Page 64 of Bold Angel
His eyes searched her out as he rode forward, held her fast and did not move away. He halted his huge black destrier in the middle of the bailey, swung a long muscular leg to the ground, and handed his reins to a page. His squire approached, and Ral knelt so the youth could remove his heavy mail and the dusty spurs on his feet, but his eyes remained fixed on Caryn.
In minutes the task was complete and he began to walk toward her. She expected him to pause along the way, to speak to Richard, or mayhap say a word to the priest. Instead he continued his long-legged strides, eating up the distance between them, until he reached the place before her. He flashed a roguish grin, slid a hand around her waist, and scooped her into his arms.
“Sweet Virgin, Ral! What do you?” He only chuckled, bent his dark head, and kissed her with fierce possession. When he ended the kiss, she was trembling, barely aware that he strode through the freshly oiled doors leading into the keep, crossed the great hall without noticing the immaculate linens on the table, and climbed the spotlessly scrubbed stone stairs.
“What of your men?” she asked as he carried her down the newly whitewashed passage. “Surely they are hungry and tired. Surely ’tis sustenance that you need.”
“Aye,ma chere,that it is.” But it didn’t appear to be food that he spoke of. He kicked the door open with a booted foot, making a mark on the freshly polished surface, then slammed it closed with an elbow.
“I have thought of nothing but the taking of your sweet body these long weeks past.”
He let go of her legs and she slid the length of him, finally coming to rest on her feet.
“I’ve been so worried,” she said.
“The battle is over. The castle has been taken.”
“Thank God.” Already she could feel his hardenedshaft beneath his tunic, and the strength of his desire made her body grow flushed and damp. His mouth came down hard over hers and the world spun away, leaving her trembling and weak. She found herself gripping his shoulders, opening to the insistence of his tongue, willing his hands to her breasts.
It was almost as if he had heard her, for in seconds he was stripping off her tunic and the chainse she wore beneath, carrying her naked to the edge of the bed. He sat down with her in his lap, kissing her all the while, fumbling with the ties on his chausses and finally freeing himself.
“I have longed for this moment. I’ve thought of nothing but being inside you.” He tore the spun gold snood from her head, drove his hands through the heavy mass, spreading it around her, then lifted her up, parted her legs, and positioned her so that she straddled his hard-muscled thighs.
Caryn clung to his neck and felt his hands on her bottom, cupping them, kneading them, setting her aflame. Shivers raced through her body and a fever roared through her blood. When he slid a finger inside her, Caryn gasped at the feel of it, felt her body tighten around it, then soften to allow him passage.
“As always, you are ready,” he said with a voice gone rough. “’Tis a miracle I thank God for.” He kissed her long and deep. “Wrap your legs around me.”
“But surely we cannot—”
“Trust me,cherie,and I will see us both well pleasured.”
It was difficult to move, trembling as she was, but his waist was as lean as his hips, and with his hands to guide her, she soon had accomplished the feat.
His mouth took hers in a very thorough kiss, a hand massaging her breasts, her nipples tightening, aching, pressing feverishly into his palm. Then he was lifting herup and sliding inside her, impaling her to the hilt with a single deep thrust.
Waves of heat washed over her, rippling eddies that tore a whimper of desire from her throat. Her body trembled and flames seared the place between her legs. He was thrusting into her, gripping her and holding her immobile, lifting her and filling her, demanding she respond.
“Ral… sweet God… Ral.” Caryn’s head fell back, her hair trailing onto his powerful thighs. He took her mouth savagely, gripping her buttocks as he continued to plunge himself inside her. The world became blurry and distant, then it faded completely away. Fire engulfed her, and waves of mounting desire, until she finally succumbed to the mind-numbing pleasure. She was bathed in sweetness, awash against a blazing crimson sand. She cried out Ral’s name as he spilled his seed, following her to that fiery distant shoreline, his movements at last beginning to slow.
Covered in a sheen of perspiration, his head slumped onto her shoulder, his thick black hair curling damply against her throat. Caryn smoothed it back from his face with trembling fingers, feeling the sculpted planes of his cheeks, the sensuous outline of his lips.
As she drifted back to earth, it occurred to her that in his haste, Ral had not bothered to remove his garments. She wanted him to, she realized. She wanted to feel his thick, hair-roughened chest and taut muscular buttocks, the flat washboard ridges of his stomach. She wanted him inside her again, with nothing whatever between them.
Sliding off his thighs, she knelt to remove his soft leather boots and one of his brows arched upward. Then he smiled his approval, correctly guessing her motives. Grabbing the top of his tunic, he jerked it over his head, bent to unlace his garters, but found Caryn’s hands already there.
“’Twould seem you have missed me, too,” he said gruffly and her cheeks went even pinker than they were before.
“Aye, my lord, that is so.”
“It pleases me—more than you know.”
She started to tell him that she and the others had done a great deal more to please him, but already he was taking her mouth, lifting her up and settling her on top of the bed. Once more he was hard and throbbing against her thigh, and she was slick and ready to receive him. How many times they made love, she could not count. She only knew the sun had long faded and nightfall had come, that they slept for a time, woke and began to make love again.
Weariness claimed them sometime late in the night, drawing them into a deep and restful slumber. It was morning when she woke, turned to the place beside her—but found that Ral had gone.
Chapter Thirteen
Caryn dressed quickly and left to search the hall. Her body felt battered and bruised from their wild night of passion, yet she smiled, feeling happy and content.
