Medieval 01 - Untamed

church?”
    A shudder ran the length of her slender body.
    â€œNo,” she whispered.
    â€œWhy? Was the affection between you and that bastard so great you couldn’t bring yourself to warn your betrothed of the murderous violence that had been planned?”
    Meg’s captive hand moved in a gesture of helplessness that was stilled almost as soon as it began.
    â€œYou would have hanged Duncan,” she whispered.
    â€œAye, madam, from the stoutest oak in the forest!”
    â€œI could not bear being the cause of his death.”
    Dominic’s mouth hardened as he heard his fears confirmed: his wife did indeed have affection for Duncan of Maxwell.
    â€œHanging Duncan would have caused war,” Meg said, “a war the people of Blackthorne Keep would not have survived.”
    Dominic grunted.
    â€œMy people…” Meg’s voice faded.
    A slight shudder ran the length of her body. She was like a thong tautly drawn and then drawn tighter still, trembling on the point of breaking.
    â€œMy people must have a time of peace in which to raise crops and children,” Meg said, facing Dominic once more. “They simply must. Can you understand that?”
    Silently Dominic looked at the uncanny green eyes of the girl who stood before him proudly pleading for her people’s lives. Not for her own life. Not for Duncan’s life.
    For her people .
    â€œAye,” Dominic said finally. “That I can understand. Anyone who has suffered war can understand the balm of peace. ’Tis why I came back to England. To raise crops and children. Peace, not war.”
    Air rushed out of Meg’s lips in a long sigh.
    â€œGod be praised,” she said. “When you touched the falcon so carefully, I felt hope…”
    Her voice faded into the soft whispering of flames in the hearth. With battle-hardened fingers, Dominic turned Meg’s face up toward his.
    â€œWhat did you hope?” he asked.
    â€œThat you were not the bloodthirsty devil gossip said you were. That there was kindness in you. That…”
    Meg’s voice caught at the gliding pressure of Dominic’s thumb over her lower lip.
    â€œThat what?” he asked.
    â€œI can’t think…when you…”
    â€œDo this?”
    Dominic repeated the slow caress.
    She nodded slightly. Even that small motion was enough to shift his touch to her upper lip. Her eyes widened at the unexpected sensation. Without thinking, she pulled back, only to find that his other arm had come around her, holding her for his touch.
    â€œDon’t fight me, small falcon. I am your husband. Or does my touch displease you so much?”
    â€œN-no. I just didn’t expect to be treated kindly by you.”
    â€œWhy?”
    â€œYou think badly of me,” Meg said.
    â€œI think like a husband who doesn’t know his bride. If I am to change my thinking, then I will have to know you better, won’t I?”
    Meg’s eyes widened. Dominic could almost see her turning his words over in her mind, testing them for truth or falsehood…weighing him almostas carefully as he was weighing each of his own actions.
    â€œYou have the right of it,” she admitted after a moment. “You must know me better. Then you will understand that you can trust me with your honor.”
    Dominic made a neutral sound and stroked his thumb over Meg’s lips again. More sensations shimmered through her, unsettling her. She hadn’t known that her body had silky threads of fire hidden within.
    â€œSo soft,” Dominic said in a deep voice.
    â€œYou’re not.”
    He raised his left eyebrow and the corner of his mouth in amused agreement. At the moment, there wasn’t one part of his body that was soft. Being this close to his reluctant wife had a profound effect on him.
    â€œYour hand,” Meg explained, not understanding Dominic’s rueful amusement. “’Tis hardened by war. Yet careful. I feel rather like the peregrine.”
    â€œThe thought occurred to me,” Dominic admitted, smiling slowly.
    Meg looked into gray eyes that burned with a clear masculine fire. The sight was so beguiling that she didn’t look beyond, not wanting to see the warrior’s calculations that lay beneath. She was fairly light-headed with relief; of all the things she had anticipated on her wedding night, none had involved being gentled by Dominic’s touch as though she were an untamed