Sir Spenser's castle was tall, but not large-scarcely more than a curtain wall surrounding a square keep, perhaps fifty feet on a side. This was no nobleman's wife, but a country knight's. Still, Magnus reminded himself, Dole was a good man, and deserved no slur on his honor.
The lady did not take them in over the drawbridge, however, but around to the narrow plank bridge that ended at the postern gate. Magnus knew, right there, that he should turn and go, but the lady's voluptuous figure swayed before him, and he told himself that he would stay just long enough for polite conversation, then leave. After all, she could scarcely invite him openly to her bed in front of her husband's servants.
But there were no gardeners in sight, nor grooms, as he passed through the postern. He told himself that they were only gone to church, and followed the lady through the door to the keep, resolving firmly to turn on his heel if he didn't see any servants inside.
But he didn't-see any servants, and didn't turn on his heel-because, as soon as they were through the door, the lady turned and pressed up against him even as he stepped forward, molding the curves of her body to his, parted lips seeking his mouth with an urgency that took him completely by surprise, and his body responded automatically. He yielded to temptation and the deepening of the kiss, putting his arms around her and pressing her hips against his own.
Then he realized what he was doing, remembered that this was another man's wife, and broke off in alarm.
She laughed with triumph, low in her throat. "So, then. Thou art not so godly as all that, art thou?"
Wrong choice of words; it reawakened Magnus's conscience. He stepped back, releasing her. "Nay, then, thou hast the right of it-I should be in church, even as thou sayest. I thank thee for thine hospitality. . . ." He was turning back toward the door, when she scoffed, "What, a Sunday man? Art thou then so afeard of Hell that thou wouldst turn from heavenly pleasures?"
She was, Magnus thought as he turned, highly overrating herself-but when he looked at her again, eyes bright, face flushed, bosom heaving, he wasn't so sure. Still, he tried his best to affect a frosty demeanor. "Thou hast a husband, lady, and I a duty to chivalry." This time, he did manage to turn around.
But her voice was all contrition, demure and shamed. "Nay, then, thou hast the right of it to scold me so. Have no fear-I'll be a seemly matron. Yet thou must needs permit that I make amends. Come to mine hall, and taste some wine to refresh thee."
Magnus hesitated, his hand near the latch.
"Wilt thou make me feel to be a thing of evil?" she pleaded. "Nay, turn, and have the grace to let me do my penance."
Magnus relented and turned back. "Why, I cry thy mercy, lady, and will gladly taste thy wine, for I am parched."
She gave him a tremulous smile of gratitude and turned away, leading him into the keep, and Magnus followed, relieved that the situation was no longer compromising, but wary still.
His wariness increased as she led him up the spiral staircase, but not so much-the great hall was, after all, for public occasions, and it wasn't terribly surprising that a single guest would be entertained in the solar.
They came out into a gallery, and the lady, no longer swaying, but still with a movement that Magnus found enchanting, led him to the door at the end. She opened it, and they came into a small chamber filled with sunlight from three tall windows in its outer wall. Magnus was surprised-he would have expected the solar to be larger, even in so small a castle as this-but it was well appointed, a carpet on the floor and tapestries on the walls, with an hourglass-shaped chair, a scroll-carved bench, and a small table.
The lady took a flask and glass from the silver tray on the table, gave the goblet to Magnus, and filled it with wine. "Recline thee, sir, and tell me-whence hast thou come, and whither goest?"
He found it unnerving that she did not ask his name, but perhaps it was wise, under the circumstances. He sat on the bench, the chair being behind the table. "I wander without purpose, lady, to see what may be found in Gramarye."
"Dost thou seek wrongs to right, and damsels in distress?"
"I have found the first, but not the last," Magnus admitted, "though, to tell truly, I know not what I seek."
"Wilt thou not taste of my wine?" she pleaded.
Magnus tipped the goblet against his lips, looked up, and nodded. "'Tis sweet, milady, and full. I thank thee."
"I would thou couldst thank me for more," she said ruefully. "What hath set thee to thy travels, then?"
Magnus took a long swallow of wine to give him time to mull over the answer. He couldn't exactly tell tales outside the family, after all, "A yearning to see more than I have known in my youth, I would have to say-and a yearning to be away from the folk of my childhood for a space." Which was true enough-but Magnus had travelled throughout the Isle of Gramarye as he grew, and knew most of it fairly well; the broader vistas he longed for were not to be found on his home planet.
"I have yearnings, too," she sighed, "but a man may wander, and a woman must stay."
Magnus looked up sharply, feeling compassion for the first time. "Nay, surely if thou dost long to see more of the world, as I do, it must needs go hard on thee to rest."
"I shall rest, as I must," she sighed, "for I know full well that a wanderer's life would pall, and I would long for house and husband. Yet I may dream."
Magnus smiled with sympathy. "Aye, at the least, we all may dream. That is not denied us, is it?"
"To dream, aye." She rose in a graceful turn, took up the flask, and refilled his glass. "But only to dream-never to be free."
"Even so," Magnus commiserated. "I have longed for such freedom, and do now seek it-yet I begin to suspect that I shall not find it." He sipped the wine.
"How so?" The lady frowned. "Thou dost wander; how canst thou not be free?"
"Why, for that I am still what I was reared to be," Magnus explained. "I look upon the peasants, and though they may scarce see more than a hundred square miles in their lives, they have a boisterousness, a looseness to their actions, that I have not, and never will. A nobleman, a gentleman, is born to restraint in action, lest he give cause for broils that may include hundreds-and he can never shake off the notion that the welfare of those about him is his care."
She leaned toward him, and lowered her voice. "That others' happiness is thy concern?"
"Aye." Magnus felt too warm, but he smiled. "Even though I've known them not, I know that all the folk of Gramarye must be as much my care as the King's and Queen's-and if they are sad, I feel the need to cheer them."
"But I am sad." She leaned closer, and her eyes seemed huge. With a surge of lightheadedness, Magnus noticed that her neckline was cut lower than he had realized, and her lips were trembling with sadness....
He leaned to those lips as if drawn by a magnet.
For a minute, nothing existed in the world save her lips, and the sensations they aroused in him, the blood beginning to pound in his veins, the need for her so hot it would not be denied....
He broke off, alarmed at himself. "Nay, lady," he gasped, "I am like to abuse thine hospitality." He set the goblet down and forced himself to his feet. "I cry thy pardon. I must away, ere I give offense......"
"But if thou dost leave, though wilt most shrewdly offend!" she protested, her breath catching in a sob.
Alarmed, Magnus turned back and saw her eyes overflowing with tears that ran down her cheeks as she looked up at him, forlorn. His heart twisted, and he reached down to comfort her, but she rose into his arms; her lips enveloped his, her body pressing against him, curves melding to his angles, churning against him with her need, moaning low in her throat; and his hands began to move over her back, then down, caressing her hips, and up, to cup her breasts....