Templar Prize

by Deanna Ashford

  ‘Of course you will.’ Stephen smiled lovingly at her and Edwina felt a tingle of pleasure fill her stomach and slide delightfully down to the tips of her toes.

  ‘I shall miss you desperately,’ she said with a sad smile. Stephen had to depart in a couple of days. Richard, the Duke of Aquitaine, had charged him with a special task that was so secret that he could not even tell her where he was going.

  ‘I’ll return as soon as I am able. Even so I trust that on our wedding day you will be even happier than you are right now,’ he teased as he smiled lovingly at her.

  ‘Of course I will.’ She gave a soft laugh. ‘I still cannot believe that life has been so good to me.’

  ‘When we are wed you will have to become accustomed to such partings. Richard is my liege lord and he expects me to be at his side in all his campaigns,’ he said as they rode through the entrance gates of what appeared to be a small estate. ‘When he becomes king no doubt he will have many other knights to also carry out his bidding and we can perhaps spend more time together. In the meantime you will have my sister Blanche to keep you company and, if God wills it, strong sons and daughters as well in the future.’

  ‘For the time being then our reunions will have to be all the more precious.’ She wrinkled her nose. ‘I do hope that when he becomes king, he does not expect you to reside in England. I hear that it is cold and it rains there most of the time.’

  Stephen gave a soft laugh. ‘Do not believe all that others tell you, my love. In many ways England is just as beautiful as Aquitaine.’

  ‘Why are we here?’ she asked, as they approached a small, quite exquisite, manor house.

  ‘Why indeed.’ Stephen smiled wickedly and then dismounted. Stepping forwards, he helped her down from her palfrey. ‘Just be patient, Edwina,’ he said, his green eyes twinkling as he handed the reins to a groom. ‘This is one of the homes of my friend Gilbert de Fevre. He thought I might be able to make use of it while he is away in England.’ Stephen led her through the arched doorway into a small entrance hall. ‘We are never alone at court, whilst here . . .’

  Edwina knew full well that they were breaking all acceptable conventions by being alone like this when they were not yet wed. Yet she made no protest as Stephen led her into an elegantly furnished chamber. When she saw that it contained a large four-poster bed, her heart began to beat faster and the blood pounded excitedly through her veins. This was so wrong, she knew that, but she could deny Stephen nothing. At court they had occasionally been able to steal a few moments alone together and the brief but passionate kisses they had shared had left her breathless and wanting far more. More of what she wasn’t entirely sure, but the touch of his lips had made her entire body grow weak and her stomach churn with a strange wild excitement.

  ‘Stephen . . .’ she said questioningly.

  ‘Don’t look so fearful, Edwina.’ He removed her light cloak and flung it onto a nearby carved chest. ‘I’ll not hurt you, my love, you know that,’ he said softly as he pulled her into his arms.

  ‘We should not,’ she protested, all too briefly, before his lips covered hers. Stephen kissed her far more passionately than he had ever done before and she thought she would swoon from the sheer bliss as his tongue unexpectedly eased its way into her mouth. She clung onto him like a drowning woman as the pleasure overwhelmed her, making a soft entreating sound as he pulled her even closer, crushing her breasts against his muscular chest.

  One of his hands moved to the back lacing of her gown and she felt his fingers plucking at the knot. ‘Edwina, my love, you know full well that fortunes change in the wind these days. Especially because of the constant conflict between the King Henry and his sons. Women are used as pawns and I would not have you used so. I may well be away for some months and in the meantime I fear for your safety. We are betrothed but promises such as that can easily be broken. Your brother agreed to our union but he displays more loyalty to King Henry than he does to his liege lord Richard. So if I take your virginity, then our betrothal is sealed by our conjoined flesh. I could not bear it if you were forced to wed another because your brother suddenly thought it more advantageous.’

  ‘You do not trust Fulk’s intentions?’ She felt him pull the lacing apart, then start to ease her gown slowly from her shoulders.

  ‘Do you?’

  ‘No,’ she admitted. She loved her brother but like most men he would always choose what was right for him and would never take account of her feelings on the matter. She shivered with anticipation as she felt Stephen slide the dress down to her waist, then he eased it lower until it was heaped around her feet. Edwina felt rather embarrassed as beneath it she was wearing only a thin chemise which concealed little. She glanced nervously down, fearing that Stephen could see her nipples distorting the fine fabric.

  She was here in front of Stephen clad in just this thin undergarment; only her maid and her friend Blanche had seen her so unclothed. Was it right to feel exposed yet also so liberated as she stood scantily dressed in front of the man she loved? She looked up at him, seeing his desire for her reflected on his handsome face, and at this moment in time she knew it was right to give him the thing most precious to her, her own virginity. Holding her protectively in his arms, Stephen brushed his mouth tenderly against hers. His lips sensuously caressed the pale skin of her cheeks, the side of her neck and the exposed column of her throat.

  The sudden overwhelming desire she felt excised any lingering doubts that this might somehow be wrong as he removed the silver filet encircling her brow and the short veil that covered her hair. Since she had become a woman, no man apart from her late father and her brother had ever seen her with her hair uncovered like this.

  ‘Your hair is so beautiful,’ he said softly as he removed the pins that held it coiled around her head, pulling them out one by one until her long, heavy, wheat-coloured locks cascaded down her back. ‘You must wear it unbound at our wedding ceremony,’ he added, then kissed her again with passionate longing.

  She tasted the sweetness of his mouth and felt his tongue touching hers as he held her close to his muscular chest. She was desperate now to see him unclothed and feel his warm skin pressed close to hers; to lose herself in the pleasures of his flesh and to let him take anything he wanted from her. If this was absolute submission, the strange need for a woman to be conquered by a man, then this was what she wanted. It felt as if she had waited all her life for this one precious moment.

  There was an unfamiliar warmth in her belly and tingling tremors of pleasure slid across her skin as Stephen held her close and kissed her, until all sense and reason deserted her. Before she knew what was happening, he’d lifted her into his arms and carried her to the bed. He lay her down on the soft mattress and then bent to slip off her shoes. Then he rolled the thin woollen hose down her legs and eased them from her feet. Edwina tensed in surprise as he kissed her toes one by one, sucking on them gently until she gave a gasp of delight, never having realised that something so simple could be so unbelievably titillating.

  ‘Will you not remove your clothes also?’ she asked shyly. ‘I want to see all of you.’

  ‘Aye, my love.’ Stephen gave a soft chuckle as he immediately straightened and began to remove his garments, one by one.

  Soon he had cast them aside and he stood before Edwina in all his naked glory. He showed no embarrassment as a maiden might, but appeared proud of his strong body. But then he was a man and had most likely been with many other women before her. However, like most young noblewomen, she had been kept blissfully ignorant about matters of the flesh. Her priest had told her on numerous occasions that it was a sin for a woman to enjoy coupling with any man, even her husband. Surely God would not have designed it so that only men enjoyed the pleasures of sex?

  She stared curiously at Stephen; he was beautiful, more beautiful than the wickedly decadent statues of naked Greek and Roman gods that the duke kept in his private quarters. Blanche had heard tell of them and when the duke was out hunting
they had bribed a servant to let them into Richard’s chambers, merely to satisfy their girlish curiosity, of course. They had giggled over the marble statues of naked muscular men and stared in awe at the carved renditions of male anatomy, wondering what it would be like to see a living breathing man unclothed. Now she could do so and Stephen was even more perfect than every one of them.

  The muscles of his chest and arms were firm and well developed, his waist was narrow, his belly flat and his legs made hard and strong by riding and swordplay. She looked at little nervously at his manly parts and her heart beat a rapid tattoo in her chest. They looked much like those on the statues but considerably larger and that was troubling. Her mother had died when she was only seven, so she knew little of what happened between a man and a woman in bed.

  ‘I’ll not hurt you,’ Stephen promised as he lay down beside her and pulled her close.

  Gently, he eased the loose neck of her chemise downwards until her breasts were exposed. Lovingly he caressed the soft globes and she felt her nipples harden. Did all women feel like this? she wondered, as a jolt of pleasure travelled down to her loins, almost as if her breasts and her womanly parts were conjoined.

  He stroked her breasts, cupping them in his large sword-roughened hands, and she found his caresses intensely pleasurable. Edwina shivered, almost overcome with the wild delight he aroused in her, as his fingers focused on her nipples, pulling at them gently as he rolled the hard nubs between finger and thumb. There was an accompanying ache between her thighs and to her consternation her sex became hotter and somehow surprisingly moist all at the same time.

  ‘I want you,’ she said haltingly, still unsure what the act of copulation ultimately entailed. ‘But I do not know . . .’

  ‘Hush, my sweet,’ Stephen said as he tried to ease the chemise further down her body, but the soft folds caught beneath her hips. With a muttered oath of frustration, he pulled on it hard, and when that did not free the fabric he ripped the garment from neck to hem. As the material fell away, her entire nakedness was exposed to his gaze. She shuddered, filled with a strange heady mixture of excitement and embarrassment. The hungry way his green eyes were raking her body sent a surge of fire through her veins.

  Edwina’s lids closed and her dark lashes fanned against her pale cheeks, where two small spots of red were starting to form. She was half afraid of his powerful need for her, certain now that his gaze had slid down over her belly and was directed towards the small triangle of hair covering her womanly parts. Now that she was unable to see, all her senses were focused on the feel of his fingertips as they brushed the soft skin of her stomach, then trailed tantalisingly down to her mons. She shivered as they slipped between her thighs, parting her full lips to explore the complex folds of her sex. Her pleasure began to increase exponentially as they brushed against a small soft nub of flesh that sent a dart of exquisite fire through every inch of her body. Then they reached the entrance to the ultimate essence of her femaleness and she stiffened nervously.

  Stephen kissed her passionately as his fingers continued on their magical journey, sliding into her moist sheath. Edwina’s eyes fluttered open in surprise as she felt the sweet indescribably wonderful sensations – a pleasure the like of which she had never experienced before.

  His fingers edged slowly deeper, into the very core of her body. She held her breath, entirely overcome by the intoxicating sensations that invaded every part of her being.

  Unconsciously, her hands reached for him. She caressed the hard curve of his hip and his firm belly, while his fingers continued to work their enchantment inside her. Cautiously, she brushed her fingers against his sex, feeling the organ leap at her touch, and she was filled with a sudden trepidation. It was no longer soft and malleable, as it had appeared when he’d been standing in front of her; now it was hard and impossibly huge, massive in comparison to the male organs of the statues that she and Blanche had examined so curiously not long ago.

  ‘Do you know what happens between a man and a woman?’ Stephen asked her as he continued to slide his fingers seductively in and out of her vagina. It felt so good and yet it also made her feel as if she were striving for something which was just tantalisihgly out of reach.

  ‘How they come together to make children?’ she said shyly, then she bit her lips trying not to reveal just how much pleasure the gentle thrusting movements of his fingers were giving her. She was so very tempted to beg him to move harder and faster and venture deeper, but she was too shy to voice such thoughts aloud. ‘I’ve seen animals . . .’

  ‘We are all part of nature, my love. Yet this is so much more perfect. Do not believe what the priests say, this is a God-given pleasure to be shared between a man and a woman,’ he said with feeling. ‘Now let me show you how blissful this union can be.’

  Stephen withdrew his fingers and gently edged her legs apart. Moving onto his knees, he crouched between her open thighs, staring down at her. His green eyes were dark with desire as he gently eased the tip of his hard cock between her swollen sex lips and pressed it gently and very cautiously against the mouth of her vagina.

  Very carefully and evidently all too conscious of the fact that she was still a virgin, he slowly eased his engorged shaft inside her. To her amazement, her body easily expanded to accommodate him. Yet, when he had only penetrated her partway, he paused.

  ‘What’s wrong?’ she asked in a trembling voice. ‘Does my body displease you in some way?’

  ‘It pleases me exceedingly, but you are a maiden, there is one last barrier before we can complete our union. Be warned, my love, when your maidenhead breaks it will hurt a little.’

  He drew back slightly and she tried not to tense, yet she still clenched her fists nervously, not knowing what measure of discomfort to expect. With a firm jerk of his hips, he thrust his cock deep inside her. Edwina felt something give way and, for a brief second, she experienced a sharp tearing pain, but to her relief it was gone in an instant and was replaced by a multitude of wonderful sensations which she had never experienced before.

  He had paused and was looking down at her with concern, his green eyes still reflecting the love he felt for her. ‘It only hurt a little,’ she gasped as she experienced the absolute intimacy of being conjoined with the man she loved and savoured the perfectly exquisite feeling of his body buried deep inside hers.

  She wanted to clasp him close and hold him tight, just enjoy this strange bliss. However, female instinct told her that there was more to this act of union and even more incredible pleasures to come. Very cautiously, Stephen began to move his hips, sliding his engorged shaft partially out and then back inside her again. Surprisingly, the moisture inside her seemed to increase. The movements were fluid, while the friction and the feeling of fullness were amazingly pleasurable and she unconsciously lifted her hips. ‘Please,’ she gasped. He responded, quickening his pace and the sensations she was experiencing increased exponentially.

  Her hands reached for his muscular arms and she dung onto them as he thrust harder, his hips pounding against hers. The feelings were so powerful that they astounded her, making the muscles of her legs tighten and her toes curl as he thrust harder and deeper. Suddenly, there was a strange overwhelming bliss growing deep inside her, blossoming and expanding. It was followed by a violent explosion of intense pleasure as Edwina experienced an orgasm for the very first time in her life.

  As her body shuddered beneath his, the desire Stephen had been holding onto by little more than a thread exploded. He gave one last powerful thrust, followed by a deep groan of gratification as he lost all sense and reason in the depth and power of his own climax. Gently he rolled her onto her side, his shaft still buried inside her body, then he held Edwina close and murmured tender words of love in her ear.

  2

  Stephen strode along the wide corridor passing only a couple of courtiers, neither of whom he recognised. Apart from them this part of the building seemed empty and he couldn’t help wondering why Richard had gone
to the trouble of constructing this large wooden edifice, which he had dubbed Mategriffon, when there was, so he had been told, a perfectly adequate royal residence only a short distance away in Messina.

  Philip of France had thought the palace good enough for him but perhaps that was the very reason Richard had declined to live in it, Stephen considered with a wry grin. The two men had once been friends but their relationship had changed over the years and now they were just reluctant allies on the same quest to recapture the Holy Land from Salah ad-Din.

  All of a sudden, Stephen heard a deep booming voice, from somewhere behind him, call out, ‘Stephen, by God. I’ve been looking for you.’

  Stephen swung round. ‘Your Majesty.’ He bowed as Richard strode towards him.

  ‘Come now, my friend, let us not stand on ceremony.’ Richard flung a companionable arm around Stephen’s shoulders and grinned at him. ‘It is good to see you again.’

  The king looked far more relaxed and rested than usual. This long sojourn in Sicily seemed to have done wonders for him. Stephen stared into his friend’s blue eyes. He was a tall well-muscled man but now he looked even fitter. His pale complexion had become ruddier and the Sicilian sunshine had bleached his reddish-gold hair, turning it a pale strawberry blond.

  ‘The pleasure is all mine, sire. I am relieved to be here at last,’ Stephen replied as Richard waved away the group of men surrounding him.

  ‘Come.’ Richard led Stephen into a luxuriously furnished anteroom. ‘Sit.’ He pointed to a couple of chairs.

  ‘I was just admiring Mategriffon.’

  ‘Philip hates it,’ Richard chuckled. ‘He thought that he bested me by being first to occupy the palace in Messina so I snubbed my nose at him and built this. He also resents the fact that my forces are far larger than his,’ he added as he flung himself down on one of the chairs.