Free The Bride Gift by Sarah Hegger Page A

his skin.
    “One of you will have to kill me.” His warm breath smelled of mint. “Because there will be no annulment.”
    His lips touched hers.
    The kiss was so unexpectedly gentle. The breath rushed out of her body as her legs crumpled beneath her. His arm fastened like a band of steel around her waist, supporting her weight.
    Helena hung like a rag in his hold. A fine tremor hummed through her limbs. A moment passed before she understood it came from her husband. She lay quiescent in his grasp as his lips swept over hers. Against her he pressed, tense as a bow. Hard as iron.
    That he kept control even as he shook with the effort was like a balm against her stupefying fear. The steady pressure of his mouth tingled against hers.
    Surprise held her passive as his tongue surged greedily into her mouth. Her frozen limbs warmed. This was not the polite, chaste salute of a wishful courtier, but the demanding kiss of a lover.
    Heat curled in her belly to wash over her skin. The fine wool of his tunic was soft through her damp chainse, his muscles unyielding as oak beneath. Her shape melted and curved around where he was rigid. The taste of him was potent, male, calling to a wildness inside her she’d never known before.
    He released her so suddenly that she stumbled before righting herself. Chilled by the abrupt loss of his heat, her senses were slow to respond.
    “No annulment.”
    Awareness skittered across her sensitized skin as he took a step back. His possessive gaze stripped her bare.
    Her hands flew up to cover herself.
    In three easy strides he cleared the embankment and disappeared between the trees, his long legs carrying him back toward the keep.
    The wind was brash against her wet chainse and she tugged her bliaut over her body. Her hands shook so much, it was hard to fasten the ties, and she clicked her tongue in irritation.
    Helena stopped and stretched her fingers, willing them not to shake. Dear God . She sat down abruptly on the rocky edge of the pool. That could have been a bloodletting. Instead he had kissed her. And kissed her senseless. What was she to make of his actions? Nothing he did was as she expected.
    Drawing in a steadying breath, she laid her palm against the unruly flutter of her heart. The silence in the clearing was absolute. Even the gentle lap of the water seemed to have gone silent. As her body slumped, she leaned her elbows on her knees and dropped her head onto her arms.
    She was wed to Sir Guy and nothing, short of death, would see them part.

 
    Chapter 9
    Helena crept back into the keep. She couldn’t face anyone until she settled her overset nerves.
    Colin came out of the darkness so suddenly, she almost screamed. How long had he been hiding just out of sight of the hall? His hair hung low over his eyes and his bottom lip protruded in a way that made her want to shake him.
    “I have been confined to the keep,” he announced without preamble.
    “Aye,” she replied, her voice stiff and cold. He was lucky to be alive.
    “He has no right.”
    Helena gaped, struck speechless. Had Colin not been in the same forest with her? Had he not turned tail and run, leaving her to face a furious husband? She didn’t expect an apology, but he showed not even a trace of remorse.
    Her palm tingled to box his stupid ears, unladylike or not. “Are you going to tell him that?”
    He pushed his hair back. “I should leave Lystanwold and never come back.”
    “And what of me?” Helena demanded.
    “You will be fine,” Colin flung at her. “You always manage matters to your liking.”
    “Indeed?” Outrageous! “Now you want to abandon me and our plans and leave me here to face Sir Guy.” She took a step closer until they were almost nose-to-nose. “Just as you did earlier.”
    “Have you gone mad, Nell? What did you expect me to do? The man had a sword against my throat. See here.” He tugged open his tunic and pointed to a small nick of blood against his throat. “Look what he did to