The Border Lord and the Lady Read Free

us freshen your hair and gown so the earl will be pleased to see you.”
    “Nay, he would show pleasure if my eyes were crossed and my teeth crooked,” Luciana responded dryly. She stepped from behind the carved screen and made her way forward. Reaching the two men, she swept them a graceful curtsy. “Papa. My lord.” She greeted the gentlemen in a deceptively soft voice, her eyes modestly downcast as she moved to take her seat on a stool by her father’s side.
    But the Earl of Leighton took her hand and drew Luciana to him. “Your father has spoken to me of your concerns regarding my daughter,” Robert Bowen began. “I understand. But you must know and
accept that my child is legitimate. As such she will stand among my legal heirs. If you do not give me a son, she will inherit my estate one day. But I expect you will give me several sons, Madonna Luciana.” The blue eyes looked down into her brown ones.
    “You will walk with the earl,” Master Pietro d’Angelo said to his daughter. “You should know each other better before the marriage is celebrated.”
    Robert Bowen tucked the girl’s dainty hand in his arm and led her off.
    When they were out of earshot Luciana said, “I am glad you will not make me share you with your daughter.”
    “Her name is Cicely,” the earl answered quietly.
    “I do not care,” Luciana replied. “I shall never see her.”
    “Nay, you do not have to if you choose not to,” the earl told the girl. “You will be far too busy, lady. Your rich dower and your late mother’s reputation for fecundity make you worthy to be my wife. I will keep you on your back with your legs open to me until you prove fertile. I want sons, lady, and I mean to have them on your body.” He pushed her into a darkened corner of the hall. Then, taking her oval face in his two hands, he kissed her lush mouth with a hard, fiery kiss.
    Luciana’s heart beat rapidly as one of the earl’s big hands moved to clamp about her waist while the other reached down to squeeze her left breast hard through the fabric of her gown. His fingers found the nipple of that breast stiff with her arousal, and he pinched it several times.
    “I know the rumors about di Alba,” he growled into her ear.
    Luciana moaned against his demanding mouth. “Falsehoods!” she protested.
    The Earl of Leighton laughed knowingly. “We shall see, lady,” he said wickedly as he bit down on her earlobe. “I am no fool. If you do indeed possess a tiny heart-shaped birthmark upon your left thigh I will know ’tis you who are the liar, and not di Alba.” His lips moved teasingly across hers again.
    The girl grew pale at his words. “I am still a virgin,” she insisted
to him. “I swear it by the innocence of the Blessed Mother! I am a virgin! ”
    “That too I shall soon learn, lady,” he told her cruelly. Robert Bowen laughed again. “Do not fear, Luciana. It is your wealth that attracts me, not your virtue. But be warned: From this moment forth I will expect you to remain faithful to me alone. Should I ever discover you have not been faithful I will kill you with my bare hands, and be lauded for it. Do you understand me? You may whore no more.” The blue eyes had turned icy with warning as they looked down into her face.
    “ Sì, my lord,” Luciana whispered. “I understand, but I swear to you that no man’s cock has entered my body, and none will but yours.” Dio! They had always said that the English were a cold race, but this Englishman certainly was not. He excited her! She felt the moisture pooling between her nether lips. She was already half in love with him, and trembled in his strong arms. He would share her with no other man, but she would share him with no other female. Even his little daughter!
    The earl was not certain how truthful his intended was being with him, but he did believe she was an honorable woman. Whatever had happened before she came to England would not happen again. He had learned by chance from