Bloody hell. Did she truly love him? She cared for him as much as she cared for Nell, although in an entirely different way. Was that love? She had no experience with this new feeling, and abruptly decided it would not matter anyhow. He would not remain in her life for much longer.

Millicent wiped her mouth on an embroidered napkin and watched as Nell took the next card out of the faro box.

“Right again,” she crowed.

Gareth smiled, looking not the least bit perturbed by his shrinking pile of buttons. “I shall have to tear apart a few more cushions, methinks.”

Millicent blinked. Every now and then, he would use an antiquated word that reminded her of his true heritage. She must seem like a child to him at times. She stood, suddenly anxious to go through the pile of clothing that lay draped across one of the numerous couches. The duke had provided them with several gowns of sturdy cotton, none as fine as the golden velvet, but all of them quite serviceable.

Such generosity. How long was the duke planning to keep them imprisoned?

Millicent picked up two gowns and held them over her chest like a shield. “We must escape soon. If he finds out the truth, he will only think of new ways to coerce you to do his bidding.”

Nell seemed entirely intent on her card play—the inveterate gambler—but Gareth had not stopped watching Millicent. She felt his gaze upon her as a constant caress. And he knew exactly whom she referred to. “The duke has tripled the guards around the castle perimeter. And I imagine Selena has orders not to open that door during the time I am released from the relic.”

Millicent tried to keep the jealousy out of her voice. “Because she cannot resist you?”

He shrugged. “That may be a part of it. The duke may fear she will succumb to her madness for me once again. But I also believe he fears my sword as well. Nell said the were-bat had over a dozen guards at her back.”

“He’s not taking any chances that we shall escape again.”

“Indeed. But what worries me the most is the blood he took from me. I have thought long on it, and cannot fathom a reason for it.”

“No doubt he is performing evil experiments with it,” interjected Nell, not as unconcerned with their conversation as Millicent had thought. “Ye know we can’t leave until we find out what he intends to do with it.”

Millicent exchanged a look of surprise with Gareth.

“She’s right,” he said. “Besides, in order to escape we need a diversion, and I imagine we will have it in due time.”

Millicent frowned. “What do you mean?”

Nell turned her attention to dealing the cards, while Millicent began to pace. Unlike Gareth, she had not been trapped in a relic for centuries, and was not used to imprisonment. The thought of being trapped in this room for an indeterminate amount of time made her skittish.

Gareth watched her, which made her even more… skittish. “The lion that pursued your coach and found us in the underground forest is a spy for the Master of the Hall of Mages, is he not?”

“Yes—how did you know?”

“The royals have been tracking my relic for years, and their baronets do not give up so easily. They will find the duke’s underground lair, and when they do, we shall take advantage of the diversion they offer. I have made good use of them often enough in the past.”

He seemed to take for granted that he could outwit the spies, who were certainly a fearsome group of predators. His blue eyes turned to flinty ice, and Millicent suppressed a shudder. She had never feared the knight, despite his obvious prowess with a blade, but now she wondered if she should.

“Nay, Millicent,” he soothed, “you need never fear me.”

She tossed her chin, ready to deny that quick flash of fear, but Nell quickly spoke up. “So we may as well get used to our prison fer a time. Wot say we switch to a game of Commerce, Sir Knight?”

“Whatever you desire, my lady.” But he had not removed his gaze from Millicent, and his voice lowered, as if he spoke the words to her but with an entirely different meaning.

Millicent sucked in a breath, fighting the tingle of excitement that suddenly raced through her chest, and fled into the bedroom, putting on a gown as if she donned a suit of armor. She sat on the bed a moment, considered hiding in the bedroom. But the satin sheets kept reminding her… and she could hear his laughter just beyond the door… and her beast kept whining to be near him…

Millicent searched the wardrobe, and with a sigh of relief, found a sewing basket and returned to the main room with it, along with a second gown she had chosen. If she could not keep away from him, or keep her cat’s thoughts off him, at least she might manage to keep her hands occupied.

She sewed badly, but had learned it out of necessity. It would be a perfect distraction.

Millicent held out the gown to Nell. “I… I thought this might do for you. With a little adjustment, that is.”

The old woman glanced up, and those violet eyes grew suspiciously shiny. Nell knew how much Millicent hated to sew.

“Ach! That’s too fine fer the likes of me.”

“I disagree,” said Gareth. “The gown is not fine enough for you, but I suppose we shall have to make do.”

Nell cleared her throat. “Ye are a smooth one, aren’t ye?”

“I speak the truth.”

Millicent had thought only to keep busy, but the look on Nell’s face made her anxious to start the task. “Come, Nell, let’s put it on, and I shall see how much I need to alter it.”

Nell would be able to do without a corset, but Millicent decided to alter a chemise for her as well as a petticoat. The old woman had never complained about clothing. But Nell never complained about anything Millicent provided for her. She should have known that, as a woman, Nell would enjoy a new wardrobe, and the duke owed them that much, at least.

They returned to the withdrawing room, Nell’s face wrinkled in smiles. Millicent settled herself in an odd chair with a cup-shaped round cushion, and found it surprisingly comfortable. For the next few hours, Gareth and Nell played cards while Millicent sewed and pretended not to notice the knight’s every move. Every glance. Every consideration.

He found several lanterns and lit them next to her, so she would have more light to sew by. He won enough hands of cards so Nell felt she had earned her winnings when he lost to her the majority of the time. He told stories of a long-ago time of chivalry and jousting, of secret loves and strange magics.

He rarely took his eyes off Millicent, and found excuses to touch her for no reason. He brought her wine and sweetmeats from the sideboard—and insisted on tasting the wine first, although Millicent did not think the duke had plans of poisoning her again. Gareth exuded enough sensuality with his every action that she had a difficult time keeping her eyes off him.

She noticed his strong hands moved with gentle grace, his blond hair held shades of red, gold, and white, and his pale eyes darkened to a smoky blue in the lamplight. The muscles in his thighs and shoulders rippled exquisitely every time he moved. And when he smiled at her or Nell, it now reached his eyes.

Millicent’s beast had retreated into a small corner of her being. This growing desire for Gareth was entirely from the human side of her nature.

“Blast,” Millicent muttered for the fifth time. She stuck her finger in her mouth and sucked off the drop of blood.

“Yer finger’s not a pincushion,” said Nell.

The room grew very quiet until Millicent could hear the soft ticking of the coal burning in the fireplace, the far-off sound of falling water outside the window, an occasional shout from one of the guards far below. She felt both of them study her intently. She refused to look up, for she might meet his gaze, and he would surely know her thoughts.

“Ye ain’t got much time before ye’re sucked back in the relic again,” said Nell to Gareth. She yawned rather dramatically, and quite loudly. “This old woman needs her rest, and I sure can’t get it with the two of ye in the room.”

Millicent flushed. Apparently Nell wasn’t as oblivious to the tension in the room as she pretended.

Gareth rose so quickly he scattered buttons on the floor. He held his strong hand out to her, and Millicent found her fingers gently encased in his before she could even think of the embarrassment she felt, or the utter relief of finally having the opportunity to be alone with him.

She threw Nell a look, and the cheeky old woman winked at her.

Gareth led Millicent into the bedroom, closed the door firmly behind her, and trapped her against the back, his hands placed flat on the oak, his forearms just above her shoulders. His mouth swooped down on hers, and she absorbed the shock, the welcome, heady relief of his lips against hers, his taste filling her mouth.

Her beast stirred, threatened to wake.

Millicent surprised herself by pushing her cat into the very recesses of her being. For the first time that she could remember, she wanted none of her animal instincts to overwhelm her. She wanted Gareth to make love to her without interference from the dominant nature of her beast.

Her knight pulled his lips from hers and stared into her eyes. “You will allow me to make love to you?”

She blinked in surprise at his shrewdness. “Yes.”

He spun her around, nimbly unbuttoning her bodice while he kissed the back of her neck, sending shivers through her. Millicent turned her head and pressed her cheek against the cool surface of the door while he removed her gown, unlaced her corset strings, untied her petticoats. As he removed the rest of her clothing, he kissed the skin it revealed, the contrast of his warm mouth against the chill air heightening her senses until her concentration narrowed to one extraordinary thing.

Gareth.

He pulled her slightly away from the door so he could work his hands between her body and the polished oak. One hand cupped her breast while the other pressed between her legs. Millicent moaned, leaned back against him, surprised to feel the warmth of his naked skin. The man could shed his clothes faster than humanly possible.

His scent surrounded her, earthy and male and uniquely delicious. He nipped the back of her neck, gently twisted her nipple, and stroked her nub until she trembled for want of him. She pushed backward against his legs, silky skin sheathing hard muscle. She rose up to her tiptoes, wanting to feel the part of him that could bring her such pleasure, demanding he enter her.

He chuckled, low and a bit arrogantly. “Nay, my sweeting. It is my turn to love you, and I will not be rushed.”

Millicent’s heart turned in her chest. She couldn’t fathom why his words affected her so strongly, but she felt her eyes burn and blinked away the ridiculous tears.

His lips wandered to her shoulders, to the middle of her back. His hands continued to stroke, to fondle, to caress, until she felt that singular sensation build inside her again. The one she knew would shatter her into a thousand bits when it exploded.

Anticipation made her pant, made her whisper his name between breaths.

Suddenly his mouth was at the back of her ear, whispering his love for her, his breath hot and making the side of her face tingle. He dropped his hands, and she had to bite her lip to silence a protest. He swept his palms down her arms, captured her hands within his, and pulled them up, placing them on the door in front of her. Then he gently pressed down on her back, maneuvering her hips toward him, until she bent forward, supporting the weight of her upper body on the door.

Bloody hell.

He bent his body over hers, his long blond hair tickling the sides of her face, his hands roaming, cupping her breasts, finding sensitive areas on her skin she hadn’t known existed. Then his fingertips found her nipple again, and his other hand pressed between her inner thighs, gently coaxing her legs open.

Millicent eagerly complied.

He kissed her ear, then her cheek, while his fingertips found her nub again. She rewarded him with a sigh, turned her head sideways, and he captured her mouth with his, a rather fascinating angle that made kissing a different experience. But he was building that pleasure to a peak again, and Millicent started to tremble, found it difficult to catch her breath.

He broke the kiss, pulled his upper body slightly away from hers.

“No…”

But he would not listen. And he silenced her in a way she never could have imagined. He plunged his finger inside her.