Free Ice Maiden by Jewel Adams Page B

she must
still be held down by her long sleep. “Nay lass, I need to move a
bit.”
    Her knowing eyes fell to his hand massaging
the wound. “Shall I take out the stitches?”
    “No need.”
    His meaning sent her legs out and over the
bed’s edge. Raising his hand he stopped her advance. “I preferred
to do it myself.”
    Was it pride that set his eyes blazing? Ach,
but he held so much store by it. “All right, how does it feel?”
    “Tight, but sealed. You did well with your
mending. I have never healed so fast.”
    “I see I have lost a patient.” A defeating
smile passed her lips, regretting that she would need to leave him
now.
    Her gaze fell before his own penetration. She
moved slow, knowing she must go and wanting to leave. The hurt and
emptiness she felt told her of the error she made sleeping with
him. But her pride and heart ruled and she refused to feel anything
but joy over the experience. “I best go.”
    “Aye, before I forget my promise and take ye
this very moment!” He caught the corner of her lovely mouth fight
the smile. “Amy, would you send Craig to me, please?”
    The protest died on her lips, knowing he no
longer would tolerate her interference.
    Bern couldn’t let her go, not with what he
felt from her. “Amy…”
    Her shoulders tightened over her refusal to
turn and face him. Bern cursed the time holding them apart. “Ach
lass, if ye stay another moment I will damn us both and give into
what I want. Ye can crush stone lass and I am--only a man…”
    He caught and held the laced fire in her eyes
before she raced out of his chamber. “You will believe in me, Amy,
I swear it.”
     
     

CHAPTER 6
     
    Her chamber wasn’t large enough for the
pacing she continued. She bit her knuckles to suppress her groan
hearing his raised voice issuing orders from the yard below her
rooms. “All my nursing will be wasted if he keeps up this
pace.”
    She turned to control her fury knowing he
deliberately defied her order to return to his bed. “What a fool I
am!”
    Of course he wouldn’t listen, not when she
screamed at him in front of his own men. “Damn your infernal
pride.”
    She never meant to do it, but seeing the pain
contorting his rugged features became too much for her to ignore.
For three days he’d been charging about as if his very life
depended on it. She never should have left him or given in and let
Craig see him. He just couldn’t stay out of everything. “Whatever
it is.”
    Sheltered sounded mild for how he now treated
her and no one defied him. Not one person would tell her what all
the fuss was about. Amy cursed her own ignorance for not being
aware of what she probably should be. She didn’t miss Lansing’s
perplexed frown following her every move. “Lansing…maybe he holds
the answers.”
    The sound of her tapping steps descending the
stairs echoed through the near vacant halls. She shivered,
realizing she failed to notice the lack of guests milling about.
Their desertion from the castle started filling her with some very
unlikable reasons. Her steps weren’t as confident as she emerged
into the sun washed keep.
    Men hustled about with a determination across
their serious faces. Many carried bundles of arrows up the open
stairs of the castle’s inner walls. Amy stood stark still, her gaze
fretting over the warning evidence she somehow failed to notice
before. Scolding herself felt useless, to admit being blinded by
one particular man left her feeling perplexed.
    She wrapped her arms about her waist to fend
off the truth Understanding seemed to wash over her, “A siege.”
    “Ay lass and I’ve never known you to be so
blind to your surroundings and the troubles that plague your
people.”
    Amy’s gaze refused to falter before Lansing’s
harsh attack. Standing stock still he circled her like a prowling
wolf.
    “Your senses have been snuff out since the
high and mighty Lord entered the keep.”
    Her denials, if he expected any, never
surfaced. She couldn’t