Claire Delacroix (90 page)

Alys kissed his fingers, removed her circlet and veil, and entrusted them both to Burke. He carefully laid them aside, and she unknotted the tie securing her braid. Burke watched her so avidly that Alys found herself smiling as her hair was worked free. She ran her fingers through its wavy mass, shook her head, and let it cascade over her shoulders.

The wonder on Burke’s features was all she could have hoped for. He lifted a handful of her hair and let it spill over his fingers, watching with a smile as the sunlight glinted in its waves.

“ ’Tis so very soft,” he mused, flicking a glance to Alys’s eyes. He stepped closer, then speared his fingers through it and cupped her nape in the strength of his hands.

Alys caught her breath, the intimacy of his touch making her heart race. “Gilded sunlight,” Burke teased, and she laughed before to kissed her.

Then there was naught to laugh about. Alys could taste the difference in Burke’s manner, for his kiss was languorous and thorough, seductive and purposeful. This time he would not halt at kisses, this time he would hold naught back. Alys felt a flicker of anticipation, for she trusted Burke to ensure her pleasure in this mystery of the intimacy between men and women.

Indeed, she could hardly wait to know more.

Burke’s tongue eased between her teeth, the surety of his touch making Alys’s knees melt. She leaned against him, surrendering all as his hands drifted down her back and lifted her against him. Alys revelled in the strength of him. She clutched the corded strength of his neck and felt the imprint of his hauberk through both his tunic and her own kirtle.

“It seems to me that we are too heavily garbed,” Burke murmured. “Will you aid me with my hauberk this time?”

Alys chuckled and shook a playful finger at him. “Aye, if you do not vex me overmuch.”

Burke’s eyes flashed, then he kissed her with a lazy deliberation that left her breathless. “Are you vexed, my lady fair?” he whispered into her ear, his breath making her shiver.

“Aye,” Alys declared, enjoying the flash of surprise in his eyes. “For we are too heavily garbed.”

Burke chuckled, then kissed her quickly before he stepped away. He unbuckled his belt and laid his sword and dagger aside. He hauled his tabard over his head and cast it aside, then granted her a significant glance.

Alys stepped to his side, and between the two of them, the hauberk was quickly dispatched. Burke flexed his shoulders when its weight was removed, the way his hair was tousled and, indeed, the very breadth of him, making Alys tingle. He was so very masculine, so very different from her.

’Twas as if he understood that she might be shy about her own nudity, for Burke seemed bent on baring his own flesh
first. He kicked off his boots and pulled his chemise over his head, casting it into the pile with a flourish.

“You are not very careful with your garb,” Alys commented when he stood before her in his chausses alone.

“I make haste on this day,” he confessed with a warm glint in his eyes. “But do not fear, I shall show exemplary tidiness when we share quarters.”

With that he lifted her hands and placed them on the tangle of dark hair in the middle of his chest. Alys inhaled sharply to find that warm flesh so suddenly beneath her fingers, but Burke smiled down at her. “Alys, I am all yours.”

The implication made Alys catch her breath. Burke granted her the chance to satisfy her curiosity.

Emboldened by the admiration in his eyes, Alys did precisely that. She slid her hands across Burke’s chest, exploring the differences between them with her touch. She grazed the flatness of his nipples with her fingertips, surprised by the way he stiffened. Alys repeated the move, then gently slid her nails across them, enjoying how Burke caught his breath. She glanced up to find his gaze shimmering with heat.

The sign of her effect upon him was intoxicating. Alys ran her hands over him with increasing boldness. She felt every ripple of muscle, ran her fingertips over the contour of each rib. She found the precise spot where Burke was ticklish and returned to it mercilessly. He chuckled and watched her, perfectly content to let her take her leisure in exploring him.

And Alys did. “You are uncommonly patient.”

Burke grinned. “ ’Tis not without its own reward,” he replied silkily. “Indeed, I am glad you persuaded me to this course.”

Alys kissed him lightly, then examined his arms, his shoulders, his neck, his back; she circled behind him and ran her hands over his flesh. She slid her hands up the middle of his back, speared her fingertips though his hair, and felt him
shiver. Alys pressed herself against Burke’s back, his buttocks fitting against her belly, and leaned her cheek against his shoulder blade. She wrapped her arms around him and let her hands rove over his chest, retracing their course over his ribs to his lean waist.

Alys’s hands hesitated at the top of Burke’s chausses, knowing what was there and uncertain she was brave enough to touch. Burke waited for a long moment, then gently guided her hands to the drawstring.

Then he waited anew.

Alys closed her eyes, breathed deeply of his scent, and let one hand wander over his chausses below the drawstring. ’Twas easier in a way to examine him blindly, with her fingertips, and without Burke being able to see her maidenly blushes.

Although Alys had no doubt that he could feel the heat of her burning cheeks. Her hand eased down from his waist and encountered the hard shaft within his chausses.

Burke stopped breathing.

Alys let her other hand follow suit, her fingers closing around this part of him and squeezing experimentally.

“Ye gods!” Burke muttered, as if his teeth were clenched.

Alys peeked around his shoulder, relinquishing the grip of one hand to have a better look at his strained expression. “Is that painful?” she asked, her fingers repeating the deed more gently.

Burke gasped, he blanched, but there was no mistaking the heat in his eyes. “ ’Tis exquisite torture,’ he said with a rueful grin.

Alys knew her lack of understanding showed, for Burke shoved a hand through his hair, looking truly troubled in a most attractive way. “I shall show you the meaning of that soon enough,” he said with a growl. “But look first at what you have wrought.”

Alys unknotted the drawstring, then gave it a tug. Burke’s
chausses, though, did not fall of their own accord, for they were caught upon the part of him she held.

And ’twas clear the man would do naught to aid her in this. He folded his arms across his chest and waited anew. “You leave me all the labor,” Alys teased.

Burke grinned. “You demanded no less of me. And trust me, my Alys, you shall have your due.”

Alys eased the dark wool free, running her hands beneath it to work it over his buttocks and thighs. She gasped when she saw what she had freed. “ ’Tis so big!”

Burke’s eyes twinkled with vigor. “That would be your fault.”

Alys touched him with tentative fingertips and that part of him seemed to swell to her touch. “Is it always thus?”

Burke inhaled anew at her touch, then his smile turned rueful. “Only in your presence, or when I think of you.”

“Is it painful?”

“Only when left in this state for prolonged periods.”

And the man had desired her for three years. Alys bit her lip. She glanced at Burke and was unable to dispel the impression that he was mightily amused. She propped a hand on her hip to regard him, her blush rising again. “No doubt you find this amusing—”

“On the contrary,” Burke interrupted smoothly, “I find your innocence totally enchanting.”

He smiled with a warmth that made Alys flush yet more. She caressed him again, fascinated by his response to her touch, then looked to him anew. “How do you ease its state?”

“Ha!” Burke’s grin flashed. “I thought you would never ask!”

Alys laughed and danced away from him when he might have caught her in his embrace. She shook a finger at him. “I shall guess that it has to do with the shedding of my garb!”

“Not necessarily,” Burke declared in a low voice, then
kicked his chausses aside to lend chase in the full glory of his nudity. “But ’twould only be chivalrous for me to offer my aid, if you so desire.”

Alys tossed her hair and held her ground. “I shall save a drawstring for you,” she declared with a smile. Burke halted to watch as she shed her cloak.

Alys untied the girdle knotted around her waist and kicked off her shoes. She untied the garters of her stockings and peeled them off, then unfastened the neck of her kirtle. Her trembling fingers untied the lacings along its sides. Alys watched Burke as she shed the wool garment, hoping against hope that he found her as pleasing as she found him.

But the glow in his eyes when she stood only in her chemise was undiminished. “I certainly hope that you will fold your garments with greater care when we share quarters,” he commented with a quirk of his brow.

Alys laughed, appreciating his attempt to set her at ease in this moment. She flicked the ends of the drawstring tie at him, and her mouth went dry. “ ’Tis your task,” she managed to say.

Burke frowned. “And my chemise, unless I miss my guess.”

Alys chuckled in acknowledgement.

He closed the distance between them with a single step, lifted his hand to the tie, and gave it a gentle tug. Her laughter fell silent as the bow untied, the gathering eased, and the chemise gaped. The warmth of Burke’s hands closed over Alys’s shoulders, his gaze fixed unswervingly upon hers, and he eased the linen away with one smooth gesture.

Alys felt the cool air against her skin. She shook the chemise free of her wrists, then Burke folded her against his warmth. The feel of his skin bare against her own made Alys gasp, then his lips closed over hers. Burke lifted her softness against his strength, his hardness pressed against her belly, and Alys could not get enough of his kiss.

Suddenly Burke lifted his lips from hers and swept her into his arms, his eyes glinting with mischief. Alys made a little sound of protest, for she was far from finished with kissing him.

“I did vow to teach you of exquisite torture,” he reminded her with a wicked grin.

Alys could not wait to learn more. Burke lay her on the fur of his cloak and stretched out beside her, his hand cupping her breast. His thumb eased across the nipple, and Alys gasped at the tide of pleasure he awakened.

Then Burke bent to take that sensitive peak in his mouth. He suckled with increasing ardor, and Alys could not believe his wondrous caress. The tingle he had long ago awakened became a roar of demand, though Alys did not know how to sate it.

But Burke, she was certain, did.

His tongue worked against her with a diligence that she had come to trust in this knight. Alys clutched at his hair, the soft tickle of the fur beneath driving her to distraction, yet Burke continued undeterred.

He slipped his supporting arm beneath her, his fingers closing on the back of her waist. Alys was trapped against him and could imagine nowhere else she would rather be. He slipped one muscled thigh between her own, his free hand abandoning her breast and easing lower.

When his finger slipped into the nest of curls at the apex of her thighs, Alys thought she might burst with pleasure. She cried out at Burke’s sure touch, then gasped as he caressed her with persuasive ease. Burke ran a teasing row of kisses up her neck, until he nibbled at her earlobe.

“Trust me, Alys,” he whispered, the fan of his breath taking her desire to new heights. “The reward is well worth the journey.”

Alys did not think the journey was without merit either, but she could not find the words to tell her knight as much. She gripped his broad shoulders, eagerly returning his long slow
kiss. Alys felt a wetness spread between her thighs as he caressed her and a tension build beneath her skin. She writhed against Burke, loving the brush of his chest hair against her taut nipples.

’Twas unlike anything she had ever felt before and Alys wanted only more. Burke’s fingers worked with an undeniable deliberation as Alys kissed him with all the ardor she was feeling. She felt faint and shivered when his fingers slid inside her, his thumb still easing across the sensitive pearl that drove her to distraction.

“ ’Tis there I will go,” he murmured. Alys’s fingers wandered between them to touch his hardness in understanding, and Burke nodded against her throat. “Aye, Alys, within you is the only relief for this state.”

“Then come within me,” she whispered.

“Not yet.” Alys looked into his silvery eyes once more and he smiled crookedly. “First I will see you touch the stars.”

Alys was on her back, Burke leaning over her. His fingers teased with renewed vigor. Knowing that she alone stood in the way of his relief, Alys surrendered to the sensation building within her.

The dragon in her belly roared, Burke caught her close, Alys twisted but knew she would find no escape from this knight’s loving touch. She loved Burke and he loved her. They would make their way together, secure in the circle of that love.

For Burke, Alys knew well enough, would surrender to no challenge that stood in the way of what he believed.

He slipped two strong fingers within her in that very moment and Alys clutched his shoulders at the resulting surge of pleasure, her love for him touching the flame to the tinder.

And she cried out in delight as the fire ripped through her veins, gasping when Burke’s lips closed demandingly over her own. She saw naught but a blinding flash of light, she felt naught but Burke, she tasted those stars.

Exquisite torture, indeed. ’Twas exactly as Burke had promised her.

But then Alys had learned to expect no less.