She’d already taken off her surcoat and gunna. She stood before him in a chemise thin enough to show her thigh hose underneath. “You’re not going to kill me, are you?”
“Not right away,” was all he would disclose. Actually, it was all he knew at this point. He waved a hand for her to continue disrobing.
While she lifted her chemise over her head and bent at the waist to roll down her hose, she remarked, more to herself than to him, “I may as well take my final vows as a nun, since it appears you will not be helping me to regain Evergreen.”
The sight of her standing now, nude and absolutely glorious in her beauty, took his breath away. When he was able to speak, he said, “M’lady, there isn’t a convent in the world that would take you when I am done with you.”
She tilted her head to the side in question. When she understood his words, a flush swept over her face, down her long neck and over her breasts, which were full, rose-tipped and glorious. Her gaze fixed then on that part of him which was especially appreciative of her bodily charms. “You would rape me, then? That is to be your method of punishment?”
“There will be no rape.”
She exhaled on a sigh of relief.
“But there will be sex. Lots of it.”
Her eyes shot wide. She appeared about to say something nasty to him, then thought better of it. “So be it,” she said, lifting her mulish chin. “Let us get it over with so I can get on with the rest of my life… whatever that will be.”
She walked grimly over to the bed, like a Christian to the lions’ den. She should be quivering with fright. She should be begging him for mercy. She should be apologizing till she was blue in the face for what she had done to him. That was what he wanted of her. Wasn’t it?
Within minutes, she was spread-eagled on the bed, just as he had been, arms and legs tied to the bedposts. He would not bother with the gag because no one would defy his wrath by coming to her aid, even if she screamed… which she did not. Instead, she just stared levelly at him, awaiting his next step.
Some men might feel guilty for shaming a woman so. He did not. His wounded pride and thwarted plan to avenge his brother’s death rankled too much.
He dressed himself and pulled a chair near the bed. Rubbing a hand over his mouth, he studied her. He was aroused by her nudity, of course. What Viking worth his salt wouldn’t be? But he was in control of his senses and would not assault her while his temper roiled. In truth, he would not assault her at all, despite his fury. He would couple with her at some point, though… that he knew without a doubt.
“Are you not even curious as to the Witan’s decision?” he asked finally.
He saw the shock that overtook her. “Yea. Of course. Oh, Blessed Mary, how could I have let such an important thing slip my mind?”
“Well, you were distracted,” he remarked.
“Go. Find out,” she demanded.
He had to laugh at her nerve. Bare-arse naked and trussed up like a chicken and still she ordered him about. “I will go when I am ready.”
She made a tsk-ing sound of disgust.
“I have been thinking—and, yea, I have had plenty of time to think—about your situation with Evergreen. I understand your overpowering drive to regain what is rightfully yours, but why would your father, a wealthy man in his own right, care so much for such a small estate?”
“Greed?”
“Greed goes only so far. There must be something about this property that makes it valuable to your father. Ponder the question whilst you lie in the bed you have made for yourself.”
She curled her upper lip at him.
He soon uncurled it when he reached over and touched one nipple with a forefinger. It immediately peaked, as did the other one. Two obedient soldiers standing to attention… his attention.