Page 7 of Saxon Blade Norman Blood
To add to the exhilaration of the moment, he was certain she had never experienced anything like this before in her life. She had seemed almost afraid by the intensity of her release, worried that something wrong had happened to her. He needed to reassure her on that score, for he was not finished with her yet, far from it.
She would not get to sleep until he’d slaked the desire she had fanned in him, and that would take a while.
“Hugues de Malemort is drunk and has assaulted some of the servants,” the man called when he stayed silent. “No one can stop him. Please, my lord, you must come.”
“Christ! Damn the fool.”
William could not believe it. The girl was warm and ready for the taking, and he was being called away to see to an idiot who did not know how to behave. She had not covered herself, as if she had no idea what the sight of her exposed body would do to a man, but he knew that walking away from this girl, with her polished ivory breasts, her flushed cheeks, and her innocence would be the death of him.
His body pulsed with need, his manhood was hard and desperate for release. He had fought the need to plunge deep into her delicious flesh earlier, telling himself that the reward would be all the sweeter for the waiting.
And now this.
Would the wretched man always make problems for him? William gave a reluctant smile. Had Hugues not grabbed the Saxon girl earlier she would not be in his bed right now, would she? It seemed he should be grateful for the fool’s behavior after all.
The girl looked up at him with her amazing blue eyes.
“Yes. That is the man who wanted to take you to bed,” he said, answering the question on her lips.
She shuddered as if remembering the way his fingers had dug into her flesh. He shuddered as well. Perhaps it was not such a bad thing he had to see to Malemort after all. He would enjoy teaching him a lesson for the way he had touched her.
“It seems he cannot behave himself, be it with men or women. Let me go and deal with him once and for all.”
Then he would be free to enjoy the treasures the girl had to offer.
With a supple jerk William got off the bed.
“Stay here,” he instructed, his frustrated desire making him sound sharper than he intended. When she nodded nervously, he saw he had frightened her by his intensity. He forced himself to calm. “It might take a while to calm him down, but I will be back as soon as I can.”
He swept his gaze over her, bunching his fists for fear that if he touched her, he would not be able to leave. He would go for now, but he would be back.
And then nothing would stop him from claiming his prize.
3
His business with Hugues de Malemort complete, William rushed back to his bed to find the girl under the covers, fast asleep. For a brief moment he put his need for relief on hold and allowed himself the pleasure of contemplating her. She was pure feminine perfection, all the way from the sensual mouth that had opened in ecstasy earlier, and the white throat that was still flushed from his caresses, to the delicate neck she had arched at the height of her pleasure. When she sighed in her sleep, his desire became too impervious to be contained any longer.
He ripped his tunic and shirt off like a man possessed and joined her on the bed. He could not wait to take her and watch as she fell apart in his arms. The memory of her body pulsing under his caresses sent a spark of desire through his groin and he groaned out loud at the idea of closing his mouth on her nipple again.
He would have her. Now.
William reached out to one of her wrists and took it gently. It was delicate, and so feminine that he couldn’t wait to feel her small hands all over his skin. He made to grab her other wrist so he could draw her on top of him—and froze.
A blade.
Desire vanished, replaced by confusion.
The girl had brought a dagger to his bed. Why? At first he thought she had brought a knife from the kitchens to protect herself in case Hugues or anyone else came searching for sport. It was not an unreasonable supposition, given what hadhappened in the banquet hall. But this was not a simple carving knife. It was a dagger of exquisite craftsmanship, the property of a rich man.
All thoughts of love making forgotten, William pondered this unwelcome development. This servant girl had brought a weapon which could not belong to her to his bed, yet she had not threatened him with it earlier, she had not intended it as a way of protecting her virtue.
On the contrary, she had allowed him access to her body and would have let him take her had they not been interrupted. He remembered the way she had arched her back in silent supplication after he had pleasured her. She had wanted him inside her.
Where he would have been at his most vulnerable.
William realized that by calling him when he had, his man had saved his life, for no doubt the girl would have plunged the dagger into his back once he was on top of her. That was why she’d lain on his bed, why she had obeyed his every instruction without question…
She had only been waiting for him to come closer, enticing him. He should have wondered at her eagerness, but his senses had been too fired up for him to think straight. For once, he’d been too busy watching her reveal herself to think about danger.
