“No, father, I am not harmed.” She tried to smile. “I don’t think Lord Grendell would allow anyone to harm me.”
“
Lord
Grendell?” her father frowned.
“He is no lord.”
“Father . . . Grendell is the rightful owner of our lands.”
Her father appeared shocked to silence.
Grendell bowed his head, but it was clearly less subservient than previously.
Her bodyguard had come out of the shadows and here stood the real man.
Looking at him, Melina realised that she’d always known he was more than he seemed; she’d always sensed the strong and powerful man behind the mask.
“I have asked the king for permission to wed Lady Melina, and he has given it.” He held up a hand as her father began to bluster his protests. “Our marriage will mean she retains the right to live in her home. Our home. And you will not be cast into a dungeon as a traitor.”
Melina
saw
her
father’s
face
gradually lose its high colour as he considered what the other man was saying. After a moment he said quietly, “You are marrying her for the land, Grendell? I made the mistake of thinking I could force her into wedlock with Lord Saunders for the same reason. I do not wish to do so again.”
Grendell hesitated, and then several soldiers came running up and he stepped aside to speak to them. Her father stood alone, his worried face creased in thought. Beside her Alric kept guard.
“You and Grendell are known to each other?” she said nervously.
He quirked an eyebrow. “We grew up together, lady.” Suddenly he pushed the sleeve of his tunic up his arm, and she saw the same Celtic tattoo as was on Grendell’s. “We are brothers in all but blood.”
“You want a peaceful England, too?”
she said with faint scorn, looking about at the fighting.
“Sometimes to gain peace we must fight.”
At last Grendell returned, just as the king approached.
“Grendell? I need to move on, there are other keeps wavering between myself and Matilda and I must secure them. Marry Lady Melina at once and consolidate our victory here. You will be lord of this place once more.”
Melina opened her mouth to protest but to her astonishment her father spoke first, his voice firm.
“It is my daughter’s decision whether or not she will wed Lord Grendell, Sir.
But whatever she decides I swear that we will be your loyal subjects. I ask your pardon for my foolish rebellion.”
Ste p he n quirked an eyebrow and sighed. He turned to Melina. “Lady? Are you willing to marry Lord Grendell if I pardon your father?”
Melina felt herself trembling but stood tall and proud. “I am willing, Your Highness.”
“Then so it shall be.”
***
She gave a little shiver. She had wanted this, wanted Grendell in her bed, but it seemed as if the whole matter had suddenly
become a
mere practical
solution. He wanted to protect her, a noble aim but was that love? And because she wanted her father pardoned, then she had agreed. Was that love?
Something she had longed for with all her heart had become a few cold words upon a document.
The door closed quietly behind her.
Melina heard his soft steps coming up behind her and then his arms slid about her, drawing her back against his chest.
His warm breath tickled her ear and his tongue slid along the curve.
“Grendell . . .”
“Hush, Melina. I know what you’re thinking but this is a love match. I wanted to wed you whatever the king said, whatever your father said. I’ve loved you since the first moment I saw you.”
A tear ran down her cheek. “I’ve loved you too,” she managed through her aching throat.
And then he turned her in his arms and they were kissing, mouths hot and needy.
The furs on the bed were soft against her back. He stripped himself of his own robe and he knelt over her, untying her belt, his dark eyes gleaming at the sight of her naked beauty. His fingers ran over the swell of her breasts to the dip of her belly and then on to her hip. The expression on his face made her want to weep.
“I knew you could never marry a mere bodyguard,” he said, “but for some reason—pride and arrogance, no doubt —I wanted you to say you would.”
Melina reached up to stroke his cheek and he turned his face to kiss her fingers.
“I wanted to be with you, Grendell. I would have done anything to keep you with me.”
“Except marry me.”
There was hurt in his dark eyes and she was sorry for it, but she was also not going to lie to him. Reaching up to encircle his neck with her arms she drew him down, and pressed her lips to his ear.
“I kissed you in the castle garden, Grendell. I lay with you in my bed. If we had been found out I would have been locked away and you would have been thrashed, perhaps much worse. I think you are splitting hairs, bodyguard.”
For a moment he was still, and then a rumble of laughter rose up from his chest. “Aye, I suppose I am.”
“And we’re married now.”
“We are .” He lifted his head and took her mouth with a hot, deep kiss.
Melina’s blood was humming and she gasped as his hand closed over her breast, gently squeezing the firm flesh.
His thighs were between hers, and she felt his cock nudging at her pussy.
Passion overcame fear at the size of him, as she watched him rise up on his haunches between her thighs, his face taunt as he stroked her aching body. His fingers slid inside her, widening her for his taking.
“This is a husband’s right,” he reminded her softly, arrogantly. “Your maidenhead is mine, Melina.”
“Yours,” s h e gasped. He’d taken his cock in his hand and was pressing it into her entrance, a little at a time, using her slickness to lubricate himself. The sensation of fullness was not unpleasant but there was so much of him and she wondered if she could manage to take him all.
Then he stroked the hard nub of her clit and pleasure arced through her.
Melina cried out, and at the same time he thrust himself inside her fully, anchoring himself inside her body. His chest was rising and falling heavily as he held himself back, and she knew he wanted to plunder her but it was his love for her that kept him waiting for her sign that she was ready to continue.
Tentatively she moved her hips, squeezing her muscles around him, and he groaned. “I do not want to hurt you,”
he said brokenly.
“You will not,” she said, and ran her tongue over his chest, tasting the spicy scent of him. She moved her hips again, allowing him to slide out of her and then back again. The sensation was so pleasurable that she did it again, and soon they were moving together with murmurs and groans, their pleasure driving them toward their climax.
Melina revelled in the moment, her dream come true, Grendell naked in her bed.
Grendell lifted his head and with a roar spilled his seed inside her, while Melina cried out, clinging to him, as the ecstasy overwhelmed her. He kissed her face, her cheeks, murmuring his love for her. Melina smiled her delight, twining her fingers in his hair to bring his mouth back to hers.
“ M y dearest lord,” she said softly against his lips.
“My beloved lady,” he smiled.
Melina knew that the war would go on and Grendell would fight for his peaceful England, but for now he had his lands back and they were together and in love and that was all that mattered.
***
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