Alyx, sitting by the tub, reached up and grabbed Raine’s hand. He wore only a loincloth now. To think that he had risked his life for her.
“Alyx,” he said softly, kneeling before her. “Don’t you realize yet that I love you? Of course I’d come for you.”
She tried to show him, with her hands and expressions, how she’d worried about Pagnell harming him.
“What?” Raine said, standing. “You thought I didn’t know about the trap?” He was obviously insulted. “You thought some mosquito like Pagnell could maneuver a Montgomery into his clutches?”
With a swift gesture, he tore off the loincloth and stepped into the tub. “The day a bit of filth like that—Alyx, you didn’treallybelieve that Pagnell—?”
She threw up her hands, bowing before him with mock humility.
“Well, perhaps you should be forgiven. You don’t know what the man is like. Maybe to you all noblemen are alike.”
Now she was the one insulted. By “you” he meant people of her class, lowlings who believed in witches and the goodness of the King, who thought the trials were honest and fair and other stupid things. She slammed her fist into the water, splashing it into Raine’s face.
He grabbed her wrist. “Now what was that for? Here I’ve forgiven you for leaving me, saved your skin from a fire and married you and you aren’t even grateful.”
Oh how very, very much she wished she could talk. She’d tell him in a voice that’d pin his ears back that she left him to keep him safe from the King’s wrath and she was facing being burned because she carriedhischild. As for marrying her, he’d no doubt done it out of his stupid sense of honor.
“I don’t like what you’re thinking,” he said, pulling her closer to him. “Gavin laughed at me when I said you’d be grateful for what I’d done. He said women never reacted the way they should, I mean with logic. Now what have I done?”
She’d doubled her fist and threatened to smack him in the nose.
“Alyx, you really are trying my patience. Don’t you have even one kind thought for me? I’ve been through an awful couple of days. I had to scale that tower wall at night, kill the guard on the roof and put on his armor, all so quietly the other man wouldn’t hear me.”
As he held both her wrists, she could feel herself melting. No matter that it was his fault that she was facing being burned; he had risked a great deal to rescue her.
“Aren’t you pleased with me just a little?” he murmured against her lips. “Aren’t you just a little bit glad to be married to me?”
As Alyx felt her body dissolving, disappearing under his strong will, she wasn’t aware of how he was pulling her across the tub. With a great loud splash, he pulled her onto his lap, water sloshing over the sides.
“Now I have you,” he laughed as she tried to sit up. “Now I’ll make you pay for your lack of gratitude.” He laughed again as Alyx tried to protest, her voice croaking, but as he began to kiss her, she forgot about speaking.
Chapter Fifteen
ALYX’S ARMS WENTabout Raine’s neck and all thoughts of anger were gone. It had been so long since she’d seen him, and her hunger for him was overwhelming. Eagerly, she pulled him closer to her, her mouth clinging to his, her tongue invading his mouth, seeking as much of him as she could reach.
“Alyx,” he whispered into her hair, and there were tears in his voice. “I saw you as I went up the wall, sitting alone in that tower room, crying softly, so little, so sad. Right then I wanted to kill all the guards, but I knew I couldn’t rely on the men from the forest to help me. If my brothers had been free, I would have tried it, but I wouldn’t risk injuring you.”
Her head came up at the mention of brothers. Elizabeth!
“What is it, Alyx? What’s wrong?”
She tried to get out the word “Elizabeth,” but it was unintelligible. After several more attempts she managed to say “Miles.”
“Did you meet my little brother? No, you couldn’t have. He’s been on the Isle of Wight. After Mary... died, Miles nearly went crazy and Gavin persuaded him to go visit Uncle Simon. He left the Isle a few weeks ago.”
Raine was puzzled at Alyx’s vigorous shaking of her head. Miles, she kept mouthing. “Has something happened to Miles? Is he in danger?”
Alyx nodded yes, and before she had made one more nod, Raine was out of the tub, Alyx under his arm. Hastily, he set her down, wrapped a cloak around her and pulled on his loincloth. “We’ll go see Gavin and you can write what you have to say.”
Alyx’s face was red the instant they left their room. She wore only a wet sheath under the cloak while Raine wore practically nothing as he pulled her through the holy monastery. They found Gavin in the stables.
“You aren’t ready to ride so soon, are you, brother?” he teased. “Surely your bride deserves some attention.”
Raine ignored his jibe. “Alyx says Miles is in trouble. She’ll write for you what’s happened.”
Gavin’s face immediately turned serious. “Come to the monk’s study.”
