Page 69 of The Sword and the Damsel

“How?”

Victor looked horrified by the idea, but at least he didn’t dismiss it out of hand.

“A day of shopping, perhaps, with minimal guard.”

His frown deepened.

“You can have as many men as you want tucked away out of sight, but I have to look vulnerable.” She gave him a stern look.

Taking a deep sip of wine, he said, “I’lltake you shopping. Robert wants me dead as badly as he wants you in his bed. The lure of both of us should prove difficult to resist. We can stop for refreshment at the inn where he’s purported to be. That should draw him out if nothing else does. But I want your promise you’ll run to safety the moment there’s any danger.”

She nodded. While she longed to take down Robert herself, she lacked the fighting skills to do so. “I trust you to defend my honor. And I know you’ll put an end to him.”

“You won’t object if I kill him?”

“No.”

Victor closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “Thank you. Because he deserves to die for what he did to you.”

She studied her husband, a hunk of bread spread with soft goat cheese suspended halfway to her mouth. “You’re so handsome when you’re feeling vengeful.”

He gave her a mischievous half-smile as he took a sip of wine. “I am, am I?”

His impish gaze set her on fire. How could she not have seen how ridiculously attractive he was from the first? Good God, he was delicious. She ran her foot along the side of his shin.

“Oh, that appeals to you, does it?” he asked, catching her ankle, and running his hands up her calf. “Maybe I should pursue vengeance more often.”

She bit her lip to stifle a sudden, inexplicable urge to take a bite out of him.

“Come here,” he said, giving her leg a gentle tug.

She put down her bread and cheese and complied. He ran his hand beneath her skirts, his fingers finding her burning center.

“Dear God, you are so gloriously insatiable,” he said as he rendered her incoherent, “which is excellent news because so am I.” Her knees gave way beneath her, and he maneuvered her into his lap where he continued his unrelenting torture. He pushed up her skirts and loosened his breeches, and just as she was on the brink, he entered her. Rocking together, they trembled with the force of their release.

They leaned against each other, panting, when they were done. “You realize we’re going to starve to death if we can’t even make it through a meal without coupling,” he complained helplessly.

“I need you more than food. At least, today I do,” she sighed against him.

“When we get back from Canterbury, I’m asking Daniel for an extended leave from my duties with nothing to do but tend to you and your pleasure. I’m going to make love to you until we’re too sore and exhausted to go on, like that man in the cat song, though I suspect one hundred and eighty times won’t be nearly enough for me with you.”

“We should eat quickly before we lose control again.”

Alais returned to her seat on the opposite side of the table, avoiding eye contact until she’d eaten her fill. She needed food, but she was ravenous for him. If she let herself so much as look at him, she knew she’d choose his touch over her sustenance.

As soon as they were done, they went back to bed, curling up together, breathing each other in, touching, and caressing. The rest of the day was passed in murmurs and cuddles between fits of torrid passion.

As the sun began to set, there was a knock at the door. “Alais, it’s Carenza. It’s time to go back to Winchelsea.”

“We’ll meet you downstairs,” Alais called out, trying to make her voice sound normal despite what Victor’s tongue was currently doing to her. She pulled a pillow over her face and bit down to stifle the cry that wracked her as she came yet again under Victor’s tender ministrations. “I must look frightful,” she said, tugging her fingers through the tangle her hair had become.

“You look spectacular.”

“They’ll all know what we were doing.”

Victor shrugged. “We’re newlyweds.” He smiled, pulling on his clothes, and splashing water on his face. “It’s probably for the best that we’re being forced to take a break. We need to recover.” He helped her with the ties on her dress.

“So that we can start all over again after we get to Winchelsea?” She gave him an innocent grin. He backed her against a wall and kissed her furiously.

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