Fancytales: The Once Upon A Time Collection

by Leighann Dobbs

  Moving the heavy brocade draperies to the side the tiniest bit, Helena peered out at the moonlit balcony where Simeon stood, lounging against the railing, obviously waiting for her. He saw the movement and his lips lifted in a smile.

  “Simeon? What are you doing here?” she called back in a furtive whisper through the glass.

  “I've something to share with you, Helena. Open the window and see,” he tempted, and curious as to the cause of his much improved mood, Helena pushed back the curtains and twisted the lock.

  Pushing the window open, she peeked her head outside the tiniest bit and whispered, “What have you to share?”

  “Only this,” he said. Taking her hand, Simeon tugged her through the tall opening onto the balcony beside him. He gestured toward the sky though his gaze was fixed upon her face. “The moon is rather beautiful this evening. It would be a shame for you to miss it simply because I felt wounded by your rejection earlier.”

  Helena's gaze caught his. Had she heard a hint of apology in his tone? Confusion swept through her and she peered askance at him. “You wished to share the moon with me?”

  The mischievous twinkle lit his eyes caused her to clutch the edges of her demure dressing gown in her fists and pull it tightly together. Catching the satin ribbon at the front, she sifted it nervously through her fingers before swiftly tying it at her throat.

  “As if you had the power to create such a resplendent display,” she teased, and it was glorious, she had to admit. Turning away from the gleaming, roguish look in his gaze, Helena tilted her chin and inhaled deeply of the crisp evening air.

  “Ah, but I do, Helena. For your pleasure, I have exercised my princely power to affix nature's grand, silvery orb in the night's indigo sky just so for your enjoyment, my lady,” he insisted. “Indeed, I have also conjured the accompanying misty blue incandescence permeating the very air, beneath which I shall delight in giving you your first lesson.”

  His hands encircled her waist from behind, closing around her before pulling her into his embrace and his unexpected touch cleared Helena's enchantment with the beauty of the evening just enough for her to realize precisely what he had said. Twisting to look up at him, she condemned him with her eyes. “Lesson? You climbed up to my balcony to admonish me for my behavior?”

  He shook his head in gentle denial of her accusation and tilted her chin, holding her gaze while he lowered his head until his lips rested a breath from hers. “Nay, Helena. I came for this.”

  His lips glided softly over hers, feather-light, brushing from side to side before he boldly repeated the motion with the tip of his tongue. Helena tensed, stiffening in his embrace and he lifted his head.

  “So that is how a man desires to be kissed?” she whispered into the small space momentarily separating them. He did not answer, merely shook his head and lowered his mouth to hers once more.

  Helena sighed with pleasure and leaned against him. His kiss was nice, she admitted somewhere within the privacy of her thoughts. Warm and gentle and soothing – she could like this, she thought. Yes indeed, she could like this very much.

  Lest he think her a slow learner, she turned in his embrace to better fit her lips to his and duplicated the motions he had made, kissing him back in the same manner in which he kissed her.

  After a moment, she leaned back slightly in his arms to gauge his reaction and noticed the fire was back in his eyes, only this time it was no longer merely smoldering. Instead, it leapt high, scalding her with its intensity. Her breath caught. “Was that wrong, Simeon?”

  He made a negative motion with his head and pulled her closer, fitting their bodies together while his fingers tangled in the mass of hair at her nape. “No, not wrong. But there is more, Helena. Let me show you.”

  “Open to me,” he demanded, and his mouth closed over hers.

  The warmth of his nearness penetrating her through her clothing, the feel of his hands tangling in her hair, the sound of his quickening breath in the quiet evening all worked together to heighten Helena's awareness of the moment. Her body heated, warming to his touch, and she pressed ever closer, her lips opening beneath his on a contented sigh.

  Simeon immediately slipped his tongue inside, tasting her fully, and the gentle warmth she had felt a moment before rose in slow degrees, her pleasure heightening until Helena thought she might well burn to a cinder did he not stop what he was doing to her with his hands and lips and tongue.

  As if from a distance, she heard a low, feminine mewl of pleasure whimpered into the breeze and distractedly wondered if it had been her own. Engrossed in the experience of the moment, she pushed the query away and raised up onto her tiptoes to twine her fingers into Simeon's hair, bringing their bodies closer still and tilted her chin to permit his mouth better access before tentatively joining her tongue in a sensual dance with his.

  Simeon groaned. It was a low sound, much like a growl rumbling in his chest, and suddenly everything changed. His arms tightened around her and he pressed her body to his from knee to chest as if he wished to meld the two of them together while his fingers clenched tight in her hair, holding her mouth captive to his deeper, much more demanding kiss.

  The blistering heat of it scorched, burned, and Helena pressed innocently closer, thoroughly enjoying the feel of being consumed by his flames.

  Dragging in a breath, Simeon broke away and speared her with his fiery gaze. “That is the kind of kiss a man desires to have of his woman, Helena. A sensual onslaught of passion and pleasure.”

  Helena tried, unsuccessfully, to slow the beating of her heart, to normalize the pattern of her breathing before attempting a reply, but he gave her no time.

  “Now you know the difference between platonic and passionate and what makes a kiss a woman's kiss and not that of a child,” he explained, his eyes devouring her in the semi-darkness.

  Pulling out of her embrace, he hefted himself quickly over the top rail of her balcony and disappeared into the night.

  Helena, feeling oddly bereft and confused, peered over the railing into the darkness, hoping to catch a glimpse of him through the darkness but she saw nothing more than what she had always seen. Flushed and breathless, Helena deemed it a good thing for, had she discovered him somewhere below, she might well have called out to him and scandalously encouraged him to return.

  * * *

  Inside the carriage rumbling along the road toward the townhouse where he was staying for the duration of his visit to England, Simeon shifted in his seat, closed his eyes, and groaned against the pain of desire Helena's kisses had created.

  This evening had shown him precisely how passionately responsive she could be, but he realized there was much yet to be done before he could claim her as his bride as he yearned to do.

  Helena had left him little recourse in his bid to win her hand and any missed opportunity to further his cause came with a cost he was not prepared to pay.

  With a mere ten days left to him before her father made the news of their betrothal public, his lost chance to spend time with Helena this evening had meant convincing her she would be happy as his princess would take all the longer.

  Truth to tell, his regret for the lost opportunity was not the only reason he had made his way back to the Blackthorpe mansion for a few stolen kisses. He had also wanted to indulge in a bit of striking out of his own in retaliation for her comments regarding her young lordling.

  In the end, however, it was he who had learned a lesson, and oh, how painfully he had learned, Simeon thought ruefully as, shifting in the carriage seat once more, he remember how quickly she had turned the tables on him.

  Lady Helena was a woman not to be underestimated. While she had at first returned his kisses with untried innocence, Simeon knew he would never be able to erase the memory of his reaction to the slow burn her woman's passion newly fired had created inside him.

  As his carriage drew to a halt outside his townhouse, Simeon leapt down and strolled up the walk, his mind preoccupied with thoughts
of Helena. Tonight, she would dream of him and tomorrow...

  Tomorrow, he could only continue his quest to win her and he would do just that because his allotted time was swiftly running out.

  Chapter Six

  Lady Daggleby's ball was a complete crush.

  From within the thick crowd, Helena inappropriately craned her neck to peer over the heads of the crowd, much as she had chastised Merry for doing, but this time it was she who searched in vain for a glimpse of the prince whose name was on everyone's lips.

  It had been three days since Simeon had climbed up to her balcony and given her her first taste of passion, three days during which she had relived the moment many times in her memories, three exceedingly long days during which she had most eagerly looked forward to their next meeting and alternately chastised herself for doing so. Helena had thought that meeting would be tonight, but...

  Had she finally made her point with him?

  Standing with her mother like a forgotten wallflower at the edge of the ballroom while her gaze hungrily scanned the crowd for even a glimpse of him, Helena warily pondered why the thought she may have done exactly that made her feel so lost and unsettled.

  If such were the case, she should have felt relieved, overjoyed even. Instead, she had fretted over his unexplained absence, worried that her untried kisses had left him feeling cold and unmoved, and that there was definitely something more to be desired.

  She had fumed with unreasonable jealousy each time she imagined him spending his time with someone else, someone who had more experience in matters of passion and pleasure than she, and then berated herself for bothering to care.

  In fact, she had thought of little else but Simeon since his rather sudden departure from her balcony. Touches, smells, feels from that night, etc., and her thoughts/decisions after he was gone.

  Where was he?

  "Are you enjoying the evening, Lady Helena?"

  Lord Baldwin seemed to materialize from the crowd and Helena gasped in startled surprise.

  “Evan! You gave me such a fright! Yes, I am, actually, now that you have arrived to rescue me," she hastened to assure him, and then asked, “You were going to ask me to dance, were you not?”

  Before he could answer her teasing quip, the very air in the ballroom seemed to change. Glancing toward the doors leading to the terrace, Helena understood why.

  Simeon had arrived at last.

  Her entire body quickened excitedly in response while his gaze scanned the crowd until he saw her. His eyes narrowed slightly and Helena felt her heart thump against her ribs until his gaze continued on. Her heart squeezed painfully in reaction to his obvious visual rejection. Had he been annoyed to find her there with Lord Baldwin waiting at her side?

  After a moment during which he merely nodded in distracted greeting to those nearest him, Helena watched as he made his way through the crush to Melisande's side. He must have asked her to dance, Helena supposed, because she saw Merry's lips curve, saw her eyes light up, and then, she followed Simeon toward the end of the ballroom where the orchestra was just striking the first notes of the next set, her hand resting on his arm.

  With a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach, Helena glanced up at Evan, a shaky, apologetic smile tilting the corners of her lips upward.

  “Of course,” he said at last. The wry slant of his own mouth said he quite understood her dilemma and Helena was relieved when he bowed low over her hand before leading her onto the floor.

  Helena followed Lord Baldwin into the crowd, but her eyes were on Simeon and Melisande. As she watched the two of them move together for the dance, Simeon's dark head lowered toward Merry's, presumably to better hear her comment, and then, he laughed. The delighted sound of it carrying over both the music and the low hum of conversation made Helena's stomach twist.

  “Lady Melisande is very lovely,” Evan interjected, dragging her attention back to him and Helena flushed, embarrassed to have been caught staring.

  "She is? Oh! Yes, she is, I do quite agree," she hurried to amend. Her fixation on the prince was making her quite the feather brain this evening.

  "I do apologize, Lord Baldwin, but I seem to be a bit distracted," she explained, offering yet another apologetic smile before her gaze wandered across the ballroom once more.

  “In that case, you must allow me to accept your disclosure as a personal challenge, Lady Helena. For the duration of the evening, I shall endeavor to keep your attention focused firmly upon me,” he vowed with unexpected camaraderie, surprising her with his seeming comprehension and understanding, and finally, Helena's smile was genuine.

  True to his word, Evan had made his way to her side time and again throughout the evening. He had done his best to entertain her whenever a lull in the music brought her off the dance floor or the heat of the evening's crush sent her to the buffet for a drink.

  He had even sought her out for a second dance and Helena had waltzed with him but even his marked attention had not eased her distraction. Nor had it improved her mood, which had grown more churlish as the evening progressed, she realized. It was dashed difficult to focus on winning Lord Baldwin's affection while her not-so-charming-to-her prince carelessly spent his time charming her competition.

  Simeon had spent the entire evening dancing with and charming every other woman in attendance, including her friends. He had danced with Merry, Bella, and Helena could have sworn she had even seen Di enjoying a turn around the ballroom floor in his arms, much to her dismay. But not once throughout the entire night had Simeon thought to dance with her.

  While Helena certainly appreciated Evan's efforts, she also felt confused by her calm, accepting reaction to his unexpected offer of friendship and though she did try, for the life of her Helena could not imagine ever kissing Evan the way Simeon had kissed her.

  Here she was, supposedly courting his undying devotion, but her time spent with him tonight had felt more like that of the easy affection she shared with her brothers instead...and it had felt right, somehow, which left Helena feeling at a loss as to how she should go on.

  Now, the hour had grown late and standing with her mother again, Helena realized she had become quite miffed by the prince's obvious avoidance. One's betrothed was supposed to dance with his intended at least once at every ball in which they both saw fit to attend, was he not?

  So why hadn't he?

  She should not care, Helena knew, but knowing did not stop her thoughts from returning time and again to the magical evening three nights past when she had burned from the passionate heat of his kiss, and though she made a valiant effort to pretend otherwise, she finally admitted to herself, albeit reluctantly, that she had been quite looking forward to being in his arms again, even if only for a dance.

  Leaning down, Helena whispered in her mother's ear, excusing herself for a trip to the ladies retiring room and then trudged wearily up the stairs to the second floor.

  Without warning, Simeon stepped out in front of her, blocking her way. She gasped, her hand going up to her throat in reaction to the sudden shock of his appearance, and then she scowled at him. “You frightened me, Your Highness.”

  Simeon did not bother to apologize. Instead, he said, "I wanted to speak with you and I saw no reason to give anyone else a chance to monopolize your attention when I could have you all to myself."

  "As the ladies here have so completely monopolized yours?" she accused, one brow rising up in a high, supercilious arch.

  "Jealous, are you?" He grinned.

  Helena lifted her chin, putting her nose in the air. "Not in the least. I have been completely occupied with Lord Baldwin, in case it somehow escaped your notice.”

  The look in his eyes said he had not only noticed but had also disapproved. She felt her cheeks heat with a revealing blush. So he had noticed her watching him, had he?

  “I thought of no one but you, Helena. Every single minute of these past three days, my mind has been occupied with naught other than the the feel of you in my
arms, of your lips beneath mine. The memory of how your breath hitches in short gasps when I am feeding your passions with my own has tortured me endlessly, I can assure you."

  Much in the way her breath was hitching now, Helena thought, and drew in a deep, steadying one to calm her suddenly whirling senses.

  A warmth unfolded in her belly and a secretive, satisfied smile curved her lips upward. "I was concerned you had perhaps forgotten I was here, under the circumstances. With so many beautiful women eager to claim your attention, you certainly had no reason to think of me.”

  Having given vent to her present pique, Helena found she suddenly could not leave the matter of his three-day absence be. Her gaze locked with his, demanding the truth when she asked, “Is that why you have stayed away?"

  Chapter Seven

  Ignoring her question, Simeon pressed, "Have you dreamed of me, Helena? Do you lie awake in your lonely bed, pining for me as I have for you? Tell me your body yearns the same as mine because I want you so damned much I ache with it."

  He lowered his head and for an electrifying instant, Helena thought he meant to kiss her right there in the Daggleby's deserted hallway but he only leaned close to whisper a fervent plea into her ear. "Unlock your window for me tomorrow night, Helena. Please. Let me come to you, kiss you, love you."

  He punctuated his words with soft nuzzles against her nape and a frisson of heat shook her. His warmth enveloped her and he smelled so good she wanted to lean into him and...

  Should she dare do as he asked? Could she? That she would even consider his scandalous request was pure madness, but for a moment, Helena absolutely had...