“Feel better?”she smirked.
He turned away, too sickened to look at her, and headed for the door, not knowing where he was going, but knowing he couldn’t stay here any longer.
“Christien returned the papers.”
Giselle’s words stilled his hand on the knob.He turned back to her.She was leaning against the wall, her white robe gaping open to reveal the valley between perfect breasts and the long length of one leg.
She blinked slowly, her eyelids heavy.No doubt she was still immersed in the aftermath of orgasmic sex.She would still be pulsing inside.The thought aroused him again, but he ignored it.She would want him to come to her while they spoke of Madelaine and he refused to.
“And?”
She shrugged.The silk slithered down one creamy shoulder.His mouth watered for more of her, but he viciously restrained the impulse.No matter how hard he tried to stop it, she was like a drug to him, a craving he couldn’t deny.
“She retrieved the papers and returned them to me.”She pushed away from the wall and sauntered over to the couch where she sat in the corner, one leg stretching the length of it.Half the robe draped to the floor and Giselle shifted, hiding her womanhood from him with a knowing smile.
“Do you have them?”He dragged his gaze from the closely shaved curls she’d blocked from his view.He was curious as to what Chevalier’s response was.He hadn’t tried hiding the fact that the papers were a scam to get Madelaine into Chevalier’s club.Lucheux tried to picture a confused Chevalier but the image wouldn’t come.He’d never seen the man anything but confident.Damn him.
“I left them at the office.”Her smile told him she knew of her power over him and gloried in it.His anger flared, but he tamped down on it.Their relationship defied convention and time.They were tied to each other in ways the average person wouldn’t understand and while he hated it, he also knew it was necessary.If he had known of this abnormal connection all those years ago, would he have agreed to become what he was?
He strode to the windows to stare out at a darkened Milwaukee.Behind him, he could practically feel Giselle’s bottled fury, the burning hatred for Madelaine she carried with her.It hadn’t been a pretty scene when he told Giselle to hire Madelaine, but he’d won in the end.
He pushed thoughts of Giselle out of his mind and concentrated on the plan he’d devised after seeing Madelaine Alexander’s picture in her hometown newspaper.The article describing the girl who fought off the government and lost had intrigued him.But the accompanying photo of the Countess of Flandres come back to life had possessed him.Immediately he knew she would be a powerful lure Chevalier wouldn’t be able to resist.As Giselle was to him, Madelaine would be to Christien.
She would be his downfall.
She hurt all over, especially between her legs where her husband abused her the worst.But the pain didn’t stop her from making her way to the keep the next morning to watch the knight and his men prepare to ride out.She kept close to the shadows of the castle, away from her husband’s men and the prying eyes of the meddlesome servants.
The knight was in deep discussion with his squire.His face was earnest, touched with the rays of the sun.Her heart twisted at the thought of him leaving.Such a strange reaction considering they met only once and only for a few moments.Especially strange considering the horrible punishment she’d endured for speaking with him.She shouldn’t want him to stay.He was a temptation she could ill afford, but a temptation nonetheless.He was comely to look at it but ’twas more than that.’Twas the quiet strength beneath the enigmatic eyes.A strength she sensed he used for good rather than evil like her husband.
He laughed at something one of the men said and it startled her.’Twas very rare to hear laughter inside these walls, and if her husband were around he would surely reprimand the knight.Nonetheless, he had a beautiful laugh, rich and full.She wished she could laugh with him, to share in the tale and feel happy.
As if sensing her perusal, he lifted his head, searching the area until their gazes locked.Instinctively she cringed against the rough stone of the castle wall, praying he wouldn’t approach.It was all well and good for her to look at him, but to speak to him would heap more punishment upon her and she wasn’t sure her body could endure more.
He made his way toward her, side-stepping the activity of the keep without looking away from her.Lord help her, she couldn’t look away either.
He stood before her and she was gazing up at him, his tall frame blocking everything.Everything but him.The words whispered through her head.Everything but him.
Guilt dug its cruel fingers into her consciousness.A married woman should not look at another man, especially the way she knew she was looking at him.
He touched her hair and she realized she had forgotten her veil.Another indiscretion she would be punished for.Curiously, she didn’t care.When he was near it was almost worth the retribution.
“How are you this fine evening, madame?”
“I am well, Sir Knight, and yourself?”Had her husband ever asked in such a way that indicated he cared what she felt?
A small smile touched his beautiful mouth and she found herself raising her hand to those lips.Luckily, she checked herself and folded her fingers in the pleats of her gown instead.
“We leave tonight.”
Was there regret in his voice or was she hearing her own regret?“I know.”
He touched her hair again, as if he couldn’t stop himself.“I would have your name, Countess.So I may remember and think of you on the battlefield.”
“Madelaine,” she whispered, with little thought of consequences.“My name is Madelaine.”
“Madelaine.A beautiful name for a beautiful woman.”
She shrugged the daring compliment away while inside she gloried in it.Before her marriage she’d heard everything a man could say to woo a woman but these words, spoken by this man, warmed her in places that had been cold as of late.
