Lady of the Lake (15 page)

Edon groaned. He wanted her in his arms now!

He vowed to get roaring drunk in the meantime and woe unto her when she came to ground. Edon grasped the Persian brass pitcher and filled his goblet to the rim.

“There are visitors at the gate asking for you.” Theo abruptly turned, his sightless eyes fixed on the unseen.

“I don’t give a damn for visitors at the gate. The ward is overrun with a multitude of visitors I didn’t invite.”. Edon grabbed the cup and hoisted it to his mouth, watching Theo twist his head quizzically, the way Sarina did when she listened to sounds Edon could not hear.

“Shall I go to greet them in your stead?” Theo asked.

“Do that.” Edon dropped onto a chaise, snatching the pitcher of wine in hand and draining the cup in his other hand in one gulp.

Theo carefully took up his long white staff of supple aspen. He began to shuffle and tap his way toward the stairs, nimble and certain of his path. They were settled in for good if Theo knew his way about Warwick without a servant cleaving to his side.

It wasn’t Theo’s maneuvering that troubled Edon. It was Tala’s. Why had she likened his gift of gold to the coins paid a prostitute?

Tala didn’t need an oracle to tell her when Edon came inside the keep. She heard every word he spoke to Theo and each of Theo’s replies. Nor did the Greek need his
second sight to delve into her whereabouts. The ladies and Theo all knew she was in Edon’s chamber, trying to control her sobbing.

These tears humiliated her more than she could publicly bear. She was not a woman easily given to shedding tears. When Edon came into the hall, Tala quickly wiped her face and blew her nose as softly as she could to clear her head. That was it. She resolved to cry no more for her lost virtue.

It was time she faced the truth squarely. She was no longer an exalted princess of Leam, the repository of her people’s dreams and prayers. She was an ordinary woman now, free to accept the man she had chosen. She need not hang her head in shame or allow other people to give her looks that lessened her self-worth.

She pressed her hands onto the bedding and stood up, squaring her shoulders and straightening the folds of her gown. It was a beautiful gown, with a soft green sheath that hung gracefully from the two brooches fastening the shoulders. The neckline of Tala’s kirtle was square. She lifted her chin and touched the gold torque at her throat, tucked the handkerchief inside her sleeve and went into the hall to speak to Edon.

He had a goblet tilted to his mouth. A moment passed before he lowered it enough to see her standing just beyond the sprawl of his long legs on the chaise.

The cup did a funny thing—it dropped once, then dropped again, though no wine splashed out onto Edon’s sleeveless tunic. Then he slammed the cup onto the table at his side, and he did spill the wine in the brass pitcher when he dropped that beside the goblet

His eyes glowed like a wolf’s in the forest as he lunged to his feet in front of her. “By Odin’s breath, you are a witch!”

Tala took a step back as he came at her. His hard hands clenched her waist, yanking her to him in a crushing grip.
His mouth slashed across hers in a kiss that spoke of need and want so overwhelming that it shook her to her toes.

Deliberately, Tala spread her fingers into the soft waves of black hair that graced his temples. She opened her mouth, accepting the intrusion of his tongue, matching his fervor and heat.

He kissed her hard, desperately, conveying more than need—a loss, perhaps, the abandonment that he’d felt when she’d vanished from his sight. It could be so easy to blind an enraged man, to cast a spell that confused him and left him turning about, lost and incoherent Tala held back from taking such advantage against him. If either of them was spellbound, it was she. Her heart was melting under his fierce, possessive gaze. No shield or armor, spell or potion could be called upon to protect her from falling deeply in love with him.

Edon thrust his fingers into the braids coiled at the back of her neck and pulled her head back. He stared into her bewitching amber eyes and growled, “Don’t you practice your witchery on me, lady!”

Tala didn’t shy from his terrifying power. She caught his ears and brought his mouth down to hers, kissing him with the same need and abandon he had wielded. Caution was thrown to the wind.

Edon’s arm tightened across her hips. He straightened abruptly, tossing her over his shoulder. He stalked into his chamber, slammed the door shut at his back. The oak popped loudly in its frame. Tala shivered as she slid down his chest, her skirts hiking up from the pressure of his arm against her flesh.

Edon pushed her backward onto his bed, splitting her milk white thighs as he covered her. He caught the top of her gown and ripped it open. He exposed her breasts with no more force than she used in her frantic efforts to unfasten his breeks.

He sprang free in her unskilled hands, consumed with
the desire to get inside her and stay there for the rest of eternity.

He tasted of wine and temper. That was more than good enough for Tala. She wanted to be conquered, wanted the ghosts and demons haunting her to be exorcised completely. Edon was real. Edon was life. Edon was her passion’s wolf, stalking her to his lair, curling up inside her and devouring her heart.

He was a man who could throw back his head and laugh at the gods, mock them all and make their petty vanities insignificant fears to be chased away like bad dreams plaguing a silly child. She clung to him, clung to his strength and let him wreak his havoc upon her. But it wasn’t havoc…it was loving—sweet and fierce, filled with the essence of life.

In that swirling, heady maelstrom of surrender, Tala realized the truth—she loved the Wolf of Warwick.

She loved Edon Halfdansson. She would sacrifice everything to remain with him, surrender her life to protect him. Her soul, her heart and her mind opened to shower him in that love without reservation. With the deliberate and conscious release of the tightly cocooned emotions locked inside her came undescribable joy and a feeling of pure happiness that she’d never in her life experienced.

“Edon!” Tala said over and over again, showering his face with kisses, touching him, curling into him. She was happy, complete and at one with him, sated on every level possible. He was her perfect mate, made for her.

Neither noticed the fierce heat inside the closed chamber until they were both spent and exhausted, lying tangled together in a sweat-soaked heap.

Edon lifted the damp braids from the back of her neck and kissed her shoulder. She drew her nails down his chest, leaving little marks that would fade when their skin cooled—if it ever did.

Their clothes lay in rags on the bed and the floor, destroyed
in their fit of passion. Ruefully, Tala eyed Lady Eloya’s green gown and knew she would have to replace the cloth. She told herself she would see to that some other market day.

Leaving Edon’s lair held no appeal whatsoever.

Edon caught hold of her hip and rolled her over on his chest, propping her chin above his with his thumb. “What are you thinking, woman?”

Tala straddled his hips, pressed her hands into the bedding and straightened up as far as his arm at her back would allow. “That I shall stay in my wolf’s lair for the rest of eternity.”

“Best you think again if you seek to hide your beauty from the world, kitten.” He grinned cheekily. Oh, but the pointed way her breasts hung above his head inviting his mouth to savor them again. Tempted too much, he lifted his head to catch the nearest with his mouth and pulled her down so that he could suckle at his leisure.

Her moist belly arched against him, and his shaft sprang back to life, renewed with a vigor that made his blood pound in his ears. He had heard her say his name a hundred times. That delighted him more than anything in the world.

Laughing, Edon rolled her onto her back, trying to regain control of his raging desire for her. She was too newly his, too new to such wild lovemaking. To take her again would be callous beyond belief. He laid his hand on her belly and lifted his mouth from her breast.

“Be still,” he said sternly.

Tala’s hands dropped from his chest and arm. “I have displeased you,” she said, stricken.

“No, you have pleased me beyond my wildest dreams,” Edon said very firmly.

He was in control now. The red haze of lust was abating enough that he could think what he was doing. Not one coherent thought to her own pleasure had entered his brain
until now and she wasn’t going to drive that thought blindly out of his mind again.

“I want to kiss you.” Tala slipped her hand behind his head to pull his mouth back to hers. “I like kissing very much.”

“It has its place.” Edon shook her hand away as easily as he shook the heavy hair at his nape behind his shoulders. He straightened above her, picking her up under her arms, lifting her higher onto the bed. Then he put both of his knees between her lovely white legs and separated them while he sat back on his heels.

Beautiful hot sunlight revealed all of her luscious body to his gaze. The damp curls at the apex of her thighs were as red as the tangled and frayed braids spilling across the sheets under her head. Her breasts were swollen and full from his lovemaking, her nipples hardened wet nubs in their rosy areolas. He laid his hand on her belly and circled her navel, gently kneading the soft swell between her hipbones.

“What are you doing?” Tala asked, feeling uncertain. His gaze no longer lingered on her face or even her breasts. He was looking at her most intently…there, at that…She hadn’t a word for what exactly he looked at, but she could feel the heat of his gaze burning on her flesh. And the way his hand slowly circled her belly was like a monstrous tease. He came closer and closer to her curls, grazing them with his knuckles, tormentingly close, but not close enough. “Edon, I asked what you’re doing?”

“Be quiet, Tala. I am going to teach you a woman’s pleasure and I don’t want to be distracted. You haven’t screamed for me, and I want to hear you shout that you love me at the top of your voice. I want every man in Warwickshire to envy me when I enter you again. I want them all to know that the Wolf of Warwick has his mate at his mercy. I want you to shudder and shake, and need me as much as I need you. That is what making love is
all about. So just be quiet and I will do all the work. There will be no spells involved and no witchcraft. I don’t need any herbs or potions or magic words.”

She shivered as his nails raked through the curls, fluffing them, tangling in them. She sank her teeth into her lower lip as his left hand came into play, stroking slowly up the inside of her right thigh.

“Edon, this is very embarrassing. It’s broad daylight. It’s wrong. You shouldn’t be looking at me like that.”

“Looking like what? Like I am a starving man and this is the first meal I’ve been offered in a month?” His hands came together at her nether lips, one hand parted the petals and the other slipped inside her, probing as he’d done last night in the dark.

Tala tensed and sat up, grasping his wrists. “Don’t,” she whispered desperately. Dear Branwyn help her, she could see the tops of people’s heads out the window.

She’d distracted him enough that Edon looked where she had looked. Way off in the distance beyond the palisade there were men in the distant fields. He grinned as he looked back at the panic in her liquid eyes. “Lie down, Tala, and no one will see you. They cannot see what I see.” He found the spot he was looking for and caught it firmly between his powerful fingers, tugging it tautly, settling his thumb over the tiny button.

The sinewy chord in it fattened as his thumb circled round and round. Tala grabbed the sheet and threw it over her head. Edon chuckled and pulled the sheet away from her face, then he set to work stoking her fire. He wanted her to burn for him as badly as he burned for her.

She shot upright again when he put his mouth to her and kissed her. He put his arm across her belly and held her down, without explaining why he needed to exercise such restraint. She was as wet and sweet as honey, thick with her own cream, bucking under the pleasure of his tongue bringing her to the pinnacle of desire. Her hips
arched against him, her buttocks lifting with those sharp undulating jerks that told of her coming explosion.

He opened his eyes to watch her belly spasm and her head twist frantically back and forth on the bed. Sweat glistened from her every pore, wetting her thighs where they squeezed and relaxed upon his head. Still his tongue kept laving her. He slid two fingers inside her tight sheath, giving her the slow, steady thrusts that touched her womb, suckling her nubbin the way he had attended her breasts in each love duel prior to this.

What he wanted now with single-minded purpose was her complete submission to his tuition. He played her body like a well-strung harp, making her every muscle sing with pleasure. Her breath came in sharp, quick gasps, hampered by the fist she had crammed in her mouth to keep her moans to herself.

He knew exactly the moment the explosion inside her came. The walls of her womb tightened ferociously on his fingers the way he’d felt her body clench on his shaft and drive him to exploding inside her. Instantly afterward every muscle in her lower body began to shake and tremble. Edon withdrew his fingers and walked up her body on his hands and knees. He paused a moment above her, watching her taut expression dissolve as she opened her eyes, panting.

“You still haven’t screamed.” He took her hand from her mouth and laid her limp arm beside her head, gripping her wrist lightly. “Bring your knees to my waist, Tala, and lock your ankles behind my back.”

The inside of her thighs quivered as they clasped him. She was compliant, obedient. Edon braced himself with his right hand, reached down and settled his aching shaft at her portal. One downward stroke sank him to the hilt. The scream he’d wanted to hear erupted from her lips.

Edon smoothed her hair away from her face with the palm of his hand and caught her chin in his fingers, tilting
her face up to meet his. A tender smile creased the corners of his eyes. His voice was soft and comforting as he said, “Now, my love, is time for kissing.”