by Sahara Kelly
As tall as Viktor, this man possessed a lush moustache and a quick grin, flashing white teeth at her as he smiled. “Good evening, Miss Eventyde. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
“Uh…” Madelyne was at a loss for words. His voice was lightly accented and charming, and she wished for more light so that she could get a good look at his face, but it was not to be.
“All is ready?” Viktor’s quick words took her mind back to their immediate problems.
“All is ready. Did you even doubt us?”
“Not for a second, my friend. But time grows short.” Viktor led Madelyne to the caravan as Pyotr followed.
“I have the horses tethered a little way away. I’ll be off with them in moments. We’ll lay a trail that will take our pursuers on a wild goose chase, and they’ll be far away from here before you know it.” Pyotr was already buttoning his coat.
“Godspeed, Viktor. And you too, Miss Eventyde. We’ll meet in London, my friends. Until then…”
The man called Pyotr casually saluted them and vanished once more into the darkness. Within moments the silence was broken by the jingling of harnesses and the sound of horses crashing through the undergrowth, heading away from the clearing, the caravan and Madelyne.
She turned her eyes to Viktor, letting them ask the questions trembling on her lips.
He dropped his own to hers and pressed a quick kiss on her upturned mouth. “Welcome to my home, Madelyne, love. Come inside quickly now…”
He hurried up the small wooden steps, opened the door and ushered Madelyne inside the caravan.
“I dare not light a lamp for you, sweetheart. Take my hand and do exactly as I say.”
Silently, Madelyne found herself hanging on to Viktor’s warm grasp and taking comfort from it. She was his to command. He would keep her safe. Somehow, someway, he would keep her safe.
She just knew it.
Chapter Six
Viktor found his way around the caravan by blind instinct. It had been his home for the past months, and other than a slight thump when he knocked over the violin case he’d left lying untidily on the floor, he had a pretty good idea where everything was.
Madelyne, however, didn’t. He slowly guided her every step, keeping them both as quiet as possible. He couldn’t hear any sounds of pursuit, but he knew it wouldn’t be long.
“Hush now, the next couple of hours will be crucial.” He soothed her with his voice as his hand tugged her deeper into the darkness of his home.
“I know,” she answered.
He grinned to himself. Not a tremble in her voice, or a lick of fear. She was an incredible woman indeed.
He found what he was looking for…the long padded bench that ran for a good portion of the length of the caravan, and doubled as his bed.
Reaching beneath the lip, he eased the seat upwards and rested it on the wall.
“Madelyne, we will have to hide for a while. And it will be a snug fit, but necessary. Can you stand to be in a small place just until dawn?”
“If you are with me, I can stand anything, Viktor. Just tell me where to go and what to do.”
“Ah, love…” He pulled her close and kissed her quick and hard. “Such a fine gypsy wife you’re going to make.”
He heard her indrawn breath, but there was no time to take the discussion further.
Viktor eased them both into the concealed space beneath the window seat, settling Madelyne into the small space and tucking his body around hers, nestling her buttocks into his groin. There were blankets stored on the bottom, and it was not uncomfortable, just confined.
Very confined, grimaced Viktor to himself, as he found his cock hardening against the soft mounds of flesh pressing against him.
It was going to be a very long wait.
He left the seat upright, knowing it would have to come down at some point, but not quite ready to seal them in.
“Did you mean that?” Madelyne’s voice was little more than a whisper but she shifted slightly against him as she spoke.
“Mean what, love?” Jesus, he was hard.
“What you said about…about me being a gypsy wife?”
Viktor grinned, albeit somewhat painfully. “Yes. It was my rather uncouth way of asking you to marry me. I should have gone down on one knee of course, and done the thing properly—“
“Yes.”
Viktor blinked. “Beg your pardon?”
“I said yes. I’d very much like to marry you. To be a gypsy wife. Thank you very much for honoring me with your proposal.”
It was a formal little response, simple and to the point, and it took all the breath from Viktor’s lungs. The little twitch of her bottom helped.
“God, Madelyne, I want to kiss you so bad I’m aching with it,” groaned Viktor. “I’ve never had very good timing, but you’d think I’d be able to find a better place to propose marriage.”
Madelyne’s husky chuckle charmed Viktor and hummed through him to his crotch. “Viktor, I don’t care about stuff like that. I want to kiss you too. I want to do other things as well…” There was that damned wriggle of her bottom again. Dear God, she was going to be the death of him if she kept that up. “And we’ll have time for all of them if this plan of yours works.”
Carefully he eased an arm around her and pulled her even tighter against his body. So what if he self-combusted? They’d survive.
“It’ll work, darling. It’ll definitely work. As soon as your father realizes you’re missing, he’ll start searching. He’ll find this caravan, but not us. This hiding place was designed for just such an eventuality. And sooner or later he’ll discover the tracks of two horses which Pyotr is diligently making right at this moment, leading far away from here. Once they pick up that trail, we’ll head off in the opposite direction.”
“He’s not going to like it, you know,” she said thoughtfully.
Viktor huffed in disgust. “He gave up any rights to like anything when he mistreated you.”
His hand slid upwards and found a warm breast. The nipple was hard beneath his fingers and Madelyne’s breath hitched in her throat.
“Viktor?”
“What, love?”
“Can I ask you a question?”
“Anything at all, sweetheart. Anything at all.”
Madelyne paused, shifting her head slightly against the old quilt that cushioned them. “Tonight, I saw that woman…she was doing things that surprised me.”
Viktor felt the heat of her blush as it warmed the breast in his hand.
“And Hucknall was doing things to her, too.” She pushed her buttocks hard against his arousal.
“Things that…that involved her mouth and another part of her. Things that surprised and horrified me as I watched, but now they make me wonder…”
Viktor cursed himself. Of course she could ask him anything, but did she have to ask him about that, right now?
“Would you…could we…umm…”
His voice strangled in his throat and for a moment he was afraid nothing but a squeak would come out. He coughed quietly. “We can do anything and everything you want, love. But not right at this moment.”
“Well, I realize that, silly,” she giggled. “But since you’re holding me here…” She pushed her breast into his hand and made him groan. “I thought I might be able to at least return the favor.” She paused. “And share the pleasure…”
Her voice was seductive and soft, and she freed one hand from his arms. Gently she reached down and slid her nightgown up high, baring her backside and pressing it hard into his…hard parts.
He gulped.
Viktor couldn’t ever remember being this aroused. They were waiting for a man who would probably kill them both, they were tucked into a secret hiding place in his caravan that barely left them room to breathe, and his Madelyne wanted to play.
Well, fuck. So did he.
He could smell her body, her heat as she lay next to him, spooned against him so close that their bodies practically melted into ea
ch other. Awkwardly he struggled with his laces, appreciating her attempts to give him some room to maneuver his cock, which at this point probably required a hiding place all to itself.
God only knew if there’d be room for the three of them.
He slid a little lower and with a groan freed himself, hammering Madelyne’s spine with his erection as it sprang loose from his breeches.
She hummed with pleasure. “Aaaah, better, Viktor. I like that.”
Damn. She had to learn how to tease now?
He wiggled and fidgeted until he was able to slide himself between her legs. It was heaven and hell combined.
He wanted to be inside her, but a portion of him was listening for sounds outside the caravan.
That portion was going to be seriously distracted if he did what he wanted and just turned her so that he could plunge deep into her. He simply couldn’t afford the distraction right now.
Especially since his sharp ears had picked up something…
“They’re coming.”
*~~*~~*
Madelyne tensed at the soft whisper and realized that Viktor was lowering the lid of the seat over their heads. Now they were completely encased in darkness, with little room to move and little more to breathe.
As silence fell, Madelyne realized there was a small carving near her head, which allowed a breeze to penetrate from the outside. It was quite tiny, would have been practically unnoticeable if she hadn’t had her face within an inch of it, and yet guaranteed that they’d have enough air.
That is, if Viktor didn’t steal it all away with the hot cock that he’d nestled between her thighs and against her most sensitive flesh.
Her mind swirled, not with thoughts of the horrors she’d experienced this night, but with thoughts of what she’d like to do to Viktor. And that very nice body of his.
Her mouth watered at the thought of kissing his cock. Perhaps licking and sucking it like that other woman had done to Hucknall.
There was no shudder of disgust, only one of eagerness. There wasn’t a part of Viktor she didn’t want to taste. Not a part she didn’t want to caress, to learn, to touch and tease, and then do it again. A lot.
She was turning into a wanton and loving every minute of it.
As voices neared the caravan, Madelyne ruefully admitted that she could probably have picked a better time to discover her sensual desires.
She forced her instincts down from the boil to a simmer and held her breath as her father’s voice boomed out.
“Check that thing, Perkins. Filthy gypsies.”
“No lights, Alfred…”
That was Hucknall. He’d taken part in the hunt too. Why was Madelyne not surprised? It would be the sort of thing that appealed to a man like him. Hunt down a woman and take her any way he saw fit, like an animal, only with less concern.
Once again, Madelyne offered up a prayer of thanks to whichever guardian angel had sent Viktor into her life and across her path when she needed him the most.
Footsteps sounded in the caravan and rattles and bangs accompanied the progress of whoever “Perkins” was as he searched the little home. It was small enough that within moments, the footsteps faded.
“Nothing, my Lord. Empty. The lamps are cold. If anyone’s been here it was hours ago.”
“Fuck…”
Her father’s voice curdled Madelyne’s gut. She hated that man with a passion. What could make a parent behave like that?
She vowed that she’d care for her and Viktor’s children a damn sight better than she’d been cared for.
“My Lord…” A new voice called through the stillness of the night. “There’s one horse in that clearing. Looks like he’s been there all night. But we’ve got a trail…two horses, moving fast, heading south…”
Harnesses jangled, hooves thumped on the forest floor and leather creaked as the men remounted.
“We’ve got ‘em, Hucknall. I’ll see that dirty gypsy strung up to the nearest tree before sunrise and you can have the girl to play with all you want.”
“Now you’re talking…” Hucknall’s coarse laugh followed her father’s pronouncement, and Madelyne curled her lip.
Wrong, Father. You’re so wrong.
The sound of their pursuers faded into the night, and Madelyne’s tension eased.
“Don’t move,” breathed Viktor.
She turned her head a little, not understanding.
“Old army trick. Leave one man behind to surprise those who may have been hiding.”
Madelyne nodded slightly, understanding his point.
They waited, Viktor’s cock throbbing with his heartbeat between Madelyne’s legs. She knew she was moist now, and probably soaking it, but she didn’t care. He still had one hand clasped firmly around her breast, and he could probably feel her heart pounding too.
The whimsical thought occurred to her that she’d like to sleep like this. Naked and warm and held by the man she loved. It was safe and comforting and arousing all at the same time.
Moments passed, stretching into long minutes as they waited in their hiding place.
Madelyne’s sense of danger eased, only to be replaced by a growing and fierce arousal. Her mound twitched against Viktor’s cock, and she caught his sigh of pleasure.
Cautiously she lifted her knee a little, keeping as silent as she could, but opening her body to his.
His hand jerked on her breast, clasping it tightly and finding the nipple with eager fingers.
She bit her lip against the moan that was choking her.
The head of his cock was so hot, scalding her flesh as it wept over him. He moved slightly, just rubbing himself through her moisture.
She devoutly hoped the coast was clear, because if Viktor kept doing what he was doing she was going to reveal their location to half the county with one loud and long scream of pleasure. Any minute now…
Chapter Seven
The heated and squirming armful of woman plastered against him was driving Viktor out of his mind.
It had been silent outside for quite some time, and although his senses advised caution, his cock was screaming for something else altogether. With painfully precise moves, he lifted the seat above them and let the cool air swirl over their bodies.
Their half-naked bodies.
He listened to the sounds of the forest at night. All was as it should be. The little army of thugs had gone.
“Is it safe?” Madelyne breathed the words quietly, her voice raspy.
“From them? Yes. From me…?”
It took less than the blink of an eye for Viktor to whisk them both out of their cocoon and lower the lid back down. The bed was in place, and Madelyne stripped of her nightgown and flat on top of it before the echo of his words had died away.
He tossed his own clothing away. “I can’t wait, love,” he groaned.
“Come to me, then,” she urged. “I want you too.”
She splayed her thighs wide and Viktor’s cock sank into her with the unerring accuracy of a homing pigeon to its roost.
Slick, hot and welcoming, her body seized him and pulled him deep within her, molding itself to him and holding him where he had longed to be.
Her hands found his back, sliding up to his shoulders and then stopping short.
Viktor froze.
Her fingers had found the wrinkled and puckered skin between his shoulder blades.
He should have told her. But there’d been no time. He should have prepared her for the ugliness she’d find, the scars that marked his stay in a French prison.
So many memories flashed through his mind as he lay buried inside her, waiting, scared, wondering if and how she’d withdraw from him once she knew how badly he’d been scarred.
Other women had cried out in horror, unable to look at the two deep marks that had nearly taken his life. Would Madelyne be the same? Sympathetic but sickened by the injuries?
Their loving had happened so fast, and so completely that he hadn’t had the chance to explain…t
o talk with her about what had happened to him. To prepare her in some small way. He’d gone ahead and asked her to marry him. Fuck. He simply couldn’t lose her now.
He must have withdrawn slightly without realizing it, because to his surprise, Madelyne’s thighs clamped around him and her legs locked his in place.
“Viktor.” It was a soft word, but there was a command beneath it. “Love me, Viktor. Now. Please…”
Her hands moved again to his shoulders and his cock shuddered as she shifted her hips beneath him, drawing him deeper.
He was lost.
Lost so far inside Madelyne that he didn’t know where he ended and she began. All he knew was that she was his, her body was his, and he’d find a way to make her heart and the rest of her his as well.
He drew back and plunged again, as she gasped beneath him. Her flesh trembled around his cock, and her breathing was ragged in the silence of the oncoming dawn.
His strokes grew firmer, his balls tightened and sweat broke out all over his body, doing nothing to cool the fire that burned in his soul.
Madelyne cried out as he thrust hard and fast, letting his cock find its way to the entrance of her womb. There was no question of him withdrawing this time. He would brand her, plant his seed deep within her, and claim her as his for once and for all.
“Viktor…now…”
Now it was.
With a hoarse shout, Viktor exploded. Barely aware of her muscles clamping down on him, he let his release pound over him, pressing himself against her heat and erupting in a mighty stream of hot come, filling her, giving her all that he had. And all that he was.
She urged him on with her own climax, inner muscles rubbing, drawing more from him than he had ever given before.
Little sobs of pleasure broke from her throat as they rode the fire together, only to subside to whimpers as she shared the joy of this moment with him.
Stunned and exhausted, Viktor collapsed on her, drained of all his strength, his tensions and his fears.
She loved him.
They lay still for a little while as the first light of dawn began to illuminate the small caravan. He rolled to one side and let his cock slide free of her body, biting back his urge to stay inside her forever.