Astounded, Damien could only stare. Bareback! It was obvious she was very comfortable riding.
Her eyes twinkled mischievously. “Do you think you can keep up?” She kicked the horse hard, driving the mare out into the inner ward.
Chapter Fifteen
Damien’s mouth dropped open as Aurora raced off. Her hands gripped the mare’s brown mane with confidence. Her body moved in complete rhythm with the horse’s movements. It was obviously not the first time she rode a horse this way.
Damien mounted Imp and spurred him after her. If it were a race she wanted, he would give her one. He was an excellent rider and would prove to her she could not win against him.
Aurora led him out of the castle and across a field, racing like a messenger delivering a life or death missive to the king.
Damien closed the distance between them, an evil grin curving his lips. He would catch her in a matter of moments. Imp was stronger and faster than her mare. His smugness vanished as she swerved her mare toward the forest. Damien grit his teeth. She knew Imp’s limitations. He was a big animal. It would be harder for the warhorse to beat the mare in the cover of the forest.
Aurora entered the woods through a small gap in the trees.
Damien followed, seconds behind her, having to duck low beneath a branch stretching across the opening. She raced ahead of him, maneuvering the horse around a tree and then another and another, leaping the mare expertly over a fallen limb blocking her path.
Damn, she was good, Damien thought, struggling to keep up with her. The larger steed had a more difficult time handling the tight trees and bushes in the forest than Aurora’s smaller mare, but Damien was determined not to let her get out of the woods before he did.
Their pace quickened as the path in the forest widened, giving the animals more room to show off their speed. He could hear the wind whistle past his ears, feel the horse’s powerful muscles beneath his thighs. His own hot breath came in cadence with the warhorse’s heavy grunts. Still, he could not overtake Aurora.
She purposely slowed her mare and Damien caught up to her. Her face was full of determination, her jaw set tight. He could only see a part of her eyes, but what he saw gleamed with inner fire. Perspiration glimmered on her face, giving her skin a lustrous sheen.
Damien swung his gaze ahead of them, wondering why she slowed. To his left, an old bridge crossed a dried out stream carving a deep cut into the earth. Not much beyond that, he saw the edge of the woods and the clearing beyond. He had one chance to take the lead from her in their little race. He had to stay on the path and jump the old riverbed.
Suddenly, Aurora jerked her horse to the side, cutting in front of Damien and Imp.
“That was very unladylike!” Damien called out to her. “Well done!” As he urged Imp toward the ravine, Damien could see Aurora out of the corner of his eye. She leaned low over the mare’s head, urging the horse faster. They reached the bridge before Damien arrived at the ditch. The mare clattered over the bridge, galloping at full speed.
When she reached the other side, Aurora did not follow the path, but instead plunged forward into the heavy growth of trees just off the narrow dirt trail.
Damien spurred Imp and the mighty steed soared over the old riverbed, clearing the ditch with plenty of room to spare. The path to the edge of the woods curved. He leaned low in the saddle and guided Imp back onto the trail Aurora veered off of. “Go!” he urged in Imp’s ear. “Go!”
Damien glanced over to see Aurora and her mare swerving around fallen branches, dodging trees with only inches to spare. Their horses were almost neck and neck.
With a gentle nudge, Aurora urged the mare over a fallen tree, then burst through the bushes and into the clearing, beating Damien by mere seconds.
The ride through the trees instead of the path had been incredibly risky and reckless. It was a fabulous move. Damien admired it, even in his defeat.
Aurora reined in the mare, smiling resplendently at Damien. “You are an excellent rider,” she admitted breathing heavily.
“Not quite excellent enough,” he replied, looking at her with a newfound admiration. She was one of the best riders he had ever seen. The skill she displayed handling her horse was almost magical.
Aurora lifted her leg over the mare’s back and slid to the ground. She patted her mare’s nose, whispering words of fondness to it. She took the bridle and began walking across the field. “There is a stream ahead where the horses can get a drink,” she told Damien. “Widow Dorothy’s house is just over the ridge beyond.”
Damien scanned his surroundings. The field was not very large, surrounded on all sides by trees. In the distance to the north, a rolling hill obscured the horizon. The trees worried him, their thick trunks offering a thousand places to hide. “Do you come this way to Widow Dorothy’s every time?”
Aurora nodded. “Usually I stick to the path. It’s a beautiful area. Very secluded. Private. I think in the entire time I’ve been riding Imp I’ve only run into two…no, three other people.” She grinned. “That’s why I enjoy it.”
Secluded. The word set off a warning bell in Damien’s mind. He cursed himself. How easy it was to forget what he was hired to do when he was around her. She had a way of making everything else unimportant except for her sweet smile. Even her own safety took a back seat to her charms. He thought about their wild race. It would be difficult to follow them unnoticed. Still… “We shouldn’t stay here long.”
She walked elegantly, easily leading the mare. “Just until the horses get a drink.”
Her thick braid of gold swayed with her movements. Perfection, he thought. Her skin was flawless, luminescent. Like an angel. And yet… there was another side to her. A tempting and alluring side. Her lips were full and enticing. Her breasts were rounded and firm. Her hips curvy and… Damien shook himself mentally. You are here to finish your mission, he reprimanded himself silently. And they were alone. Secluded.
The darkness that lived in his soul stirred and settled about him, drawing him away from Aurora’s influence.
“I love coming out here,” Aurora admitted. “I know this forest well.” She glanced at Damien with a gentle, curious stare. “Were there forests where you grew up?”
Damien nodded. His hand dropped to the dagger in his belt.
Aurora turned her gaze from him to the stream before them. She took a deep breath, lifting her face to a beam of sunlight shining in through the leaves of the trees.
Lord, she was beautiful. He could stare at her smooth skin, her radiant beauty for an eternity and never grow tired of it. But he didn’t have eternity. He stopped. His horse continued on, but his firm hand on the reins forced the animal to a halt. How easy it would be. One quick swipe. His fist tightened around the dagger’s handle. He would finally be free.
She brought her mare to a halt and tied the animal’s reins to a tree’s branch near the stream.
Damien wrapped Imp’s reins to the branch of another tree nearby.
Aurora bent down on her knees near the stream, cupping the crystal clear water in her hand.
Damien lifted his shirt over his head, removing it so no blood would get on it. Too many people would notice, too many people knew he left with her. He tossed it to a nearby rock and approached Aurora, slowly beginning to ease the dagger from his belt. Damien’s gaze settled on her bottom. It was perfect and rounded and… He shook his head. Damn, how he wanted to touch her.
Aurora sat back on her heels, wiping her chin. She turned to him.
He froze as she slowly stood before him. The fresh water glistened on her lips making them look more succulent than ever. He was very thirsty. Just one taste.
“You took your shirt off?”
Damien nodded, watching the way her lips moved so seductively over each word.
“Why?” she asked.
He swallowed in a suddenly dry throat. “Swim,” he managed to say.
“With your sword on?”
He dropped the dagger back into
its place and removed his belt, draping it over the rock where he had thrown his tunic. Aurora’s sudden gasp made him whirl.
“Your back,” she whispered.
Damien grit his teeth. His back. Yes. His back. He had almost forgotten. She made him forget, for just one moment, who he was. His back was lined with scars of punishment. He put his arm down quickly, not wanting her to see Roke’s brand beneath his upper arm, the black circle with the black x seared into his skin. He reached for his tunic.
“No,” Aurora whispered.
His hand froze as she stepped up to him. Now. He could do it now. When she showed the same disgust as everyone else. When she saw him for the disfigured monster he was. His hand slid from his tunic to rest lightly over the dagger in the belt on the rock.
Her fingers reached out and traced one scar across his back to his side.
Damien stood tall before her. He always wore the scars proudly, as a form of defiance to his master. Even the sharp kiss of the whip had not broken him, much to Roke’s displeasure. But now, the scars made him feel… inadequate.
She lifted horrified eyes to lock with his. “Who did this?”
How could she look at them, much less touch them? Other women had been repulsed. Some had even turned away from him. But she was not like other women. Aurora’s healing stroke swept over his skin, sending warmth pulsing through his body. The darkness inside him shrank away, retreating. And Damien felt something unfamiliar stirring in him, something soothing and yet heated at the same time. Something that sent shivers of warmth through his body. It was not time to finish his mission. Not now. He pulled his hand away from the dagger.
“Damien?” she asked, lifting her eyes from his side to meet his stare. Concern and even outrage shone in her eyes. But no repulsion. No disgust.
How could she look at him and not see the evil lurking inside him? The evil that even now wanted to devour her? Damien knew her innocence and compassion were exactly what attracted him to her. And he was so very attracted.
Her gaze dipped to his lips and she pulled back, nervously crossing her arms over her chest, and turned her back to him. She bowed her head. “I could help you, you know,” she said softly. “You should not have to endure that.”
“It happened a long time ago,” he said, moving up behind her.
“Why?” she demanded. “Why would someone do that to you?”
He was so close he could almost touch her. “Shouldn’t you ask what I did to deserve such punishment?”
She began to shake her head, but stopped. “Did you deserve it?”
Damien thought back on the incident that caused his punishment. It had been shortly after Roke purchased him, when he thought there was nothing to live for. The training was physically hard, but nothing he couldn’t withstand. Roke was attempting to mold him into a warrior, a fighter. He refused to participate. The beating was quick and painful. Afterwards, they locked him in a room alone, in the dark. No food. No water. He had too much time to think. To think about Gawyn running free in the sunlight, eating what he wanted, going wherever he wanted, doing what he wanted. Damien wanted to die. When he got out of the solitary confinement room, he went after that morbid purpose vigorously, purposely defiant and insolent to his master. He had been whipped so severely he almost died. He had been made an example of. No one treated Roke that way and lived. But he had. Did he deserve such a harsh whipping? “Most assuredly,” he admitted.
She opened her mouth.
“Don’t ask,” he interrupted. “Because I won’t tell you.”
“Do you have so many secrets?”
Even here at the edge of this field, surrounded by open air, the sweet scent of roses wafted to him. Her smell. Lord, she was enticing. “More than you can imagine.” Damien lifted his hands to remove the ribbons that bound her hair tightly in the braid.
She pulled away and almost turned, but stopped.
Damien ran his fingers through her hair, through the sun-touched locks that were more precious than gold, softer than velvet. He put his mouth close to her ear. “You look lovely with your hair down.”
Aurora inhaled a slight gasp.
His hands glided through her hair, gently working through any resistance. He brushed her hair away from her shoulder, his fingers softly skimming her neck.
She was not resisting! She stood before him, letting him take down her hair. He would have to move slowly. Slowly, so as not to frighten her. He dipped his head, running his lips along her throat. She tasted salty and smelled of sweet innocence.
Aurora tilted her head slightly, giving him better access to her neck.
And he took her invitation, kissing her neck. He ran his tongue languidly up to her nape and then down again. Damien set his hands on her shoulders, gently with a feathery touch, so she wouldn’t even notice. He gently nipped her neck and she gasped in startled excitement as he began to suck her tender skin. His hands slid easily down her arms, arms pressed so tightly against her sides that his fingertips touched the soft globes of her bosom. He pulled her tight against him so she could feel the heat of his body, feel the hardness of his manhood.
Aurora gasped, rolling her head to her shoulder as the tender caress of his mouth moved to her ear, sending shivers of delight throughout her body.
The little nymph even moved her bottom against his manhood. How he longed to take her right there. How he longed to throw up her skirts and have her, but he forced himself to move slowly. He didn’t want to frighten her. He didn’t want her to bolt. He wanted to touch her skin, her body. Slowly, his fingers began a soft caress of her arms, moving up and down between her arm and the side of her breasts, feeling the soft fullness of them. Her muffled groan encouraged him and he lifted his forefinger to run it over the sensitive tip of her breasts. A gentle intake of her breath allowed him to press a little harder as he slowly traced her nipples. He circled them, moving his fingers round and round them until they were hard pebbles. Then he allowed two fingers to circle her nipples in larger and larger circles.
Aurora closed her eyes as wonderful tremors raced down her body. His lips were working magic on her neck and she could not summon the will to stop him from touching her. Her knees weakened.
Damien moved his hands beneath her breasts, cupping them, allowing his thumbs to take the place of his fingers, rubbing, caressing, gently squeezing.
Aurora felt the change in his caresses then. More demanding. More intense. There was no pretense about what he was doing. His hands moved up to cover her breasts. She whirled out of his hold and backed away.
Damien was not to be put off. A dark intensity burned in his eyes. He stalked her.
Aurora continued to move away until her back hit a tree. She turned to move, but Damien’s arm blocked her path. She whirled the other way, but his other arm was there, trapping her.
“Admit it,” he whispered, his voice husky.
Aurora pressed herself back against the tree and lifted her gaze to meet his.
“You liked it,” he coaxed softly, delight shining in his eyes.
“No,” she answered fervently, again turning to flee.
This time, Damien stepped in close. Their bodies weren’t touching, but he was so close he could feel the heat from her body. “Liar.”
Aurora shook her head, denying his accusation.
“I’ll prove it.” His lips were almost touching hers, so close. “You will lift your lips for me to kiss.”
Aurora shook her head. She looked away, her eyes darting across his bare chest as if searching for a way of escape.
Damien bent his arms, bringing his face close to hers. He moved his lips near her forehead, not touching, but wanting to. He slowly lowered his mouth down over her cheek to hover over her lips. He could feel her sweet breath on his lips. He wanted to taste her, feel her against him. He was so hard he thought he would explode.
Her lids drooped over her eyes. “Damien,” she whispered in a shaken voice.
“I know you want to,” he coaxed. “L
et me kiss you. Lift your lips to me.”
Her mouth was open, her breath coming in shallow gasps. She lifted her head just slightly but not enough to be a surrender. Her nose touched his, sending tingles of desire through his body. It was such an innocent gesture, so tentative.
His lips skimmed hers. She was so tantalizing. So breathtaking. Just a kiss. One kiss. “Aurora,” he called.
Aurora lifted her eyes to his, lifted her lips to his, giving in to the temptation.
Suddenly, a whizzing sound and then a loud thunk broke the spell. Damien looked down to see an arrow lodged in the tree beside Aurora’s knee!
Chapter Sixteen
Aurora grunted as she hit the ground hard on her stomach. Damien landed on top of her, shielding her after he pushed her down toward the safety of the ground. Her dress caught and she looked up. Damien reached back and yanked it free, ripping it from the arrow pinning it to the tree.
“Keep your head down!” Damien hissed at her. He looked up in the direction the arrow had come from, quickly scanning their surroundings.
Aurora followed his stare, but could see only the trees and bushes in the forest. Darkness and panic threatened to overwhelm her, threatened to drive rationality away. Memories resurfaced in her mind and she clutched Damien’s arm. Was it the same assassin from her childhood, the killer who murdered her mother? Was it him?
Damien eased himself from on top of her to rest beside her. “Get ready to run for those rocks,” he told her. “Keep to my left, close to the stream.” His voice was calm, but clearly held a sense of urgency.
She nodded, glancing at the rocks near the water. Two large boulders, double her size, rose from the ground forming a shallow cave.
The mare whinnied, drawing a glance from Aurora. The horse stumbled and went down on her hind legs, an arrow lodged in her rump. Imp nervously shifted away from the mare, but his reins tightened around the tree branch.
“Imp!” Aurora gasped and rose to her hands and knees.
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