Medieval 01 - Untamed

table, where water dripped relentlessly into the keeper bowl. “I’m worried only about the leaves. If I don’t finish the preparation soon, all will be for naught.”
    â€œA kiss to seal our bargain, then.”
    â€œNow?” she asked, dismayed.
    â€œWhy not?”
    Meg explained in a rush, not knowing how much time she had. “By the time we finish kissing it will be too late and my mind will be a muddle and my fingers will be all thumbs. You kiss in a most distracting way.”
    When Dominic understood the meaning of the tumbled words, he smiled sensually. His thumb traced the faint trembling of Meg’s lower lip.
    â€œDoes Duncan?” he murmured.
    â€œDuncan?” Meg blinked, perplexed. “What in heaven does he have to do with kissing? He has never muddled my mind one bit.”
    â€œDo I?”
    â€œYou know you do,” she said, exasperated. “I just told you so. And if you don’t stop running your thumb over my lip I shall bite you!”
    â€œWhere? Here?”
    As Dominic spoke, he drew one of Meg’s captive hands to his mouth, bit the base of her thumb with great care, and was rewarded by the swift, sensual breaking of her breath.
    â€œOh, stop,” she begged. “I must have steady hands.”
    Dominic tried not to show his pleasure at her response to him, but found it impossible. He freed Meg and laughed to make the stones ring.
    â€œFinish your work, sweet witch. Then we’ll go to your rooms and discuss the nature of your captivity.”
    Before Dominic finished speaking, Simon ducked beneath the lintel and stepped into the herbal.
    â€œIs she here?” he asked.
    â€œAye,” Dominic answered, his voice still rich with laughter. “Come, we’ll wait outside. The torch you’re carrying fouls the air of Meg’s herbal.”
    Outside, Simon gave Dominic a curious look. “The maid must indeed be a witch.”
    Dominic made a questioning sound that was rather like a satisfied purr.
    â€œI left you angry enough to flay her alive,” Simon said, “and a short time later I find you laughing like a boy.”
    The smile Dominic gave Simon made him uneasy.
    â€œIt’s a serious matter,” Simon said.
    â€œWhy? Can’t I laugh like other men?”
    â€œShe has bewitched you,” Simon said bluntly, “just as Eadith said she would.”
    â€œâ€™Tis a sweet enchantment,” Dominic said, smiling.
    â€œGod’s blood, you are bewitched. Look to your soul, brother, or soon Duncan of Maxwell will have by treachery what he couldn’t take by force!”

15
    M EG CARRIED THE TIGHTLY STOPPERED bottle in both hands through the keep and up to her own rooms. Normally she would have left the potion to ripen in a dark area of the herbal, but she was afraid to let the bottle out of her sight.
    With a mixture of irritation and amusement, Dominic watched Meg open a concealed panel in the wooden partition that divided her quarters into a bedchamber and a sitting room. She put the bottle in the secret niche, closed the panel, and let out a long sigh of relief.
    â€œYou won’t tell anyone where the bottle is?” she asked anxiously, turning toward the silent man who had followed her every step of the way from the herbal.
    Dominic shrugged and shut the door behind him. “Does it matter that much?”
    â€œIf anything happens to that bottle, I can’t replace the medicine for at least a fortnight. By then, it might be too late.”
    â€œWhy? What is it for?”
    Meg thought quickly, wondering how much she could tell Dominic without breaking her word to Old Gwyn. After a brief hesitation, Meg spoke, choosingher truths carefully, for she disliked lying.
    â€œSome of my medicines are quite strong. If given wrongly, they can kill. That,” Meg gestured toward the hidden bottle, “is an antidote to one of my most powerful pain medicines. After John died, I made a new batch of the pain medicine, so it is only prudent to make the antidote as well.”
    â€œFor whom?”
    â€œI don’t understand.”
    â€œJohn is dead. For whom are you preparing such risky medicines?”
    The blunt question made Meg wince. Again, she chose her truths with great care.
    â€œI’ve seen that your knights train most strenuously. Soon or late, your men will hurt one another. Now I will be prepared to help them.”
    For a long count of three, Dominic