Dragonblade Trilogy - 03 - The Savage Curtain (10 page)

He just stood there and grinned
at her. “I seem to have escaped them for now, but have no doubt, they will be
back,” he reached out a hand to her. “Until then, shall we retire and hope for
the best?”

She laughed softly, placing her
small hand in his and allowing him to lead her into the keep.  Inside, it was
dark and cold as they made their way up the spiral stairs to the second floor. 
There were two rooms on this floor; a smaller servant’s chamber and then a
larger master’s chamber.  Joselyn opened the door to the larger chamber and
Stephen was surprised as he stepped inside.

At some point while he had been
away, she’d had the smaller bed removed and replaced by a larger bed with a
rope frame.  A mattress set atop it and he pushed on it, feeling that it was
firm with fresh straw.   Several coverlets draped over the bed, clean from what
he could see, and the room itself had been cleaned and swept free of all dirt
and cobwebs.  A warm fire burned in the hearth and he turned to look at her
curiously.

“Is this the same room you slept
in last night?” he asked a question with an obvious answer, simply because it
had been so nicely transformed.

Joselyn nodded, smiling at his
approval. “I had the smaller bed removed and replaced with a larger one that
had been stored in another room,” she told him. “The same women who helped me
with the cooking also helped me repair and re-stuff this mattress, and the
coverlets were from a chest we found on the fourth floor of the keep.  There is
a room up there stuffed with all manner of items, things that the last occupant
must have left behind. I had some of it brought to this room.

Stephen looked around to the
table she had brought down with two fat tapers burning on top of it.   There
was a small chest under the lancet window and a pile of thick, pale linen atop
the chest.  He went over and fingered the material.

“What is this?” he asked.

She motioned to the canopy frame
around the bed. “Curtains for the bed,” she replied. “They are old and need to
be mended, but I believe they are serviceable.”

He
nodded, letting go of the material and inspecting the corner near the edge of
the bed; there was a little pallet on the floor, surrounded by rushes. He
pointed at it. “What is that?”
She wandered over to see what he was pointing at. “That is for the fawn,” she
said. “He was sleeping there this afternoon.”

“Where is it now?

“In the kitchen with the
servants. It is very warm in the kitchen and he seemed to like it better in
there.”

“So am I to understand that you
now have a pet?”

“If you do not mind.”

He gave her a smirk as if it
didn’t matter whether or not he minded; she was going to keep it anyway and he
would let her.

“I do not,” he replied, facing
his wife with his hands on his hips. “You have done an exceptional job with
both the meal and this room. I am impressed with your accomplishments and your
foresight to duty.”

She smiled happily. “Thank you,
my lord.”

“What
did I tell you about addressing me in private?”
“I meant, thank you, husband.”

He winked at her. “Good,” with a
heavy sigh, he made his way back to the door. “I have duties to attend to
before I retire for the night, but I will be back. You will stay here and not
leave this room. Is that understood?”

She nodded. “I will not leave.”

He moved to the door and she
scooted past him, opening it for him. He smiled down at her, the cornflower
blue eyes glittering with warmth. 

“Good eve, husband,” she said
softly.

His gaze was steady. “I shall
return,” he replied. Then a hand came up, gently grasping her face. “Perhaps
you will still be awake when I do.”

She knew it was a request no
matter how he phrased it. Her belly quivered with excitement, the heat of his
touch sending waves of delight rippling through her body. It suddenly didn’t
matter anymore that this man was an enemy, a stranger she had been forced to
marry. He was proving himself to be an exceptional man regardless of his
loyalties. She was coming to like him just the slightest. She smiled, her lips
quivering because her body was quivering from the thrill of having him so near.

“I will be awake all night,” she
told him, “watching for the hordes of women who follow you around like a wolf
pack. I told you I would fend them off, did I not?”

He laughed softly and his other
hand came up, cupping her lovely face between his two enormous palms.  His
smile faded as he gazed intently into her pale blue eyes.

“You did indeed,” he murmured,
somehow moving closer to her as he spoke. “I will hold you to that.”

Not only was he moving closer to
her, but she was moving closer to him as well. Joselyn didn’t realize that she
was fairly collapsing against the man, his enormous height and bulk filling
every corner of her mind.  She could see his full lips looming over her and
feel the heat from his hands as if he meant to scorch every inch of her. She
couldn’t even think of a witty answer as he loomed closer still, his hot breath
on her face. 

Before she realized it, his lips
were on her soft mouth, gently kissing her with the very first real kiss she
had ever experienced.  She had never been kissed on the mouth, not even by her
father or mother, and she froze for a moment, evaluating the feel of his
powerful lips upon hers.  But her lack of reaction lasted only a fraction of a
second; without thinking, her natural instincts took hold and she returned his
kiss, tasting his lips and suckling him gently as he carefully probed her soft
mouth. It was apparently all of the encouragement that Stephen needed, because
before Joselyn realized it, he had wrapped his enormous arms around her slender
body and had backed her up against the wall.

She heard the door slam, unaware
that Stephen had kicked it shut the moment his arms went around her.  Her arms
found their way around his neck and he lifted her up off the ground, bracing
her against the wall as his tongue licked at her lips, demanding entry.  Her
mouth opened slightly and it was all the inducement he needed to invade her
mouth, tasting her sweetness and gorging himself.  Through it all, Joselyn held
him tightly around the neck and mimicked his actions, passionate instincts she
had never known taking hold.  The more demanding he was with her, the more
demanding she was in return.

While one massive arm held her
against the wall, one hand moved freely down her back and across her torso,
acquainting himself with the feel of her. She was petite yet curvy, healthy in
the right places, and it aroused him enormously.  He remembered her naked body
from the night before when she had stripped in front of him and he was not at
all pressured to admit that his lust had the better of him.  He had told Edward
and Tate that he would wait until the time was right to consummate his
marriage; he knew that the time was now.  In any case, he was going to take the
opportunity.

But he was in battle armor,
restricting him and no doubt biting into her although she’d not uttered a sound
about it.  Gently lowering her to the ground, he continued to kiss her as he
used one hand to unlatch his armor.  Joselyn, distracted from his probing mouth
by the fact that he was no longer holding her close, pulled her swollen lips
away from him to note what he was doing.

“Would you like me to help you
with that?” she asked breathlessly.

Stephen could only nod. Quickly,
silently, he unfastened the protection on his forearms, his breastplate, handing
them over to Joselyn, who put them silently and efficiently into a neat pile
against the wall.  When it came to his mail, he held out his arms and she
pulled it free. In little time, he was down to his tunic, heavy breeches and
boots.  He sat down on the bed and pulled his boots off, removed his tunic, and
then looked up at his wife.

She was standing next to him,
staring at his bare chest with the expression of someone who had never before
seen such a thing. There was awe and fascination in her features. Stephen was
powerfully built, with thick shoulders, neck and arms, a broad chest and
slender waist.  His chest was covered with a fine matting of dark hair and he
sat patiently while she visually inspected him. He didn’t want to rush her, not
now when the experience was thus far such a gentle and passionate thing.  As he
sat and watched her, she moved toward him and reached out a hand, touching the
hair on his chest.

Stephen closed his eyes at her
delicate touch; never in his life had he known anything so tender or erotic.
Joselyn put two hands on him, running her fingers across his skin, experiencing
the texture of his body for the very first time.   Then her hands moved to his
shoulders, inspecting the sheer size of them, before moving to his arms.  They
were toned and smooth.  Her hands moved back to his chest and he reached out,
pulling her against him.

Neither one of them said a word;
they simply gazed at one another.  Joselyn’s hands came up from his chest, her
fingers moving across his chin before lingering on his smooth lips.  She was
openly curious about him and he welcomed it. It was far better than the naked
fear she had shown the night before. But Stephen couldn’t stand it any longer
and he leaned forward, capturing her lips with his own.

In a flash, he flipped her from
his lap and onto her back, smothering her with his enormous body.  His lips
gently ravaged her as his hands went to work removing her from the cranberry
colored surcoat.  Joselyn was so focused on his lips that she was not paying
much attention to what his hands were doing until he pulled off the surcoat. 
The shift followed shortly.  When she was stripped down to her under garments
and hose, she began to grow apprehensive.

Stephen could feel her tense
beneath him and he kissed her tenderly, pulling the hose off each leg gently
while murmuring against her mouth.

“No worries, sweetheart,” he
whispered. “This is nothing to fear.”

Joselyn’s heart was pounding with
both passion and fear. She gazed at the man’s face even as he kissed her cheeks,
her nose, and his touch as gentle as a butterfly’s.

“I am not afraid,” she breathed.

It was a lie and he knew it; he
could feel her body tightening. So he stopped kissing her and looked her in the
eye, his cornflower blue eyes soft with desire. 

“You are very brave,” he
murmured. “But perhaps you did not consider that I might be afraid, too?”

Her brow furrowed as a smile
played on her lips. “I do not believe that.”

“You don’t?” he lifted her hands,
kissing the palms with great reverence. “I have never had a wife before. What
if I do something wrong? You will be sorry that you married me.”

Her grin broke through. “You are
not doing anything wrong yet.”

He nodded as if to concede the
point, kissing her wrists and forearms. “I am not?” he kissed her left elbow
and put her arms down, moving to her torso.  He kissed her ribcage, just under
her left breast. “What about that? Is that still good?”

She lifted her head slightly to
watch him as her heart began to pound harder. “Aye.”

He smiled seductively, lowering
his head to kiss her across her ribcage, ending up just below her right breast.

“Is that still all right?”

“Aye,” she could barely speak.

He lifted himself up slightly,
kissing the skin immediately below her right breast. He was so close, in fact,
that his nose brushed against her breast, causing the nipple to harden into a
taut little pellet. His kisses moved nearly to her armpit before coming up
again. This time, he was kissing the underswell of her breast, working his way
up.  When his lips closed over a peaked nipple, he suckled strongly.

Joselyn bit off a moan as his hot
mouth worked her distended nipple. A big hand came up, gently fondling the
breast as he continued to suck. Her arms, having lain inactive at her side,
suddenly came up and her fingers intertwined in his black hair, pulling at the
inky strands.  He began to work both breasts, suckling her nipples with
increasing strength until he was positively merciless with his attentions. 
Beneath him, Joselyn writhed and groaned with awakening desire.  Then suddenly,
he pulled himself up from her breasts and enclosed each one in a massive hand. 
His mouth found hers once more and he ravaged her with his lips as his hands
massaged her warm breasts, damp with his saliva.

“Was that still good?” he breathed
against her mouth.

She nodded incoherently and
Stephen’s hands left her breasts, removing her under garments swiftly.   His
mouth blazed a heated trail down her neck, back to both breasts momentarily,
before working its way down to the dark fluff of curls between her legs.  His
enormous hands moved to grasp her tender white buttocks, holding her pelvis to
his mouth as he devoured the flesh of her lower belly.  But when a hand touched
the tender junction between her legs, she stiffened like a corpse.

His head snapped up, gazing into
her fear-filled face.  He stroked her cheek, her hair, gently.

“If I have not done anything
wrong so far, will you still trust me?” he whispered.