The king wobbled as he lifted his hand to cover hers, flesh against flesh. His breathing grew shallow. “You were going to tell me a secret.”
“I…” Her lower lip trembled.
He clenched his teeth and through sheer determination, refocused on the game and their playfulness of moments before.
With forced lightness, Thomas folded his fingers over hers, the rook now firm between their palms. “You are nae going to renege on the deal, are you?”
“Why,” Alesone whispered as she edged closer, “would I do that?”
Her intoxicating scent wrapped around him, and he fought the rush of desire.
“Thomas?”
Like a well-planned assault, the sultry whisper of his name slashed through his good intent. As the walls collapsed, all the reasons he’d vowed to keep her at a distance faded.
One taste was all he wanted.
Bloody hell, just one!
With lust scorching his every thought, Thomas hauled her against him. Chess pieces scattered as he crushed his mouth against hers.
On a throaty moan, velvet soft lips moved greedily beneath his, demanding, taking until his every breath was filled with her.
Fisting his hands in her hair, he pressed her against the bed, scraped his teeth across the soft flesh of her throat.
“Thomas,” she moaned as she arched against him.
A primeval roar rose up. Hands shaking beneath his body’s demands, he cupped her breast. “Ale—”
A scrape of the wooden door severed the sensual tangle blurring his mind.
* * *
With a gasp, Alesone jerked back. Pulse racing, she glanced toward the entry, struggled for coherent thought.
A tray of food balanced in his hands, Nicholai whistled as he backed into the chamber.
Shaken, she moved away from Thomas, neither did she miss the absolute shock on his face, or the fierce desire burning in his eyes. Thank God, the monk hadna seen them!
Trying to ignore the riot of emotions storming her mind, she snatched the carved figures knocked over during their kiss. Oh God, she wouldna think of that.
She shoved the pieces onto the board, avoided Thomas’s hand as he did the same. How had she allowed their game to erode to such dangerous ground?
Allowed? As Thomas’s lips had pressed against hers, for that too brief a moment, the realities that separated them had faded beneath the tangle of heat. She shivered at how his mouth had matched her own fierce demands. His each stroke, taste, had sent her higher. And when he’d laid his hand on her breast, pleasure had rippled to her core.
Heat stole through her at her wanton thoughts. Was she mad? With her father a powerful enemy, however much she yearned for Thomas, ’twas unwise to allow him, or any man, into her life.
Nudging the door closed, the Brother turned. Satisfaction filled his gaze as he walked over. “Ah, you are playing a game of chess.”
“We just finished,” she said, damning the tremor in her voice. “He won.”
With a grimace Thomas shoved to the edge of the bed.
Nicholas paused before the small table. “Aye, he has a penchant…” A frown creased his brow. “Your face is flushed, lass.” His hesitated, glanced toward Thomas, and then back to her. “What is wrong?”
Heat burned her cheeks. “We had a slight disagreement.”
“Slight?” Amusement crinkled the monk’s eyes as he placed the tray on a nearby table. “Over the years Thomas and I have had”—he bent over, lifted the rook from the floor and handed it to her—“many disagreements.”
