The Heartwood Box: A Fairy Tale (24 page)

“It’s lovely,” she murmured.

“It’s yours, darling
—
your domain.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means that you may redesign it in any way that you please
.
I will introduce you to the castle groundskeeper in a few days if you like
.
And when you desire peace from the overbearing males you share a house with, you need only say the word, and you will be left undisturbed
.
The walls have no gates and are warded so it is as safe as the house.”

“This room is your dom
ain,” she said after a minute.

“Yes darling
.
You share it
with me, but this is my domain.
”
The idea
evidently
sparked his arousal, and he pulled her in and began fondling her.

Genevieve pulled away, not wishing to be distracted by his kisses
.
“And if I wished to make some change?”

“Just ask
.
Anything you need
—
I want you to be comfortable here, love,” he answered, giving her an amused
smile that just irritated her.

He wasn’t obtuse
—
he must know what she was trying to ask
.
Behind his relaxed expression he was watching her closely
.
He did that often, she realized
.
She wasn’t sure how she felt about that
—
he seemed almost too clever at guessing what she was thinking
.
It gave him even more advantage.

“You used the word domain, Damian,” she
said, pressing
the point
.
“Is there a room in the house that is mine
—
my domain—or is it only the garden?”

“Yes, of course,” he laughed
.
“There are several rooms set aside for your use
.
If you wish to make any changes to them, I will arrange for it
.
The cost is not a problem.”

She shook her head
.
Clearly money was a very different matter for the Black family, but she didn’t want to address that question now
.
“But not this room.” 

Damian’s eyes got that dangerous glint
.
“I told you already: I decide everyt
hing in this room, Genevieve.”

There was the crux
.
There was a world of meaning contained in Damian’s word,
everything
.
She sensed that she was only beginning to grasp its implicatio
ns.

“May I see this room of mine, then?” she asked, knowing she sounded petulant,
but truly he was exasperating!

“Not today,” he said
.
“I think it’s time for lunch
.
I’ll see what they’ve brought for us.”  He held her chin, leaving her in no doubt that she was
not allowed to leave the room.

She bit her lip, angry
with
him
and annoyed that the muscles between her legs clenched
.
H
ow was it that her treacherous body became aroused by Damian’s despotic side
?
She stayed by the window, enjoying the light breeze that played over th
e “dress” he’d chosen for her.

Damian
returned within a few minutes, bearing a tray laden with plates and a covered casserole
.
It smelled heavenly
.
She really was hungry for more than the tarts and cherries he’d t
aunted her with for breakfast.

He nodded towards
the
table near the windows
.
She sat while Damian set the tray down on the coffee table and went out again and returned with a bottle of white wine and two glasses
.
He piled two plates with a delicate dish of creamed chicken baked over rice, dotted with fresh June peas
,
and some doughy rolls with an excellent cultured butter
.
He then poured them each a glass of the bright yellow wine, which proved to be nicely chilled and deliciously floral
.

Genevieve was relieved that Damian did not feel it necessary to scrutinize her eating the way Derek did
.
They were both hungry from their activities and for several minutes were too busy eating to make conversation
.
But again, Genevieve did not find the silence uncomfortable
.
Every time he caught her eye,
Damian
gave her an affectionate smile or blew a kiss, which made her giggle
.

Genevieve had never imagined she would love being married so much, but she did
.
But even more extraordinary to her was that Damian was so clearly happy
.
She made him happy
.
It
had been many years since she
could think of herself as anything but a burden and
a
source of misery to those she loved
.
As she sat with
her husband
, those feelings
seemed
somehow
irrelevant
to her new life
.

After lunch, Damian removed the dishes to the mysterious depths of the house, returning with fresh sheets
.
They remade the bed
, and Genevieve wondered at how enjoyable it was to do such homely tasks with him
.
But of course, once they’d finished, he got a look in his eye that she had learned signaled that he felt amorous
.
He came around her and nibbled her neck, lightly brushing her breasts through the silk dress until her desires easily equaled his
.

“Perhaps we should continue our lessons,” he murmured
.
“My bride has proven herself a very apt pupil so far
.
You mentioned you wished to touch me.”

“Yes!” 

“Ask me to teach you
.
”

“Teach me!” she said laughing
.
She was discovering
that she loved these lessons.

“Very well, darling
.
We will continue our game of the
barbarian
and his captive
.
One of the captive’s duties is to rub her mas
ter’s body with oil each day.”

He went into the bathing chamber and returned with a glass bottle and a fresh towel
.
He pulled the spread down and
laid
the towel over the mattress
.
“First my captive will help m
e off with my shirt,” he said.

She made a wry smile, but obeyed,
going up on
tiptoes
to lift
the shirt over his head
.

“My captive does not wear clothes with her master,” he said and whisked the silk shift
over her head before she could
object
.

He gave Genevieve the bottle of oil, climbed up on the bed
,
and lay
on his stomach
with his head resting on his folded arms
.
The bed was too high for her to reach him, so she had no choice but to climb up after him
.
She unstoppered the bottle
,
poured some of the oil onto her hands, and put the bottle on the bedside table
.
The oil smelled lightly of jasmine, which she
decided
was a very sensual scent.

When she hesitated, unsure what she should be doing, Damian drawled out in his version of the
mighty barbarian
, “
You
may begin, slave.” 

He glanced over his shoulder and gave her a merry smile, well aware of his own absurdity
.
Genevieve giggled, deciding she liked this game very well
.
There was nothing for it but to start
,
so she slapped her hands down on the middle of his back, grimacing that her touch was not exactly seductive
.

S
he
quickly
became preoccupied by the problem that his skin absorbed the oil
too
quickly
.
She reapplied it to her hands twice, and finally poured it directly on his back, which cause
d
him to shiver
.
Once
there was plenty of oil, she began sliding her hands up and down the length of his back
.

Damian lay quietly, seeming quite content, which helped her confidence
.
She’d never even seen a man’s bare back up close before
.
His skin
was lightly browned
—
he’d spent time in the sun without a shirt
.
Her thighs squeezed involuntarily when she pictured it
—
she wondered if he would ever do such a thing when she was present
.

Even lying in this relaxed pose,
Damian
gave off an aura of coiled power
.
His forearms in particular proclaimed his strength
.
They
were
twice the
size of hers
—
no wonder he subdued her so easily
.
She didn’t even try to pretend the idea didn’t excite her
.

She soon forgot she was naked and straddled him to get better access to his shoulders
.
She couldn’t resist the chance to plunge
her hands into the roped muscle
.
She
began kneading
and soon
found a hard knot of tension
.
She
went to work softening it
as
Damian let out a purr of pleasure
.
“
T
hat feels so wonderful, you can’t imagine.” 

Delighted, she began rubbing in earnest, reveling in
the
subtle scent of the oil, which became stronger as it was heated by the warmth of his skin.

As she reached again for the oil, Damian turned over pulling her to lie against his chest
.
It
was sprinkled with dark, wiry hair that tickled and abraded her breasts in a way that made her gasp
.
There was no missing his aroused state
.

He gently touched her cheek
.
“Pull my pants off,” he ordered softly.

Genevieve didn’t hesitate: she was done with being lady-like
.

By the end of Genevieve’s first day of being married, spending the day locked in her room did not feel like a trial
.
She’d lost track of how often they’d made love, her soreness not able to compete with her desires
.
Her modesty likewise fell easily before Damian’s demands, and when they took a quick bath before retiring for the night, she could even laugh that only this morning she’d felt mortified at the idea of being unclothed in front of him
.
Indeed, as she curled against his chest sleepily in the warm water, she decided she never again wanted to bathe alone.

Tired as she was, though, she didn’t fail to notice the gleam in Damian’s eye as he was helping her dry off
.
She discovered the reason when he fetched her nightdress
—
he’d not even let her enter the dressing
room
yet
.
She stood stiffly as he slid it over her, but when he took her hands to replace the
green
cuffs
, which he’d removed for the bath
, she wrested her hands away
.
“What are you doing?” 

“You know the answer to that, darling,” he said silkily, grasping her hand again
.

“You mean to bind me to the bed?” she demanded
.
He gave her a sultry smile in answer
.
“No!” she said outraged.

“In this room, Genevieve, you obey,
” he
warned softly
.