“I don’t recall ever being so hungry. I’ll eat anything you put before me, my beautiful cook.”
She blushed and, taking his plate, filled it with scrambled eggs and warmed ham.
“I’m sorry there are no potatoes, my lord. Or no fourth or fifth removes.”
She dimpled as she filled his plate.
He damn near dropped it as she handed it to him, leaning close to him to place it in his hands. Did she have any idea how she could arouse a man, with her flushed cheeks and gorgeous hair? She hadn’t formed it into a bun again, thank the lord, but swept it back into a long fall that she’d brushed behind her back. It hung thick and heavy, a glorious mass any man would want to bury his face in. And she was familiar with dining with removes?
He tamped down his thoroughly inappropriate desires and, smiling at her, attacked his food.
Finally, feeling better than he could ever remember, he heaved a sigh and leaned back in his chair. She refused more than one glass of wine and he sat sipping his second.
“I’m consumed with curiosity about you, my lovely cook. You seem not really at home in a kitchen, although you’ve accomplished wonders. You’re a lady. Why were you traveling alone and unprotected? You are an enigma to me.”
She flushed a becoming rose but said nothing until she’d taken his plate and carried it to a large pan already filled with water.
“I couldn’t bear to use that filthy sink. I thought I’d keep our dishes separate and a little cleaner.”
Damn and blast. She’d been working as hard as he had. Come to think of it, there were shadows under those remarkable eyes. And she wasn’t about to trust him with the story he was becoming increasingly determined to know.
“Let’s go sit by the fire. I’ll take two candles and read to you from a book I have with me. Does that appeal to you?”
She let out a sigh of pure bliss. “Wonderful. What is the book? Although I’ll enjoy listening to almost anything tonight.”
He motioned her closer to the fire, setting one candle beside her and one so the light shone on the book in his hand.
The thought of what he’d like her to enjoy tonight made him shutter his eyes. His one desire would be to bring her pleasure before he buried his already rigid cock in her and released himself.
Crossing his legs, he leafed through the book to give himself a chance to speak normally.
“It’s an old favorite of mine. Inventive and it relaxes me every time I read it. It’s a good book to travel with. Shakespeare’s Sonnets.”
Her start of surprise amused him.
“Some of those are far from relaxing, sir.”
So she’d read them. He smiled at the added clue.
“Do you have any favorites, Caro?” His voice caressed her as he thought of how far he could take the conversation if she confessed to liking the subtly disguised erotic ones he favored.
She blushed but shook her head. “No, no favorites.”
You’re not telling the truth, little imp.
He grinned. “Then I’ll read one of mine to you. Sonnet 18.”
As he flipped through the pages to find that particular sonnet he looked up and saw her lips moving with the opening lines, “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?”
Without finding the passage, he fixed his eyes on hers and began to softly recite the poem. As he’d expected, she followed him silently, her lips moving in harmony with his.
He said nothing when they’d finished, hoping she recognized the question in his piercing eyes.
She looked at him as if he’d attacked her and she stiffened.
“You chanced to pick one I happen to be familiar with. I think it’s time for bed. It’s been a hard day for us both.”
The room had gotten much hotter than the warmth the meager fire in the hearth provided. He conceded temporary defeat.
“Perhaps I can read more to you tomorrow. You sit here and relax a bit. I’ll bank the fires and bring in more wood.”
As he strode out he wondered what the hell he was doing. He’d never seduced a virtuous miss. Surely he hadn’t changed that much, had he? It was only the enforced proximity and knowing they had no chaperone that spurred him to be so outrageous.
Well, no more of this blatant flirting with an innocent. But damn it was fun seeing that perfect complexion blaze with color when she blushed.
Did she even realize how beautiful she was?
He very much doubted it.
Banking down his libido should be as much his objective as seeing to the fire in the hearth.
When he came in with a new stack of wood he was not surprised she was already heading toward the stairs. The stack of logs was growing smaller than he liked. They would have to start conserving what was left. As he piled the logs in the fireplace a splinter of one lodged under his right thumbnail.
By god that hurt. He muttered a string of French curses, his habit since he was a boy and had first learned how much he could get away with cursing in another language.
To his surprise, he heard a gurgling chuckle. As he whirled around he saw Caro had turned and was laughing at him.
“Your accent is a little off but your vocabulary is impressive. Maybe I should teach you some new words.”
Looking at her amused face, he wanted nothing in the world so much as to grab that delicious body to his and demonstrate some of the other French words he knew. She was beyond beautiful when she relaxed. He summoned his reserve and managed not to pounce on her but it was a near thing for a moment.
“Imagine a nice girl like you knowing words like that.”
He smiled at her with questioning eyes and she blushed a beautiful shade of rose.
“I’m a French teacher,” she explained. “I guess I haven’t mentioned that.”
“Really?” The drawl was gone. This was the first fact she’d volunteered. “And you teach young ladies these words.? Tsk, tsk, Caro.”
“Don’t be silly. But the girls in the school I attended in France—”
She stopped abruptly.
“Let me see the splinter.”
She proceeded to effectively remove the splinter by squeezing it out with her fingernails. It wasn’t comfortable but he didn’t make a sound. When she finished she brought a mug of water over, soaked his finger in it and then calmly tore a tiny strip off her petticoat and bound it around his finger.
“You forgot to kiss it to make it well, Caro.”
She blushed again. “It looks healed already to me, Sebastian.”
He watched her take the mug back to the kitchen, pretending to pout, although she didn’t turn around to see his effort.
Ordinary teachers did not acquire their learning in France.
Caro was a puzzle he longed to solve.
In spite of his concern for the wood supply, he hoped they would have another day before being rescued. For some reason, this interlude away from the world pleased him beyond expectations. He started as a thought struck him. Would he have enjoyed it so much without his beautiful companion?
His beautiful, intelligent, reared-like-a-lady companion. And don’t forget to add innocent, his reluctant mind told him.
Ah, if she were only not so innocent.
He could make the time more enjoyable if she were experienced. But would his mind as well as his body be so intrigued if she were easily available?
He couldn’t remember ever being so captivated.
Chapter Two
He took as much time as he could before going up the stairs. He wanted her sound asleep, preferably snoring in the most obnoxious way, before he took the room next to hers.
Unfortunately, she was far from asleep. He could hear her tossing and turning through the thin wall between their rooms. She muttered from time to time and he knew she was scolding herself for being so restless.
He’d worn his greatcoat to his room after bringing in the logs and now took it off. And put it back on. Devil take it but it was damn cold in here. He could see his breath form when h
e gusted a little sigh. Looking at the pitifully short bed, he sighed again. Either the freezing temperature or the damn bed was enough to keep him awake.
Put them together and sleep would be impossible.
A sudden thought sent him striding out the door and knocking on Caro’s door. What if her room was equally cold?
He could hear her shuffling and muttering and then she flung the door open.
“I’ve never been so cold in my life. I swear this room is filled with icicles.”
Without thinking, he reached for her and pulled her close, wrapping his greatcoat around both of them.
“Where’s your cape, you foolish girl?”
He’d kissed the top of her hair before he realized it, as she snuggled into him. She was quivering from head to foot with the cold and she seemed to think him warmer than any garment she could wear.
Her teeth were chattering as she tried vainly to burrow into him like a bunny seeking its burrow.
“I used it as a blanket but it didn’t work.”
He held her silently for a moment. He did not dare pile wood on the banked fire in the hearth below. He was already worried their supply would not last until they were rescued.
“I’m staying in here tonight. It’s a small room and two bodies give off more heat than one.”
She nodded, and he noted with pleasure her shuddering had lessened. Obviously his decision was a good one, meant entirely for her benefit.
Don’t fool yourself, you reprobate. You’d seize any excuse to be close to her.
Damn if he wouldn’t like to get rid of that hell-sent voice in his head.
She reached up and patted his scratchy face.
“I much like that beard you’re sprouting. I think you should keep a clipped beard and moustache. It makes you look like a pirate. It’s most s—” She hesitated as if seeking the right word. “Attractive.”
He knew that wasn’t the word she’d started to use. What word had she discarded? Could he coax it out of her later?
He hoped to God it was “seductive”.
Thinking hard but saying nothing, he led her back to the bed and added his greatcoat to the two sparse blankets he pulled on top of her.
She started up in protest but he shushed her.
“I’ll wrap up in my blankets and sleep on the floor. I’ve got more meat on my bones. I can do with less covering. I’ll be back with my pillow and blankets.”
He disappeared to return with the pitifully thin blankets and his one pillow. He found her not snuggling into sleep, as he’d expected, but sitting upright, clutching his greatcoat around her.
“I’ll not permit this, my lord Sebastian. Obviously this room you insisted I have is better than yours. You will not sleep on the floor with the most inadequate of covering. You will sleep in my bed.”
Sebastian stared at her, focusing as he tried to assess what the hell her provocative words meant.
The flush that appeared as she realized what she’d said was more erotic than any simulated love words he’d ever experienced.
He couldn’t hold back the words that came to him.
“You called me a pirate, Caro. Pirates are known for pillaging.”
She gulped but kept her eyes steadily on his.
“But you won’t. I know your sense of honor. I’ll put one of my pillows between us just to make sure. See, I have two. You know as well as I do that we need to share our warmth to get through this freezing night.”
Dammit to hell, had any man ever been presented with such a temptation? One he in all honor had to resist? At least he gave her credit for having no idea what she was doing to him. He was as hard and ready as he’d ever been in his life. And in a situation where he could do nothing at all to relieve himself. He could hardly take his cock out and knead it to relief with her looking at him. How the hell was he going to get to sleep? It would take a long time for an erection like he sported to diminish, even if he were not lying beside the object of his desire.
With a groan, he climbed into bed with her. She’d placed the pitifully inadequate barrier of a pillow between them and he lay down, forcing himself to conjugate every Latin word he could remember. And then he counted backward from one thousand. In spite of his painfully aroused state, he found himself falling into the deep sleep unaccustomed activity can bring. His last thought was that it really had been a good idea to get both of them close enough to share their body heat. Especially since he’d proven he could rise above the temptation of her disturbing presence.
Utter fatigue was a wonderful thing.
* * * * *
Hours later he woke up, painfully aroused again by the supple body draped over his. She’d cast aside the pillow and was nestled against him, blissfully asleep as she snuggled against the only warmth in the cold room.
He looked down at the golden hair flowing against his chest and silently cursed the most damnable situation he’d ever been in. Finally he eased himself gently from under her and sat on the edge of the bed. He’d get no more sleep tonight. He certainly couldn’t stay there with his rigid cock poking into her soft stomach. He’d enter her before she even knew what he was about.
He draped his greatcoat more closely around her and rose.
Time to go check the fires.
Both those in this goddamn inn and in his regrettable body.
He’d not counted on his unpredictable Caro. He felt her arms wrap around him, as she laid her cheek against his shoulder.
“Sebastian, why would you want to get up so early? Come back and lie beside me again. I’m so much warmer and feel safer when you’re with me.”
Sheer desperation drove Sebastian. If he didn’t do something he’d turn on her like a ravaging wolf and tear her innocence to shreds.
“Damn it. Caro, are you so innocent you don’t know what you do to me? You’re far from safe with me. If I stay in bed another minute I’ll turn on you, ravage you and take your innocence. No one will marry you then, unless you manage to convince the fool you’re still a virgin. I won’t do that to you, although God know there’s nothing in this world I’d rather do.”
There was a short silence, although she did take her warm arms from around him.
“I don’t want you to leave me. Is there anything I can do to make you feel better so you’ll stay?”
Sebastian was not sure her words came from an angel or a devil.
He gave a short laugh.
“Of course there is. But it’s nothing an untried lady like you should even know about. It’s something a man does with his wife or a whore. You’re neither.”
Sebastian doubted she even understood what he was saying, and he started to rise again.
She held him tightly.
“Don’t go, Sebastian. I don’t know what you mean but you can surely teach me. Your body is so beautiful. I’m sure I can please you if you just show me how.”
Sebastian’s groan was audible. It would be so easy to show her, to wrap her fingers around his rampant erection and move them up and down until he exploded with relief.
When she said nothing more, he started to rise again. And again she pulled him back,
Sebastian shut his eyes. He’d get no rest at all unless he eased his aching cock, and she wasn’t about to let him leave the bed. Being brutally frank with her would doubtless cause her to drop her arms at once.
He turned to face her. “Are you willing to caress my cock until I shoot my semen in your hand? It’s not what I want from you but it’s better than nothing. Do you even know what I’m saying, Caro? You’re so goddamn innocent I shouldn’t even ask.”
She’d turned a fiery red but she faced him with a clear, determined look.
“I want to please you, Sebastian. Show me what to do.”
Wordlessly, he pulled down his trousers and underpants and exposed his pulsing cock. Caro stared at it with fascination but did not flinch away. Sebastian couldn’t remember ever being this big. He was surprised she hadn’t run screaming from the room. Certainly
she’d never seen anything like the erection he was sporting. For that matter, neither had he.
Taking her hand, he wrapped her fingers around his cock. Keeping his hand over hers, he showed her how to stroke him, how to tighten her grip and how to move her fingers up and down and send him to heaven. He’d never been so inflamed by a hand, but then it was Caro’s hand.
That seemed to make all the difference in the world. He could almost imagine he was in her body, the walls of her vagina clutching him as tightly as her unexpectedly talented hand. Her head was lowered, concentrating on pleasuring him, and her breathing quickened as his body began to stiffen.
An intense wave of pleasure astonished him, but he kept her fingers under his, moving their hands with increasing speed as an ecstasy he’d not expected intensified with the delicious motion. He threw back his head, trying to take deep breaths to prolong the incredible feeling.
Keeping his hand on hers so she would not relax her grip, he climaxed with a deep groan, shooting his semen on the floor beside the bed.
He finally recovered enough breath to wrap her in his arms and bring them both down flat on the bed.
“Caro, that was wonderful. I thank you, love.” He grinned. “Another of your talents I didn’t know about.”
The second he said it he knew his callous remarks were not appropriate.
She looked at him with no embarrassment but rather with curiosity.
“Can you make me feel that good, Sebastian? I know you enjoyed it.”
He grinned a smile of sheer satisfaction.
“Of course I can. Would you like me to try? There are several ways I can please you if you permit me.”
She was silent for a long enough time to worry him. Had he angered her after all with his display of selfish satisfaction? Had he lost all her respect for him? Damn, his momentary satiation meant nothing compared to Caro’s regard.
“No, I think not. I know I’d love anything you show me but you are not for me Sebastian. We both know that. Let’s leave it at that. I’m glad I could please you. Now move so I can get dressed. It’s early but there’s a lot to do.”
He let her go then silently dressed.
His body felt wonderful. He’d never had so much pleasure from masturbation. Unfortunately, his mind regretted what he’d done. He hadn’t taken Caro’s innocence but he’d sullied it.
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