His hands went to work retying the ties he’d been loosening moments before. The chausses hung loosely on his hips, and she couldn’t help but follow the trail of dark hair that disappeared beneath the edge of the leather at his waist. His stomach was as flat and hard as the rest of him, with tight bands of muscle layered across it.
“Joanna informed me of your request.”
His voice knocked her from her temporary stupor. Her eyes met his accusingly. “And you couldn’t spare me a moment of your time?”
His mouth tightened, and now she could see the hard lines etched on his face that she’d missed before. He looked tired and agitated—edgy in a way she’d never seen him before. “Nay, I decided to exercise a modicum of discretion for once. I am not fit company for aladyright now, Rosalin, and rather than say something out of temper, I thought it better to wait until that temper had cooled.”
She felt a little shiver of trepidation at the emphasis on the wordlady, understanding what kind of woman he might be fit for. Though everything about him boded forbidding and unassailable, she took a step toward him. “I was worried about you.”
Her concern barely registered. “As you can see, there was no cause. Your brother’s men declined to take the field against us.”
“Thank God.” She didn’t bother to hide her relief. “But it wasn’t Cliff’s men, it was my fian—” She stopped, seeing his darkening expression. “It was Sir Henry’s.”
His mouth tightened, his eyes burning hot into hers. “I do not wish to talk about this with you, Rosalin, but suffice it to say your brother was involved—unless there is another baron with a red stripe and blue-and-yellow check arms? I saw one of his men myself when we chased your betrothed back to Peebles.”
Rosalin’s eyes widened a little at his claim, but she pushed away the twinge of uncertainty. She shook her head. “Cliff might have been there, but he wouldn’t have had anything to do with this. He wouldn’t put me in that kind of danger.”
“But your betrothed would?”
She felt the heat rising to her cheeks. It felt disloyal to Sir Henry, but she had to make him understand. “Sir Henry is a great knight, but he is young, proud, and I think sometimes overly bold,” which sounded better than rash. “I suspect he acted out of worry for me and did not give thought to the consequences.” He seemed to consider her words, and she pressed on. “I did not break my word to you, Robbie. I wasn’t trying to leave.”
“Then why were you walking away with him?”
“I wasn’t walking away. He was dragging me. Could you not tell the difference?”
His frown told her he was remembering. “If you were being forced, why did you not shout for help?”
“Because I did not wish to see you kill him. I hoped to be able to convince him to let me go as soon as we were a short distance away. I did not count on the horse. The man was my friend. Can you not see the dilemma I faced? Would you have stopped to ask him questions before lifting your sword against him?”
His silence was answer enough.
It wasn’t right that she was forced to defend herself like this, and some of her anger started to break through. “I had just confessed my feelings to you. It might have meant nothing to you, but it meant something to me.”
“You are young, Rosalin. This will all seem very different once you return to England.”
She couldn’t believe he was trying to talk her out of how she felt. “I’m old enough to know my own feelings, and if you need proof I have six years of it. I never forgot you, and we’d met but for a few minutes. How do you imagine I will now? I love you, Robert Boyd, and if I had my wish we would never be apart.”
For one moment she thought her words had penetrated and that he might reach for her. But he held his hands rigid at his sides, clenching and unclenching. “You might get your wish,” he snarled. “For a while at least.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean your brother broke the truce, and I do not intend to let that go without a response.”
Her calm, rational approach fell by the wayside. She rushed toward him and placed her hand on his arm. “No! You can’t do that! Have you not heard what I said? Cliff didn’t do this, and if you retaliate with a raid or exact some sort of other vengeance against him there will be no chance.”
He looked down at her, the handsome lines of his face drawn taut. He grabbed her by the shoulders, as if to keep her back. “No chance for what?”
Tears blurred her eyes; her throat burned. She barely got the words out. “For us.”
Their faces were only inches apart, his looking down, hers tilted back. He’d shaved, but the shadow of a beard already darkened his jaw. His chest seemed to radiate heat and the faint hint of pine-scented soap. Her desire for him reached up and grabbed her by the throat, squeezing.
She was not the only one affected. Robbie seemed pulled as tight as a bowstring, the steely muscles in his body flexed and taut. “Thereisno ‘us.’”
She quirked a brow at him. Couldn’t he feel how closely he was holding her? Her breasts were crushed against his chest and her hips were wedged solidly against his. “Then what is this, Robbie? Tell me why you are so angry if this means nothing. Tell me why your heart is racing as fast as mine. Tell me why you are fighting so hard for control.”
“You know why, damn it.”
“Aye, you want to—how did you so eloquently put it? Fuck me so badly you can’t see straight. As I recall, I offered that to you as well, and you refused.”
