“But—” Della’s hips searched again.
“Nay, I will ask you a question and if you answer, I will let you have a little.” Brant smiled, proud of the idea. “Yea, and if you choose not to answer, which is your right, I will take a little away.”
“But—” Della moved her hands to his hips and tried to pull at him.
“Nay, you cannot touch me. You have to keep your hands above your head.
Della grumbled, but did as he said.
“Do you understand the rules?”
“Yea.” She pretended to pout.
“All right, my first question.”
“Nay, I answered the first! Where is my reward?”
“Greedy wench.” Brant liked her eagerness. He rubbed the tip of his shaft against her. “Now, who is the cleaning spirit?”
Della cleared her throat. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“Hmm.” Brant frowned.
“She is a spirit that cleans,” she offered weakly.
“If you don’t want to tell me, fine.” Brant made a move to roll off her.
“Nay, I’ll tell you!” Then, her voice a small whimper, she said, “It is I.”
Brant laughed. “Methought as much. Why?”
“The servants were being lazy. It was the only way I could get them to listen to me and clean. At first I would just do some of the chores myself while they slept, but then one night I got angry at all the work that needed to be done. It was as if they stopped working on purpose to let the spirit do it. So I tore the manor apart. A few discreetly placed hints and the servants were working for fear of the spirit.” Della blushed. “I was seventeen years and I could think of nothing else.”
“All right,” Brant allowed with a thoughtful nod. He narrowed his eyes to examine her closely. “How many years are you?”
“Two and twenty.” Della rolled her eyes.
“Methought you were a bit aged,” he teased. In the opinion of society, she was past her prime. Girls usually got married as early as thirteen and then it was to old men.
“Nay, methinks you are the elder one, Brant the fiery thorn!” Della hit him in the shoulder. He swayed off her in mock pain.
Della straddled him and held him by his wrists. If he really wanted to, he could throw her off him with little effort. He didn’t struggle too hard.
“What will you do to me, m’lady?” Brant pretended to be scared, but it didn’t hold for he was soon eyeing her breasts as they bobbed before his gaze.
“I don’t know yet,” Della pondered. “Mayhap, if you are behaved, I will let you stay here as a slave.”
“Bed slave?” Brant questioned hopefully.
Della laughed at the eagerness in his tone. “Nay, I have too many of those at the moment. But I do need someone to clean the garderobes.”
Brant growled, bucking her naked body off him.
Della landed on her backside and Brant quickly rolled to trap her with his leg.
“That isn’t amusing, lady wife.” Brant nuzzled her throat, tickling her with his whiskers, causing her to shiver. Even in jest, the idea filled him with jealousy.
“Fine, then if not a slave…” Della sighed. “I have a question.”
“Yea?” The sound was muffled into her throat as Brant forgot his game.
“Where did you get all the scars on your body?”
“In battle.”
“That much is apparent.” Della inched away to look at his face. “How?”
“You don’t wish to hear such things.”
She gave him an odd look. “Don’t think you know me so well. If I didn’t want to know, I wouldn’t have asked.”
He breathed deeply as he saw her icy temperament returning. “Which one do you wish to know about?”
“All,” she answered with a firm nod. Then, when he lifted an eyebrow in amusement as if to say, that would be impossible, she pointed to his chest. “This one.”
Brant looked briefly at the thin scar that ran across the right side of his upper chest. “Sword in battle.”
“And this?” She pointed to a small mark right under it.
“I don’t remember getting it.” Brant grew apprehensive. Wars and battles were not exactly something he wished to discuss with his wife, especially in light of the horrible atrocities she’d witnessed as a child. The things he’d seen were not stories for delicate women.
“This?” She touched a thin scar on his forearm.
“Blade.”
“This?” A strange puckering on his leg.
“Mace.”
“This?” A healed gash at his side.
“Spear.”
“And this?” A cut on his firm stomach.