Page 33 of To Love

“There is a risk, aye. But I will take every precaution when coming to you. Like last eve, if I deem it unsafe, I will not come.”

His hands relaxed, moved to cup her cheeks. Alden’s thumbs rubbed circles there, the smoothness of her face, those full lips still glistening with his kiss . . .

“You are the most beautiful woman I’ve ever beheld, Elara. I’ve dreaded your lessons from the very first time we met, knowing I would be forced to sit before you, look at you, listen to your voice, and watch as each and every recruit stared up at you the same way as me . . . ’tis been a type of torture I’ve never known.”

“I’ve never wished to be claimed by anyone before . . . until now.”

Alden kissed her again. He memorized her lips, the feel of her tongue tentatively, and then more urgently, pressing against his. Knowing he’d not forget this kiss for the rest of his days, he took in every scent and sensation so he could recreate it over and over again.

He would recreate it as she instructed him. As he trained. As he went into battle.

This kiss, this moment, would never leave him.

It was only as she pressed up against him, Alden remembering what she wore, that he stepped away once again.

“If we continue down this path . . .” He looked her up and down.

Elara raised her chin. “Finish your thought, Alden.”

She was a saucy minx, this woman.

He loved it.

“I will ruin your lovely bed gown, remembering how little you have beneath it. My claim will be so much more than a kiss. It would require us to marry.”

Elara’s smile, though not easily won for a woman so serious, was all the more precious because of it. “You assume I am a maiden.”

He cared little either way, but indeed had made that assumption.

“I am,” she added.

He wanted to stay. Alden wanted to kiss her again, remove that gown, and make Elara moan as he explored every inch of her body. He was between giving in to yet more of his desires and not pushing Elara even more than he had already.

“And I am also very much aware that there are acts between a man and woman that do not result in a loss of a woman’s maidenhood.”

Sometimes he forgot Elara was raised at court. She was not some village girl in Shirsten St. Mary. “There are indeed.” He closed the distance between them once again. “Elara, have you participated in any such . . . acts?”

Her lips parted, as if to speak.

He lifted her chin, mesmerized by those intelligent eyes of hers.

“Besides kissing? Nay. But have known many women who have.”

“You are curious?” he guessed.

“Who would not be?”

“Who indeed?” he mused. “Why have you not appeased your curiosity before? Surely there have been many men who offered to do so?”

“There have. But I’ve not been compelled to appease my curiosity before.”

“Before?” he prompted, knowing the answer but, perversely, wanting to hear her say it.

“Before you.”

Goddammit, he was powerless in her presence. Nothing else mattered.

Nothing.