She stood behind him, yet he had never been more aware of her. The stroke of her fingers on his flesh had grown firmer, more insistent as she gained confidence. His body, bruised and battered, went limp. And still, that part that made him a man more than any other tightened with the desire that was never far away.
“Lily,” he gasped.
She stopped. “Did I hurt you?”
Radulf shook his head. “No.” Suddenly he moved, catching her about the waist with his good arm and tumbling her down into his lap.
Lily cried out breathlessly, turning wide eyes upon him when her hip brushed against the hard ridge of his manhood.
He stared down at her, his chest rising and falling heavily. Her clothing was damp, but he did not notice; instead he felt the soft body beneath her garments and experienced the full power of those stormy gray eyes.
“Do not think to distract me. What were you doing at St. Mary’s Chapel?” His tone was deceptively mild. When she didn’t answer he leaned his face closer to hers, his breath warm and redolent of the wine with which he had fortified himself, his eyes glittering with determination and fever.
Fever!
Lily sat up straighter, touching her hand to his cheek. He turned his head slightly, so that he could press his lips into the hollow of her palm.
Lily didn’t notice. She was thinking how very warm his skin was, and how it had that parched quality that speaks of fever.
“You are unwell.” She forced her voice to remain cool and firm, but her eyes betrayed her anxiety. “I will make you a soothing poultice for your shoulder and a drink that will help ease your fever. Let me up, Radulf.”
He shook his head slowly from side to side, dark gaze never leaving gray. “Not yet. Not until you give me a truthful answer.”
If Lily could have stamped her foot she would have, but her feet were dangling several inches above the floor. “You are ill, Radulf. Let me up!”
A smile twitched the corners of his mouth—even at such a time, he could find humor in the situation!
“It pleases me that you are concerned for my health, wife, but I want to know why you were out at night. And do not say you were at your prayers, because St. Mary’s Chapel is abandoned.
Come, Lily, what plot were you hatching? Tell me, before I become delirious.”
Her eyes grew big and she gave a gasp of distress. “How can you jest about such a thing?”
“I am not jesting.”
A moment longer she searched his eyes, and saw the implacability there. What was the use of lying to him? His imaginings were probably far worse than the truth—and she could tell him the truth in such a way as not to disclose the extent of her possessive feelings for him.
“I saw the letter.” Lily lifted her chin. “I needed to know what sort of man I had for my husband. Whether he would take a wife in name and then spend his seed elsewhere. I have been a sham sort of wife already and I did not like it.”
He went still, only his eyes moving as they searched her face. Whatever he found seemed to satisfy him, for at last he nodded tersely. “If you ever do such a thing again I will turn you over my knee and use my hand on you. Do you understand me, Lily?”
Lily had a sudden uncomfortable vision of her bare bottom beneath that broad, flat palm—
uncomfortable because it was not entirely disagreeable. She flicked him an angry glance. “As you say,” she murmured stiffly. “I won’t follow you again . . . unless I feel I must.”
Feel? thought Radulf. Why were women always following their feelings rather than their minds? Despite her cool gaze and proud demeanor, Lily was very much a woman, and her words softened his anger rather than adding fuel to it.
He forced a frown in case she might think he had forgiven her too easily. “You test me, wife. I will not spend each day worrying over whether you have decided to obey me. I ask your obedience for a reason. I need to know you are safe.”
Lily blinked. This was no heavy-handed husband demanding that his wife jump to his slightest command. This was a man who was concerned for her safety.
It made a big difference.
As if taking a step in a new and untried direction, Lily replied, “And I need to know you are safe.”
They gazed at each other in silence, hoping, and yet not daring to give voice to those hopes.
Then Radulf nodded and, as if the strength had suddenly gone out of him, gave a deep, heartfelt sigh.
