Page 60 of Saxon Blade Norman Blood
He was dragged to an empty room where he spent a long while swearing out loud at his own stupidity. Once again, he’d been betrayed by a woman, a woman who had seduced him. He had sworn it would never happen, yet there he was, ten years later, no wiser than he had been in his youth—and about to be killed for the privilege.
His thoughts went to the Saxon girl. Here he was, tied up to a wall in a damp cellar while she waited for him in his bed, warm and ready for his touch. The longing for her was acute, painful. Had he not been foolish enough to believe Cwenhild’s claim she was with child, he would be in her arms right now, kissing her all over, making her his, begging her to stay and make his life complete.
The ropes cut into his wrists, but the physical discomfort was nothing compared to the mental anguish. What would the girl think of his desertion? Would she even find out what had happened to him?
After a whole night spent waiting in vain, she would disappear in the morning, he knew. She would think herself rejected and the humiliation would be too much to bear. He swore if he got out of this alive, he would find her, wherever she was, and beg for her forgiveness.
What a fool he’d been… He should have acted on his desire for her days ago, told her what she had come to mean to him, he should have seen that she was ready for him. To think he would die on the same day she had finally agreed to make loveto him, when he thought he had a chance of winning her over. Another series of curses escaped his lips.
If only he’d asked her to teach him her language. It might have saved his life right now. How pathetic this all was… He had sworn years ago never to be manipulated by a woman again, and here he was, the victim of Cwenhild’s machinations.
He had been caught and, this time, there would be no escape.
*
When Rowena entered the great hall, she was surprised to find Alfred pacing around the fire pit. William had told her once he liked to conduct important business at the break of dawn. It seemed he was not exaggerating. Had she not tossed and turned in bed all night waiting for him, she would never have been awake at this hour.
But she had been unable to sleep after his desertion.
At dusk last night, she had retired to his bedchamber and lain under the fur covers to wait for him, as he’d asked. Her heart had been drumming wildly in her chest at the thought of what was going to happen. Would she manage to overcome her fears when he drew her into his arms? She desperately wanted to see that she was not damaged beyond hope, desperately wanted to taste his kiss, his caresses again, and welcome him inside her body. Was she ready for such a momentous step? She wasn’t sure but she wanted to try, and give them a chance to be more than captor and prisoner.
In the end, she never found out what she was capable of.
William had not come.
Dejected, Rowena had lain in bed awake all night, fighting tears of disillusion. For the first time since their meeting, he had not come to her. He had been there without fail when it had been about guarding her, but to make love to her, he had not deigned bestir himself.
The notion tore cruelly at her heart. It seemed he did not want her after all, at least not enough to honor his promise. Why then had he asked her to wait for him? Why had he kissed her with such passion? She had no idea.
She turned her attention back to the present, and the man standing in front of her. “Good morning,”
Of all the Saxon lords she had met, Alfred was by far the most personable. “Good morning. I am here to see Lord William.”
“So I had gathered,” she murmured. “But I’m afraid I don’t know where he is. He did not sleep here last night.”
Nothing in Alfred’s demeanor betrayed any reaction, but this admission must have made him uncomfortable. Though she had officially been introduced to him as an interpreter, she knew that he, like everyone else, was convinced she was William’s mistress as well. And now, she had all but complained that her lover had slept with another woman.
No wonder he was embarrassed.
The thought had crossed her mind many times during the night that William had indeed gone to see someone else, despite his promise to come to her. Rowena was still unsure whether she would have mastered her fear of lovemaking, but she was certain she would have tried her best to overcome it. If one man was capable of making her forget her anxiety, it was William. After he had kissed her and touched her in that mind-blowing way of his, she would have asked him not to stop until he had possessed her completely, because she trusted him.
At least she had trusted him, until he’d abandoned her without so much as a word of apology.
She offered Alfred a glass of small ale, feeling absurdly like a host. How had she, a Saxon girl, ended up receiving guests in a Norman castle, dressed in a gown of the finest linen? She should have felt out of her depth, but her gestures were elegant,her demeanor assured. Alfred, at least, didn’t think it odd that she should act as mistress of the place. Briefly, she toyed with the idea of telling him she was here only because she had tried to kill William, just to see the look on his face.
She stayed silent.
“I am most surprised at Lord William’s defection,” Alfred said, accepting the tankard she was holding out to him. “He is not a man likely to forget an appointment. I have always considered him reliable and trustworthy.”
“Yes.” She gritted her teeth. She had been thinking precisely the same thing, though for very different reasons.
Just then a messenger irrupted into the room.
“A message from Elfrid the Bold. He came to find you at home, but you had just left. You are to go to Faldon immediately. The local lords are condemning William de la Falaise for the murder of Ecberg. He killed him last night.”
Thunder fell at Rowena’s feet. “What?”
“I do not know much more, only that Elfrid wants you there to witness the trial. They are all waiting for you.”
