The Conquest (16 page)

He lowered his mouth and kissed her, his lips soft and gentle. For a moment she allowed herself the luxury of responding, until she remembered they were not alone.

She pulled away, and looked to Jorden and Elspeth, who were too wrapped up in their own little world to notice.

“Jorden would die before he betrayed me,” Adelstan said, his eyes intense, as he pressed his palm to her cheek.

“And Elspeth would die before she betrayed me.”

His thumb brushed along her lower lip. “Then let’s enjoy this day for what it is.”

* * *

Finding an isolated spot in which to have their feast, Rhiannon and Elspeth went about setting out the items for the men to devour, and devour they did.

Adelstan rested on his side, propped up on an elbow, eating the last of the cheese. Rhiannon sat across from him, watching him beneath lowered lids. God, but he was gorgeous. So much so, he took the breath from her lungs. Every time their eyes met, his lips would curve into a soft smile.

How she ached to be with him again.

Elspeth laughed at something Jorden said, and brushed a leaf from his hair, her fingers lingering long after the leaf had been discarded. The knight moved so his head rested in her lap, and Rhiannon admired her friend for her ability to tie men around her finger so easily. Jorden reached up, pulled her face down to meet his, and the two began kissing.

Rhiannon knew it was rude to watch, but she could not help it. Feeling Adelstan’s stare, she looked up and her heart lurched. He wanted her with the same intensity she wanted him.

Jorden stood, and reached out to take Elspeth’s hand. Rhiannon could see the surprise in her friend’s eyes, but also the excitement.

“We are going for a walk down by the pond,” Jorden said over his shoulder.

“How long will you be?” Adelstan asked.

Elspeth looked at Rhiannon. “An hour.”

Adelstan smiled. “We shall see you when you return. Have a nice swim.”

* * *

Elspeth watched Jorden undress, uncovering each inch of his powerful body to her all-consuming gaze. Since Antony had told her about him kissing the soldier, she’d been unable to purge the handsome knight from her thoughts.

Obviously he had no preference when it came to sex, because no one could fake the passion she saw in those long-lashed silver eyes. She had never been with such a strong man, a warrior, and her heart accelerated knowing what was to come.

Naked now, he walked toward the pond, and she stared at his backside, the muscles shifting with each movement, his high firm ass and lovely strong thighs, making her pulse quicken.

Lifting her skirts to her thighs, she followed him, and stepped into the pond, her toes squishing into the sand and silt beneath her feet. Though she was far from modest, she was a bit self-conscious about being naked in front of a man she had literally met mere hours before.

Jorden dove under the water and she watched expectantly as he came up a minute later, flipping his hair out of his face, and grinning in a way that made her bones turn to butter.

Sweet Jesus, but the man was sexy, and he was walking toward her, uncaring that with each step he revealed more skin…his wide chest, the rippling mass of abdominal muscles, the trail of dark hair that led to his impressive cock.

The cool water did little to lessen his girth or length, or if it did, she was in trouble. Water sluiced down his body, making droplets on his olive skin. Droplets she craved to lick off. His confidence intimidated her, and yet excited her in a way she’d never before experienced.

He stopped mere inches from her and, without saying a word, leaned in for a kiss. His hands were at her back, untying the lacings of her kirtle, which he made quick work of, surprising her yet again. This man was no stranger to unlacing a woman’s gown.

The kirtle was up and off her head before she could blink, and her chemise shortly followed.

Her stomach coiled. She stood before him naked as could be in the bright light of day. Because of her station in life, and having to be with Rhiannon nearly every minute of the day, she had become accustomed to making love quickly before returning to her charge, which meant rarely undressing, and when she did, it was normally not during the day.

Jorden acted as if they had all the time in the world. She trembled when he took a step back, his eyes sliding down her body slowly. The side of his mouth curved, and he grabbed her, his mouth on hers, his hand at the back of her head, fisting her hair.

Exhilaration licked her spine, and her already moist core grew wet in an instant. He rubbed his cock against her belly, his teeth biting into her bottom lip as he sucked it hard, his hand sliding down her stomach, through the hair on her mons, to her slick folds.

He released a growl as one finger, then another slid into her moist heat, his thumb brushing over her clit, first softly, and then with more pressure.

Aye, he had been with a woman before—and more than once.

Planting a hand on his wide chest, she tried to steady herself on legs that had gone weak and wobbly. As the rhythm of his fingers increased, she touched his nipple, smiling as it extended. He groaned low in his throat when she replaced her fingers with her mouth, playing with the bud and feeling the hard ridge of his sex buck against her in response.

She was lifted off the ground a second later, and laid down on soft grass. Jorden covered her with his large body, kissing her, before going up on his knees, and hooking both her legs over his shoulders. He rested the crown of his cock against her wet opening, and turned his head to kiss the inside of her knee before slipping inside her.

His hands curled around her thighs as he slowly pumped in and out of her, his balls slapping her ass with each hard thrust. She released the breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding.

He said something in French she didn’t understand, but it sounded lovely, his eyes soft as he watched her, his gaze shifting to her breasts, which bounced with each hard thrust.

Long strands of wet hair stuck to his neck and shoulders, beads of water falling onto her thighs, rolling down to mingle with the creamy honey of her sex.

He slowed a little, positioning her so the head of his cock touched her sweet spot inside. It felt delicious, so incredible. He slid a long finger into her back passage and she released a sigh, biting the inside of her lip as her body rocked with pleasure.

Unable to help herself, she touched her clit, drawing circles around the tiny nub, before applying more pressure.

Jorden’s jaw clenched as he watched Elspeth play with her herself, his strokes increasing as she came closer to orgasm. He knew she was close, could feel her legs tighten against his shoulders.

He added another finger in her ass, and she cried out as she came, her fingers pressing harder as she rode out the sensations, her strong inner muscles throbbing around his great length.

She opened her eyes to find him watching her with an open mouthed expression that looked almost boyish. Her hand slipped from her tiny button, to fondle his balls, finding the patch of skin that made most men come immediately.

Jorden was no exception.

He moaned, the cords of his neck strained as he pumped into her hard. His silver eyes stayed focused on her, so intense. His fingernails dug into her thighs as he let out a growl and withdrew, his hot semen shooting onto her belly.

* * *

“You are being quiet again.”

Rhiannon glanced up at Adelstan. All day she had been wondering how she would live with the fact he would be unmarried and free to do what he desired, while she would be married, her every moment accounted for by a man she did not even know and had no desire to know for that matter.

Just like her mother.

Perhaps they could run away.

“Come here,” he said, pulling her into his arms, lying back on his mantle, which had been spread out, the food now forgotten.

Tears that had burned the backs of her eyes finally escaped and slipped down her cheeks.

He took her face in his hands, brushing at her tears with his thumbs, his eyes full of concern. “What is it?”

“I have realized how impossible our situation is.”

He opened his mouth as though to say something, but closed it as quickly. Sitting up, he reached for the wine, took a long drink. She watched the muscles of his throat contract, her heart racing as his gaze met hers over the bottle’s edge. Setting the bottle aside, he grabbed her and kissed her long and hard.

She returned the kiss fervently, needing him as much as he needed her, if not more. Her fingers wove through his hair, and she tugged at it in her urgency. He smiled against her lips, apparently pleased by her response.

He flipped, so she was now beneath him, and he drew up her skirts, his long fingers grazing the sensitive skin of her inner calf, her knee, her thighs. Disappearing beneath her skirts, his hot breath fanned against her sex a moment before his tongue licked her heated cleft.

Her heart nearly pounded out of her chest as he licked her mercilessly, his tongue lifting the small hard bud, before his mouth closed over it and he sucked.

She smiled at blue skies overhead, and arched her hips closer to his mouth.

Long fingers joined the play, sliding into her hot core, and she moaned as he moved them in and out of her. He slid a finger over her back passage, and she jerked, shocked by the strange sensations.

She thought she heard the rumblings of laughter against her sex, before he once again set to laving and sucking. Liquid fire danced in her veins and her body pulsed with the familiar stirrings, the introduction to a climax that would be exquisite. Two more strokes of his tongue and a thrust of his fingers and she came hard, her inner muscles clamping around him, coating him with her juices.

As she recovered from the orgasm, he slid from beneath her skirts, his cock hard and long, tenting the braies he was busy untying. Pushing the breeches to his knees, he went into her arms, his body covering hers, his rock-hard cock resting against her still throbbing quim.

“I want you, Rhiannon,” he whispered, kissing her, the scent of her on his lips and in his mouth. She knew some women might be repulsed at tasting themselves on their lover’s lips, but not Rhiannon. She wished to experience everything with this man.

“I want you, too.”

He thrust hard, burying his impressive length inside her.

The world around them could have caught fire and she would not have known, too intent on the man staring at her, moving above her, filling her completely with his thick cock, his thrusts steady and long.

She could see the pulse racing in his neck, the way the tendons flexed. Never would she forget this moment, staring into his eyes as he made love to her. As the stirrings of yet another climax began, she brought her legs up, her feet locking behind his back, taking him deeper within her body.

“Rhiannon,” he said, his strokes becoming faster.

He grabbed her ass with both hands and drove into her in shallow strokes.

As she cried out his name, he pumped a few more times and withdrew, spilling his seed onto the ground beneath her with a curse.

What would it feel like to have him come inside her—to enjoy the climax together, just once?

He stood and helped her up, kissing her thoroughly before looking anxiously around. Every moment had to be guarded and she hated it. He covered his spent seed with dirt and leaves, and pulled up his braies.

“You’ve dirt on your back,” he said, brushing at her bottom, the sensation sending pleasure through her. If only she could stay here all day, experiencing heaven in his arms.

“Jorden!” Elspeth yelled loudly in the distance, and Rhiannon knew it was her maid’s way of giving her fair warning. Thankful, she brushed her skirts out, picked up Adelstan’s mantle, and tossed it to him as she made busy putting the few uneaten items into the basket.

Elspeth raced into the clearing first, looking at Rhiannon and Adelstan, almost doing a check before turning to Jorden, who appeared to have gone swimming, his dark hair wet and curling at his shoulders. “You run fast for a woman,” he said, his French accent rife with sexual tension.

“Of course I do when a predator is after me,” she said saucily.

“Who do you call a predator, woman?”

“Are you two quite finished?” Adelstan asked with a smile, while fastening the mantle over his broad shoulders.

Jorden’s silver eyes burned into Elspeth. “For now.”

Elspeth’s eyes widened and she laughed as she took the basket from Rhiannon.

“I can take it.”

“Nay, it is heavy,” Elspeth insisted, and Rhiannon let the basket slip from her fingers as the servant took it.

Jorden approached Elspeth and she rushed away, with him racing after her.

Adelstan smiled as he watched the two, before looking at Rhiannon. She returned his smile and he kissed her, a quick peck on the lips. “You’re so beautiful, Rhiannon. I’ll never forget these days for the rest of my life.”

“Nor will I.”

Jorden had Elspeth’s back flush against a tree, the basket now forgotten at their feet.

The man towered over her, bending his head for a kiss. Elspeth trembled and Rhiannon wondered if it came from fear or desire.

As the maid’s hands laced around the knight’s shoulders, Rhiannon had her answer. There was nothing gentle about the kiss the two shared, and she had to wonder what had transpired at the pond to make his need so great.

“Come, let us leave them,” Adelstan said, taking her hand within his own.

“I want to see ye tonight,” she said, leaning her head against his shoulder.

“It is too risky, especially if we have been out all day together.”

“I could sneak to your room.”

He stopped in midstride, pulled her behind a giant oak. “I want nothing more than to spend the entire night in your arms and wake there, and yet to do so could risk both our lives.”

Disappointed, she looked down at the ground between them.

He lifted her chin with gentle fingers. “Rhiannon, if I could change this, I would. Do you believe that?”