He had one foot out the door when Willow’s words stopped him.
“Kiss me and stay here with me until the storm lets up.”
“What did you say?” He turned back to see her picking up her crown from the floor. Her rounded bottom end, the curve of her hips, and her small waist were just too much for a man to bear. She stood up, unintentionally showing him cleavage as she cradled the crown against her bosom.
“You asked me how you could make up for torturing me so many years ago.”
“Torture? It wasn’t that bad,” he answered with a chuckle.
Her eyes opened wide. “I found a snake in my shoe one day, and it almost bit me. I am terrified of snakes. So, if that isn’t torture, I don’t know what is.”
“All right, I suppose I went overboard just a little. But you were so fun to tease.” He smiled, thinking of the past. “And your father never believed it was anyone’s fault but yours. That’s the funniest part.”
“Forget it,” she said, slapping her crown on her head and storming to the door. “And don’t bother about going after the horse because I’m walking back to the castle.”
She was just about out the door when Conrad realized she wasn’t jesting. He couldn’t let her leave being angry with him. If she walked back in a storm, the earl, not to mention her father, would have his head. Nay, he had to do something to stop her. The only trouble was, she was a determined, headstrong woman who would stop at nothing to get what she wanted. Well, he decided two could play this game.
“You’re not going anywhere until the storm lets up.” He grabbed her by the wrist and swung her around, pulling her closer to him and kissing her as she had done to him.
She pulled back and slapped him. “I’m not the kind of girl who will forget all about my grievances with just a kiss.”
“Then perhaps I need to try a little harder. But I promise you, some way, I’ll make you smile before we leave here if it is the last thing I ever do.”
He realized she would only fight him, so he did what any man would do in a dire situation. He dipped down, lowering his shoulder. Pulling her over it, he stood back up. Her crown fell from her head in the process. Carrying her, he headed toward the bed.
“Let me down, Conrad,” she bit off, hitting his back with her fists and kicking her legs.
“You do realize staring at your bottom end with you wriggling like that is only making me feel randy.”
“Put me down, anon,” she commanded.
“Stop screaming. It’s not becoming of a lady.” He flipped her off his shoulder, and she landed on her back on the bed.
“I’ll scream if I want to, now get out of my way so I can get off this bed,” she warned him.
“If you insist on yelling, I am going to give you something to scream about. And I promise you, it will be from passion and sated desire, not because you want me to leave.”
Conrad removed his weapon belt and boots and, in one motion, slipped off his tunic and tossed it across the room.
The sight of Conrad’s muscled chest caused Willow to hold her breath momentarily. He was all man and a very desirable one at that. Nothing about him reminded her any longer of the meddlesome boy she remembered from her past. He gently laid his body atop hers on the bed, making her feel very excited.
Willow stopped fighting Conrad when his mouth covered hers again. His erection pressed up against her through his clothes as he straddled her with one leg. Lost in his kisses, her eyes closed and she felt a fire ignite deep in her belly.
“Willow, you don’t know what you’re doing to me.” His hands caressed her shoulders, slipping down her arms. His kisses trailed to her neck, causing her to throw back her head, giving him access. A tingle of excitement flowed through her. And when his hands cupped her breasts right through her clothes, she gasped in surprise. Her breathing became labored. “You skin is so soft, and your mouth tastes sweet,” he mumbled against her neck. “I feel like a bee being drawn in by the essence of a budding, delicate flower.” His words sounded romantic, like something written by a bard. But there was one word that came from his mouth that made her a little worried.
“A – a bee?” she asked, suddenly reminded of his stinger when he rubbed up against her leg again. His lips roamed down her neck and toward her cleavage as his hand slowly slid under the hem of her gown and moved up her leg. He suddenly stopped, and his head lifted higher, his hooded eyes looking straight through her.
“You’re not wearing a shift or hose?” he asked in a low, sultry voice.
“I d-don’t like the feel of them. They make me feel so . . . constricted.”
“Bid the devil that makes me wild.”
Her heart beat wildly against her ribs, the sound of the drumming in her ears louder than the storm outside. The rain pitter-pattered against the thatched roof almost sounding like music, calming her vivid emotions.
This might be the night she lost her virginity, she realized. The thought intrigued and frightened her at the same time. After all, never in a million years did she think the barrier of her innocence would be broken by someone she imagined she hated all this time. But she didn’t hate Conrad anymore. Nay, not really. Now she found herself lusting after him just as he was doing to her.
Right through her gown, he mouthed her nipple, causing it to turn taut. She arched up off the bed, feeling a spiral of heat in her core. She had to have him. She wanted him more than anything she’d ever wanted in her life. Her body called to him and his to her. They were meant to be together, she was sure of it now. Her head fell back as he unlaced her bodice, spreading apart the material and burying his mouth and nose against her bare breasts. His wet lips and tongue suckled and pulled in one of her taut nipples, about sending her squirming off the bed.
“Open for me, Willow.” When he pushed up her gown and used his leg to move hers apart, she could no longer hold back her excitement. A moan escaped her lips as she lay with her legs spread and with him in between them. Seeing her bare breasts and Conrad at the same time made her even more excited.
“Hurry,” she told him, barely able to stand the feelings inside that threatened to consume her. His hand went to his waist to untie his breeches. That’s when it all hit her. They were about to make love, and no one was there to stop them. Why did it feel so good instead of naughty? “I cannot believe I am finally going to know what it’s like to make love to a man. My father, nor the earl can stop me now.”
“What?” he asked.
For having the power of persuasion and a way with words, she realized when Conrad stopped abruptly and sat up that she had said the wrong thing. “What are you doing?” she asked, not wanting him to pull away. She was on the brink of release and had to know how it felt.
He dragged a hand through his hair and clenched his jaw. “Damn it,” he spat, sliding off the bed.
“Conrad, don’t leave me,” she called out, but he was already pulling his tunic over his head. It was over now, and she had to do something to keep him from leaving while she was feeling this way. “Come back to bed because I want to feel you inside me. Conrad, I’m ready to burst. Only you can help me find my release. Only you can sate my burning desire.”
His hands stilled, and his head snapped upward. She hoped her siren’s song would call him back to her.
“Come to me, Conrad. I need you,” she begged him.
“Don’t even,” he ground out, reaching for his weapon belt. “Your words of persuasion aren’t going to work on me.”
“Why are you getting dressed when we should be making love?”
“I’m doing what I should have done all along instead of being pulled in by your cunning ways. Now get up, we’re leaving.”
“I am not leaving before I’m finished.”
“We’re not finishing something we should never have started in the first place.”
“Then if you won’t help me I’ll . . . I’ll do it by myself.”
“You are jesting.” He stopped buckling his weapon belt and looke
d up in surprise. “You’re a virgin, Willow. I admit it shocked the hell out of me to hear it and I doubt that any other man will believe it either. But no matter how you taunt me, I’ll not return to the bed. I made a promise to your father to keep you away from lust-filled men. And instead, I almost deflowered you in a moment of unbridled passion. I’ll not continue and neither will you. Now, I won’t tell you again. Get off the bed because I’m taking you back to the castle if I have to carry you there in a storm to do it.”
“I thought you had changed, but now I see you are still the same as that boy who used to torture me in my youth. You’re doing the same thing now.”
“I’m doing nothing of the kind.”
“I won’t forget this, Conrad.” She got off the bed and fixed her clothing. Grabbing her crown, she hurried out of the house without looking back.
Conrad waited until Willow left the cottage before he adjusted his breeches, having trouble tying them since he was still aroused. He shook his head as he strapped on his weapon belt. He’d almost believed for a minute that Willow was going to pleasure herself right in front of him. The little tease had made him so hot and bothered that he almost went to her and finished what they’d started. But if he had, it would have been a horrible mistake.
He blew out the flame of the lantern and hurried to the horse, only to find Willow already atop it. Hopefully, the night was dark enough, and she would feel too embarrassed to look below his waist. He took the reins of the horse and headed out of the secret garden.
“Why don’t you mount?” she asked him when he started walking the horse through the woods. Her choice of words had him squirming again. Thoughts of mounting her filled his mind. But it wasn’t going to happen. He couldn’t let it. He’d allowed his emotions and attraction to Willow to get in the way of his job. That was something he could never let happen again.
Chapter 10
“You did what?” Toby asked Conrad the next morning in his solar. Toby’s mouth hung open in surprise.
After returning to the castle last night in the rain, Conrad brought Willow to her chamber and quickly left, locking himself in his own room to ponder the situation. He was glad it rained, and the festival was canceled for the evening. If not, he wasn’t sure he would have been able to escort Willow to the rest of the festivities of the night.
“You heard me. I almost made love to Lady Willow last night.” He got out of bed, fully dressed, not having bothered to undress before he retired for the evening.
“My lord, excuse me for saying, but do you think Lord Rook would have approved of that?”
“Of course not, you fool!” Conrad poured himself a cup of wine from the decanter on the bedside table and downed it in two gulps. Mayhap he could get drunk enough to forget what happened last night and erase the memory from his mind. “You’ll not say a word of this to anyone. Do you understand me?”
“Aye, my lord.” Toby still stood there staring at him.
Conrad put down the cup and paced back and forth. “If Lord Rook finds out that, in a moment of passion, I almost took his daughter’s innocence, he’ll string me up by the neck. Not to mention, he’ll no longer honor our deal of being guardian to my sister.”
“How – how close did you come?” asked Toby curiously. “And did Lady Willow fight you?”
“We came close enough to scare the hell out of me.” He dragged a hand through his hair and walked over to open the shutter. “I never meant for it to go that far. I guess I just wanted to kiss her again, or perhaps scare her so she wouldn’t get the idea to go kissing anyone else.”
“Was she frightened, my lord?”
“Huh?” He looked over his shoulder, thinking the boy was daft. “She’s a temptress and a tease,” he told him.
“So . . . she wanted you to bed her?”
“Aye. Nay. Oh hell, I don’t know.” He continued to pace again.
“What if Lady Willow tells her father what happened?”
He stopped moving, and his spine stiffened. He hadn’t thought of that. If she did, everything would be ruined. And then he’d have the wrath of one of the Legendary Bastards of the Crown on his head. That was something he didn’t want or need.
“I’ve got to stop her from telling anyone.” He grabbed for his weapon belt and hurriedly strapped it around his waist.
“Do you think she’s already told your sister?” asked Toby, handing Conrad his shoes.
“Hazel,” mumbled Conrad looking up with wide eyes. “If she knows what happened, it will frighten her and make her think her own brother is a scoundrel. I’ve got to get to Willow’s room and convince her not to say a word.”
He ran to the door in his bare feet, only stopping when Toby called from behind him.
“Your shoes, my lord.”
“What’s the matter with me?” He hurried back to get his shoes. Lately, he didn’t know what made him act the way he did, but when he was around Lady Willow, he couldn’t seem to think with a clear head.
“Lady Willow, how was your outing with my brother last night?” Hazel pulled open the shutter, letting the fresh autumn air into the room. Willow welcomed the breeze since she was still feeling hot and bothered from last night. She’d barely slept a wink, tossing and turning all night long. Embarrassed by her behavior, she couldn’t believe she actually wanted to give herself to Conrad.
“It was . . . interesting,” she said, getting out of bed and reaching for her clothes.
“How so?”
“Your brother isn’t what I expected. I’m ashamed to say I almost let him take my innocence.”
“What? Conrad seduced you?” Hazel’s eyes opened wide.
Before Willow could correct her, the door to the room burst open and Conrad rushed in with one shoe in his hand. His squire was right behind him.
“Conrad!” exclaimed Willow, holding her gown up to hide behind it.
“Willow.” Conrad dropped the shoe, and his hand shot up to cover his eyes.
“Turn around, Brother,” Hazel instructed, helping Willow to dress quickly.
Willow looked up to see both Conrad and Toby with their backs to her, hiding their eyes with their hands.
“How dare you burst into my room unannounced!” Willow put her hands on her hips. Slowly, Conrad peeked out from between his fingers. Seeing she was dressed, he nudged Toby. They both turned around.
“Willow, can I talk to you in private?” asked Conrad.
“Whatever you have to say, you can do so with witnesses present. After all, I don’t want to be alone with you ever again.”
“Conrad, how could you have let that happen?” asked Hazel in a low voice.
“God’s eyes! Willow told you?” Conrad bent down to get his shoe, hopping on one foot trying to put it on. “Now, Hazel, I don’t want you to get the wrong idea of Lady Willow. She was caught up in a moment of passion, but luckily I stopped anything from going too far. I assure you, we didn’t do anything – not really.”
“I don’t think badly about Lady Willow, Brother,” said Hazel. “’Tis you I am ashamed of since you seduced her and almost took her virginity.” She shook her head. “I never expected you to act that way.”
Conrad shook his head, thinking he had heard his sister wrong. Had Hazel just accused him of being the one to initiate the whole ordeal between him and Willow?
“Now, wait a minute, Hazel. I think you must have gotten some wrong information. That isn’t at all how it happened.”
“Then what did happen?” asked Hazel, watching him intently.
“Aye. I’d like to hear the answer to that, too,” said Willow. “Are you insinuating I am a loose woman just because I don’t always bind my hair?”
Willow’s eyes looked deeply into his, almost as if she could see straight through to his heart. If he wanted Hazel to know the truth, now was the time to tell her that Willow was the one who seduced him and he was the one to pull away. But in doing so, he would ruin Willow’s reputation. He cared about her too much to embarrass her
like this. If Hazel told anyone else what really happened, Willow’s name would be tarnished throughout the castle. Not that it already wasn’t, but there would be even more rumors spreading like wildfire that she could possibly be a strumpet. After last night, he realized that wasn’t true. After all, she was still a virgin! He knew that now. She was a lady, not a strumpet. He had to make sure no one, not Hazel, Toby, any of the nobles, or even the servants thought any different.
“I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking,” he said, holding back the words he really wanted to say. “I let my lust take hold of me. Can you ever forgive me, Lady Willow?”
“Well,” she said with a sigh, brushing lint from her sleeve. “I suppose it would be best if all of us kept this to ourselves, don’t you agree?”
“I do,” said Conrad.
“But Lord Conrad,” protested Toby. “I thought you said –”
“Squire, go shine my sword.” Conrad yanked his sword from his belt and handed it to Toby. “The hand-to-hand combat starts in an hour, and I want to be sure to look my best when I win.”
“Aye, my lord,” said Toby heading out the door with the blade in his hand.
“Hazel, are you feeling better?” asked Conrad.
“I am,” she said with a nod. “I think I’ll go watch the competition with Willow.”
“Please do,” said Willow, still looking angry. “I want someone with me to witness Sir Conrad losing.” She started to pass him on her way to the door, but Conrad grabbed her wrist. She turned back, scowling at him.
“Willow, we need to talk,” he whispered.
“I have nothing to say.”
“Well, I do. Please, give me a moment alone with you.”
She sighed and finally nodded. “Hazel, I forgot my crown and need to get it. Why don’t you go down to the practice yard and save me a seat near the front? I’ll be there momentarily.”
Seductive Secrets (Secrets of the Heart Series Book 2) Page 10