Page 70 of The Raven and the Rose
“No!” she cried, denying him.
He rubbed his big organ between her legs. “This is what you want, isn’t it?”
Passion devoured her. His hard, swollen, shaft throbbed against her, and she sobbed her desire for him.
“No,” he denied her when she reached out with teasing fingers to tempt him. “If you do not love me, yet give me your body, you are no better than a common whore. You lock your heart away from me while greedily satisfying the lusts of your body! Do you want me to use you like a whore?” He grabbed her breast roughly and jammed his knee between her thighs.
“No, no, Ravenspur,” she sobbed.
“My name is Roger,” he said softly.
“Ravenspur!” she repeated stubbornly.
“Damn you, you heartless bitch! I only want you to love me a little.” His voice cracked with emotion, and suddenly she broke down. Tears flooded her eyes and streamed down her face. “Oh, Roger, I do love you! I love you more than I ever knew it was possible to love a man. I love you beyond my wildest dreams!”
A surge of joy such as he had never felt before swelled his heart. He parted her thighs and plunged into the sweet, hot sheath that drew him deeper and deeper inside her with every thrust. In a time that is never, ever long enough for lovers, they reached their peak, and she felt the contractions of an orgasm so great, she thought she would faint. Over and over again her body shuddered with the force of her climax; it was heightened and prolonged by Roger’s climax as he joined in her ecstasy.
He cradled her against his heart. “Oh, my sweet, sweet Roseanna, how I love you.” As she lay against him, utterly safe, utterly protected, all was right with her world. In that moment it felt so right that she thought that this was what she had been born for, to love this man and bear his children. He hugged her close and whispered, “I nearly went mad when I found you had released Fitzhugh and when I found both your horses missing. I assumed you’d gone off with him.”
“Forgive me, Roger. I should never have released him, for your suspicions were correct. He was somehow involved in the plot to imprison the King. But I truly believed you would take his life, not for any treasonous plot but because you thought I loved him.”
He nuzzled the soft spot on her neck beneath her ear. “I was jealous of the young lout, but I was convinced you were in love with his chivalrous idealism. The dashing young knight, pure in purpose, ardent in romance, steadfast in allegiance.”
“I must have seemed very young and foolish to you.”
He chuckled. “I was so madly in love for the first time in my life, I must have seemed old and foolish to you.”
“Let’s go home soon,” she breathed.
“Tomorrow, if I can manage our escape. Try to sleep, my love.”
“I cannot sleep with the chamber so brightly lit.” As she slipped from the bed to blow out all the candles, he watched her in awe. No other woman in the world could possibly present the beautiful picture Roseanna’s nude body made, cloaked in her dark hair that fell to the carpet.
The pleasure of awakening in each other’s arms was short lived.
“Shall I kiss you awake?” Roger asked, smiling deeply into her eyes.
She confessed, “When you found me in the sanctuary, I feared you might beat me.”
He teased, “Would I beat a nun?”
“A very pregnant nun,” she added.
His face changed instantly. “No! Tell me you are joking, Roseanna.”
She couldn’t believe the change in him. It was obvious that he was displeased by the news; she was deeply wounded. Tears sprang to her eyes, and she jumped from the bed and wrapped her nakedness in the fur cover.
“Damn you, Ravenspur! I let down all my defenses, and when I am totally vulnerable, you deliberately hurt me.”
“Roseanna—” he began.
“Don’t speak to me! Don’t dare speak to me!” she choked.
He knew he had made a dreadful blunder and wondered what he could say to make amends. Although he searched frantically for words, nothing occurred to him that would wipe away the suggestion that he did not want a child.
Her mind whirled around, looking for a reason that would explain his displeasure. Then she hit on it. By God’s bones, perhaps he thought it was Sir Bryan’s child that she carried! “How can you think me faithless?” she demanded.
He stiffened. “I did not until you suggested it, madame!”
