Page 54 of A Second Chance for Carys
They were now standing in front of one another, their bodies almost touching. Carys wanted to throw herself against James’ chest and melt into his arms but he seemed strangely reluctant to hold her.
Her heart broke. She had been so certain they could finally be together now that he was assured to live!
“Why aren’t you taking me in your arms?” she whispered when it became impossible to ignore the need to feel that he was here, safe, alive. “What does a woman have to do to earn a kiss from you? I would have thought that saving your sorry hide might be enough, but apparently it?—”
He stopped her with a finger on her cheek.
“Carys, please. I…” He gestured at himself, at his blood-crusted clothes, his jaw covered with a black shadow, his filthy hands. “I would like nothing more than to kiss you right now but I cannot. Look at me.”
“Iamlooking at you. And I want you to kiss me, so desperately. I don’t care about the blood, or the dirt, except for wishing you had never endured all you had to endure,” shefinished in a sob. “I thought for a moment that I would lose you, and it almost?—”
This time he stopped her with the fiercest kiss she had ever received, hot, decadent, utterly delicious. The kiss she had dreamed about for weeks.
“James.” She ground herself against him and had the satisfaction of feeling him hard against her stomach. Say what he might about the state of him, she could have made love to him right here, right now, just to prove to herself that she had succeeded in her mission. But unfortunately, it wasn’t an option. “No, we can’t,” she forced herself to say.
“Of course, we can’t,” he said in between feverish kisses. “Not here, in a filthy dungeon. Not now, when I smell worse than the castle midden. When I do take you, it will be in my feathered bed, not on moldy straw. When I cover your body with mine, I will be clean, not covered in God knows what filth. When I hear your moans of pleasure, I will enjoy them without having to worry about who might hear us.”
Oh, was he trying to make her mad, talking about what he intended to do while saying they could not lie together?
“I mean that you have to leave,” she said against his lips. She had promised the earl that James would not see the king, but that was not the reason why she needed him out of Sheridan Manor. She didn’t trust the man as far as she could spit and would take her own precautions. “Dawn is nearing and the king is due to arrive today. You need to be out of the way when he does, in case one of the earl’s men goes to him to tell him that you almost killed his nephew. I cannot risk having you captured again. You won’t escape retribution a second time.”
He stilled against her. “Yes. You’re right.”
“Hide in the village. We will send word to you when the king’s retinue is gone and you can safely come back. Now, let’s go. I don’t want to be caught because we lingered too long.”
“No.”
After one last kiss, he followed her to the wooden ladder leading up to the trap door. For more discretion, they extinguished the torch before ascending and Carys went out first. She didn’t trust the earl not to have posted guards to intercept them, despite his promise not to do so. When she saw no one, she called out to James that it was safe to come out.
Once out in the bailey she watched him take in deep gulps of fresh, flower-scented air. Her heart squeezed in compassion. How sweet it would taste to a man who’d spent a whole day and night in a dungeon, and thought he was about to die. She, too, felt as if she had been given her life back.
But they had to hurry. Dawn was not far. Over the horizon, they could already distinguish the pikes of the forest at the top of the hill.
“Go find Mistress Ivy,” she told him urgently. “Tell her what happened. I’m sure she will help?—”
“Don’t worry about me. Now I’m out of that hell hole, I’ll be just fine.” James drew her into the shadow of the keep when the moon appeared from behind a cloud, illuminating them, and then took her into his arms. “Thank you, Carys. I have no idea how to repay you for what you did.”
“One or two ideas come to mind.” She had the satisfaction of hearing him growl in her ear. Apparently, he’d had the same ideas.
“And so I’m leaving. Again.” He sighed, his forehead against hers. “Will you wait for me? Again?”
“Yes, I will wait for you. Again. And always.”
Chapter Fifteen
Five days later, James was back.
It had been the longest five days in Carys’ life. The king had lingered for longer than she had expected, testing everyone’s temper with his boasts about his victories in battle and her patience by declaring his brave men should get a well-deserved rest while they were being offered such lavish hospitality. No one in the retinue caught the merest glimpse of Branwen during their stay, since she stayed in her rooms, as promised. Matthew had told his guests on the day of their arrival that his wife was not to tax herself at this time.
“I’m afraid you will have to contend with me alone,” he said as soon as the refreshments had been served. His tone brooked no argument. “Branwen is heavy with child and having a hard time of it all.”
“Of course,” the king soothed with more understanding than Carys had expected. Perhaps, having had more than a dozen children with Queen Eleanor, his wife who’d died almost a decade ago, he knew all about the issues women with child faced. “By all means, let her get the rest she needs.”
At least there had been a small consolation. The Earl of Lancaster had left Sheridan Manor as soon as his uncle hadarrived, offering the weakest of excuses. It seemed he wasn’t sure his host would not come to stab him in the night to avenge his wife, and perhaps he was right to fear such an eventuality. The look Matthew had thrown him when they had met after the assault had chilled Carys to the marrow. It was clear he cared not about what arrangements had been made and would seize the first opportunity to make him pay for what he had done to Branwen. In the earl’s place, she would have fled as well.
They were well rid of the foul man.
After four excruciatingly long days, the king took his leave. Once the retinue was gone, Matthew decided to wait for another day before calling James back, just to be on the safe side. Then he sent William, the little page to the village to get him.
