Jamie was done playing games. “You hurt her again, Pomeroy, and I swear you will not leave this room alive.”
Sir Guy must have sensed he meant it, for he began easing toward the door. One false move, and Jamie would have him.
“I don’t like being threatened, Rayburn,” he said. “No matter what tricks she does for you, she is not worth the trouble this will bring you.”
Linnet’s eyes were wild and her jaw set, a dangerous combination. Jamie hoped to God she would not do something stupid.
“You two, stand over there.” Pomeroy pointed with his chin to the wall farthest from the door. “Stay back and move slowly.”
Jamie nudged Martin. As they moved toward the far wall, Pomeroy and Linnet skirted the room in the opposite direction until they reached the door.
“She is a sorceress,” Pomeroy said, his eyes full of fire. “She has the power to call on demons and make men do as she wills.”
Jamie put his hands out, palms up, in a calming gesture. “Just let her go, Sir Guy.”
“I warn you, Rayburn,” Pomeroy said. “You shall not live if you interfere with my plans again.”
With a sudden move, Pomeroy shoved Linnet to the floor and fled out the door.
Jamie ran to Linnet, who lay in a heap on the floor before the door. Falling to his knees, he gathered her in his arms. She collapsed against his chest, shaking and weeping.
“My squire will stay here with you,” he said into her hair. “I shall return as soon as I can.”
“Nay, do not leave me,” she said, clinging to him.
“I cannot let that swine get away.” The blood was pounding in his veins. “I must go after him now.”
“Do not leave me,” she wailed. “Please, Jamie, do not go.” Every muscle screamed to run after Pomeroy and tear him limb from limb with his bare hands. But with Linnet weeping and clutching at his tunic, he could not leave her. He sighed and wrapped his arms more tightly around her.
“I will do it,” Martin said with one hand on the door. “Halt!” Jamie was not about to let his new squire get killed going after Pomeroy alone. “I will deal with him later. Go find her brother Francois. Tell him I have his sister and that she is safe.”
As soon as the door closed behind Martin, Jamie reached up and slid the bar across. He wanted no more surprises.
Linnet’s body shook with sobs as he enfolded her in his arms again. “ ’Tis all right now. I am here.”
As he rubbed her back, the silken strands of her hair fell over his hands. It smelled of citrus and spring, just as he remembered.
“Promise you will not go,” she said, her breath hot against his neck.
Linnet never admitted to needing anyone. Never begged him to stay, even when he left Paris. She was always so strong. He’d never seen her like this.
And it undid him.
When she acted strident and independent, he could resist her. When she was angry, as she had been at Eltham, he could keep his distance. But seeing her vulnerable like this broke down every barrier he had.
Before he knew what he was doing, he was holding her lovely face in his hands and kissing her forehead, her cheeks, her eyelids…
And then, at long last, his mouth was on hers. Outside the window, the wind blew harder and the rain pounded against the ground, echoing the thundering of his heart as he gave himself to long, deep kisses.
Kissing Linnet felt as it always had: both a familiar coming-home and wildly erotic. It was as if nothing had ever changed.
He broke away to bury his face in her neck and breathe her in. The smell of her skin filled him… and he was a lost man.
Five years of trying to forget her, gone in one breath. Every woman he had touched to wipe away her memory was forgotten. There was no one for him but her. There never had been. There never would be.
He kissed her again. Though her face was still damp with tears, she kissed him back with a fierceness that sent his blood thundering in his ears and pulsing through every part of him. Her fingers grazed the bare skin of his belly beneath his loosened shirt. He gasped as the surge of lust nearly blinded him.
They fell to the floor, tearing at each other’s clothes, seeking the skin beneath. Her throat, her breasts, her thighs, her jaw. Every part of her was both familiar and a rediscovery. He reveled in the smell of her hair, the exquisite line of her throat, the perfect breasts that filled his hands. He had to have her, to own her, to make her his again.
