Medieval 01 - Untamed

at the frantic face of his wife and wondered what had possessed her to attack him. He had expected Meg to argue or to plead, or perhaps to drag her feet and sulk the length of the keep when he insisted that she obey him. He hadn’t expected her to turn on him like a cornered wildcat.
    Slowly Meg’s thrashing abated. She watched him with feral eyes as she fought to draw breath intoher lungs despite the weight of his body pressing her into the wall.
    â€œAre you finished?” Dominic asked with sardonic politeness.
    Meg nodded her head.
    â€œThen we will go to your rooms and—”
    Dominic’s words broke off as he felt the tension in Meg’s body return.
    â€œIf I let go of you, you’ll fight me again, won’t you?” he asked.
    Meg said nothing. She didn’t have to. The fierce tautness of her body told its own story.
    Perplexed, Dominic regarded his wife in the light of the sweetly scented, cleanly burning candles of the herbal. Meg was clearly defeated in this contest of strength, and she knew it as well as he. Just as clearly, she would continue to fight if he relaxed his grip.
    There was a long, seething silence while Dominic considered Meg’s watchful green eyes. Abruptly he remembered the initial cause of the problem.
    â€œAre you, by chance, working with the leaves you gathered this morning?” Dominic asked curiously.
    â€œAye,” she whispered. Then, in a tumble of hopeful words, “Please, let me finish. It’s more important than you know. I must prepare them before they lose their potency.”
    â€œWhy?”
    â€œI don’t know,” Meg admitted. “I just know that I must do it or something fearful will happen to Blackthorne Keep.”
    Dominic cocked his head as though listening to an inner voice. What he heard was the faint slow dripping of water somewhere nearby. He turned and saw a silver bowl suspended above an ebony bowl. Water dripped down with measured speed.
    â€œIs it a Glendruid matter?” he asked, turning back to the wife who was more an enigma to him with every hour.
    â€œAye.”
    â€œOld Gwyn mentioned danger this morning. Something she sensed. She said you had probably sensed it, too.”
    Meg nodded eagerly.
    â€œWhat danger?” he asked.
    â€œI don’t know.”
    Dominic grunted. “It seems you know little, Glendruid witch. Or is it that you simply won’t tell me?”
    â€œI—I dreamed,” she said in a low voice. “There was a danger I couldn’t name. Then I saw the leaves of this plant. I knew I must gather them to avert disaster. Please, Lord Dominic. Allow me to finish what I began. I can’t replace these leaves for at least one fortnight, perhaps two. Please .”
    Anxiously Meg watched Dominic, knowing that her well-being—and the future of Blackthorne Keep—depended on his being reasonable after she had tested him far beyond the limits of most men’s patience.
    Before Dominic spoke, Meg sensed his answer. The feel of his body changed subtly as it relaxed against her without freeing her in the least. His caging of her became sensual rather than enraged. Suddenly she became aware of the very masculine contours of his body pressed against the length of hers.
    â€œShall we bargain, then?” Dominic asked huskily. “What will you give me if I let you finish preparing your Glendruid potion?”
    â€œAll you want from me is a son,” Meg said, trying to keep the bitterness of defeat from her voice. “That is beyond my power to give you.”
    His eyes narrowed in a mixture of anger, rueful humor, and speculation.
    â€œThere is more to man and maid than simply making babes,” Dominic pointed out.
    â€œIs there? You’ve not spoken of it to me.”
    â€œAye,” he said slowly. “I’ve erred in that.”
    â€œLord?” Meg asked.
    â€œMy name is Dominic,” he said as he brushed his lips across hers. “Let me hear you say it.”
    â€œDominic…”
    He absorbed the whispering warmth of the word against his lips.
    â€œYou do that very well, sweet witch.”
    Slowly, reluctantly, Dominic eased the pressure of his body from Meg.
    â€œYou owe me a favor of my choice at a time of my choice,” he said thickly. “Agreed?”
    â€œAye.”
    â€œSo quick? Aren’t you worried what I might want?”
    â€œNay,” Meg said anxiously, looking toward the