Aurora Rose Lynn

by Witch Fire

  “How I want to make love to you until forever.”

  “Until forever?” Her heart fluttered against the walls of her breast. What had Angelet said about the Beltane custom of couples committing themselves to a trial union that lasted a year and a day? She yearned to propose the idea to him but on second thought, it was foolhardy to believe that a man would want to bind himself to her, especially when neither knew much about the other and what would happen when he found out she was Leuric’s stepdaughter? The thought, hastily born, was quickly discarded.

  “Forever. You know until the sun shines no longer and the moon falls from the sky.”

  “You really think the moon could fall from the sky?”

  He shrugged. A muscle rippled under his eye. “Not in our lifetimes, I don’t think,” he murmured, dipping a large finger in her tight sheath.

  The fate of the moon faded from Celestine’s mind as she arched her back to accommodate the digit’s width. Her whole body vibrated from his touch.

  “Do you want another finger inside?” he asked, his voice a scant whisper.

  She nodded before he eased out and inserted two fingers, stretching her wide. To her astonishment, he slipped his hand from hers and reached under her ass to toy with her asshole. She found his touch to be erotic beyond all her imaginings and raised her hips higher. When his gray-green gaze swept over her, she saw the pulsing beat at the base of his throat.

  Beads of sweat ornamented his upper lip as she peered at him from under lowered eyelids. Her heart beat out of control. How would she be able to let him go when this delicious interlude was over?

  Silence fell accept for the swooshing sounds coming from his finger driving in and out of her wet pussy. She lay in the straw and enjoyed watching his tanned face and his intent expression. His sexy lips tugged at the corners in the beginnings of a smile before he lay down between her legs, his face close to her pussy. He spread her labia apart and she felt the fire of his tongue as he delved into her vagina. She squirmed, clenching fisted hands around stray straws of hay. The world around her dissolved and all she felt was Kerrich’s mouth on her throbbing clit and his tongue darting in and out of her pussy. She tilted her hips closer to his face, sensing the moment of release coming closer and closer.

  When her climax hit, she wasn’t prepared for its power. She rolled her shoulders back and cried out as she shuddered with one spasm after another.

  She tried to press her legs together to stop Kerrich from continuing to lick that now ultra-sensitive spot that made her whole body quiver but, determined, he continued. He opened her legs wider. She bit her lip, wondering if she would be able to handle another extreme orgasm.

  He trailed light kisses along the place where her torso met her thighs, up along her stomach and paused at her belly button. “Please stop,” she begged, sensing he was rapidly bringing her to the edge again. Oddly, she didn’t want him to stop.

  “Why? You don’t like the fire, my sweet innocence?”

  Celestine sighed deeply, content under his ministrations that made her feel vibrant and alive. He nibbled and tugged on a dusky-rose aureole as he smoothed his palm over the other tender globe. A frisson of pure enjoyment washed over her.

  She trembled when he angled the tip of his cock against the entrance of her moist pussy and once more thrust his hardness into her. She lifted her hips and clamped her ankles around his waist to hold him deeper inside her. She flexed her vaginal muscles. He groaned. A hot ache grew in her throat. The wild need for completion within her started to crescendo and his come erupted in one fiery blast after another. She soared higher and higher before her own climax overtook her. Thrashing about, she wanted to scream with joy. How could this man turn her so inside out?

  Kerrich’s massive chest rose and fell with agonizingly hoarse breaths. Opening her eyes, she saw the fine sheen of perspiration on his face. His eyelids were sealed closed when he rolled off her and into the hay on her left and threw a forearm over his forehead. “You’re wildfire,” he said in a hushed whisper.

  She grimaced. If she didn’t find a way to escape her fate tomorrow, she would be washed out, not wildfire. She missed his rigid length deep with her and wanted him to do the same thing the tall man had done to Mathilde – to suck on her clit. How she wished she could persuade him to try a trial union with her for a year and a day but it was foolish to think of that. What did a villager and a castle lady have in common? The answer dawned on her as fast as a shooting star traveled.

  Scrambling to her knees, her heavy breasts jiggled a little. He blinked and bestowed a gray gaze upon her. “I think I’ve fallen in love with you and that we have a future together,” she exclaimed. She felt her cheeks tinge pink from embarrassment. Where on earth had that come from? She hardly knew the man! And to tell him they had a future together despite the difference in their station in life!

  She saw the pulse in his throat kick into a gallop. Every line in his body went rigid as he sat up and surveyed her. “Why?”

  ‘Yes, why?’ she asked herself. She had met him only a few hours earlier and what fact did she have to base her statement on? It would hardly do to say that the sex had been good. She saw herself reflected in his sparkling eyes. A bird trilled in the rafters high above.

  “I think we have to talk,” he said, his voice gruff.

  She didn’t know how to respond to that. Talking wasn’t high on her agenda right now. She wanted more of his hands roaming over her skin, more of his seductive kisses. Searing hot desire inched through her, blinding her to everything else.

  “There can be nothing between us. The only reason we came together was for the feasting.”

  Was he rejecting her, even after she had told him she loved him? She didn’t dare look in his face.

  Awkwardly, he cleared his throat. “Why not enjoy this one day to its fullest and not worry about what tomorrow brings?”

  The hope she hadn’t known was buried so deep within her, began to die, slowly and surely. She wanted someone to love her, to tell her that he loved her, just like her mother had when she was a child. A void so profound it made her want to break out in hysterical tears, hemmed her in. She wanted unconditional love and no strings attached but her status in life precluded that - she would never be able to have that. Maybe it would be better to accept her fate and marry Guermont on the morrow. Eventually she would learn to bear his gnarled, liver-spotted hands savaging her body.

  Dismayed at the direction her thoughts had taken and feeling vulnerably naked, she pulled her gown free from underneath her bottom.

  “Celestine?”

  She ignored how his voice skittered over her nerve endings making her want to stay, to close the distance between their bodies and make love to him again. How could this man affect her so wildly that she had forgotten who she was? Now she understood that by experimenting with who she was sexually, she had opened up an emotional can of worms. Neither she nor Kerrich would be able to transcend the social barrier between them. What madness had overtaken her?

  “I have to go,” she said weakly, her stomach churning. Color rushed into her cheeks.

  “Why not make love to me one more time?” he asked. He spread his hands out in front of him. “It’s all we’ve got.”

  “It’s all we had,” she retorted sharply, surprising herself with the depth of hostility in her voice. She slipped the gown over her head, choking back the sobs churning in her throat. How could she have been so heedless of the consequences behind her actions? She hadn’t been kidding herself. She really had fallen in love with this erotic man.

  He said nothing more as she dressed hurriedly, eager to be on her way, angry with him and with herself for allowing this travesty to occur. She would never allow a tryst like this to happen again but would accept her station, bear children to an old lord, and- How could she tolerate life without love?

  Tears gathered behind her eyes as she found the handhold on the ladder and climbed down, holding her gown up in one hand, the ladder with the
other. As she hurried from the hayloft, she couldn’t help thinking she was leaving behind the only real chance she would have at love.

  ***

  The Hidden Observer watched from behind the barn’s weather-faded wall. There was no shade to huddle under as the sun beat down on him. Tiny rivulets of sweat ran down his sparsely-furred chest. He swore heartily under his breath. He had been searching for his Treasure, unable to find her among the merrymakers. Now she stepped out of the barn and into full view, looking in one direction, then the other. What had she been up to?

  She made up her mind quickly and darted into the trees. The foolish girl had chosen to wear a color that made it easy to pick her out from the green of the meadows and the surrounding. Foolish, foolish girl.

  Stock still, he waited, his breath hitching in his dry throat. Excruciating minutes under the hot sun passed by before a man, huddling in his cloak, stepped out of the barn. Interestingly enough, he glanced quickly in both directions just as Celestine had earlier, but he took the opposite direction from that which she had taken.

  The Hidden Observer was a man of the world but he didn’t dare think his Treasure would have sullied her reputation by indulging in a carnal act. But how had she slipped out by herself? Where was her bitch maid?

  He made the hasty decision to follow his Treasure. Soon enough she would tell him what she had been doing in the hayloft without benefit of her chaperone or her maid. As for the villager, he would find him and take care of him.

  Chapter Ten

  Kerrich slapped his thigh in irritation. He had been stupid to make love to the woman and now took the risk of being discovered. Before the day was done, he had better make himself scarce and leave for another town. Celestine had such a sexual power about her that he hadn’t been able to resist her innocent and magnetic charms. To top it all off, she foolishly believed she was in love with him – all because of a sexual encounter. She was nothing more than young and naïve but he was a downright idiot!

  The freedom that meant more to him than a prize warhorse and all the gems in the world, hung on a thread. If she should say anything to her family about the little he had told her about his past, he might be discovered.

  He drew his breeches on and tied the drawstring with a vengeance. Leuric had killed his parents and forced the last remaining heir into serfdom, with no hope of freedom during his lifetime. But Leuric didn’t know him well, Kerrich thought. At least he hadn’t when he had grinned cruelly and condemned Kerrich to a life of slavery, saying, “No male heir will ever make the house of Angliastre a noble one again. You will learn the meaning of humility.” Kerrich had screamed and shouted obscenities at the man as he was lead away in chains. A slave was a slave, no matter what folks called him. He had been sold into slavery to a lord who cared more for his whip than for justice. As soon as the opportunity arose, Kerrich had fled, escaping with only the clothes on his back and his memories of what Leuric had done to his parents to urge him forward on the road to revenge. He heaved a huge sigh of relief. Two more days and he would be a free man. He would be able to walk into Leuric’s castle and challenge him to a duel to the death.

  The only reminder of his noble past, a small dagger he always carried with him, lay on the hay-strewn loft. He turned it over and over in his palm, seeing in the mists of memory, his mother begging for mercy, not for herself but for her fifteen year old son. Kerrich clenched his teeth and slapped the dagger into his belt. He would make sure Leuric got what he deserved.

  Gripping the ladder, he climbed down as agile as a monkey. He caught a glimpse of movement from the corner of his eye and turned to look. His nerves were probably on edge, he chided himself. There was nothing to see in the swaying trees behind the barn. He looked right and left, seeing no one, and decided to pick a few items from his cart before he walked out of Coventry.

  The sun hugged the western horizon in brilliant splashes of orange and red and a few puffs of gray clouds warranted there might be a threat of a storm tonight. He hurried into the village center to his cart although commonsense told him it might not be a wise move on his part. All he needed were his bare hands and his dagger to survive. Each day on his quest to freedom, he had hunted small game like rabbits and pheasants and knew that, if he had been caught poaching or stealing from the lord’s forest, he would have had his right hand cut off.

  He found his cart and shoved a few of the more valuable items, carved spoons and knives, inside the pouch hanging from his belt. His foolishness in giving into the temptations of the flesh in the form of the seductive Celestine, overwhelmed him. He had placed his bid for freedom at great risk. He laughed, reminding himself he had jeopardized all he had worked for with a roll in the hay.

  If only he hadn’t succumbed to the temptation of her soft flesh and her regal, delicate bearing. Even now, his desire would have been to go in search of her wide-eyed innocence, tell her he loved her and wanted more of her, before he ripped her clothes off and surged into her but he couldn’t do that.

  He groaned as the shadows played longer and longer along the dirt path his feet traveled on. He should have known when the goddess/witch had asked a boon of him that the results would not bode well with him. If only he could turn back time, and tell her he would not acquiesce to her demand. But how could he not have? She knew his identity, and if she knew that, then she knew he was on the run, that his liberty was a precious thing. His jaw muscles clenched together. He wouldn’t mind finding her and wringing her neck for forcing him to choose between his body’s needs and freedom.

  His mind wandered back to linger over Celestine, over her pert breasts and even more aroused nipples that had begged for a touch from his calloused hand. She had been irresistible with her soft rose skin, her riveting blue gaze, and that rare but appealing innocence.

  As he walked along, he met a few villagers on the road and nodded in curt greeting. He had been here over two months now, seeking information about Leuric, and had so far eluded the castle guards, some of whom might have recognized him. No one had reason to believe he was anything else but a lowly peddler. If it hadn’t been for Celestine coming into his life, he would have stayed the remainder of the two days here. There was something peaceful about Coventry, about its wide-open fields and the thick stands of trees surrounding the village.

  He pushed forward, his longs legs easily eating up the distance. Leuric would have to answer to him one day soon. Kerrich knew more about him than any other living person, high or low born. He wasn’t who he pretended to be – a man of culture and manners. Before he had married the lady of Mercia and become lord, he had been a Norman duke’s killer for hire and knew nothing about the qualities that made a noble knight.

  Even though his footsteps took him further from Coventry, Kerrich knew he would return within a few days. He would avenge his parents’ death and perhaps, he would once again be forced to run for freedom. The sound of crickets chirping, along with the wind whispering through the trees, kept him company on his lonely sojourn.

  ***

  A mile from the village, several armed guards halted Kerrich’s journey. He quickly examined each of their faces to see if he would recognize any of them but found nothing familiar. His heart thundered in his chest but he made himself look casual. “What are the lord’s men in search of today?”

  The leader, a bearded man pointed a sword at his throat although Kerrich had done nothing to anger him. “We be seeking the lady Celestine.”

  Kerrich had heard of the lady who was reputed to be so beautiful a man could hardly rest his eyes upon her for fear of being blinded. Or so the rumor said. “I’ve seen no lady come by with her entourage,” he replied, meeting the guard’s intimidating gaze.

  “She’s not with anyone so far as we can tell.”

  “Why are you looking for her?”

  “She’s been kidnapped,” the guard said flatly, giving Kerrich another penetrating look. He raised his hand above his head and the small troupe marched forward, brushing by Kerrich as
if he was of no more notice than a pesky fly.

  He shrugged as he watched them move away. The lady wasn’t his problem but Leuric’s, who should have been keeping a sterner eye on her safety and well-being.

  Chapter Eleven

  Celestine heard all kinds of pleasant and disquieting sounds in the trees as she stumbled forward. Night was falling fast. Where would she find Angelet so they could go back to the castle together? How could she have told a man who didn’t give a fig about her that she loved him? Red-hot prongs of shame coursed through her veins. When would she forget his large palms scouring her breasts and the fierce intensity with which he had taken her?

  She came out of the trees and onto the edge of a plowed field where a group of villagers ate roast pork with their fingers and drank wine from a communal cup.

  A thin woman with a worn face placed a greasy hand on her shoulder. “Ye look greatly saddened at this joyous time. Why not join us?”

  Celestine thought to refuse but remembered that night was close at hand and some company was better than none.

  “Methinks she needs a man,” a rough, burly but friendly-looking man shouted. “Like them behind us.”

  Barely concealed by the trees, a man’s grunting and a woman’s moaning, reached Celestine’s ears. Her face must have showed her shocked surprise since the men and women surrounding her burst into laughter.

  Her cheeks flaming, Celestine tuned out the noise, found herself a sawed-off trunk to sit on and accepted a drink that was offered her. In the distance, she saw the castle on the hill, shining in the last rays of the waning sun. Would Leuric have thought to look for her when she hadn’t arrived in the great hall for supper? She hoped he had been too busy with his own Beltane celebrations to notice.

  She yearned to lean forward and tenderly brush her lips against Kerrich’s but she would have to learn to live without him and his sensuous hands wreaking havoc on her body and her responses. Tomorrow, she decided, she would marry Guermont and accept the fact that love wasn’t a feeling that would come her way again.