Shattered Vows(93)

‘For years I’d striven with no goal in mind save winning my golden spurs. I’d wanted nothing else. Yet suddenly, that ambition looked tarnished, worthless. I wanted you, I wanted your love. But as memory crowded back, I found to my horror that I’d made commitments that would keep me from you. I’d no desire to honour them, if it meant that you’d be insulted by becoming my whore. And unless I broke my vows to my cousin, that was all that I could offer you.’

Rosamund looked thoughtfully at him. ‘Would you have broken your vow for me?’

Oliver gave her a straight look. ‘When I went to my cousin to ask for you, I was prepared for a nasty wrangle. Thanks to my success with the rebels and your winning favour with Lady Adeliza, it wasn’t necessary.’ His smile lightened the depths of his eyes. ‘And so tomorrow, thanks to both our efforts, we will marry.’

She sighed happily. ‘Yes.’

‘When you look at me like that, love, the words fly from my head,’ he said, softly.

Rosamund slid a hand round his neck. ‘Do they?’ Reaching up on her toes, she kissed him briefly on the lips and glanced at the bed. ‘That’s no bad thing. I believe I’ve had enough of words for the moment.’ Her hand went to the lacings of his tunic.

A dark eyebrow lifted. ‘My lady, what can you mean? Surely you’re not inviting my advances? It’s most improper for a lady to proposition a knight, even if they are to be wed.’

She pulled a face she was sure was most unladylike and slid her fingers into the neck of his tunic. His skin was warm. She gave a sigh of pleasure and watched his face soften. ‘Oliver, I’m afraid I have much to learn.’

‘Thank God for that,’ he said, fervently. He was working at the fastenings of her gown. ‘In truth, there are some lessons that I would prefer you never learned.’

‘What can you mean?’

He grinned, put his hands on her breasts, and bent to nibble her neck.

‘You mean you want me to be Rosamund Miller inside the bedchamber, and Lady Rosamund de Warenne without?’

‘That’s it,’ he muttered, giving her earlobe a soft bite.

She cleared her throat. ‘I’m not sure I can manage that, it sounds very difficult.’

‘We had better practise,’ he said, smiling. ‘Kiss me, Rosamund.’

‘But I know all about being Rosamund. It’s the lady part I’m not sure of.’

‘In case you hadn’t noticed, we’re in the bedchamber now, my angel,’ Oliver said, resorting in desperation to logic.

Smiling, Rosamund tugged his head down. ‘So we are, my love. So we are.’

*****