She put her hands on his broad shoulders and pulled him closer.Their tongues brushed together and Lainie gasped at the unexpected need racing through her.
This is where you should be.This is the way it should be between us.
He pulled away.Something passed through his eyes, something desperate and sad.A grief so sharp it pierced her soul to find an answering grief.
Christien looked away and swallowed.“Stay.”His voice was rough, but not harsh.
“I will.”
He touched her face and the key at her throat.“Promise?”
“Promise.”
He left her sitting on the couch alone in his apartment with the certain knowledge that she’d been right.
That kiss changed everything.
Christien clenched his fists and leaned against the wall of the elevator.He’d been balancing on the razor edge of control ever since he brought Madelaine to his living quarters.Who was he kidding?Since she walked into his club Thursday night he’d been off balance.
The brush of her body, the small sound she made in the back of her throat, her hands on his shoulders urging him forward had nearly tipped him over that edge.Instantly he’d been rock hard and he fought the compulsion to tumble her back on the couch and touch every part of her luscious body, to drive into her and spill his seed until he was a dry husk, spent.And then to do it all over again because once would never be enough with Madelaine.
He groaned and rolled his head against the wall in a combination of misery and fiery need that wouldn’t release its hold.Everything, from the smallest red blood cell in his veins to the tip of his throbbing erection, yearned for Madelaine.
He had to control himself or he’d stride back in there to finish what he started, even if it was the worst mistake he could make.She was confused and frightened and to top it off she’d been lying.
When she pressed her body against his on the River Walk, he felt her shaking, felt the fear coming off her in waves.Yet he didn’t trust it.Didn’t trusther.She claimed an asthma attack but she couldn’t look him in the eyes when she said it.
Was this another ruse to get them together?Had Lucheux put her up to this?His body clenched in barely suppressed anger and he pounded a fist against the wall of the elevator.What the hell was going on?What was Lucheux up to?
He didn’t want to think Madelaine was involved, but until he was sure, he would be on guard.Damn his traitorous body.When she touched her throat and the fear clouded her eyes, he had no choice but to go to her and comfort her.Either she was a very good actress, or she was truly afraid.He was betting on the latter because he saw right through her pitiful lies and she hadn’t been lying about being afraid.
He should put a man on his door to be sure Madelaine stayed safe inside his club but that would frighten her more and raise questions he didn’t want to answer.
He had to play this in a way that kept her from questioning his motives and yet also kept her safe.How the hell he was going to do that, he didn’t know.
His phone buzzed again.Sabine wondering where he was.He punched the button for the club level and forced his body to cool down, cursing the ill-timed interruption.He had the impression Madelaine was on the verge of telling him something important, something she was struggling with.Was the guilt eating at her?Did she want to tell him what Lucheux’s motives were?Did she even know?
What if it was none of the above?What if she was nothing but a look-alike caught in circumstances she knew nothing about?If this were the case, Christien vowed he would protect her with everything at his disposal.He would not allow an innocent person to be dragged into this war.But first he had to prove she was innocent.
Chapter Six
France, 1307
Madelaine sat on the garden bench and gave in to the tears she’d been holding back.She wrapped her arms around her middle and rocked forward, her sobs so deep it hurt to cry.
The sun had just gone down, vespers was finished, supper complete.The knights filed out of the hall for a final check of their horses and equipment before sleep.She was alone in the silent, shadow-ridden garden and glad of it.She was weary of the trailing gaze of her husband, always suspicious, always present.Weary of having to be constantly alert to Lucien’s presence and dodging his watchful eye and knowing smirk.
’Twas coming to the point she feared Lucien almost more than her husband.
If either of them caught her in the garden… She shuddered to think what would happen.Lucien might very well follow through with the silent threats that were becoming more and more frequent.Her husband would beat her and enjoy it.But she had nowhere else to go.No solitude to be had.
A heavy hand pressed against her shoulder and she leaped up, a scream on her lips.Quickly the hand covered her mouth.“Shhh, Madelaine.It is I.”
Her eyes widened.Surely not.Surely it wasn’t the knight who’d haunted her dreams for these past months.Her heart soared in hope and wonder.A day hadn’t gone by that she hadn’t thought of him, hadn’t relived his generous laugh or the lips that pressed against her knuckles.
He dropped his hand and stepped into a patch of moonlight.Madelaine sucked in her breath.’Twas him.Christien.Her heart skipped a beat in joy and she quickly suppressed the smile threatening to break free.Anxiously she looked around.It was wrong for them to be alone in a moonlit garden.If they were discovered it was in her husband’s right to punish both of them.
“No one is about,” he said.“I have checked.”
