Echo of Roses, page 20
Did she just purr? She couldn’t wait to straddle him. Coy was not in her twenty-first century vocabulary. She flung her leg over him and let him impale her.
He cried out and lifted his hips, taking her deeper, almost tossing her off. But she wouldn’t let go. She felt small in his arms and lifted herself off him then back down until he had her gyrating like a flame atop him, her cries echoing through the cavern.
They rested but not for long as the water, without the sun on it, was cold and they soon began to shiver.
She let him clean her, rubbing her and licking her swollen lips.
“We need to find a priest,” he ground out. “I want you in my bed tonight.”
Kes wanted to be there as well. She loved being at Walter’s, but she was ready to go back to Scarborough. Two hours ago, she wanted time for both of them to think about what they were doing. Now, they’d done it and she thought about it enough. She wanted to be with Nicholas.
When they were done dressing, she put her arms around his neck and looked into his eyes. “I never thought I’d find anybody like you. I’d become caustic when it came to men and cynical of love. Everything is so complicated in that century. But not you. Oh, I’m sure even here, you’re still a rare kind of man. How I mean anything to you at all, I don’t know.”
“No?” he asked, tightening his arms around her waist. “You do not think yourself interesting and humorous, beautiful and ravishing?”
She laughed, dipping her breath to his shoulder. “No, I don’t.”
“You are. And surely you know how your words, your stories captivate me.” He lifted his arm and held his hand as if he were holding his phone. He took a picture. She struck a pose with her head against his chest, thrilled and happy in his arms.
“I love the flare of your temper and the glint of fire it sparks in your eyes. But most of all, my beloved Kestrel, I love your humility. ’Tis very pleasing to my eyes to see the goodness of your heart, and to my ears to hear of it. Everyone at the castle has noticed it. You are well loved there already. The servants ask for you continually.” He laughed shortly. “Even if I wanted to forget you, I could not.”
“I love them all, too. Come on.” She let go of him and took his hand. “Let’s ride back and give them the good news. Of our eng…betrothal.”
He agreed and followed her into the water. They swam out of the cave and through the falls. Kes lost her breath from the heavy rush of water spilling over the side of the cliff. Nicholas was there, still holding her hand. After making sure she was unharmed, he splashed water in her face and swam off. They laughed, playing and basking in the warmth of the sun.
They returned to the food and found it being enjoyed by some forest critters. Kes squealed with delight at the chance to feed some deer and groundhogs—or gophers. She couldn’t tell. She didn’t care.
“Hello!” she said softly and held out her hand to one of the deer. “Do you want this apple?” She sat still and asked Nicholas to do the same. “Come now, baby, don’t be afraid.” She spoke softly and waited patiently for the skittish deer to come closer.
“Toss a piece of black bread to those squirrels, will you, Nicky?”
She didn’t think about what she called him, but rather if the scurrying little gophers had gotten enough.
When the food was gone, along with the animals, Nicholas set her atop him on his horse and headed for home.
“This has been a perfect day!” she breathed, leaning against him. “I wish I had my journal.”
“Journal?”
Her face contorted as if she were in pain. “Oh my gosh, there are no journals here. It’s a notebook. Bound pages of blank paper that I write in.”
“A note book. A book of notes!” he exclaimed as if he’d just figured out the secret to happiness.
“Yes,” she told him with a small smile.
“We can have a bound book of papers made for you, Kestrel,” he promised. “Do not be troubled by this.”
“Thank you, Nicholas.” She hugged his arms around her. “You are making this all so easy.”
“Aye,” he muttered softly, looking up at the long wall and his castle at the top of it. “I have decided not to return to Nottingham to fight, but to wait and join the army at Bosworth Field.”
The Battle of Bosworth Field. It was coming. What would happen to Nicholas? Would he fight against Tudor’s men?
“I’m thankful that you’re not leaving right away for battle, but I still wish you would think on this.”
“I will,” he promised.
“Are you sure you want to be my husband when the days come?” she asked him, her cheek turned to his chest. “I won’t stop bugging you about not fighting.”
“What is bugging?” he asked with amusement in his voice.
“Nagging.”
“I see.” The amusement was gone.
“There is no reason to fight, Nicholas. You said yourself you didn’t fight for Richard but for York. Maybe you saw it as some noble thing, to die with the word York on your lips. Very dramatic.”
He dipped his brows and gave her a confused look.
“But things have changed. You didn’t have me waiting, worried sick over you. I’ll be heartsick until you return, and if you don’t…” She shook her head and wiped her tears. “I don’t want you to go, Nicholas. There’s no reason to go. At least Elia will have a companion when she is wearing out the wood in the floors.”
“You seem to have this all settled in your mind.”
She sighed. “I’m being selfish, I know. But your heart isn’t in this. You know that. Why risk dying over it?”
She was happy when he didn’t argue but remained quiet. Let him think about it. In the meantime, she would do everything she could to keep him off the battlefield.
They returned to the castle and were met by Elia on their way from the stable.
“Richard is looking for you. Lady Elizabeth told him about Henry Tudor. He seems restless and he’s quite angry with Elizabeth’s mother for always siding with Henry.”
Nicholas shook his head. His scowl was deep and menacing. “What does he expect when he had her marriage declared invalid and possibly had her sons killed? Should she be on his side now just because she wears a white rose?”
Kes and Elia shared a glance. Kes wanted to ask, should he?
He looked at her, stripping her of her thoughts and reading them. “I do not have to be on his side to fight for him. The princes may be found—”
“They are never found, Nicholas,” Kes told him. “If Richard lives, it will change history. Let’s not have any part in that.”
He stared at her, his gaze going soft. “Kestrel, mayhap I die in battle, unable to find victory for the king. Mayhap whether or not I fight does not matter. Richard will die.”
“No,” she said, shaking her head. “The de Marres have never lost before. Why would you suddenly lose now? I fear you’re killed.”
“I have always been prepared for that.”
“But I haven’t,” she told him. “It took almost five hundred and fifty years to find you. I don’t want to lose you now.”
“Nicky,” Elia joined in. “Kes told me about some of these things. I must say I have to agree with her. You would have to be dead for the Whites to lose. I ask you not to fight. If history says that Richard must die, who are we to try to change it?”
“We will cease this talk now, ladies,” he commanded, reaching the castle doors.
“Nicholas!”
They heard the king bellow the instant he heard the doors opening.
“Where in blazes have you been?” he lamented loudly at the top of the stairs. “Henry Tudor and that old rat bastard, Jasper, his uncle, have landed in Wales and have amassed an army of five thousand against me! What shall we do?”
Why hadn’t Kes ever thought of these kings frightened when their time was up? She always imagined they rode out to a glorious death. Maybe some did. Richard III did not.
“We shall stay calm,” was Nicholas’ first suggestion. He climbed the stairs to the king with the others following. “Our men in Nottingham and Leicester await word. We have your army in York and more men in Leeds if we need them. There is no need to worry. I have everything under control.”
Had he already been in contact with his men? Kes wondered. It sounded as if he’d already made a decision. Something he didn’t share with her.
“Ah,” the king breathed hard. He turned to look at Elizabeth stepping around the corner in the hall. “I knew you would. But how could you unless you were aware of this information before me?”
Nicholas glanced at Elizabeth. “She told me.”
“Nicky,” young Elizabeth said when she saw and heard him.
“I warned her against telling you,” he continued. “Why set your nerves on edge when I could take care of it all? Aye? Has it not always been this way?”
“Aye,” Richard admitted, letting Nicholas calm him. “As soon as you could wield a sword, you have always protected Edward and me.” He looked at Elizabeth. “All of us.”
“’Tis my duty,” Nicholas replied, making Kes’ heart falter. “Come, let us go to the solar.”
The king nodded. “I would have you know that I did not murder my nephews.”
But you would sleep with your niece, Kes wanted to bring up. She held her tongue. Elizabeth denied she’d been intimate with him when the ladies were embroidering.
“And yet,” Nicholas countered smoothly as they entered the private solar. “you wasted no time going to the courts and having them declared illegitimate and setting yourself up as the next king.”
“Aye,” Richard agreed. “I went to much trouble. I did not need to kill them. They were my blood. I did not want to kill them. I was their protector. I loved them just as much as you did, Nicky. But I want the crown so I made certain they could never claim it, and I did it without shedding their blood.”
Kes realized how close they must have been when Edward was alive. Nicky, as they all affectionately called him, was part of their family. A little brother who’d grown up fierce and strong. Nicholas fought for York because it had given him the family he’d lost.
The king’s reasoning sounded like a valid argument. It didn’t matter though. History must not be tampered with. Richard had to die whether guilty or innocent of the princes’ disappearance and subsequent deaths.
“Then where are they?” Nicholas pleaded. “Who might have them and why? Tell me what you know, and I will find them.”
Kes moved to go to him but Elia’s arm blocking her path stopped her.
“I wish I knew the answers to your questions, Brother,” the king confessed. “Sadly, I do not. But I need your help against Henry. Do I have it?”
“Aye.” Nicholas told him without looking at her. “You have it.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
He should be in Leicester with his men, preparing for the Tudor army. Not at home arguing with a stubborn woman about the future.
“You gave your word to help him against Henry. Why?”
They were alone in the solar, sitting in chairs by the window.
When he didn’t answer her, she girded herself up as if straightening her armor for war.
“He has to die, Nicholas!”
“Who says, Kestrel? God? He has not told me.”
“Would you shut up and listen to Him if He tried?”
He knew his betrothed was more afraid for him than angry. He wanted to vanquish her fears and see her smile, confident in him.
“Aye,” he said with the slightest of smiles. “I listen every time I want to throttle you and do not do it.”
The one-sided curl of her lips made his muscles tighten.
“Who would help you live up to your fullest potential if you strangle me?”
He couldn’t help but grin. “You see? He reminds me yet again not to do it and why.”
“Nicholas,” she grew somber again. A shaft of sunlight fell on the curve of her alabaster cheek and the glistening drop rolling down it. “Please don’t go to the battle.”
What was he to do? He prayed for an answer every time he thought about it. If Richard died, it would be the end of the House of York on the throne. They had all fought so hard for it. His father, his grandfather, and father before him. How could he step over to the other side and abandon everything, everyone?
She sniffled and turned her gaze to the window.
“Will you refuse to marry me if I decide to go?”
She turned to look at him, filling his heart to bursting. Her cerulean eyes widened with hope. “Are you still undecided?”
He rose from his chair and knelt in front of hers. He wanted to marry her today. Now. “You did not answer my question.”
“And you did not answer mine.”
He stared at her breathless, parted lips for a moment. Then he replied, “Very well.” He gave in. As usual. “Aye. I am undecided.”
Her lips curled into a smile. Finally. “Yes, I will wed you no matter what.”
He leaped up on his feet, took her hand, and hurried with her out of the solar. He led her to the great hall where everyone was gathering for supper.
“Everyone!” he shouted. “I have something to say!” When they settled down, he called out for the priest, Father Philip. “Kestrel and I are to be wed immediately. You will all be witnesses! To the chapel!”
Kestrel laughed and let him lead her and at least fifty others to the chapel.
“This is all so sudden!” someone in the crowd shouted out.
“’Tis truly cause to celebrate!” someone else called.
“They love you,” Nicholas said as he pulled her close as they hurried to the chapel. “Just as I love you.”
“Is this real?” she asked close to his ear so only he could hear her. “Are we really about to do this?”
“Aye,” he said, smiling at her.
They reached the chapel. Father Philip was the first one in, Bible in hand. He was excited and happy. Everyone was. Nicholas was glad she was sent here.
“’Tis in fact like a dream,” he said, taking a place before the priest with Kestrel at his side. It was like a whirlwind. They’d met just a fortnight ago and he was making her his wife. He was making a Lancaster his wife. He didn’t care. He loved her. He’d kill anyone who questioned it.
He had to call for quiet so the priest could get on with the ceremony.
Nicholas watched her while they answered Father Philip’s questions, candlelight falling on her face. He couldn’t wait to be alone with her. Everyone would have to have a celebration tomorrow night. Tonight was theirs.
“…and do you promise to love and cherish her ’til death parts you?”
Nicholas gazed into her eyes, and with the confidence of David when he went up against Goliath said, “Death will not part us.”
He wanted to ask Father Philip if there were any parts he could leave out so he could get to kissing her. But he kept quiet lest she think him an overeager barbarian.
When it finally came time to kiss her, he still needed to hold back and control himself. He was in a house of God, after all.
Everyone cheered as Nicholas and Kestrel became husband and wife and he hurried her out of the chapel.
When he had everyone’s attention again—which took quite long thanks to every woman from the castle and the village wanting to wish her their best. The men poked and ribbed him about his good fortune and excellent choice of wife—he told them to prepare for a feast and celebration tomorrow.
“No one will work today,” his wife called out. “And anyone who must work today to prepare for the feast will not work at all during the feast.”
They began to cheer again but quieted and turned their gazes to Nicholas, who cast his wife a stormy side-glance.
They were waiting for his agreement. He gave it with a nod. “As the lady says.”
The roar rose up to the turrets. People began singing and some danced.
Nicholas took the opportunity to spirit Kestrel away to the castle. To his chambers. Their chambers.
She stood at the doorway looking into the large bedchamber, the enormous bed in the center of it all. The mattress looked thick and inviting covered in woolen and fur blankets. The heavy four posts in each corner were polished and attached to a frame from whence curtains fell around the bed. For now, they were tied back. There were trunks, large and small, laid out along some of the walls. Wooden bookshelves lined a wall with colorfully bound volumes of books. She liked it. She liked that he was not only good-looking but he was smart.
Leaning on one of the bedposts, he crossed his ankles and folded his sensuous arms to be at ease while he studied her. “You can do whatever you want to it. I just ask that you remember ’tis my chamber, too.”
“I think it’s perfect just the way it is.” She stepped inside and stopped at one of the polished tables around the chamber.
“It’s very much like you in here. Polished and beautiful and untouched.
He came up behind her and rested his hands on her shoulders. “And now ’twill be lived in.” He lifted a handful of her hair off her neck and bent his head to kiss her throat.
“I have been thinking of this all day,” he whispered, his voice honey soft as he came around to face her.
She unlaced her kirtle and slipped it over her shoulders.
He watched her undress and pulled and tugged at his own clothes. “I have waited for you…it feels like forever.”
“Here I am,” she told him, helping him out of his léine then running her hands down his belly. “I’m yours.”
He pulled her close and lifted her onto the bed. The rest of his clothes came off quickly, tossed here and there, along with his boots. Kneeling on the bed, he let her look and take her fill. And he did the same, basking in the sight of her round, upturned breasts, her erect nipples begging for his mouth to taste them.
He hauled her in and leaned over her when she arched her back. He held her slim waist in his hands and sucked her nipple into his mouth. Her long limbs curled around him. She weighed nothing, but fell draped over his arm like a veil. He’d thought of being intimate with her since they’d left the cave. He grew hard quickly. When she wrapped her fingers around him, he had to grind his jaw until it hurt to keep from coming. He hadn’t been with anyone before her for years. He’d lost track of how many.
