“Of course I refused him.” Carys stared up at him as if she couldn’t believe he had asked such a thing. “I didn’t love him, Maximus. And although he claimed to love me, I believe he loved my status more.”
Despite the heat of the water, a chill shivered over his exposed flesh. “What is your status, Carys?”
Her lips parted, but she didn’t say anything. Then she swallowed and shook her head, as if shaking off droplets of water. “You must know I’m not of the peasant class.”
“Yes.”
“He—was. But he was very clever. And he became powerful in his own right. For many men that would be enough but he—he wanted more. He wanted me.”
Maximus struggled to process all the information she’d just imparted. But from it all, only one fact burned through his brain.
“You didn’t want him, yet you let him fuck you for three years.” If her father had demanded she acquiesce to the more powerful man, then of course Carys would have had no choice in the matter. He understood that. It was the way of the world.
But the other man had not been more powerful, and her father had demanded no such thing.
Carys looked affronted by his accusation. “He was the only one available for me,” she said, as if that explained everything. “Besides, I thought it would get better the more we did it.” A frown flitted across her brow. “But it didn’t. He said it was me, that I was deficient.”
Gods. Maximus glared at her in disbelieving comprehension. Was she saying she hadn’t even enjoyed fucking the old bastard?
“You certainly aren’t deficient.” It was likely the man was so decrepit he could barely get his cock up, never mind use it effectively.
“Thank you.” She offered him an oddly shy smile. “After I finished with him I didn’t want another man. And then when I did, I was afraid it would be the same as it was with Aer—with him.” She sucked in a long breath. “That’s why I didn’t take another lover. I know it’s not a valid excuse. I know the goddess wasn’t happy with me, but—”
“But.” He disengaged their fingers and placed one across her lips, silencing her. “You’ve only ever had one other man beside me.”
Her face flamed, as if he’d just insulted her.
“I’m not going to apologize for it.” She hissed the words at him and he grinned at her, as he pressed her more securely against the bath’s edge. Why she considered an apology necessary was beyond him, but perhaps it was yet another obscure Celtic custom.
“Then don’t.” He had other things on his mind. Things he had planned to do before Carys had so deliciously distracted him with her enchanting seduction.
Her breath quickened, although he knew by the look on her face she fought against her body’s reaction. “There were a great many men who wanted me after Aer—after I was free,” she said, as if that knowledge would astonish him. “Despite the fact he threatened to disembowel any who so much as touched my hand.”
Maximus grunted. The thought of disemboweling the old lech was certainly tempting, but not nearly as tempting as the thought of seducing Carys as thoroughly as she had seduced him.
“Even if we had to meet in secret, they would still have met with me.”
He laughed. He couldn’t help it. “I believe you. What man in his right mind could resist you if you so much as glanced his way with interest?”
Carys gave him another of her haughty looks, as if she thought he was making fun of her. “Just so you are perfectly aware, I am a desirable woman.”
“I’d have to be dead not to know that.”
* * *
Carys could feel the proof of his knowledge burning against her belly. His eyes were dark with mounting desire, and it would be easy to melt into his embrace and take everything she could from him before their worlds tumbled into ashes.
But he had laughed at her. And she didn’t understand why.
“You’re not shocked by my lack of experience.” She hadn’t intended to ever say such a thing to Maximus, but since he’d now discovered her secret shame, and didn’t appear concerned by it, she realized she needed to discover why.
He laughed again, a deep, rich baritone that, despite its lack of respect, sent delightful shivers skittering over her naked flesh. She stared up at him, thoroughly confused, until his moment of insanity passed.
“As far as I’m concerned,” he said, still grinning as if she had just told the most hilarious joke, “you’re as pure as a Vestal Virgin.”
Her stomach fluttered, twisting between bemusement and innate offense. And yet Maximus meant no insult by his comment. She could see that by his eyes, by his smile, by the tone of his voice.
She swallowed down her stinging retort. Her shame.
“It’s not something I’m proud of.” The words rasped against her throat and she was relieved when Maximus didn’t laugh at her again but instead began to frown.
“You’ve lost me.” He sounded concerned. And then his frown darkened as comprehension dawned. “You’re still ashamed of being with me.”
His comment was so far from the truth she almost laughed herself, despite the way she also wanted to dive under the water and hide.
She flattened her hands against his chest, thrilling to the way his wet hair caressed her palms and the way his steady heartbeat vibrated through her blood.
And in that moment of connection, she understood.
Chapter 24
The breath hissed between her lips and a shiver slithered along her spine. Maximus had his own gods, his own culture and customs, and they weren’t hers.
He laughed because he thought she was flirting. Not because he mocked her beliefs.
He possessed no knowledge of her beliefs.
Her head dropped to his shoulder so he wouldn’t witness the blood flooding her cheeks. She’d had no need to explain to him. No reason to justify her lack of lovers.
And yet she’d told him the most intimate details. Things she’d never spoken of before. And there had been no need.
A mortified groan escaped and she resisted when he forcibly maneuvered her upright.
“Well?” His demand was harsh and she attempted to recall why he looked so mad, when she knew it had nothing to do with the way she’d slighted the Morrigan for so many years.
“I misunderstood.” She had the overwhelming urge to screw her eyes shut but refused to allow herself such luxury. “I thought you laughed because you found humor in my lack of homage.” She sucked in a shaky breath. “But I was wrong. I think.” And she shot him a desperate glance.
There was an excruciating silence as he raked his gaze over her burning face. She curled her toes and attempted to pull her hands from his chest, but Maximus pressed even closer, so they were meshed together and it was impossible for her to move a muscle without his permission.
Finally his scrutiny eased and he brushed an errant curl from her cheek. “There’s much about you I don’t yet understand.” His voice was gentle. “But I would never knowingly mock your ways.” He hesitated for a moment, as if searching for the right words. “I know your gods are important to you. I regret my actions made you think otherwise.”
The trembling knot of agony in the center of her chest eased, by a merest degree. “I should never have confessed to you.” Could she ever live it down? And not only had she shared her darkest secrets with Maximus, she had also come perilously close to telling him the entire nature of her status.
A shiver coursed through her. No matter how he professed to respect her beliefs, he would never respect her right as a Druid.
“Carys.” His whisper was an erotic caress along her soul. “I’m happy you confessed to me.”
The constriction in her chest ebbed and she realized she no longer minded Maximus knowing of her lack.
Because Maximus didn’t consider it a lack.
She took a deep breath. “Then I’m glad I told you.”
He tugged on her braid and began to unbind her wet hair. “You can tell me anything.”
&n
bsp; If only that were true. But she smiled up at him anyway, because she knew his offer was genuine. And knew how easily she could succumb and spill the most devastating secret of all.
* * *
She moaned in protest when, after his fingers had worked magic against her scalp, he slid his arms around her and carried her from the bath. “I don’t want to go.” She wanted this night to last forever, because tonight might be all she would ever have.
But he ignored her and she curled against his chest, squeezing her eyes shut against the world, against the knowledge that soon she would have to leave him once again. And this time he might not deign to take her back.
He lowered her to her feet and swathed her in a huge length of absorbent cloth.
“It’s warm.” She snuggled into the decadent softness. “Romans don’t care for the cold, do they?”
He swiftly dried himself with another towel, his blue eyes never leaving hers. “Does the heat displease you?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“Then we Romans have our uses.” He indicated a stone bench covered with yet more towels. “Lie down.”
Hiding a smile, Carys dropped her covering and stretched out, arms over her head, one knee provocatively bent.
“On your front.”
Her seductive smile wavered. Was he going to take her from behind, like an animal?
She rolled over, and wondered if she was in the right position. But if she wasn’t, then Maximus would soon show her. It was a relief to realize she didn’t have to pretend experience of such things, when the only knowledge she possessed came from gossip with friends.
Muscles tense with expectation she pillowed her cheek on her hands and raised her bottom into the air. Maximus made an odd choking noise and pressed the flat of his hand on the small of her back, until she was once again prone.
“Don’t move again.” It was a command. “Gods, Carys. You don’t make this easy for me.”
She watched him grab a small amphorae from the nearby stone plinth.
“Are you ready?” But he scarcely waited for her uncertain nod before he straddled her, his knees on either side of her hips, his calves imprisoning the length of her legs.
And then his hands swept across her shoulders, firm, warm, slick with oil, and a shocked gasp shook her entire body.
“Relax. This is supposed to be enjoyable.”
His fingers massaged her stiff muscles, a rhythmic, tantalizing motion, and with another expulsion of air the tension seeped from her rigid limbs.
His powerful legs imprisoned her, a willing captive, and corded muscles branded her back as he flattened himself onto her, his engorged shaft scorching her, and the pleasure of his touch sank through her skin, her muscles, and into the center of her heart.
And threaded through every touch, every gasp, every delirious sensation, the stark knowledge glittered that he was more to her than a lover who had taught her the wonders of sex. More than the man who had wiped away the uneasy feelings of inadequacy she’d harbored for the last six years.
More than her enemy, the conqueror of her people, the embodiment of Rome who would destroy everything she held dear.
And as he administered his magic to her feet, and she tried in vain not to grind her hips against the towels that hugged her throbbing clit, she finally acknowledged the truth.
She loved him. And that love could kill her.
Chapter 25
Maximus rolled Carys onto her back, and she stared up at him through glazed eyes, her lips parted, her breath a series of erratic gasps.
Gods, what had possessed him to start this? In theory he’d assumed it would be arousing and enjoyable. It was most certainly arousing, but the abstinence made the pleasure a knife’s edge of agony.
She shifted her leg and hooked around his shoulder, pinning him against her welcoming heat. He braced his weight on his free arm and prepared to once again resume control.
And then he glanced up at her.
Her body gleamed in the ethereal flicker of the lanterns, her breasts full and proud, crowned by rosy nipples. And her head was raised, looking back at him, as beautiful and desirable as any artist’s depiction of Venus.
“Come here.” Her whisper echoed around the bathhouse and wrapped its sensuous command around his mind. He couldn’t recall why he had to resist, why he had to refuse her open arms.
“I haven’t yet finished.” But he made no move to reassert control, because the vision before him was too tempting to disturb.
She gripped his throat with both hands and pulled. Without knowing why, he followed her lead, gliding up her slick body, the oil sliding onto his skin, warm and fragrant.
He towered over her, his wood nymph, his Celtic lady, his Carys. “Why do you never do as you are bid?”
“Because”—Carys gasped as she flexed her thighs and dug her heels into his backside—“I’m not your slave, Maximus. I’m your woman.”
He sank into her and she cried out and grasped him to her, meshed as one. The oil he had massaged over her willing flesh coated him, their slick bodies coming together in rising frenzy.
“My woman.” He growled the words into her flushed face. Found satisfaction she, like him, knew her place in his life.
“Always.” He barely heard her breathless response, but her meaning intoxicated his senses and sent the remnants of his control spiraling into the abyss.
And with every thrust, every touch, every mind-shattering moment of orgasm, he showed her how completely she was his woman.
Always.
* * *
Legs entwined with her love, Carys hovered on the blissful edge of sleep. Surely, tonight she had conceived his child. The moon phase was favorable, her body receptive. All that stood between conception and barrenness was the wrath of her sweet Cerridwen.
She closed her eyes and focused her mind. Begged forgiveness for her transgression, begged Cerridwen to intercede on her behalf with the Morrigan.
After all, wasn’t she now worshipping the Morrigan in the way the great goddesses had always demanded? Didn’t that count for anything? Didn’t it make up for the way she had taken the sacred root without proper ritual or permission?
For a moment she recalled the terrifying fury of the Morrigan as she stood at the crossroads. The impotent rage as she had looked into the future. The eerie certainty that, implausibly, the goddess somehow held Carys accountable.
That was impossible. Why would the Greatest Goddess of them all blame Carys for something so utterly beyond her control? And why had she looked through her as though she weren’t even there?
“Carys.” Maximus’ lazy voice jerked her back to the present and her eyes snapped open. He was propped on one elbow, looking down at her with a satisfied smile on his face. “What’s the matter?” He traced a finger across her brow, and she realized she was frowning.
She drew in a jagged breath and relaxed her muscles. She could pretend all was well, or she could tell Maximus the truth.
There was so much she could never reveal to him, so she decided on the truth.
“I was asking Cerridwen to forgive me.”
His smile slipped a notch. “For sleeping with the enemy?”
She puffed out an exhausted laugh. “No. I fear I offended her earlier today. It was nothing to do with being with you.”
Except that was a lie, because it had everything to do with being with Maximus. She decided that didn’t count.
He grunted in clear disapproval. “I respect your devotion to your goddess, but would prefer you didn’t think of her while still glowing from our union.”
She reached up to cradle his jaw. “I can scarcely think of anything but you.”
His frown vanished. “Better.” He reached across her, his powerful chest scraping across her sensitized breasts. “Where in Tartarus is that strigil?”
She breathed deep, savoring the scent of man, of fragranced oil and hot, sweaty sex. Why did the one she had finally given her heart to have to be a Roman?
How many stolen moments from time could they enjoy before they were discovered?
“Now, lie still.” Maximus loomed over her, and from the corner of her eye she caught sight of a curved blade glinting in the lamplight.
She held her breath as he gently scraped the strigil over her oiled skin, and watched him meticulously clean the blade after every spine-tingling sweep.
How many women had he pleasured this way in the past? His touch was so sure, his technique so skillful, he must have had plenty of practice.
It didn’t please her, despite the fact she was now the beneficiary of his expertise.
“You’re frowning again.” He waved the strigil under her nose. “I trust you’re not communing with your Cerridwen while I slave here for your every comfort.”
“No. I was simply wondering how many women you’ve done this to before.”
“This?” He glanced at the strigil, as if he’d never seen it before. “Do you think I was a slave in Rome?” The corner of his mouth twitched, as if he found the concept amusing.
“I don’t know what you were in Rome.” She knew he had been no slave. “All I know is you command your soldiers here in Cymru.”
“In Rome,” he said, gliding the blade along the curve of her breast, “slaves would take care of such menial tasks.” He flashed her a grin. “I’m gratified we’re not in Rome. This experience far exceeds my expectations.”
“Then you also are not of the peasant class.” But she knew that already. His bearing was regal, his attitude that of one who expected deference as his right. It went deeper than military rank. It was in his blood, his bones. His heritage.
“Does it matter?”
It shouldn’t. And yet it did. Not because she wanted him to be of similar status to herself. But because she craved to know everything she possibly could about him.
“Do you miss your kin?”
He flicked her an amused glance. “Believe me, distance is a virtue when it comes to my father.”
The Druid Chronicles: Four Book Collection Page 20
