Surprise made her gasp but it turned into a shriek when Synclair rushed her, capturing her body and raising it far enough up into the air to be dumped over the footboard of the large bed. He dropped her and her body bounced in a jumble of limbs as she tried to push herself up. She rose onto her knees, only to be knocked backward when Synclair jumped over the footboard, lunging like a large predator, stretching out his body and hooking her around her waist with one large arm. They both landed stretched out on the surface of the bed, the ropes creaking from the motion of their landing.
“You shall go to my bed and you shall bend to my will.”
Synclair slid one hand beneath her shoulder and rolled her over onto her belly. He trapped her there with his own body, lying alongside her and allowing enough of his weight to rest on her to keep her in place.
“Synclair, you must dispense with this notion of yours.”
He pulled the lace on her stays in response, releasing the knot and using his fingers to pull the length of cord free from the eyelets that ran down the back of the garment.
“I have chased you for over two years, Justina. What makes you think that I will dispense with anything now that I have you exactly where I want you?”
“I left you for another. Doesn't your pride have an issue with that?”
He pulled on the lace and she watched it sail over the edge of the bed before another firm hand turned her onto her back. She wished he hadn't turned her when she caught sight of his face. His features were drawn into a tight mask of male frustration. He leaned over her, pressing her to the bed with his wide chest.
“You went to another's bed because that bastard Biddeford ordered you to. That is not leaving me. You had no choice.” His eyes narrowed. “He makes you whore for his gain.”
“Exactly. Which is why I tell you to set your sights on a more worthy woman.”
His fingers gently closed her lips, lightly pressing against them to stop her from speaking further.
“I cannot change the fact that I am drawn to you, Justina, any more than you may alter the fact that you cannot resist my touch. Admit that you are where you have longed to be. I saw it in your eyes, even as you told me to leave you. I saw it.”
She wouldn't. Her head began shaking back and forth, denying him and herself.
“I believe I like your resistance more than I would have enjoyed your surrender, for it grants me the challenge of taming you.”
There was thick promise in his tone and she witnessed it flickering in his eyes as well. Her belly twisted in response, anticipation beginning to throb in her clitoris. She seemed to have lost all control over her body; it was responding in spite of all her reasons not to.
He rose up onto one elbow and hooked his hand into her stays. In a heartbeat, he pulled the garment away from her body and tossed it over the edge of the bed.
“Ah, undeniable proof.”
The thin fabric of her chemise was laying over her body now, the only thing shielding her from his keen stare. But the flimsy fabric molded to her every curve, showing him the hard points of her nipples. He lowered his body again, easing to one side of her body so that he might nuzzle against her breasts. Sensation shot through her so fast she jumped, turning away from him out of pure response.
Synclair trapped her shoulder beneath his own, his fingers threading into her hair and plucking a hairpin from where the maid had secured her curls.
“I am going to taste you, Justina, every last inch of you before I am finished having you.”
He lowered his head until she felt his breath against one puckered nipple. Her chemise failed to shield her from it, sensation prickling through the skin and down the sides of her breast. His tongue flicked over it, wetting the fabric and drawing a stiff breath from her. She was acutely aware of the tiniest touch, her skin alive with more sensation then she had ever experienced before.
He licked the top of her nipple once, twice more before closing his lips all the way around the puckered peak. She gasped but her back arched, rising off the bed to offer her nipple to his lips. Need was blistering her, it was so hot. The motion of his mouth, drawing in the nipple, softly sucking on it, made her cry out.
He raised his head and stared at her.
“Tell me you want me to continue.”
His fingers took over playing with her nipple, rubbing the wet spot on her chemise and sending light ripples of sensation through her breast. Yet it wasn't as intense as it had been when his mouth sucked on that same nipple. She bit her lower lip, refusing to send him back to doing what she could not resist.
“Ah, you wish me to seek out more tender parts of you.” His voice dripped with promise. “I believe I am up to that challenge.”
His hands lowered to her thighs, resting for a moment on top of the tender skin while he allowed her to see the flare of desire that lit his eyes.
“I have spent many a day thinking about touching you, stroking you.”
“You shouldn't have wasted your time. There is no future in this.”
His lips curved. “I disagree, Lady. There is an entire night at our disposal.”
One night. It might be short or impossibly long, depending on how she spent it. Nights in her husband's bed had been horribly endless but the hands smoothing up her thighs didn't breed in her the need to clench her thighs together or fight the urge to retch.
Instead, she resisted the urge to surrender. Synclair was still watching her and his eyebrows lowered.
“Why do you fear enjoying my touch, Justina? I have never raised my hand against you.”
“You locked me up.”
“For your own well-being.”
She shook her head. “Yet that is what you fail to understand. My well-being is not what matters. I strive to provide my son with a decent life, keeping me from that is something I cannot accept. Ever.”
“Your guardian is unfit.”
She laughed, caught between the urge to cry and beg him for assistance. “There is a court full of women in the same position, Synclair. The king has set a tone of no mercy for women in this kingdom. Have you seen the Queen since your return? She is so docile it sickens me, and I can only think she must think the same of me when she sees me doing Biddeford's bidding. Yet we both continue to obey because we are women.”
Justina rolled over, slightly astonished that he allowed her to. She sat up, pulling her legs up beneath her chemise. Synclair watched her, with his head resting on his hand and a bent elbow propped against the bed.
“But more than one man has had to tolerate a cruel master while he trains for knighthood. My struggle is not uncommon.”
“You tell yourself that to endure it.”
She hugged her legs, taking solace in the embrace. “Tell me you have agreed with every order and task you have been given by your betters.”
It was a challenge, her words barbed. Synclair frowned and sat up. “I have not.”
“Good, then we understand each other at last. I had to return, no matter the risk; it was my duty and it is my place, and it protects my son.”
He flattened his hands on the surface of the bed, caging her between his thick arms. That quickly, she was once more his captive.
“I understand your motives, but what you fail to grasp is the fact that your devotion to your son only draws me to you even more. I understand your need, Justina, and it makes you only more attractive to me.”
He pressed his mouth against hers, demanding a kiss that was deep and hard. His lips pressed hers to part, and the tip of his tongue gently licked along her lower lip before thrusting inside to toy with her own. His hands searched through her hair, pulling pins from it until the entire mass came free. Lifting his mouth away from hers, he lifted her up and turned her away from him. Her weight seemed simple for him to move and that knowledge sent a shaft of trust through her because he controlled it so well. She made no choice to trust, it simply began to grow inside her.
“Another thing that I have dwelt on is seeing your hair flowing across my skin.”
He combed his fingers through her hair, loosening the braids until the strands lay in soft curls across his open hands. She heard him draw in a stiff breath, and it sent another emotion through her that felt too much like affection. She could not harbor such a feeling. Pushing her feet beneath her, she went to stand but only managed to flatten her feet against the bed. A moment later, Synclair rose above her, pulling her chemise up by the hem as he went. The garment pulled her arms up and slipped over her wrists without pausing.
“Much more to my liking.”
Completely bare, Justina couldn't resist the urge to cross her arms in front of her breasts. She had always been told how beautiful she was, but she suddenly feared that Synclair would not find her so pleasing. He cupped her chin once again, raising her eyes to meet his.
“I find you irresistible, Justina.”
As she did him. With naught but darkness surrounding them and the chill of winter brushing her skin, stopping herself from leaning against him became impossible.
One night. Was she not allowed a single taste of passion that pleased her and no one else except her partner?
Lover ...
That was the word, and it felt foreign on her tongue but sweeter than any wine she had ever tasted.
He met her, angling his head so that their lips could fuse. The kiss was deep but slow, the need to hurry gone. Justina lifted her hands and flattened them on his chest, slowly stroking over the firm ridges of flesh and shivering with enjoyment. His arms pulled her closer, until her breasts were pressing against his body. She had never noticed that her curves fit so well against the harder body of a man. His hand slid up her back until he reached her head and her unbound hair. He threaded his fingers into it and grasped it gently.
The kiss changed, becoming more heated. His tongue penetrated her mouth, stroking and thrusting just as his cock had done. The motion awakened a soft throbbing in her clitoris, hunger beginning to heat and churn in her passage once more. Synclair lifted her up and laid her down across the bed. She shivered as she watched him rising up above her. In the dark, he was more shadow than flesh and yet she could sense his warmth, smell his scent. All of her senses were more sensitive, allowing her to hear the sound of his breathing and the way the bed ropes creaked when he lowered his body down to cover hers.
His lips found her neck, placing soft kisses against the tender skin. Delight flowed down her body from each one and she shifted beneath him, unable to decide what she wanted. Her hands roamed over his shoulders and then along his nape and finally into his shoulder-length hair. He kept trailing kisses down her neck until he reached her shoulder, but that did not stop him. He trailed more kisses over her collarbones and across her chest until he reached her breasts. The tender globes were quivering with anticipation. Every second felt as though it were an entire hour while she waited for his lips to begin touching the more sensitive skin.
She realized in that moment that no man had ever taken the time to arouse her. It was a sobering thought and her hands stroked over his shoulders, savoring the moment while she waited for his lips to seek out her nipples once more. When he closed his lips around one puckered peak, she arched up to offer it to him. Hunger was burning inside her now. The satisfaction from their first encounter lending heat to a new need that was more intense than the one that had seen them pressing together against the wall. She moved her legs, enjoying the way his bare skin felt against her own. Decadent and rich, the delight flooding her.
Synclair slid lower, leaving her nipple and pressing kisses against her ribs and then on the flat of her belly. Her eyes flew open as she felt his hands cupping her knees and spreading her thighs.
“Synclairâ”
A soft chuckle was his response. His head lifted and the meager light in the room glittered off his eyes.
“I know the difference between demanding submission from a woman and seducing a woman, Justina.”
“Most men don't.” She didn't realize she spoke out loud until another chuckle passed his lips. His hands smoothed over the top of her thighs before returning to her knees.
“Have I discovered the means to wooing you, sweet Justina?” He pushed her knees wide, spreading her legs so that the night air brushed against her wet folds. She was keenly aware of the fact that she was wet, too, his soft kisses having built her passion back up and sent fluid easing down her passage to coat her folds.
“I believe I will exploit that bit of information.”
His hands smoothed back up her thighs but along the inside now. Her skin was sensitive, and her breath caught as he stroked her. She had never thought her skin might be so tender or that she would enjoy having it petted. Synclair lowered his gaze to her sex and she felt her cheeks heat. No one had ever looked at her sex. Justina suddenly felt unsure, her thighs wanting to close.