Page 117 of The Champion

Stryder closed his eyes as Rowena left his lips and buried her mouth against his neck. Her tongue teased his flesh with delectable strokes that tore through him. She’d never been aggressive with him before, but he delighted in the way she took control of their desire.

He still felt like an ass for saying what he had. But he did want her to know how he felt about her. He owed her that much and more for all she had given to him.

“You know…” She pulled back from his neck. “I’ve always been wrong about something.”

“And that is?”

“I thought there was nothing in the world more seductive than a troubadour singing his observations about his lady love. But I was wrong.”

She trailed her fingernail down his arm, raising chills in its wake. “The most incredible seduction is when a knight who is renowned for his strength speaks from his heart. Not as a knave out to woo a woman because he can, but as a man who wants only to give of himself.” Her gaze seared him as she stared into his eyes and he saw her innermost sincerity. “I love you, Stryder, and I always will.”

Savoring those precious words, he kissed her deeply, tasting the full, sweet honey of her mouth. He balled his fists in her hair and let the cool, silken strands caress his war-scarred fingers. Let her gentle softness caress his battle-hardened heart.

She loosened the laces of his breeches as he reached behind her back and undid her gown. He growled deep in his throat as she sank her hand down into his breeches to cup him in her hand.

“I like it when you’re bold with me, Rowena.”

“Do you?” she asked, her voice thick.

“Aye.”

She seemed to take courage with that. She tugged at his surcoat, which was trapped under his knees. Stryder shifted his weight so that she could pull it off him. It was quickly followed by his tunic.

“Mmm.” She ran her hand over his bared chest. “You are far too handsome for a man.”

Before he could comment on that, she dipped her head down and gently suckled his nipple. Stryder swore he could see stars as unexpected pleasure tore through him. His breathing ragged, he looked down to watch her as she teased and tormented his flesh with her tongue and mouth.

How could he let this woman leave him? How could he give her freedom when all he wanted to do was hold onto her forever?

And yet, he had no choice in the matter. None whatsoever.

She nipped his flesh playfully before she pulled back. The wicked smile on her face made his cock even harder as she pushed him gently to the floor.

Stryder lay back on his rug and let her have her way with him. It was refreshing to see her like this...a tigress who was as hungry for him as he was for her.

She tugged the boots from his feet, then his hose. Still fully dressed, she removed his breeches, leaving him bare before her.

He’d never had a woman study his body so intently before.

Smiling, she stood up and returned to his desk.

“What are you doing, Rowena?” he asked, suspicious of her actions.

She returned with the quill. “I’m teaching you to write,” she said impishly.

Stryder frowned as she sat down beside him and then wrote something across his stomach. Chills sprang up all over him.

“What are you writing?”

“Amor vincit omnia,” she said with a smile. “Love conquers all.”

Lifting himself up on his elbows, he stared at the ink stains on his stomach while she wrote something else beneath it.

“And that?”

She bit her lip as she gave him a devilish stare. “I belong to Rowena.”

He arched a brow at that. “I do, do I?”