Thrill Of The Knight

by Julia Latham

  And pleasure, so new and wondrous, began to unfurl again, beginning at the fullness of him stretching her flesh, rubbing even more intimately against her. His skin, smooth on his chest, rough with hair on his legs where he pressed her thighs wide, made her own flesh come alive with sensation.

  His feet on the floor, his body pinning her to the bed, he held himself up with his arms. His eyes were closed, his expression intense as he concentrated on their joining. She was glad to give him the pleasure he’d given her, which was even now working back into feverish intensity. She clutched his hips with her thighs, linked her feet behind his back, and let him ride her. Once again he teased and tormented her with his body, surging deep, or pulling out a second too long until the loss of him made her panic. Her craving of him was a wild thing all on its own, and she lost herself within it, mindless, knowing only the craving of pleasure that he could give her.

  Chapter 22

  John was lost. Never had he let himself become a part of a woman during lovemaking, almost forgetting where she ended and he began.

  But this was Elizabeth—beautiful and bold and so demanding, even though she was a virgin before tonight. The depths of her had a heat that burned him. He felt grasped by the tightness of her body, and it was bliss to pull away, then thrust deeper.

  The taste of her breasts, the little cries that passion wrung from her, the slap of their bodies coming together, all conspired to send him hurtling toward his own release, though he tried to delay it.

  At last, when she climaxed again, arching her hips up beneath him, with a shudder he gave himself up to the bliss of it and joined her.

  They came back to themselves slowly, their skin wet with perspiration. She left one leg draped around his hip, and the casual rub of her heel against his ass was a bold reminder of the uninhibited way she had accepted the pleasures of lovemaking. He was still propped on his elbows, looking down into her face, knowing he wouldn’t be able to stay in this position much longer, braced as his feet were against the floor.

  But he didn’t want to leave the comfort and pleasure of her body.

  She grinned up at him, breathing hard, letting her fingers trace down his scar. He turned his head and caught the tip of one finger in his mouth.

  She closed her eyes and sighed. “It is so easy to forget that there is another world outside this bedchamber,” she murmured.

  “When we are married, it will be many days before I allow you to even remember that.”

  She laughed, and her breasts bounced pleasantly against his chest.

  With a groan, he started to lift himself away, but with her arms and legs she caught and held him tight.

  “Don’t go,” she whispered.

  “I won’t. Let me make us more comfortable in bed.”

  Pulling from within her body seemed like the hardest thing he’d ever done, but then he swept her up in his arms, deposited her in the middle of the bed, and then climbed in beside her. He pulled her back against him and leaned into the cushions, so grateful for the warm weight of her. Her hair spilled across his chest, and he tipped her head up to kiss her lips, now red and swollen.

  His possession of her had done that. And she’d accepted it all.

  “Tell me how you came back here,” Elizabeth said. “Is that mysterious League finally helping you?”

  He smiled. “Aye, we do have the aid of the League, but returning to Alderley was all me—with some help from my men and your healer friend, Rachel.”

  “Rachel?”

  “When Philip and I left here, we met up with Ogden and Parker. They took me to your army, where I was impressed with the skill of your captain of the guard.”

  “Sir Jasper?” she cried softly. “They are all well?”

  “Aye, and they live to serve you. They are training hard, even as we speak, with assistance from the Bladesmen.”

  Her smile faltered. “Training for what?”

  “Training in case they are needed. No attack is planned, but we must be prepared, sweetling.” That was the truth—for now. “Bannaster would not be foolish enough to think he had frightened me away. He had to know I’d try to return.”

  She pressed a kiss to his chest, and cuddled against his shoulder. “There were so many soldiers on guard today. They searched everyone who came in.”

  “Philip thought the ultimate disguise would be as a woman with child.”

  She gaped at him, and then bit her lip, probably to keep from laughing.

  “Oh, I knew it wouldn’t work,” he said. “Even pregnancy could not explain my size. So we decided I had to come inside a shipment regularly expected.”

  “The soldiers inspected everything that came through the gatehouse! I sat there in the inner ward this afternoon, watching, as if—”

  She paused, and his heart beat faster inside, knowing that she cared about him.

  “As if I would finally see them capture you,” she continued in a whisper. “I found myself praying that you would give up trying to help me, that you’d protect yourself rather than come back here.”

  As she turned her head away, he saw her face in profile, knew that she was still troubled. And who could blame her? They were not free to marry yet—and he sensed some deep part of her still resisted the true dependency of such a relationship.

  “As if I would leave you to him,” John scoffed, trying to keep her mood light. “So I hid in a shipment of straw for the stables.”

  “And they didn’t search the cart?”

  “Of course they did, but this is where we used Rachel’s help. She took us to the village blacksmith, who laid boards across me to create a false bottom in the cart.”

  The admiration in her eyes warmed him. He would be content to make her happy for the rest of his life. Such a notion startled him, and he almost lost his thoughts. Content to stay here in Alderley, one home, seeing the same faces every day?

  “A false bottom?” she prodded, twirling his ring about her finger.

  Her thigh slid up his.

  “Sweetling, the more you move, the less I’m able to remember how to talk.”

  She rolled away, looking guilty. “Forgive me.”

  He pulled her back. “So where was I? Ah, yes, the false bottom. It was very narrow under there and hard to breathe. I lay flat on my back, the floor literally resting on my chest. The journey to the castle seemed to be the longest of my life—not to mention the bumpiest. My back must surely be a mass of bruises.”

  She lifted herself and pushed him. “Roll over and let me see what you suffered in pursuit of my castle and me.”

  He arched a brow. “I already have a castle. Think not that there’s any reason but for you that I suffer such indignities.”

  She stared at him for a moment too long, her expression suddenly serious. Did she truly still harbor doubts about his motivations? As if she realized what she revealed, she lightened the moment by rolling her eyes. With a push, she had him on his stomach, where he propped his head on his crossed arms. She swept the sheet away and he was naked. He felt the lightest touch of her fingers across his shoulder blades. He shivered.

  “Ah, I see the bruises,” she murmured.

  To his surprise, she placed gentle kisses there. Her hands swept down his back, and she cupped his ass.

  “More bruises. You have not enough flesh to pillow you.”

  He received another kiss there, and the fanning of her breath across his thighs put any thought of discomfort from his mind.

  “So go on with your story,” she said.

  But she was draped across the back of his legs as she spoke. He felt her hair curling about him. He couldn’t remember what they’d even been talking about.

  “The uncomfortable cart?” she prodded, and then lightly slapped his ass.

  He shook his head to clear his thoughts. Pressing his forehead into his arms, he said, “Of course. The cart was inspected at the gatehouse. A farmer brought me through at his own peril.”

  She stopped touching him. “Another
man who risked himself for me.”

  He looked over his shoulder to see her sad face. “Elizabeth, don’t. Think you they all wish to be ruled by Bannaster? They much prefer the master they know.”

  “They don’t know you,” she countered.

  He heard the edge in her voice. He would have rolled over to face her, but seeing his erection up close might make her think he only had sex on his mind. “Elizabeth, you have been the woman in control of their lives these many months. They trust you and want to help you.”

  She gave him a smile, but it was solemn.

  “Come here,” he said, pulling her back up next to him. They lay side by side, and he was careful not to press his hips near her. “I’m here. The farmer is safe. The soldiers inspected the cart, and I could hear them prodding through the straw, as if I hid beneath it.”

  “But you did,” she breathed, staring into his eyes in wonder.

  He shrugged and adjusted the cushion beneath their heads so they could continue to face each other. “They didn’t find me. The cart was driven to the stables, then left to await unloading. I waited for night. I heard a lot of conversations, even some about myself.”

  She smiled and leaned in to kiss his chin. “And what did my grooms say?”

  “One of them claimed that he knew all along who I was,” he said, using his finger to slide a lock of hair behind her ear.

  “Oh, he did?”

  He loved the way her nose crinkled when she smiled. Freckles lightly scattered there. “The other groom didn’t believe him either. To be fair, one groom thought I was a coward for retreating.”

  “As if you were supposed to defeat Bannaster and his entire army.”

  She was affronted on his behalf, and he found himself pulling her closer. When their hips met, she eyed him dubiously.

  “You are aroused by my defense of you?” she asked.

  He leaned in and kissed behind her ear, inhaling the sweet, womanly scent of her. “I’m aroused by anything you do.” He rolled his hips against her. “All you have to do is walk by me in the great hall carrying a tray, or kneel at mass or—”

  Shocked, she covered his mouth with her hand. “The priest would say such a thing is a sin!”

  “I am betrothed to you, and the priest says that is almost the same as a marriage. A husband is supposed to desire his wife, so that babies will be born. How can you say that is a sin?”

  She started to laugh, and he kissed her until she was breathless and looking at him with longing. That was what he wanted to see for the rest of his life. He wanted her to desire him—to love him, to not wonder about his greed when she looked on him. Somehow he would make it happen.

  Between kisses, he said, “When all was silent…I lifted the false bottom…replaced everything…and came right to you for my reward.”

  He rolled on top of her, settling himself between her thighs. But before he could make love to her, she put both hands on his chest and pushed.

  “Nay, John, we cannot use the time so selfishly again.”

  He lifted up on his hands to look down at her. Though her face was flushed, and he felt the heat at the core of her, he would not press such an advantage. He rolled off her and collapsed onto his back with a groan.

  Elizabeth came up on her elbow. “You cannot stay here. What if the soldiers return, thinking you might press your advantage with me?”

  He gave her a leering grin.

  She pushed at his shoulder. “You know what I mean. What will we do now that you’re here?”

  John’s smile faded. “I will allow nothing to happen to you, sweetling. I will be here to protect you. Sometimes I find myself wishing that you and I were simple people, who could marry freely as they will. I would take you without dowry, without a title, without concerns about households and money.”

  She sat up, pulling the sheet up about her breasts, distancing herself from him. “But we aren’t those people, John. I know you are a man of honor. You made something of yourself when your family thought you couldn’t. You honored your family’s promises to mine, though it took you away from the life of travel that you love.”

  Something flashed in her eyes so quickly, he almost thought he imagined it.

  Softly, she said, “You’ve risked everything for me—”

  “And I would risk it again. I love you, Elizabeth.”

  But instead of joy, he saw pain in her eyes, and she swiftly looked away. He’d meant to woo her, to seduce her, to show her that they could love one another, and instead he only added to her pressure.

  “And I have brought you heartache,” she continued in a low voice. “I know not how this will end with Bannaster. Tonight I fear that dawn is approaching, and our time cut short.”

  “Elizabeth—”

  “Nay, you must leave now. I could not live with the guilt should someone discover you here.”

  He got out of bed and saw that she couldn’t meet his eyes as he dressed. He knew that he could not leave with something unstated between them. He left Elizabeth seated in the middle of his bed, the sheet as her defense, though he wanted to drag her to him and coerce the truth from her.

  “I will not leave you until you tell me what you’re thinking,” John said.

  Her glance was uncertain, but that regal way she had of seeming untouchable, unattainable, returned. “I am worried that the only plan we have to protect my people might cause even more harm.”

  “’Tis not what I’m talking about, and you know it,” he said. “I told you I loved you, and you immediately became distant with me. Aye, mayhap I should not have spoken my feelings so quickly. You are frightened and—”

  “I am not frightened.” Her eyes flashed at him.

  “Then tell me what it is. I am not pressuring you to make such a declaration yourself. These are dreadful times for you, watching everything your family has worked for come under the power of an outsider.”

  “And that is just it!” she whispered furiously, her fists gripping the bedsheet. “I am faced with a situation I cannot resolve, yet it was so easy for me to—” She broke off and looked away from him.

  He wanted to touch her, but he knew the dilemma she wrestled with. “Easy for you to what, Elizabeth?”

  After a hesitation, she spoke in a low, firm voice. “I don’t like feeling like this, unable to…control myself when I am with you.”

  Though inside he softened in sympathy for her, he knew she didn’t want such emotion from him, not right now.

  “Passion that brings two people together can feel overwhelming,” he said quietly. “Maybe it even feels unsafe to you, unnatural, but only because you have never experienced love before.”

  “And you have?”

  “Nay, I do not claim that. You are the only woman I have ever loved.”

  “Or thought you loved,” she quickly said.

  “Because you are confused, you think I don’t know my own heart? I may not have loved before, but I have been intimate with women, and I enjoyed it each time.”

  She flinched, and he hated hurting her.

  “But enjoying sex is not the same thing as giving of yourself in every way. What I had here with you tonight I have never experienced before. There is an intimacy between us that humbles me, that makes me realize that I want to share this with you for the rest of my life.”

  “And you are not…afraid of it? Afraid of change? Afraid of…losing yourself?”

  “Of giving you power over me, you mean?”

  She bit her lip.

  “I want this, Elizabeth. I want it more than anything else I have in my life. I am willing to give up the things that I once thought were all I needed to feel happy. I don’t care about the life I had before, the travel, the combat. If you could not be with me, what would such things matter to me?”

  “I cannot believe that something so important to you would cease to matter.”

  “I did not say that. ’Tis just that you matter more. I think I used my love of adventure as a replacement for real lov
e. I never thought I could hope for it, being the third son and with little to offer a bride.”

  She stared up at him with wide eyes swimming in tears.

  “So if I travel again, I would want you with me,” he continued. “You mean so much to me.”

  She closed her eyes, and two tears fell down her cheeks. “I usually know the right things to say,” she said. “But now, with you, I don’t.”

  “It is you demanding perfection of yourself, Elizabeth, not I. You have a castle full of people depending on you, and I am one more, I know.”

  “I do not think of you as I think of my servants and my friends.”

  He gave her a gentle smile. “That’s all I can ask for right now. Be patient with yourself.”

  “It is you who have all the patience,” she said. “You returned and I practically attacked you—”

  “It was wondrous, and I enjoyed the display of your feelings for me. I don’t need the words, at least not at this moment.”

  She bowed her head. “You should go. Hide yourself. If he finds you here—”

  “He will think you aid the enemy.”

  She grabbed his hand. “Nay, I care not for myself! It is you who will suffer in my place, and I could not bear it.”

  She kissed the back of his hand. He felt her tears, knew her torment, and softly cupped her head.

  “Then I will go, sweetling,” he murmured, stooping to kiss the top of her head. “I will see you again tomorrow night. Know that you are not alone.”

  “I know,” she whispered.

  John left her and returned to the undercroft, where there were so many places to hide. He made himself as comfortable as possible on sacks of grain and tried to sleep, but he kept seeing her sad eyes in his mind.

  Chapter 23

  The next morning, Elizabeth waited in the kitchen as Adalia prepared food for Anne. Elizabeth felt rather dazed, and she told herself it was lack of sleep. Adalia gave her several worried looks, but did not pry beyond an initial, hesitant good morning.