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Chapter Seven

L et me.

Dear Lord, how many times would Sian relive the delicious, decadent moment when Christopher had licked her fingers clean?

It seemed she had done little else the night before and this morning.

She could still feel the heat of his mouth, the ripples of pleasure he’d stirred within her.

Would it feel the same to have him suck on other parts of her?

She hadn’t guessed fingers could be treated in that way, but she knew that breasts and nipples could be.

Perhaps Christopher knew of other places?—

A voice cut through her lewd wonderings.

“Have you seen Seren and Gwenllian?”

“No.” Sian instantly picked up on Jane’s agitation. Her sister was not easily ruffled. If she was worried, there was probably just cause. “Why are you looking for them?”

“I have a bad feeling. Rhys just came to say they were playing hide and seek together and he cannot find them anywhere. And after yesterday …”

This time, her heart skipped a beat. “What about yesterday?”

She could think of only one thing that had happened the day before.

Her meeting with Christopher, when he had acted as if he wanted to entice her into his bed.

Had Jane seen the scandalous way he had licked at her fingers?

No, she would have mentioned something if she had.

And it could have nothing to do with their two young sisters’ disappearance.

Supposing they had disappeared, that was.

But everything was possible. Hadn’t she been abducted once by one of her father’s enemies, as she’d told Christopher the other day?

She forced herself to stay calm. For one, she was still not sure anything had happened. For all she knew, Gwenllian and Seren had found the perfect hiding place and Rhys, too lazy to keep looking for them, had come to Jane for help.

“They loved our outing to the river yesterday,” Jane explained. “While you stayed in the clearing, we found an enchanting little spot with a gravel beach from which we could easily paddle in the water.”

“So?” She still didn’t see what that had to do with anything even if she was reassured to hear that her sister did not suspect what had come to pass between her and Christopher.

“This morning, it being a nice day, they asked me if we could go back there again, but I was busy helping Mam and Branwen sort out the linen, so I said no, adding that we would go later on in the afternoon, once I had finished. I fear they might have gone unaccompanied, unable to wait.”

Oh no. That, unfortunately, sounded too much like something the girls might do. It was only a short walk to the river, one even a child like Seren could manage, especially if she was determined. Now, Sian was truly worried.

“Let us ride there, just in case. If they are, as I hope, huddled together in a corner of the castle waiting for Rhys to find them, they will soon get bored when they see he is not coming for them. And if they have decided to go to the river, then the sooner we reach them, the better.”

Seren and Gwenllian both knew how to swim, but the rapid river was nothing like the lake near Castell Esgyrn they were used to going to. Even a strong swimmer would find it hard not to get swept away, and they were only slight girls.

The two sisters ran to the stables, desperate to prevent a disaster but skidded to a halt when they saw that Connor and Matthew were already there, each with a white stallion in hand.

Bought in Wales some ten years ago, Raven and Snowball were still the brothers’ favorite mounts.

Sian cursed her luck. Her uncle and father rarely went out riding together these days.

Why did they have to choose today of all days to do it?

“Where are you two going in such a hurry?” Connor asked, instantly on his guard. He could always tell when his children were up to no good.

Sian and Jane exchanged a look, loath to voice their suspicions. If Gwenllian and Seren had not gone to the river, they shouldn’t get into trouble for nothing. If they had, then there would be time enough to see them punished for their recklessness later on.

Before they could say anything, a horse was heard approaching in the distance.

A moment later, a stallion rounded the bend at the bottom of the path.

Warrior. On his back was Christopher, holding a wet and trembling Seren against his equally wet body.

Though his back was too broad to allow her to identify the owner of the two arms wrapped around his middle, Sian guessed it was none other than Gwenllian.

As the horse came to a halt, the girl’s face, crowned with dripping wet hair, peeked from behind his shoulder.

Sian and Jane let out sighs of relief. The sisters were safe even if it was clear they had indeed taken a tumble into the water.

“Ashton. What the devil are you doing with my daughters? And why are they soaked to the bone?”

To say that Connor’s voice was icy would have been like calling a hailstorm a gentle April shower. By his side, Matthew was also glaring. Despite Elsie’s confession that he was not the one to get her with child, the two men still regarded Christopher as a scoundrel of the worst kind.

“Didn’t I tell you only the other day not to come here again?” her uncle snarled.

Christopher did not let the animosity impress him, as could have been predicted. He straightened his spine and tightened his hold around Seren, who showed no sign of wanting to escape the warmth of his embrace. Sian sympathized. She would like nothing more than to nestle into his arms herself.

“Father, please do not scold Lord Ashton. I don’t know what we would have done without him,” Gwenllian exclaimed, jumping down from the stallion’s rump. “He rescued us from the river.”

“Did he now? And just what were you doing there alone, may I ask?” His face like thunder, Connor held his arms out to Seren, who did not dare refuse to let him lift her off the horse.

While the two sisters gave their confused explanations as to how they had ended up at the river on their own, Christopher jumped down from the saddle and waited.

His wet clothes were molded to his body, and Sian could not have taken her eyes from the sight if her life had depended on it.

It was a wonder Jane had not spared him as much as a glance.

Couldn’t she see he was the most gorgeously sculpted man who had ever lived? Those arms … those legs … that …

Her throat went dry because she could all too easily guess what caused the bulge at the front of his skin-tight hose.

“Jane, Sian, see to your sisters,” Connor ordered, pushing the two girls in their direction. “Get them warm and comfortable as quickly as possible. Don’t tell your mother what happened. I’ll speak to her myself once I’ve dealt with the girls.”

His tone made it clear they would get a thorough scolding for their imprudence.

Sian could only agree they needed to understand the danger they had escaped.

The only problem was that she did not want to leave Christopher alone with the two brothers, who seemed to have forgotten that they owed him the girls’ lives.

Anyone else would have thanked him effusively by now, but they were scowling at him.

She threw a glance at Christopher, hoping to convey her thanks for saving her sisters, and the wretched man actually winked at her. Fortunately, he’d made sure to choose the moment when her father and uncle handed their horses back to the groom. There would be no riding today.

Taking Seren by the hand while Jane wrapped an arm around Gwenllian’s shoulders, Sian walked to the main hall.

“So. Care to tell us what happened out there in the forest?”

Despite the abrupt question, Christopher noticed that the two brothers were looking at him with marginally less venom than when he had ridden through the gate.

They would have calmed down by now and understood they owed the two little girls’ rescue, and possibly their lives, to him.

Nothing like relief and gratitude to soften a man up , he thought wryly.

“I was actually on my way to see my friend, Sir Alexander Rathbone,” he started, taking pleasure in elaborating on a part of the story they would not be interested in. “He lives just beyond the valley, and it being such a nice day, I thought I would?—”

“Who cares about the weather!” Lord Sheridan cut in. “Just tell me what happened to my daughters.”

Christopher did not have the heart to tease him further. It was not hard to guess that he’d been scared witless at the idea that he could have lost his children, which was all too understandable.

“As I was crossing the bridge over the river, I heard cries for help. Some distance away, I saw Gwenllian trying to haul little Seren out of the water with a branch. Before I could do anything, she fell into the water herself, being too slight to lift her sister out. As luck would have it, I was downstream from them, so the current swept them toward me. I jumped down from the saddle, then off the bridge and thus was able to intercept them as they floated next to me a moment later. I brought them to the bank and then back here to you after they explained who they were.”

He kept his voice level, his explanation simple.

There was no need to insist. The men would guess it had required a herculean effort on his part to keep the two little girls afloat in the churning waters and bring them back to the shore.

The last thing he wanted was for them to think he was using the incident to ingratiate himself back into their good graces.

He was not. He had simply been lucky enough to be in the right place at the right moment and strong enough to do what needed to be done.

Up until Gwenllian had revealed their identities, he hadn’t even known who the girls were.

His shock at being told they were none other than Sian’s younger sisters had stunned him.