Seduced (10 page)

She hugged her arms around her waist and
berated herself for being a coward. Raik would never find out she
had stolen a child from him. And the child would not be a bastard.
At the first sign she was increasing, Warin intended to announce he
was expecting an heir. His claim would make the babe his.

Only the cloak covered Letia this night. She
walked to the corner of the bed and shrugged, letting it slide to
the floor. 'Twould be easy to find. She felt for the sheet and
blanket. He had pushed the blanket to the foot of the bed but had
folded the sheet halfway down. She lifted it and slid into bed,
trying to steady her breathing as she touched his hot skin.

"Umm." He responded to her flesh the way a
butterfly did to sweet clover. Turning on his side, he snaked his
left arm under her shoulders and down her back to draw her against
his naked body. "Ah, beautiful lady of the lights. You come to me
again in dreams."

His sleepy, deep whisper was so rich, so dark
it flowed over her like warm syrup seeping into every pore.

Hungry lips unerringly found hers as if they
had rested there a hundred times over. His large hand cupped her
breast. The rough palm grazing over her sensitive nipple sent
lightning straight to her woman's flesh, bringing hot dampness
there.

"Ahh."

His low groan slipping through her lips
followed by his searching tongue, stoked a need deep within her.
She did not hold back her response but opened wider, letting him
explore her teeth, her tongue. He molded her breast. Rubbed his
thumb over a nipple teasing it until it hardened. She felt her
breast swell, filling his hand even further.

With a quick intake of breath, he abandoned
her mouth to attack her aching nipple like a starving infant. Hot,
wet lips grabbed and suckled there, drawing her flesh into his
mouth 'till she wondered if he might attempt to swallow it.
Remembering the pleasure he had brought forth in her the evening
before, she tensed. Steamy, wet desire trailed down between her
legs, surprising her with its urgency. She drew her knees together,
trying to calm the desire building there.

Her breathing quickened. Anticipating what
was to come, heat built in her nether parts. She quivered and
grasped his hair when he brushed his hand up and down her body.
With each downward stroke, he teased nearer to that part of her
that ached for his touch. Had she ever felt this way afore last
eve?

She thought she had known desire before. But
experiencing this intense urge, she knew why she had always sensed
she yearned for more. She hadn't realized what that
more
was. Now she knew.

A little embarrassed, Letia tensed when his
hand slid over her stomach and reached the hair below. Finding her
clasped legs, he let go of her nipple with a wet, popping
sound.

"Open."

When she didn't instantly comply, he blew on
her wet nipple then flicked it with his tongue. Quivering desire
trailing down to her hardening nub urged her to open her legs for
him. Her muscles softened. Slowly, her legs spread. He groaned with
pleasure on feeling the wetness there.

He squeezed gently. Rubbed his hand up and
down over her hot, plump nether lips. He did not touch the little
bulge that called to him. With every stroke of his hand, his
fingers, she gasped and waited for him to tease her there. She
wriggled, hoping to bring him closer to what she wanted.

Throwing his leg across her, he rose on his
knees and crouched over her. With a wicked chuckle, he trailed his
tongue down her flesh to dip it into the dimple of her belly.

How could someone just touching her stomach
give such intense pleasure? Was it the anticipation of feeling his
magical fingers in her weeping entrance? Or was it his fingertips
tracing the opening of her sex?

She hoped he could not feel her flesh trying
to draw him there. Inside, she pulsed and tensed, wanting the
emptiness filled with his fingers, his tarse.

Her hands explored over his back, loving the
heat of his skin, feeling now and then the ridge of some scar long
healed. When he thrust his hips downward to rub his tarse over her
stomach, her hands explored his taught buttocks. There, too, she
felt a scar crossing his left cheek. An arrow thrust, per
chance?

Ah. He flinched. Was he embarrassed that
someone had shot him there? She tried to think of other things.
Tried to control her body that seemed to pulse and strain to touch
every bit of herself against his length.

She opened wide, wanting him to enter.
Instead, he chuckled against her neck. He shook his head. No need
to speak. He was not done with tormenting her flesh. Reaching
between them, he rubbed the slickness and thrust a finger in. She
clinched it with her muscles, tried to bring it deeper. He chuckled
again. Adding another finger, he pumped faster and made her body
flame.

Wetness flooded her. She made sounds that
would have shamed her, if she had not been so crazed with wanting
him to fill her. He withdrew his fingers then cupped her. Rubbing
his hand over the weeping flesh, he spreading her wet heat to her
thighs, her buttocks.

She arched her back. She bit her lips to keep
from crying out.

"What is it ye want, lass?"

She refused to speak.

"Ye must tell me, else I will stop." He
waited, not moving.

"Please." A whisper she could not stop.

"Please? Please what, my Lady of the Lights?
I canna hear ye."

"Fill me." She whispered a mite louder.

"With what?" He thrust one finger back inside
and slowly rotated and teased her with it. "This, perchance? Hm?"
He licked her ear then thrust his tongue deep.

She wriggled, wreathed. Shamed herself by
trying to bring his hips close. She grabbed his tarse. Surely, it
was twice the size she remembered. It bucked in her hand. She
rubbed her thumb over the tip and felt moisture seeping there.

"Ah. So 'tis my tarse ye want inside?" He
waited. His tongue lathed the hollow of her neck. "Tell me so."

She bit her lip, for as his finger explored
deeper, his thumb brushed against her swollen nub then retreated
and returned. She tensed tightly as any bow pulled by the strongest
arm. She was near ready to explode. Just short of her release, he
lifted his thumb. She wanted to scream with frustration. Never had
she felt like this. And never had she thought desire could be such
torture. Her nails dug into his thighs to urge him to move.

He stilled. Waited. He angled his hip until
his tarse pressed against her opening then rubbed it up and down,
making it as slick as his hand had been.

"Say it!"

It was a determined command.

"I want..."

He waited.

"Your tarse...in me."

A sob of shame escaped her lips.

"Ahh."

His sigh was long, drawn out, as he slowly
entered her. Her eager body throbbed and pulled at him. Her hips
thrust up, but he rose with them, not letting her take the lead.
She grabbed his hair, struggled and fought with him, but he kept
his maddeningly slow thrusts until she erupted. She locked her
legs, her arms, around him as wave after wave of ecstasy burst
through her. Her open mouth bit down on his shoulder, but when she
encountered the binding there, she quickly opened her jaw and threw
back her head.

If he had not covered her mouth with his hand
and then his lips, she would have shrieked as loudly as any wild
creature. They fought together until her climax neared the end. His
thrusts became wild and abandoned. Her tension built again to a
feverish pitch. Their bodies slammed against each other like one
tried to devour the other.

Letia had no need to fight to keep him within
her when he reached his peak. He too, was mindless with passion.
Her body pulsated and squeezed around him, draining him.

As his seed pumped from him, so did his
energy. He sighed and lowered his head beside hers on the pillow,
his tarse still throbbing inside her. Gradually, she felt its size
diminish. She dared not move until sure he slept. She feared his
racing heartbeat had processed the potion quickly out of his
system. If she disturbed him afore he slept soundly, he might
awaken.

He would trap her beneath him.

She counted to one hundred. Moved her legs.
He mumbled something, his face in her hair.

Counted to two hundred.

Heaven help her. Would he strangle her if
dawn came and he spied her there?

She decided to make it three hundred.

Ah. His breath was even and deep. His body
was pliant. Finally, she worked her lower body from beneath him.
Her toes sought the side of the bed, then her ankles. She wriggled
her feet and inched further away until the backs of her knees
reached the edge.

Raik had such a grasp on her upper body that
she had to work her way from beneath the arm over her chest, his
hand tucked beneath her pillow. Finally, she angled her legs and
buttocks over the side of the bed until she slipped over the silky
sheets onto the floor. Scrambling to her knees, she felt around and
grabbed her cloak.

Maud must have heard her.

She opened the door and Letia fled the
room.

o0o

The sun had already started to lighten the
sky when Raik opened his eyes. Always, he awoke afore it even
thought on rising. His body felt heavy. Tired, even. He stretched,
puzzling over it. He remembered the exercises he had done
yesterday, the sit-up, the squats...

His lids flew wide open and he sat upright so
fast his head near exploded. Pressing both hands to his temples, he
held on as if his scalp would take off and fly through the window
opening to flap a greeting at the mourning doves.

Jezu! How much wine had he drunk last night?
He gripped himself tighter, trying to quell his raging
headache.

Hades! Why was he so tired? His arms and legs
felt like he had battled the night through.

Battled.
The woman
. She had been
here again. Today, he was surer than yestermorn that a woman had
joined him in the night.

He lowered his hands. His eyes squinted and
looked slowly around him on the bed. It could not be. The sheets
were taut. The blanket neatly folded at the foot where he had
placed it.

He eased his legs over the side of the bed
and stood. And looked around. Not one thing out of place.

He picked up the other pillow. Crisp, clean
linen covered it as if it had not moved even the slightest after he
went to bed.

His own looked like he had wrestled with
it.

Picking it up, he held it to his face. Again,
the soft scent of lilies drifted from it. His eyes narrowed.
Somehow, someone had given him a potion. For what purpose? He
traced back over everything that had happened since the evening
meal. Everything he had eaten.

Nothing had tasted other than it should. And
he had felt no effects after eating and drinking. Hm. Afore he
slept both nights, cheese and wine had made a light repast. He
closed his eyes, remembering the taste of the wine. Sweet. Full.
Heavy? Something was different.

He squinted, thinking. He could not put his
finger on it. His lips pressed into a thin line, remembering he had
started yawning soon after drinking it. And when he had lain down,
he had noted the flashing lights behind his closed eyes as he faded
into sleep.

Ha! Could they be drugging him to keep him
from escaping during the night? Why? Seton had guards aplenty to
keep him to this room.

And the woman? He could still smell and feel
her soft skin touching his. Could feel her firm breasts as he
molded them. He cupped his hands and held them over his nose. His
heart thudded. His cock jerked.

The scent of a woman's amorous flesh. Lifting
his arm, he sniffed its length. The faint perfume of lilies. He had
thought he imagined the woman afore. Even that he had conjured her
in his mind. 'Twas no dream, but a flesh and blood woman who had
lain with him.

The most desirable woman he had ever touched,
had ever longed for, was not in his imagination.

Raik's lips pressed tight. His eyes narrowed.
The muscles in his face became taut.

He had spilled his seed in her. Twice.

He, who had vowed never to do such. Was she
fertile?

His hands fisted. His nails dug into his
palms.

She was real. He would find her.

And when he did...

Raik spent the morning talking with all who
happened near his chamber, from the servants who brought his
porridge to the laundress when she came to freshen his bedding.

She spoke freely enough when he queried her
about the baron. It did not take him long to guess she had a
special fondness for him.

"Our baron was friends with Lady Letia's
father, Alwen of Northumbria. They stopped a rebellion against King
Henry. When they returned, they found Baron Alwen's castle
invaded.

"While they fought their way to the solar,
Lady Letia's mother and sister were there. Men held hot pokers
aside their necks to keep them still."

She would have stopped there, but Raik kept
his gaze on hers, willing her with his eyes to finish.

"Where was Lady Letia?"

"Maud hid her in a secret space within the
walls. After they took her out, she was speechless for days. When
she finally spoke, she begged her father to let her learn skills to
protect herself. Baron de Burgh persuaded him 'twas best to
do."

Raik started to probe further about Letia,
but the sound of horses' hooves clattered on the cobblestones
below. She jumped and headed for the door.

"I had best be about my duties. A man will
bring yer bath afore long."

She was gone from the room by the time he
reached the window opening. There below him, his horse trotted
through the gatehouse.

"Satan's turds! That fashious woman is riding
Storm."