He regarded her for a moment. “I was not going to force you to leave, you know,” he said. “I did not plan to pick you up and carry you out. I would not do that to you, in any case.”
She was coming to appear more regretful. “I know,” she said. “This is not because I do not trust you.”
“Then what?”
Emelisse couldn’t tell him that it was because she didn’t trust herself. This whole situation was becoming very confusing, very quickly, and she was having a difficult time resolving it all in her own mind. A man she was so attracted to seemed to have increasing power over her, by her own fault.
“Please,” she begged softly. “It does not matter, but this is, in no way, a reflection on you. It is simply better this way. Now, did you require something?”
Caius stood there and looked up at her, fists on his narrow hips, wondering why on earth she should deny him entry to the keep. Their last interaction had been sweet and somewhat titillating. He’d kissed her hand and she’d looked at him as if shewanted more of it. The look on her face had spoken volumes to him.
And maybe that was the problem.
She was attracted to him, too.
That realization changed everything.
“I do,” he said frankly. “I require a moment of your time because I must speak with you. Something important has come up.”
“What is it?”
“I will not shout it for all to hear,” he said. “This is private business.”
She sighed, appearing indecisive. “There is no one about,” she said. “No one will hear you.”
He cocked a dark eyebrow. “You can come down here to speak to me, or let me into the keep to speak to you,” he said. “Or you can tell Marius when he arrives tomorrow and breaks the door down to get at you. What is your choice?”
Her eyes widened. “Marius is coming?”
“Put the ladder down and I will tell you everything.”
She did, all by herself. She told the lingering Hawkstone soldiers to go away and they did, vacating into the recesses of the keep while Caius climbed through the doorway. Emelisse was sitting there and he climbed off the ladder, ending up on his buttocks as he sat opposite her. In full armor, it was difficult, but he hung his big legs out of the doorway, down the side of the keep.
“Where is Marius?” Emelisse asked.
Caius could see how frightened she was. “He apparently arrived at Winterhold after we left this morning,” he said. “Thank God for small mercies because if you were still at Winterhold, you would more than likely already be Lady Marius de Wrenville.”
She closed her eyes tightly against the very idea. “Oh,” she breathed. “Praise the saints. God is indeed merciful. But is he coming here?”
Caius nodded. “Lady de Wrenville sent word that he is planning on arriving tomorrow morning with a priest,” she said. “He intends to make you his wife immediately.”
She stared at him, her eyes beginning to well. “I will not marry him,” she said tightly. “I will remain in this keep. I will die here if necessary.”
“That is an option,” Caius said drolly, eyeing her. “But you do not have to do anything drastic.”
She was starting to grow agitated. “What else is there?” she hissed. “Give me a crossbow. I will shoot him as he approaches the keep.”
Caius’ eyebrows lifted. “And give de Wrenville every reason to completely raze Hawkstone and kill every last man? Is that what you really want?”
She didn’t. She started to lose some of her fire, her tears beginning to spill over. “Of course not,” she said. “I just want them to leave us alone. Caius, do you think if I gave them The Roden Twins, they would leave us in peace? I am willing to give them the diamonds if they would just go away.”
The tears were trickling down her face faster than she could wipe them away and Caius watched her, feeling more pity than he’d ever felt for her. But he also felt something else; a distinct sense of possessiveness when he looked at her. He’d kill Marius himself before he let the man get his hands on her.
He didn’t know Emelisse well. It was impossible to know someone well after only knowing them for a day, but he trusted his instincts and they told him that she was everything he thought she was. And more.
She was worth fighting for.
“This has gone beyond money,” Caius said, trying to be gentle with her. “The possibility of diamonds or riches on your lands is only part of it. They want the property itself and you are the key. Covington and Marius are two greedy, ambitious men and they have made a grab for the nearest valuable property– yours. The only thing you could offer them now that they would take is yourself, and they would only view you as a possession and nothing more.”
