Page 13 of A Touch So Wicked

If her question surprised him, he did not show it. “Nay, lady, I have no wife, but the king has promised me an heiress.”

Elissa said nothing as she pushed her food around her plate. In a fit of pique, she fervently prayed that Lord Damian’s heiress had pendulous breasts, protruding teeth, and a lumpy figure. It would serve him right, she thought, smiling with self-righteous pleasure.

“Has something amused you?” Damian asked. “Perhaps you’d like to share it.”

“’Tis naught, my lord. I’m not hungry. If you’ll excuse me, I’d like to retire to my chamber.”

“I will escort you,” Damian said, rising gallantly.

“Donna bother, I know the way.”

“’Tis no bother.” He picked up a brace of candles from the table. “After you, lady.”

Elissa rose stiffly and stalked toward the spiral staircase. “Do my kinsmen know I am to be sent away tomorrow?”

“They’ve been told. Be careful, lady, the stairs are treacherous.”

“I’ve climbed these same steps every day since I learned to walk,” came her scathing reply. “You needn’t proceed any further if you’re afraid of falling.”

Her words earned a growl that began deep in Damian’s broad chest as he prodded her up the stairs. Elissa paused at the top landing and turned abruptly, placing a small hand on Damian’s chest. “’Tis far enough, my lord.”

Damian looked beyond her. “Which chamber is yours?”

Elissa had no intention of answering his impertinent question. “Good night, my lord.”

She turned with a swiftness that startled them both and consequently lost her balance. Damian had the presence of mind to anticipate disaster and reached for her. Elissa made a desperate grab for the closest support, which happened to be Damian. He was ready. He had already blown out the candles and dropped them, holder and all.

Damian’s large hands sought purchase on Elissa’s slim waist, preventing her headlong plunge down the stairs. A tremor went through him as he took the full length of her soft body, breast to chest, thigh to thigh. He felt her tremble. He groaned in response, and without conscious thought, shifted his hands downward to the taut mounds of her buttocks. He pulled her close, inserting his knee between her legs in a purely instinctive move.

She raised her face to him, her eyes luminous in the darkened passage. His reaction was spontaneous as his lips descended to devour hers. She looked so innocently shocked, tasted so sweet, that he lost all semblance of control. He plundered her mouth ruthlessly, his tongue battering against her lips until they opened to him.

Damian could tell she’d never been kissed before and he exulted in that knowledge. It would be a shame to confine her in a convent before she experienced passion at least once. And the vixen was passionate, whether she realized it or not. Her mouth had softened beneath his and her sweet tongue met his with a shy eagerness that brought him to throbbing erection.

Clasping her tightly against him, he lifted her and walked down the passageway. “Your chamber. Which one?”

“The one beyond Lora’s,” she gasped. “Please put me down. I can find my own way.”

“Not bloody likely,” Damian growled.

He found the chamber, opened the door with one hand, and carried her inside. He slammed the door shut with his boot heel and scanned the dimly lit room for the bed. He was so aroused he didn’t feel her hands drumming against his chest, or realize that the gurgling noises rumbling from her throat were protests. It wasn’t until he released her mouth and shoved her backward onto the bed that he realized things had gotten out of hand.

“Don’t, please. Would you send me to the convent with my innocence ripped from me?”

He stepped back, utterly astounded. “Bloody hell! What have you done to me?”

Her breathing was erratic but her voice was strong. “’Tis you who attacked me. I’ve done naught, my lord.”

“Naught but entice me, vixen,” Damian said harshly. He backed away from the bed, his staff a painful throbbing within the tight confines of his breeches. “Be ready to leave at first light.”

Damian stormed from the chamber, his swollen sex reminding him that he needed a woman. Any woman would do. But when he searched the hall for a likely young maid, none had the vibrant red hair and glittering green eyes of the vixen he’d just left in her chaste bed. With a snort of disgust, he decided it was a good thing the Maiden of Misterly was leaving the next day, for if he had his way she wouldn’t remain a maiden for long.

Elissa lay where Damian had left her, her chest rising and falling with each rapid heartbeat. What had just happened? she wondered dismally. What had she done to the Demon Knight to turn him into a rapacious animal? She touched her lips. They still tingled from his kisses, and she felt wet and swollen in private places she rarely thought about.

The new Lord of Misterly was far too attractive, too experienced for a maiden who had never been kissed. Thank God she was leaving, for nothing good could come of what happened tonight.

Elissa was still shaking when she rose and pulled her knapsack from beneath the bed. She placed a few more articles of clothing inside and snapped it shut. Then she donned a woolen dress, flannel petticoat, and warm hooded cloak. Finally, she located some sulfur matches and placed them in her pocket.

Elissa waited until the darkest part of night. When all was quiet, she opened her door and peered down the darkened hallway, breathing a sigh of relief when the only sound drifting up from the great hall was that of muted snoring.