nay, love,” he admonished. “Iwould have a kiss fromyou.”
The idea of bestowing a kiss upon a near stranger herself was unthinkable. She’d given her father or Malcolm an occasional peck on the cheek, but a lover’s kiss? She hardly knew how to begin. Still, he was gazing at her with those deep emerald eyes, waiting expectantly. She wondered how it would feel to kiss those curving lips once more.
As he lay back on the pallet, his dark hair falling away from his tan, chiseled face, his sultry eyes never leaving hers, she surrendered to her curiosity. She leaned tentatively over him and pressed shy lips to his.
Holden responded tenderly, drawing her lips subtly between his, carefully controlling her level of arousal. The instant he felt her breathing quicken, he drew back, albeit with great effort on his part, and left her searching for more. There was an ill-concealed expression of longing on her face, one that mirrored his own yearning. But instead of sating her appetite, he only gave her a sweet smile. Ignoring his own hunger as well, he turned away from her to seek sleep.
It was a long while before Cambria could close her eyes. She felt as prickly as a hedgehog. She fidgeted with the heavy silver band that looked so foreign upon her finger. This was the marriage she’d wanted, a political alliance, chaste and simple. But the reality was somehow empty, and it would be some time before she’d admit the reason for that emptiness.
CHAPTER 9
The predawn mist crept through the arched window and seeped into Cambria’s brain, summoning her without mercy to begin the day as usual, before the sun had even risen. Her mouth was as dry as dust, and her head throbbed. She pressed her fists hard to her temples and looked at the man slumbering in the dim light beside her.
