An Outlaw's Honor

by TERRI BRISBIN

  God Almighty, she was magnificent! As he’d suspected, her body was perfection in its feminine curves and the lushness of her breasts. Her skin was like the pale white of the sands on those beaches in the north of Scotland. Her breasts filled his hands when he held them, and their tips were the color of roses in spring—deepest pink—and tight like buds waiting to be teased to bloom fully. The curls between her legs mirrored the golden shades of her long hair.

  But it was her face and the incandescent expression in her eyes that threatened his control. She watched him with wonder as she reveled in the pleasure that he gave with just his hands. Thomas reached over and did something he’d wanted to since the day they’d met—he pulled the tie from her braid and threaded his hands into her hair, shaking it loose until it fell in waves over her body and almost to the floor.

  Then, he stepped a pace back and just stared at her while touching himself. When she stepped closer and reached out towards his flesh, he shook his head.

  “Nay?” she asked in a shaky voice. “I may not touch you?”

  “If you touch me now, this will end in a very quick resolution,” he said as he tugged on his erection. “Why not touch yourself, and I will watch you?”

  “Thomas!” she exclaimed. Her innocence was refreshing and beguiling at once.

  “Have you never done that? Never ached there and satisfied it?”

  What thing to ask her! And what a topic of discussion to have, naked and facing a well-endowed rampantly erect man for the first time! He had teased her body and now tempted her mind with erotic thoughts and offerings. The man was a devil in the flesh. And what flesh it was!

  When she hesitated to do as he’d suggested, more because she had no idea of how to begin than being opposed to it, he opened his arms to her...and she walked right into his embrace. The heat of his skin against hers forced the breath from her body. To feel the differences between them—soft and hard, tall and short, all angles against so many curves—caused a throbbing beat within her private place where he’d wanted her to touch herself.

  Before she knew what he was about, he wrapped his arms around her waist and drew her up in his arms. When he guided her legs to encircle his body, she felt the hard length of him glide along her woman’s flesh. Holding her up with his hands beneath her legs, he rubbed himself there, sliding in the wetness her body made.

  “This will ease my way inside you, Annora,” he promised as he thrust along her. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and held on, barely in control enough to keep herself from falling. But he did. He kept her there, rocking her as he built a marvelous tension within her body. “I still want to kiss you there. Let me?”

  She took his mouth then, wanting to taste his tongue and feel it against hers. Swirling and dipping in, he tasted her, thrusting in as his cock moved in the same motion along her flesh. Then, when she could not breathe or speak or do anything by dint of will, he walked them over and knelt on the pallet, easing her back until she lay there. He lifted his mouth from hers and began to kiss and lick...and nip his way down her body.

  Her body arched off the pallet when he drew the tip of her breast into his mouth. His teeth replaced his lips, and she grabbed his head, his still short hair was not enough to take hold of, both pulling him away and pulling him closer every other moment. ’Twas so much, too much. Too many sensations racing through her, burning under her skin, and rushing through her blood. And within moments, her body melted and fell apart. Wave after wave of pleasure, of tightening and release, moved through her, into her, around her, and her body shuddered as it did.

  “Oh God, Annora!” he whispered against her skin. “You are glorious in finding your satisfaction.”

  She did not know what he meant, but when he placed his palm against her curls, she arched against it as the pleasure coursed once more. Several more times, her body tightened within her core and then exploded in a torrent of feelings that filled her. She opened her eyes and discovered him leaning over her, staring at her.

  “What happened?” she asked. Oh, her aunt and others had told her about joining with a man. She had witnessed various parts of it during her life, but no one had told her there was pleasure to be had simply from the touch of a hand or mouth...or tongue. And teeth? She shivered then, and he laughed and shifted closer. From the press of his cock against her leg, she could tell he had not finished.

  “A miracle, truly,” he said. “You allowed me to pleasure you.”

  “No one told me about this part,” she said. “They warned me not to be taken or let a man put his...inside me. They never told me about this part.” Partly she was disgruntled about not knowing, and partly, she just did not care now that she’d discovered it.

  “That,” he said, leaning in for a quick kiss, “is because if you’d known, you would seek it out relentlessly.”

  Only then did she realize that his hand was still on, in, the curls between her legs. When she shifted, and one finger slipped between the folds of her flesh, she moaned.

  “Too much?” he asked.

  “Not enough, I think,” she murmured. “Show me more.”

  His laughter at her bold demand warmed her heart. There would be time later for regrets or sadness. For now, she would take of whatever pleasure or satisfaction he offered and keep them in her heart for those darker times she was certain were ahead.

  He kissed her swiftly and then climbed up over her, moving down her body again but this time not stopping at her breasts. Oh, he kissed them and suckled them and then lowered himself along her. She’d been ticklish as a child and thought she would giggle when he reached her belly. A moan escaped instead at his intimate touch and she lifted her head to watch him and did whatever he told her to do.

  So, when he’d spread her legs and laid between himself them, she found herself unable to do anything but feel as she saw him kiss and lick closer and closer to that aching place. He slid his hands under her legs then, took hold of her thighs and pulled her against his mouth.

  His mouth.

  His lips.

  His tongue.

  Oh, dear God, his tongue! The first warning was no warning at all, but a long slide along the flesh there. From deep between her legs, along the throbbing folds until he reached...something...some place that needed to be touched. His tongue just teased around that place, a place she’d never known had existed until him, until now. Until his tongue pressed it and touched it and tasted her...there!

  Every feeling in her body centered there, beneath his tongue. Then he pushed in and took the small bit of her flesh into his mouth and did what he’d done on her breasts, and she fell back, moaning. Her hands slid down and covered her breasts that ached almost painfully so, and his movements grew harder and faster. Her hips rose to meet his mouth, faster and faster until he slid back away from the tormented place. Annora pushed up on her elbows to watch him again.

  His eyes were focused on her intimate place, as though single-minded in finding whatever he wanted there. When she felt his tongue thrust deeper, she was stunned to feel him push within her folds and even within her body. How could she feel him there? Her body craved him, it hungered, wanting something, and she knew he would give it to her.

  “Thomas!” she whispered out. She reached out for him, wanting to take hold of something, but she could only touch his head. “I need...”

  “More, sweetling? Did you beg for this?” When he laughed this time, her flesh felt the vibration of it, and she tensed there. “Oh no, you do not,” he warned.

  But it made no sense to her until she spun once again out of control. Her body shuddered over and over as she fell apart beneath his sensual onslaught. Just when she thought she was gaining some sense of herself, his teeth grazed over a place that was so sensitive, so aching that it almost hurt. Until he licked it. Her hips canted, and he used his teeth again. Annora grabbed his head and held him there, thrusting her hips against his mouth as he’d done against her palms. That laugh excited
her flesh yet again until she thought she could take not bear it.

  Her body wound tighter and tighter only to explode into pieces when he suckled that one spot. He was as relentless in his attentions now as his pursuit had been, and Annora found herself floating, her body satiated and throbbing. Then, when she could breathe, he lifted his head up, exposing her heated folds to the coolness of the tent.

  She cried out, but within the passing of only a moment or two, he covered her body, and she felt his cock there where his tongue had been. As he kissed her mouth, bracing himself on his elbows, she could taste the essence of her arousal on his mouth.

  “I told you it would taste sweet,” he whispered.

  He watched her eyes as his flesh pressed a scant bit into her folds. She knew how big he was. She knew how hard he was. But, as he slid slowly in, Annora realized that his motions felt good. He paused then, and she tightened the muscles within her so she could feel him.

  “You little witch,” he said, kissing her hard. “Lift your hips, sweetling. Now.”

  She did, and he thrust deep, entering her in one swift movement and filling her and taking her maidenhead. Her flesh burned and felt very stretched there, and yet it did not hurt as she’d imagined it would.

  “That was not bad,” she said.

  He lifted his head and shook it. “Not bad, Annora?”

  “I expected more pain,” she explained. “From your size,” she felt his cock harden more within her, “I did not think it would be that easy.” This time his laughter was like a rumble of thunder that came from deep in his chest. “Are we done then?”

  Instead of answering her, Thomas withdrew himself a bit. When she thought he would leave her completely, he slowly thrust back in, deeper than he had been.

  “Oh.” Her body awakened a little. When he withdrew, her hips followed him, and she moaned this time when he thrust all the way in. “Oh.”

  “Aye,” he whispered back as he pulled out and then plunged back in, deeper with each thrust. “We are not done, lass.”

  Her body, it seemed, was not either, for her skin, her muscles, her flesh all woke until his attentions, and when he filled her with his flesh and began to moan, she took him in and tightened around him then. He gasped with each movement now, and she felt his seed spill into her. Clenching around him, the throbbing of his flesh brought on his release within her and let herself sink into it with him.

  Although he remained within her, Annora grew aware when his breaths grew even, and she waited. Her body felt used and exposed and...wonderful. It was not as she’d imagined it would be and yet, so much more. Though there would be regrets later. For now, she reveled in the feeling of complete satisfaction under his warm body.

  He shifted to one side and held his weight off of her, allowing her to breathe easier. As he did, he glanced down her body and up to her face.

  “Are you well, lass?” he asked. A bit embarrassed by this strange intimacy, she nodded.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Would she ever act or reply or respond as he expected of her?

  Thomas could do nothing but laugh at the words she’d uttered in reviewing their joining. He’d exerted an unbelievable amount of restraint in bedding her, knowing it was her first time, and her reaction was he’d not done badly? Men feared him. Women adored him. And Annora thought he wasn’t bad.

  Though the words could be an insult in another time or with another person, he took them for nothing less than her innocent, honest assessment of their experience. Just as she did in almost every encounter, she did or said the most unexpected thing, and his heart almost felt alive once more from her candor. It had been so long since he had been able to trust anyone and believe that their word was true.

  And here, his enemy’s daughter was the one, inviting him to seek a path other than the one he’d chosen for himself. To look in a different direction from the one he’d thought could be his only way.

  Yet, he knew he could not, and it saddened him.

  Oh, she had not come here seeking more than the pleasure they’d shared, and he’d made certain she had gotten that in full measure. So, if she was satisfied in their exchange, why was he not?

  “I am well, considering,” she said. When he nudged her to continue, she said, “When I woke and broke my fast in the lord’s hall, I had no expectation that, by nightfall, I would be a fallen woman.” She shook her head then and he eased out of her. “Lady Clara would be thunderstruck by this turn in things.”

  “Lady Clara?”

  “Oh, one of the noblewomen here. I think she may be from Normandy. Her mother seeks a marriage for her. I met her this morn when Lord Yves invited me to the morning meal there. We walked to the fields together.”

  “And you told Lady Clara about me?” His pleasure in that lasted only moments until she dragged him down.

  “Oh, nay! I would never speak to a stranger about our...arrangement. Though it would be nice to have a friend with whom I could discuss private matters.”

  From what he knew of her, Annora lived with her father, and her only living relative was her late mother’s older sister. Someone as lively and as young as she should have many friends and attendants. She had no siblings. Before he could ask a question, she turned on her side and met his gaze.

  “So, what happens now?”

  “Now?”

  “Are we finished?” she asked. A shy glance down and then back to his face reminded him once more of her inexperience. “I thought we had finished before, but I was wrong.” She shifted to lie on her side and face him. “Is there more, or should I go?”

  He noticed a lack of confidence in her words he’d not heard before. This was unknown territory for her—having never been bedded before and now facing the one who’d taken her virginity. If he admitted the truth of how things had progressed, it was more a situation of she’d given it to him, yet that mattered not. Thomas had been the first man to touch her or kiss her or possess her body. Realizing then he’d been lost in his thoughts and had not answered her question, he shook his head.

  “The part where we join is finished, Annora. If it is safe for you to stay, I pray you will.” When she frowned at his words, he closed the space between them and kissed her swollen lips softly. “Will your father be looking for you?”

  “He and,” her face took on an expression of disgust before she said the name, “le Govic were celebrating over with the...” He nodded, understanding where they were now. “Father is deep in some intrigue and pays me little heed except when he wants me to be someplace or another.” She inhaled and released a shaky breath. “Do you know of the matter?”

  A tremor of unease passed through him then. A reminder that this endeavor, so to speak, between them, had much larger influences than his or le Govic’s skills in the fight on the morrow. When kings and princes ran amuck, sticking their greedy, prideful fingers everywhere, no simple fight was that simple. And Thomas neither trusted or fully believed his king or the English prince to be forthright in this arrangement.

  “I know only my part in it, Annora. The king dragged my arse from his dungeon and offered me all I’d lost if I fought in this challenge. It did not take me long to agree without asking for his reasons. When you are caught somehow between a king and a prince, ’tis best to keep your head low enough to avoid having it taken off.” He slid his arm up and rested his head on his hand, watching her. “The thing I do not understand, and that puzzles me the most, though, is why would your father risk Prudhoe and you to accept this challenge?”

  He sat up then and grabbed a blanket to toss over them. The chill in the night air raised gooseflesh on his skin and, he noticed, on hers. “That is the part that makes no sense to me.”

  “I know not,” she said. She slid down to be completely under the cover of the blanket. He tucked it around her. “Only messages from the king’s brother and then you arrived. Father ranted for hours after you left that day.” She laughed then before going on. Rolling onto h
er back, she nodded at him. “I thought he was having an apoplectic fit. ’Twas only days, or a sennight later, that I learned about this tournament and this private challenge that I was to be given away as part of the prize.”

  “So, we are both puppets to be strung up and played as these royals desire?” He let out a frustrated groan. “I suspect they pit both sides against themselves as well as the other. We will lose no matter who wins tomorrow’s challenge.”

  He’d suspected that from the first—that there would be no winner in this matter unless it was a king or prince. And those two hatched plots for their own private and nefarious reasons, known only to them.

  “’Tis clear to me that my father looks to the prince for something that our king will not give him. Could it be the same for your king?”

  “Beholden to Prince John?” He shrugged. “With these royals, anything is possible. I am certain of one thing,” he said. “This goes back years in its scope. Decades to when William originally lost Northumberland to the old king, Henry. What happened back then is what is driving this matter now. Of that, and only that, I am certain.”

  When a yawn escaped her, he realized that Annora was as exhausted as he was. The lull in vitality that followed finding satisfaction in the body of a woman always made him want to sleep. But first, he must see to her. Climbing off the pallet, he sought out the bucket, finding no water there. The cloth was damp yet, so he took it and with a bit of water in his jug, handed it to Annora. The puzzlement on her face again demonstrated her innocence.

  “To...to use to...clean...” It turned out he might know what needed to be done but could not explain it to the temptress who sat on his bed, gathering her hair into a rough braid. When she stopped in the middle of weaving the sections together and stared at him, Thomas knew she’d understood. Grabbing up his garments, he turned his back to her as he dressed in the breeches and tunic and pulled on shoes, so that he could escort her back.

  He faced her and found her in her gown, waiting for him to tie the back laces. The urge to pull it off once more filled him, and he fought it off, knowing that there was no time for such things and that she would be sore from his attentions so far. But after she healed and after he won on the morrow...