“Much.”
She refrained from grinning, but she could not stay angry with him when he was like this. She would never have imagined there was a playful man inside the churlish giant, but she was coming to appreciate that there was. She was also like to become addicted to the amorous side of him, but that was her problem. While it lasted, she meant to take advantage of it—but not just now.
Before the nibbling he was doing at her neck made her forget again, she blurted out, “Ranulf, this must wait.”
“Not unless the keep is burning down, lady.”
He did not stop nuzzling her, and now that he was no longer afeard to caress her, his hands were quite busy, too. “Ranulf, I came to tell you…there is someone below you should…ought to… Ranulf!” She gasped as he latched onto her earlobe. “It can wait,” she decided, then in the next breath, with a sigh, “Nay, it cannot. Ranulf, ’tis your father.”
He became very still, but after a moment, slowly leaned back to look down at her. “My what?”
“Your father is below and has asked to see you.” Surprise was there, and for a fleeting second something akin to gladness, though Reina could not be certain. But whatever these first reactions were, they were quickly masked by a much darker emotion, one she had seen that day he told her about his father.
He got up from the bed, she thought to dress. Not so. He began to pace, or more like prowl as a restless animal would. The bedrobe she had made for such times lay ignored atop his coffer. She did not care much at the moment. So he was a man of little modesty, and the robe was apt to never get any use. He was magnificent to watch. Such raw masculinity brought a response to her body that was wholly primitive, making her wish she had kept her mouth shut.
But ’twas too late for that, and although she hated to interrupt his prowling, she still had to ask, “Will you see him?”
“How the devil did he find out so soon?”
Reina had the feeling he was not speaking to her at all, that he had not heard her question. Still, she answered, “If you mean about our wedding, he did not know, leastwise not until I made mention of it.”
That got his attention right quickly. “You told—then why is he here?”
“’Tis no great mystery, Ranulf. His baggage wain broke down in passing. Otherwise, he would not even have stopped at Clydon. Gilbert brought him to me and—”
“And you guessed who he was,” he finished in disgust.
“Guessed?Jesú, there was no guessing to it. You did not tell me he was so young, or that you are a near exact copy of him.”
“Think you I am pleased by such close resemblance? You cannot imagine how many times I have been mistaken for him by acquaintances who have not seen him for long. There were even a few who refused to believe I was not him. Know you what it is like to be taken for a man you…”
He would not complete the thought, so she did it for him. “Despise? Do you really?”
That got her a scowl instead of an answer. “What does he want, lady?”
“To congratulate you, mayhap?” The scowl darkened. “Well, how should I know?” she added testily. “Why not go down and ask him?”
“Bite your tongue, woman!”
She blinked; then her lips curled the tiniest bit. She had heard him speak just so to Walter, and knew it to be more an endearment than an expression of anger. She might be the recipient of his roars, but not of his temper, leastwise not yet.
“Then you will not see him?”
“Nay, I will not,” he growled.
“That is too bad,” she replied lightly, as if the matter were settled. “I was hoping to learn how he could know so much about you.”
“What do you mean?”
“Somewhere along the way you must have given him reason to be proud to call you son. I cannot imagine how…”
“Reina—”
“I was only jesting!” she cried when he started toward her. She scrambled off the bed and moved toward the door before adding, “But you should have heard him singing your praises when he thought I had bought your services. I suppose he wanted to assure me that I would be getting my money’s worth. ’Twas a pleasure to correct his mistake. I must confess, however, that I was terribly ungracious at first. I know not what came over me. But you will be glad to know he is as thick-skinned as you are when it comes to insults. He simply would not take offense.”
“Through no fault of your own, I am sure, since you are so good at going for the jugular.”
She smiled inwardly, aware that he had himself just taken exception to her remark. Still, she stepped closer to the door ere she made her final confession.
