A Knight of Passion(28)
And he didn’t. Her walls convulsed around him, and he groaned his release in unison with her cry.
Chapter Fourteen
Riana didn't miss the tightening of Sir Bryant’s mouth when the duchess instructed her to go directly to her chambers and prepare to leave. He clearly didn’t want her left to her own devices while he and the duchess sought an audience with the duke. He had good reason to worry.
She gave a nod of acquiescence to the duchess’ order that she be ready to leave within the hour. She would be ready to go, only not as expected. Her hand shook on the latch as she stepped into the hallway and clicked the door shut, leaving them to await the duke. Her knees weakened, the feel of Sir Bryant’s cock lodged inside her as her walls closed around him in pleasure so close to the surface that her sex still ached. She forced her legs into submission and hurried down the hall towards the stairs leading to the fourth floor and her sister’s chambers.
Sir Bryant's touch had been light, sweet, then demanding and passionate to the point that she had nearly gone out of her mind with need. A shiver snaked down her back. She had lost control even knowing the duchess was in the room…even knowing Sir Bryant was only using her. Riana turned a bend in the hallway and made a quick right turn up the third floor stairs. It wasn’t that she could perform while the duchess looked on that bothered her, but that she had enjoyed it for the second time.
Riana gave a mirthless laugh. The noble knight had married her because he believed she held secrets that could harm the duchess. But the question still remained—why marry her before finding out what she knew? Did he plan on using Siusan as the duchess had? At the third floor, Riana turned right again and started up the stairs. Determination churned her stomach. She tired of living in fear. One way or another, she was going to find a way to get Siusan out of Arundel before Sir Bryant and the duchess finished with the duke.
She stepped from the stairs into the hallway and slowed when she saw no guard outside Siusan’s door. Surely the duchess wouldn’t leave her unguarded? She inched open the door and stepped into the anteroom.
“Siusan?”
No answer.
Other than the tiny fire that burnt in the hearth, the room looked as if no one had been there. Riana crossed to the door leading to Siusan’s bedchamber and entered. This room, too, was empty and, aside from the goblet of ale on the small desk, looked unused. Where could Siusan be? Fear swept through her. Had the duke decided he’d waited long enough to have Siusan? Riana whirled. Something in the corner of her eye caught her attention and she started towards the bed. A man’s boot peeked from behind the thick leg of the bed. She took three more paces and stopped. One of the duke’s men lay unconscious on the carpet.
Riana dropped to her knees at his side and pressed two fingers to his neck. A strong pulse beat. He wasn’t dead, only rendered unconscious. Why? She rose and scanned the room. Nothing looked out of place. She hurried to Siusan’s armoire and yanked open the doors above the drawers. Siusan’s woollen dress and cloak were gone. By all that was holy, had Siusan left Arundel? Riana turned. Aside from the unconscious guard, there was no sign of a struggle or ransacking of the room. Had Glen escaped prison and returned? Even if some miracle had freed him, he couldn’t have entered Arundel undetected, and he wouldn’t take Siusan without telling her.
If the duke had come for Siusan, he wouldn’t have taken her clothes. In fact, he would probably have taken her virginity here in this bed. Riana shifted her attention back to the unconscious man. Only someone who wasn’t supposed to be here would leave him in this condition. A memory flashed through her mind of Sir Dunbar’s wink when he’d excused himself from the room earlier. “I have business to attend to.”
Riana drew a sharp breath. His business had been Siusan. Her mind reeled. Sir Bryant had f*cked her while in the presence of the duchess as a distraction—just as Riana had used him as a distraction. He was rescuing Siusan.
Not rescuing. Ensuring Riana’s cooperation. Siusan was Sir Bryant’s leverage, just as she’d been the duchess’ leverage. A dozen questions rushed to the surface, but the most important was, was being owned by Sir Bryant better than being owned by the duchess?
His ownership brought with it his touch. A flutter brushed the inside her stomach. Sir Bryant saw her as an opportunity to better his station in life. How could he elicit such emotion in her? Once she outlived her usefulness, he would lose interest. Her heart twisted at the thought of him abandoning her for another woman. Riana forced aside her riotous emotions. Being discarded by Sir Bryant was the lesser of two evils. He would not force her into the bed of other men, and more important, he would not take Siusan into his bed either.