by Rue Allyn
“So open the door and get us out of here.” Why did he delay?
“It seems to be stuck.” He leaned his shoulder against the oaken planks and shoved. Nothing.
“Talon?”
He backed up a few steps and threw himself at the door with all the force he could muster. The impact jarred him from head to toe; the door rattled but did not budge.
“Your carpenter did too good a job.” She didn’t want to be afraid. This had to be a mistake.
“Nay. The door is barred.”
“How? I saw you lift the bar and put it aside myself.”
“Bars don’t just replace themselves. Someone must have put it back.”
“Who would do that?”
“The guard perhaps.”
Larkin knew better. “Didn’t you tell Cleve we’d be down here?”
“Aye, but he may not have given the information to the men before one of them passed this way.”
Twice someone had tried to kill her. Would Talon now drown because of her? Larkin shivered. “What do we do?”
He took her in his arms, offering her his comfort and body heat. She saw him glance at the water line. “We cannot stay here. The chance that someone will come this way before we drown is too small.”
She set her jaw, put fear aside, and put all the confidence she could muster into the look she gave him. “Then we’ll have to swim the cove. There is a narrow path that climbs the cliff on the other side.”
“Can you swim?” he asked.
“Aye, my ... my father taught me. He considered it essential that we know how to survive in the water. The villagers, even the fishermen, thought him mad.”
Talon nodded. “Then we’d best hurry. Even now we may not be able to walk out of here.”
She nodded; the water had already risen to their shins.
He removed his sword and wedged it into a long shallow niche just below the tideline.
She hoped he would be alive to return for it. Then she linked her hand with his and started toward the seaward opening.
By the time they emerged, she had shed her dress and was floating. The torch had long since gone out. Talon dropped it from his hand, then removed his boots, shirt, and braes. She took his hand once more and let the pull of the ebb carry them from the cave.
In a rush, they were in the cove with the seafloor far beneath their feet. His hand tightened on hers. Waves crashed over their heads, and eddies swirled them around, pulling them out to sea.
Larkin floated between him and the shore. She scooped at the water with one hand and saw him do the same. But the sea tugged him ever farther away, and Larkin lost what little headway she had made. If they were to make the shore, they must each swim alone. She did not want to release him and would not, even though she knew it would be their best chance to survive. She turned to speak to Talon just as a swell lifted them up and forced their hands apart. No. She could not lose him now.
Panicked, she turned in the water just in time to see him sink beneath an oncoming wave. What was wrong with him? Why wasn’t he stroking toward the beach? With both hands free, he should be making better progress. The wave crested and carried her landward, but she battled back to the place where she’d lost Talon.
She fought to keep her head above water, searching for some sign of him. She could feel her arms beginning to tire, but she refused to give up. Moments passed; suddenly she saw him shoot up above the waves and sink just as rapidly. Somehow he’d traveled parallel to the shore and was now on her side of the cove, but far from the small shingle of land. Instead, he was dangerously close to where a clutch of huge boulders loomed above the waves. She started toward him. Water obscured her vision. She neared the rocks and felt the strong undercurrents pull at her. She was cold to the bone, weary with the struggle, and near mindless with fear for Talon.
He’d been out of sight for much too long. If he didn’t surface soon, she’d have to presume he drowned. The thought squeezed her heart painfully, and the struggle against the waves became too great. She made a half-hearted effort to head for the beach. The current pushed her closer to the rocks. The sea swirled her around and around. A wave swelled, shoving her straight at a boulder.
Pain slammed through her as she hit the stone with her shoulder and hip. She clawed at the rock face but found no purchase. Her body slipped downward, then jerked to a stop. A hand had reached out from the sky and wrapped around her wrist. She threw her other arm up and clasped the steel-hard arm that held her. She lifted her face and saw Talon peering at her from over the edge of the stone. His mouth moved, but she could hear nothing above the crash of waves.
Slowly he pulled her upward. She did her best to help, bracing her feet against the slick wall of rock to take some of her weight off of his arm. Waves knocked her feet from their tenuous placement and swung her body away from Talon. Water alternately sucked her down or slapped her into the rocks. She felt her hold on him slipping. Please, God, let me live.
She heard a mighty yell. Talon gave a tremendous heave. A wave swelled beneath her. She fairly flew through the air, straight into his arms, with such great force that she knocked him flat.
She lay there atop him and tried to breathe. It wasn’t easy. She hurt everywhere. Every breath brought a fit of coughing. She was freezing. Water sluiced over her, maintaining the chill.
Talon’s arms were locked around her. His chest moved beneath hers, so she knew he lived. For the moment, they had solid rock beneath them. But for how long?
He shifted into a sitting position, and she found herself cradled against his chest. He rose and staggered a few steps to a second rock that thrust higher into the sky. He settled her onto a shelf on the new rock, then climbed to join her. Eventually they climbed together to the topmost portion of the rocks.
They huddled in the small shelter of the stone’s landward side. Spume still showered over them from time to time. With their arms wrapped around each other, Larkin knew they would be safe, as long as the water did not rise above the rocks. Slowly she began to feel warmth from Talon’s body seep into her. She placed her lips near his ear. “I thought I’d lost you.”
“And I thought I’d see you broken on the rocks. What foolishness caused you to turn back from the shore?”
“Your hand slipped from mine. I had to find you. Had to know what happened to you.”
“My hand did not slip.”
“Of course it did.” her gaze widened as comprehension dawned. “You let go? Why?”
“You would swim better with both hands free.”
“But you didn’t swim. You didn’t even try.”
“Aye.”
“Are you daft? Did you want to drown?” she raged at him like the tide storm.
“Nay.” He clutched her close. “But I wanted you to live.”
“So you let me go. This I understand. But why not try to save yourself?”
“I don’t know how to swim.”
He’d gone with her into the maelstrom, knowing that he had no skill to get himself out. Water splashed into her open mouth. She sputtered, then laughed and laughed some more.
Talon held her secure until the fit subsided.
“You foolish, foolish, dear, brave man.” She kissed him.
He kissed her back. The warmth that had begun between their bodies became a fire that not even the seas could douse.
“Talon.” Larkin’s voice caressed his name when they finally stopped for air.
“Yes?”
“Love me. Please.”
“Here? Now?”
“Yes.”
“’Tis not safe.”
“Aye. But if the seas wash us from this rock to die, I would drown in your arms first.”
He smiled at her. “I will give you that drowning, sweet Larkin, but wait until the tide ebbs and we reach the shore. I want you in my arms with all my being, but I want you safe more.”
She smiled back at him and arched a brow. “’Twill be difficult, but I will wait.”
; “Good. Now rest while you can, for you will need every bit of energy when I get you to the shore.” He settled her within the shelter of his arms and fixed his gaze on the slow rise of the water against the boulders.
• • •
With the moon waning and dawn a gray hint on the horizon, Talon roused Larkin. Together they clambered down from the rocks and slogged ashore. As she emerged from the sea, Talon stood frozen in wonder at the beauty of her water-sparkled body. Desire pierced him, and he grew hard despite the chill waves.
“Larkin?” Her name nearly strangled in his throat. “Are you sure you don’t prefer to wait until we get back to the keep?” Why was he giving her a chance to back out? What happened to his determination to claim her at every opportunity?
She walked the few steps back to him and took his hand. “I am certain. Now I see a nice dry spot sheltered by those boulders over there. They probably still hold heat from yesterday’s sun. We can have privacy and warmth. I will wait no longer.”
Talon swallowed and trailed behind her, watching the sway of her hips and the tantalizing cleft of her buttocks. He was much too warm already. “You do not have to do this.”
“But I want to. Please, you promised me.” She pulled him down to the sand and lay back.
He could no more resist her gentle pleading than he could cease to breathe on his own. But he would see to her comfort. He lifted her to her knees, then he lay down.
“What are you doing?”
“I’ll not take you where the sand can scrape your delicate skin, but I will give myself to you for the taking.”
“How?”
“Touch me as you wish I would touch you. The rest will come.”
“All right.” She stretched out along the length of his body. Her slender frame barely covered him from shoulder to shin, but his toes tingled with heat, and he swore the sea-spray would turn to steam if it touched him.
She ran her fingers up and down his arms and over his chest, then up his throat and to his mouth. She lingered there, testing the texture of his lips. The light caress tortured him so, he captured a finger between his teeth and suckled the tip. Her eyes widened as he demonstrated what he knew she wanted, what they both knew would be the ultimate conclusion of their play. Her cheeks flushed, and she ducked her head. Her lips grazed his nipple, and his body jerked. Blood rushed to his groin. He felt his erection pulse against her softness. “God in heaven, Larkin, you’ll kill me with such tenderness.”
“I pray it is so.” She smiled up at him.
He could feed on that smile for a hundred years and never go hungry. Yet a hunger for more grew in him with each passing moment. He was ravenous for her smiles, her laughter, and her passion. He threaded his fingers through her hair and lowered her mouth to his. He wanted it all, everything that Larkin had and more. He wished he could return the gift tenfold. How he could be more than he was, he did not know, but to please Larkin, he would find a way.
He slid one hand down, soothing slow lazy circles across her back until her buttocks filled his palm. He pressed her into him and heard her gasp of pleasure as his body stroked hers. She squirmed against him. Her tongue darted into his mouth and swept a sweet trail of desire and urgency. Her hands fluttered to his waist where she pressed and lifted herself upright so she sat astride his body. The brief press of her womanhood against his cock was the most pleasurable pain he’d ever felt. Her fingers trembled over the skin at his hips. In a trice, she wrapped her palm around him. He no longer felt the cold sea spray, only the gentle fire of her exploring grip.
He hauled in huge gasps of air. Surely he would die of pleasure. He could not allow it. Not until she was dying too. He placed his hand over hers. “Stop.”
She looked adorably hurt. “Do you not want me?”
“I want only one thing more.”
Her lower lip trembled. “What?”
“I want you to feel as I feel.”
“Wha ... what do you mean?”
“I want you to feel the same pleasure, the same passion. I want you to need me so much you feel you’ll die without my touch.”
“Oh.” She gave him that wide-eyed stare. “You mean I make you feel like that.”
He stroked his hand over her shoulders. Snaking one arm around her waist. “’Tis a poor explanation of what I feel for you. Let me show you.”
He brought his mouth close to her breast, then flicked his tongue across her nipple in a single quick stroke.
“Ah.” Her back arched, her breast thrusting in search of the unfinished caress. Before she could moan a protest, he fastened his lips around her other nipple and suckled with increasing force. The moan became a groan.
“Talon, please.”
“Please what?” He lifted his head and smiled at her, all the while running a hand over her thigh, to her hip, and back.
Her bottom squirmed, and she rose up, licking her mouth across his and raining kisses over his jaw to his ear. “I feel so ... so ...”
“So what?” He trembled beneath the assault her lips and tongue made on his earlobe.
“Needy. Empty. I ache. Please, help me.”
He slid his hand from her hip, across her belly to the soft curls that sheltered her womanhood. He stroked there, over and over again until she pressed against him. Then he slipped a finger inside her.
“Ah, love, that’s so good.”
His erection throbbed when her muscles clenched around his finger. Anticipation twisted through him in an agony of delicious torture. He swiped his thumb across the knot of her pleasure.
She arched her back and lifted her bottom.
He grasped her hips and raised her over his manhood. “Tell me you want me.”
“I ... want ... you.”
He let go her hips and thrust upward as she sank down upon him.
He heard a moan but did not know who uttered it. His flesh burned, and his soul heated with the need to be yet closer, to be one. He leaned up. Nuzzled her breasts. Suckled the turgid buds.
Larkin cried out, and her sheath rippled over his rigid flesh.
His hips bucked. He drew on her breasts again and again. With each tug of his lips, her hips shifted, and he thrust deeper. Unable to bear the agonizing pleasure any longer. He reached between them and stroked Larkin where they were joined.
Her body tightened on his, then spasmed. She threw her head back, screaming, “Talon!”
He clutched her to him. Burying his face in her breasts, he breathed her name as his white-hot seed flooded into her. The sea, the rocks at his back, the chill, damp air, everything faded but Larkin. Larkin, the only solid reality in his world.
The only reality he knew he could never hold again.
A lifetime, or moments later, Talon did not know which, he surfaced from the haze of satisfaction to find Larkin draped across his body with her head turned into his shoulder. The breeze whipped her hair over his face. He tenderly pushed it back behind her ear.
“Mmm.” She lifted her head, looking at him. Her eyes wore a sleepy half-lidded expression that spoke of total relaxation. Her mouth curved in a smile. “Thank you.”
“You’re very welcome.” He chuckled, feeling himself harden as his belly bounced against hers.
She raised her head farther, looking about. “’Tis nearly dusk.”
He sat up with her in his lap and followed her gaze. “Aye, we should return to the keep.”
“I do not wish to.”
“Nor, do I, but we must.”
“Then let us ... Oh no.” She put her fingers to her lips.
Talon kissed the fingers away. “Oh no, what?” he asked as he nibbled at her mouth.
“We’ve nothing but your breechclout to wear between us. How will we get to the keep?”
“Hmmm.” He sampled her silken skin all the way to her ear. “Mayhap we’ll have to stay here for the rest of our lives.” He nipped her earlobe, then suckled it.
“Oh,” she gasped. “I don’t think I could do that.”
; “Why not?”
With a hand on his cheek, she turned his face to hers. “I would surely die of pleasure.”
He smiled, “I would be most happy to see to your pleasure.” Then he sobered. “But if I have that chance, I will permit only the smallest death.”
“Oh.”
“Oh, indeed. Now get you up.” He stood, putting her on her feet in the same motion.
“But our clothes.”
“You stay here. I’ll go in and bring back clothing for you. Then you can return with me and we’ll eat.”
“All right, but when we’re both clothed and fed, we must discuss the candle wax we found.”
“Aye, but afterward, you will share my bed.”
It wasn’t really a question, but she answered him anyway. “’Tis my wish to do so.”
He kissed her and left. How many days and nights would they share with each other before reality in the form of king or church interfered? How long would she ignore all her reasons for not laying with him? Would he be able to part with her when the time came?
He would have to, for he would not lose his chance to hold Hawksedge Keep.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Talon’s side of the bed was empty when she woke late the following morning. She shivered beneath the covers reliving those lonely moments huddled naked and cold behind the stones on the beach with dusk looming. All her fears returned in a rush. Someone had tried to kill them. Was it the same someone who’d murdered the earl? Was she the target because she searched for proof of her identity? Or was Talon the target because he was the earl’s only obvious heir? Talon’s presence chased those fears to the darkest corners. On the beach, she’d wished for his return, and once he’d come back, she’d not wanted to leave his side. ’Twas foolish, she knew, to rely so greatly on him, but she could not persuade herself to behave otherwise.
Now she was alone again. Had he decided their coupling was unwise? She knew it was, and in the giddy rush of yesterday’s survival, she had not cared. Sharing his bed had put both their souls at risk. As terrifying as the thought of eternity in hell might be, would a lifetime with Talon be worth it? If she let herself continue on her present course, she would lose sight of the justice she sought, and that would condemn her to a living hell. She might gain Rosewood Castle, but at what cost? No, she must tell him that she could not lie with him again. Then she would confess and seek absolution for her sins.