Page 37
“A beautiful piece.”
Sabine suppressed the urge to jump. For such a large man, Guy moved with surprising grace and stealth. He stood just behind her, so close Sabine could nearly feel the heat of him.
When he reached around to grab the strips of leather hanging from the belt she’d made, Sabine did not dare move.
“My favorite of your belts that I’ve seen,” he said, fingering the leather, his arm touching her side. She stood completely still lest she accidentally lean into him.
“Mine as well,” she admitted.
With no sounds but the distant one of the water trickling through the rocks, Sabine could hear the insistent thud of her own heartbeat.
Nay. Do not. Sabine, ’twill not end well.
Her body responded to the silent plea, and not in the manner she would have liked. With the slightest step backward, she declared her intentions. And Guy noticed. His hand froze, her belt still twined around his fingers.
Still, she could not say the words.
“Sabine?”
The soft caress of her name was too much. About to turn her head, she stopped when Guy pulled her tightly against his chest.
“Do not make me say the words, Guy,” she whispered.
One moment her hair lay against her shoulders. The next, she felt its loss as Guy brushed it all to one side. His breath tickled her neck, and she instinctively bent her head, baring her neck to him.
“I am no chivalrous knight,” he said into her ear, “who would allow for such a reprieve.”
She trembled with the need to feel his touch. But she knew her husband spoke the truth. Although he was far more honorable than he believed himself to be, courtesy had not been bred into him.
“Please?”
Sabine could almost see his smile even though she dared not turn to him. It would be her undoing.
“Nay.” His mouth was but a hairsbreadth away from her ear now. “You will need to do better than that.”
Her breath came in short bursts as she closed her eyes and imagined what was to come.
“You are a brute.”
He did not refute it.
“I offer you”—she swallowed—“me.”
And finally, finally his lips brushed the flesh just beneath her ear. So gentle. And yet . . .
They moved lower, down her neck, as he pulled her more tightly against him. He felt as he had in bed. Hard. Unforgiving. Just as his mouth was as it explored every inch of exposed skin. When his hands reached up to cup both breasts, Sabine reached up to grip his wrists, to hold them in place lest he change his mind.
“You taste every bit as sweet as I’ve imagined.”
Sabine did turn her head then, and the look on Guy’s face nearly felled her. His expression was softer than she’d ever seen it, and . . . were his eyes glistening? Nay, she must have imagined it. She could hardly think.
“I know not how to proceed,” she admitted.
When Guy spun her around, grabbing her face and hauling her back against him, she realized her inexperience didn’t matter. He did know, and that was enough.
“Open your mouth,” he whispered, his voice urgent, and his lips slammed down onto hers. No sooner did she comply than his tongue delved into her mouth, seeking out hers. It took Sabine just a moment to understand, and then their tongues were twining and dancing as the kiss turned ever deeper.
Sabine gave over completely to Guy’s ministrations until a clenching gripped her core, much as it had the night he slept nestled against her at the inn.
