Silver lady, p.14
Silver Lady, page 14
There had also been the stunning moment when they had first joined hands and felt each other’s essence. They resonated together in a way different from anything he’d ever experienced, and it was even more intense than that passionate embrace on the beach. Just thinking of those shattering moments aroused him. He was amazed that he’d been strong enough to step away before it was too late.
He had been blessed with a foster family whom he loved beyond measure. But his connection to Merryn was different, and even more powerful than his connections with Cade and Tamsyn, the brother and sister with whom he was closest.
He and Merryn were deeply connected on many levels. The question was, what to do about it? She had only just come back to herself again.
He finished the glass of brandy he’d been sipping, thinking it was past time he turned off the lamp and went to bed. Then he heard a soft tapping at his door. Cade?
He rose and opened the door, then stopped breathing for long moments when he found Merryn. Dressed in an elegantly simple blue robe, she was softly and deliciously female, with her blond hair spilling over her shoulders and glinting in the lamplight. She was petite, but at the same time emphatically occupied the space in front of him.
He must have looked bemused, because she smiled a little as she said, “May I come in?”
“This is not a good idea,” he said, but even so, he stepped aside so she could walk into the room.
She smiled mischievously. “One can’t always tell if an idea is good or bad until one tries it.”
He had to laugh. “That sounds like an elegant rationalization for getting into trouble.”
“Very likely it is.” She turned and lightly rested her palm on the middle of his chest. “But I do think that ignoring the attraction between us is most emphatically not a good idea.”
He caught his breath as his heart rate increased under her touch. “Perhaps you’re right, but passion is as dangerous as it is powerful, and the pull between us is . . . very powerful.”
She raised her hand to cup his cheek with a touch of fire. “I’m no longer the dazed girl you rescued,” she said softly. “I’m a woman grown, and one who has been justly accused on occasion of being entirely too headstrong. Because of a certain recklessness with a charming stable boy when I was sixteen, I am also not a virgin, if that matters to you.”
He covered her hand with his and said a little unsteadily, “It matters, but only a little. I’m less concerned with the past than the present, and the present is full of uncertainty.”
“Then we should seize what we know is certain.” She stood on her toes and slipped her arms around his neck as she rose into a kiss.
He had always prided himself on his self-control and balanced judgment, but both fractured when she kissed him.
In a calmer time and place, he would have courted her in a traditional way, with conversation and flowers and rides in the country.
But danger hovered over them, and he’d be a fool not to embrace passion and life while he could. He kissed her back, wanting to devour her. He wanted Merryn for now and always, and if his courtship led through a bed, he’d take it.
They set each other aflame with their mouths and hands. “Merryn,” he breathed as he smoothed his hands down the enticing curves of her back. “Dear God, Merryn!”
“We’re both wearing too many clothes!” she said as she slid her hands under the fabric of his robe so she could caress bare skin.
He sucked in his breath. “So we are.” He tugged at her sash and peeled the garment from her shoulders. It slid to the carpet in a drift of blue wool, leaving her clad only in a lightweight shift that revealed every shadowed curve of her body.
It took only moments more to strip each other to bare skin. She was deliciously alluring, equally delicate and strong, and her passion shattered every last remnant of his control.
He tossed back the covers, then swept her up in his arms and laid her onto the bed, coming down beside her as he worshipped her throat, her breasts, the smooth arc of her belly, with his mouth and hands. Every texture, from silky skin to the soft roughness of hair, increased the fierceness of his arousal.
“You are beautiful beyond belief,” he whispered raggedly. And she blazed with silver light.
“As are you, my dearest lord,” she breathed as she separated her legs for him.
Tenderly he stroked the delicate folds of heated intimate flesh. She gasped and dug her nails into his arms, pulling him down onto her. “Now!”
Though the fierceness of her desire drove him to the brink of madness, he had sufficient control to enter slowly, careful not to hurt her. When they were fully joined, rapture seared through every fiber of his being. He wanted this to last forever, and at the same time he desperately craved the ultimate release.
“Ah, Bran!” she moaned as her hips rocked to bring them ever closer. He caught her cry in his mouth when she convulsed around him and had just enough sanity to withdraw before it was too late.
Gasping for breath, he rolled onto his side and enfolded her in his arms, amazed and awed by the intensity of sensation and emotions beyond anything he’d ever known. She was more than he had ever dreamed of, more than he deserved.
He whispered, “I feel as if I’ve loved you forever, but only now discovered you.”
“I feel the same,” she murmured as she rested her head on his shoulder and slid her arm around his waist. “My beautiful Bran.”
As his breathing slowed and sanity slowly returned, he tugged the covers over their bare bodies and thought about what must come next.
* * *
What could be lovelier than lying in her lover’s arms? Merryn thought dreamily that in some ways it was even better than the annihilating fulfillment of making love.
As Bran toyed with a tangled strand of her hair, he asked softly, “What is the story of you and your charming stable boy?”
She smiled reminiscently. “Henry and I were both young and hot-blooded and desperately curious about passion. We loved . . . playing with each other when we had the chance to be alone. One day we went too far. Neither of us regretted it, but we both realized that we had been very unwise. So we kissed goodbye and I returned to being a well-bred young lady, while he went off and joined the army.”
“Were you in love with him?” Bran asked.
Her brow furrowed. “No, but we were very fond of each other. I thought of him when I was older, and men had begun to court me seriously. Some of them were very pleasant, but there wasn’t one I wanted to pull down in a haystack.” She rolled a little and kissed the side of his throat. “Until I met you.”
“For which I am grateful beyond measure.” He cupped her head and turned it so that their gazes met. “You may not have recognized it yet, but we’re now basically married.”
“What!” She jerked up to a sitting position and stared down at him. “We have become lovers, and I hope that we continue to be for a long time. But that’s not the same as marriage!”
His gaze was calm. “That’s true for most people, but those of us who are gifted often come together with a bond far deeper than marriage vows,” he said. “My foster parents, Rhys and Gwyn Tremayne, have that kind of bond. I’ve envied the power of their union, without really understanding it or thinking I’d ever be so lucky.” He raised her right hand and kissed it. “Then I met you.”
“Are you proposing to me?” she asked rather hopelessly.
“I can’t imagine not marrying you,” he said thoughtfully. “It’s interesting, because while I was attracted to you from the beginning, what I feel now is so far beyond mere attraction.” He fell silent for the space of a dozen heartbeats. “I can’t imagine feeling this for anyone else. I think we are meant to be together.”
“It’s also possible that you’re mad!”
He chuckled. “You may be right. What do you feel?”
She drew a deep breath as she moved from simply feeling to thinking about what she was feeling. “I can’t imagine being with another man, or caring so much for anyone else,” she said hesitantly. “But marriage?”
“We won’t be calling the banns tomorrow,” he said reassuringly. “You weren’t raised among gifted people, so you need time to adjust to the idea. You certainly have the right to think that I’m madder than a March hare! But I believe we’re each other’s fate.”
She collapsed back on her pillow and stared at the ceiling, shadowed in the dim light. “Tamsyn and Cade. Will they know what we just did?”
“If they don’t know already, they will as soon as they see us.” He clasped her hand and raised both their arms so she could see them clearly.
“We’re glowing!” It was almost a squeak.
“As I said, there’s a powerful bond between us that’s visible to those who have the eyes to see.” He brought their joined hands back to the mattress. “I will never coerce you into anything you don’t want to do, Merryn. But I do hope that as you get used to the idea, you will come to be as happy about our bond as I am.”
She released her breath in a sigh. “I need lessons in what it means to be gifted. I don’t want any more surprises like this!”
He laughed and drew her close to his side. “This is the largest surprise you’re likely to experience, but Tamsyn and Cade and I will happily expand your knowledge of what it means to be gifted.”
She closed her eyes, realizing how exhausted she was. She had trouble accepting the idea that she and Bran were more or less married. But she liked the idea of sharing a bed with him very much . . .
Chapter 26
Merryn had planned to rise early and return to her own room, but by the time she woke with Bran’s arm around her, the sun was almost up. She slipped out of bed and retrieved her robe, pulling it on while she collected her nightgown.
Bran still slept, his dark hair tangled and his face relaxed and young. She patted his shoulder, then returned to her room, glad that neither Tamsyn nor Cade saw her. She heard sounds from the kitchen, though. One or both of them were early risers.
After she washed up, she brushed out her very tangled hair and secured it into a modest knot at the back of her head. Then she put on her dullest gray lady’s maid gown.
As she headed down the stairs, she heard Bran’s door open. Not wanting them to arrive in the kitchen together, she increased her pace.
The ground floor smelled of breakfast and she heard the easy murmur of Tamsyn and Cade talking. When she entered the kitchen, Tamsyn looked up from chopping spring onions and blinked.
Bran’s voice came from behind Merryn. “Good morning to you two larks.”
“It looks like a very good morning for you,” Cade said, amusement in his voice.
Tamsyn wiped her hands on her apron, then headed around the kitchen table. “Congratulations!”
Merryn’s face was burning like the sun. “Is it that obvious?”
“It is for us, because Bran is family.” Tamsyn gave her a warm hug. “I’m so happy for you both!”
“It was my fault!” Merryn blurted out. “I went to Bran’s room and seduced him!”
“More like ravished, actually.” Bran stepped to her side and put his arm around her shoulders. “In an entirely mutual way.”
Merryn was torn between wanting to crash a vase over his head and kissing him. She settled for leaning into his side. “I’m so new to this gifted business! I don’t know what to expect.”
“We can start lessons today,” Tamsyn said. “Everything has happened so quickly! It was only yesterday that I cleared the mental block. I gather you’ve never known anyone who was gifted?”
“I was aware that some people had unusual talents, but I didn’t really know what it meant.”
“You probably did know gifted people, but most prefer not to talk about their abilities,” Bran said. “Talents often run in families. There was no one in yours?”
“My father never mentioned the subject.” Merryn frowned. “Perhaps my mother was.”
“Then we’ll just start at the beginning,” Tamsyn said briskly. “While the lads are out adventuring, we can talk today.”
Remembering what Cade had said the day before, Merryn asked, “Do you think that visiting your family will be an adventure, Cade?”
He shrugged, looking very opaque. “It shouldn’t be.”
She sensed that his visit would be unexpected and upsetting to his family, but she didn’t think he or Bran would be endangered. They were both very capable men.
Meanwhile, she had been revealed as a wanton woman, been congratulated for it, and now she was hungry! She began setting the table, glad she was useful in at least one small way.
* * *
After breakfast Bran and Cade left for the stables, and Merryn turned to Tamsyn. “Where shall we start my lessons in giftedness?”
“All good education about gifts begins with tea, pots and pots of it,” Tamsyn said firmly. “It stimulates the mind.”
Merryn chuckled as she put a kettle of water on to make a fresh pot of tea. “It’s also good to have teacups to fiddle with while thinking. Will you start with defining what gifts are?”
“They aren’t magic,” Tamsyn said. “Gifted people can’t conjure storms or turn lumps of coal into gemstones. Most gifts are a matter of increased perception and understanding, the sort of things that everyone does all the time, but more intensely. That’s why it’s so annoying when bigots hate the gifted. We don’t do anything really different from everyone else, we just do some things better.”
Merryn poured boiling water on tea leaves and left them to steep. “What gifts cause the hatred?”
Tamsyn pursed her lips. “Knowing things about people, sometimes things others don’t want known. The ability to tell when someone is telling lies. Seeing future possibilities, as you do. Being a really good investigator, like Bran, who is very talented at ferreting out the truth.”
“He did something to the back doorknob so that I could open it even when the door was locked,” Merryn said. “That seemed like magic.”
Tamsyn frowned. “Not exactly. It’s just a clever little trick he developed.”
“Not magic? He affected something physical and solid. It wasn’t a mental trick. It seemed . . . magical,” Merryn said doubtfully.
“We never talk about anything we do as magic. It just upsets people,” Tamsyn said firmly.
In other words, it was safer not to seem to work magic. Merryn recognized how such an action was much more dramatic than sensing emotions, and best not discussed. “What are Cade’s gifts?”
Tamsyn considered her answer. “He has the skills of a first-class soldier, only more so. He’s very quick and very strong. In a fight he can tell what his opponent will do, almost before it happens. He’s a born hunter, very good at tracking criminals down.”
“He and Bran seem exceptionally close.”
Tamsyn nodded. “They considered themselves brothers even before they both became Tremaynes because of the way they worked together to survive.”
A little shyly, Merryn said, “Bran told me that gifted romantic couples have very intense bonds.”
“He’s right.” Tamsyn studied Merryn’s face. “I sensed this was coming as soon as I met you. It was just a matter of time—and not very much time!”
“I didn’t expect it!” Merryn felt her face color as she poured their tea. “Have you ever experienced this kind of bonding?”
Tamsyn smiled a little wistfully. “I’ve seen it with my parents, which is probably why I once thought I’d found my forever love, but I was very young, just a child. I outgrew that attraction with time when I realized it was impossible. Just a dream.”
Despite Tamsyn’s calm words, Merryn sensed there was still a lingering sadness for lost love. That sadness brought another question to mind. She asked hesitantly, “Is Cade going to feel that I’m coming between him and Bran?”
Tamsyn shook her head. “Cade is too generous for that. He wants Bran to be happy.” She paused. “Cade is more self-contained. I don’t think he feels the need to find a mate, but because he loves Bran, he doesn’t begrudge him the kind of happiness you two have found together.”
Before the conversation could go any further, a knock sounded on the outside door that led directly into the kitchen. Tamsyn stood. “I wonder who that might be?”
Tamsyn opened the door and said with surprise, “Glynis! I hadn’t expected you. Is something wrong?”
“No, I just came to see what servants you need, now that there are more of you staying here,” Glynis said apologetically. “Bran insisted on making do for himself, but we want you and your brothers to be comfortable.”
Glynis stepped into the kitchen and glanced around, then gasped, “Merryn Penrose! Is that really you? You were reported dead!”
Merryn caught her breath, stunned at being recognized. Getting to her feet, she said, “That’s me, but I had . . . an accident.” Wondering if her memory was damaged, after all, she asked, “Were we friends?”
Glynis shook her head. “No, but once we both attended a festival in Polperro and were introduced very casually. I remembered because you were so very pretty. You gave me a friendly smile, but we didn’t have a chance to speak.”
Tamsyn gave Merryn a glance that said they’d better tell Glynis at least some of the truth. “Come in and have some tea. There is much to discuss.”
Merryn poured tea for their visitor. “You heard that I was dead. What was supposed to have happened to me?”
Glynis accepted a cup of tea and took a seat at the kitchen table. She and Bran had a distinct family resemblance in their dark hair and gray eyes. “It was said that you went riding on Bodmin Moor without a groom and never came back, though your horse returned to the stables with an empty saddle. It was assumed that you had a riding accident, and because so much of the moor is rough and remote, your body was never found.”
Merryn remembered now that the Crow and his men had tried to capture Shadow, but her furious horse had bolted, so her captors concentrated on her. “I did not have an accident! I was kidnapped and held captive. It seems I’m gifted, and my captor thought I could be of use to him. I don’t really remember much of the last two months because a mind block was laid on me so I was barely conscious.”
