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“Put me down, anon,” she commanded.
“Stop screaming. It’s not becoming of a lady.” He flipped her off his shoulder, and she landed on her back on the bed.
“I’ll scream if I want to, now get out of my way so I can get off this bed,” she warned him.
“If you insist on yelling, I am going to give you something to scream about. And I promise you, it will be from passion and sated desire, not because you want me to leave.”
Conrad removed his weapon belt and boots and, in one motion, slipped off his tunic and tossed it across the room.
The sightof Conrad’s muscled chest caused Willow to hold her breath momentarily. He was all man and a very desirable one at that. Nothing about him reminded her any longer of the meddlesome boy she remembered from her past. He gently laid his body atop hers on the bed, making her feel very excited.
Willow stopped fighting Conrad when his mouth covered hers again. His erection pressed up against her through his clothes as he straddled her with one leg. Lost in his kisses, her eyes closed and she felt a fire ignite deep in her belly.
“Willow, you don’t know what you’re doing to me.” His hands caressed her shoulders, slipping down her arms. His kisses trailed to her neck, causing her to throw back her head, giving him access. A tingle of excitement flowed through her. And when his hands cupped her breasts right through her clothes, she gasped in surprise. Her breathing became labored. “You skin is so soft, and your mouth tastes sweet,” he mumbled against her neck. “I feel like a bee being drawn in by the essence of a budding, delicate flower.” His words sounded romantic, like something written by a bard. But there was one word that came from his mouth that made her a little worried.
“A – a bee?” she asked, suddenly reminded of his stinger when he rubbed up against her leg again. His lips roamed down her neck and toward her cleavage as his hand slowly slid under the hem of her gown and moved up her leg. He suddenly stopped, and his head lifted higher, his hooded eyes looking straight through her.
“You’re not wearing a shift or hose?” he asked in a low, sultry voice.
“I d-don’t like the feel of them. They make me feel so . . . constricted.”
“Bid the devil that makes me wild.”
Her heart beat wildly against her ribs, the sound of the drumming in her ears louder than the storm outside. The rain pitter-pattered against the thatched roof almost sounding like music, calming her vivid emotions.
This might be the night she lost her virginity, she realized. The thought intrigued and frightened her at the same time. After all, never in a million years did she think the barrier of her innocence would be broken by someone she imagined she hated all this time. But she didn’t hate Conrad anymore. Nay, not really. Now she found herself lusting after him just as he was doing to her.
Right through her gown, he mouthed her nipple, causing it to turn taut. She arched up off the bed, feeling a spiral of heat in her core. She had to have him. She wanted him more than anything she’d ever wanted in her life. Her body called to him and his to her. They were meant to be together, she was sure of it now. Her head fell back as he unlaced her bodice, spreading apart the material and burying his mouth and nose against her bare breasts. His wet lips and tongue suckled and pulled in one of her taut nipples, about sending her squirming off the bed.
“Open for me, Willow.” When he pushed up her gown and used his leg to move hers apart, she could no longer hold back her excitement. A moan escaped her lips as she lay with her legs spread and with him in between them. Seeing her bare breasts and Conrad at the same time made her even more excited.
“Hurry,” she told him, barely able to stand the feelings inside that threatened to consume her. His hand went to his waist to untie his breeches. That’s when it all hit her. They were about to make love, and no one was there to stop them. Why did it feel so good instead of naughty? “I cannot believe I am finally going to know what it’s like to make love to a man. My father, nor the earl can stop me now.”
“What?” he asked.
For having the power of persuasion and a way with words, she realized when Conrad stopped abruptly and sat up that she had said the wrong thing. “What are you doing?” she asked, not wanting him to pull away. She was on the brink of release and had to know how it felt.
He dragged a hand through his hair and clenched his jaw. “Damn it,” he spat, sliding off the bed.
“Conrad, don’t leave me,” she called out, but he was already pulling his tunic over his head. It was over now, and she had to do something to keep him from leaving while she was feeling this way. “Come back to bed because I want to feel you inside me. Conrad, I’m ready to burst. Only you can help me find my release. Only you can sate my burning desire.”
His hands stilled, and his head snapped upward. She hoped her siren’s song would call him back to her.
“Come to me, Conrad. I need you,” she begged him.
“Don’t even,” he ground out, reaching for his weapon belt. “Your words of persuasion aren’t going to work on me.”
“Why are you getting dressed when we should be making love?”
“I’m doing what I should have done all along instead of being pulled in by your cunning ways. Now get up, we’re leaving.”
“I am not leaving before I’m finished.”
“We’re not finishing something we should never have started in the first place.”
“Then if you won’t help me I’ll . . . I’ll do it by myself.”
“You are jesting.” He stopped buckling his weapon belt and looked up in surprise. “You’re a virgin, Willow. I admit it shocked the hell out of me to hear it and I doubt that any other man will believe it either. But no matter how you taunt me, I’ll not return to the bed. I made a promise to your father to keep you away from lust-filled men. And instead, I almost deflowered you in a moment of unbridled passion. I’ll not continue and neither will you. Now, I won’t tell you again. Get off the bed because I’m taking you back to the castle if I have to carry you there in a storm to do it.”
“I thought you had changed, but now I see you are still the same as that boy who used to torture me in my youth. You’re doing the same thing now.”
“I’m doing nothing of the kind.”
“I won’t forget this, Conrad.” She got off the bed and fixed her clothing. Grabbing her crown, she hurried out of the house without looking back.
Conrad waiteduntil Willow left the cottage before he adjusted his breeches, having trouble tying them since he was still aroused. He shook his head as he strapped on his weapon belt. He’d almost believed for a minute that Willow was going to pleasure herself right in front of him. The little tease had made him so hot and bothered that he almost went to her and finished what they’d started. But if he had, it would have been a horrible mistake.
He blew out the flame of the lantern and hurried to the horse, only to find Willow already atop it. Hopefully, the night was dark enough, and she would feel too embarrassed to look below his waist. He took the reins of the horse and headed out of the secret garden.
“Why don’t you mount?” she asked him when he started walking the horse through the woods. Her choice of words had him squirming again. Thoughts of mounting her filled his mind. But it wasn’t going to happen. He couldn’t let it. He’d allowed his emotions and attraction to Willow to get in the way of his job. That was something he could never let happen again.
