She sniffed and wiped at her face, and he released her. For the first time she felt the warm stone beneath her feet. Ah, yes. The under-floor heating...the hypocaust as she’d heard people call it, warmed her as nothing else could. Except, maybe, for affection in Terentius’s eyes. His encircling, strong arms heated her in ways she couldn’t deny.
He edged closer, towering like a sentinel, like the warrior within him. She backed up against one wall to place distance between them. Terentius’s gaze toured her from head to toe, lingering with undeniable hunger on her breasts. She should feel repulsion for the inappropriateness of her excitement, but it burst upward inside her like a great wave crashing on a shore. She needed a release. She craved something to erase the ugly images in her brain that she felt might haunt her forever.
“I didn’t tell you,” she said softly. “I didn’t tell you what they threatened before you came. They started to drag me toward the fire. They were going throw me inside the house while it was on fire, Terentius.” Her voice strangled, memories of fighting for freedom bursting forth in a searing pain.
“Shh.” He placed his hands down on either side of her head and caged her to the wall. His body didn’t touch hers. “I know, little one. It will take time to banish that fear. Give yourself time.” His jaw clenched. “On my life, I am so sorry you had to go through that. People go mad when they’re together in a group. You saw what happened when we were at the festival. They don’t know their own minds. They have no minds at all.”
She nodded, her breath coming in staccato bursts as she calmed the raging horror threatening to overtake her. “If I let what they did to me define me, I will die, Terentius. I’ll hide from the world. I’ll stay in this villa or in another shelter and become one of those crazy old women everyone hates.”
He whispered quietly, his deep voice soothing. “Don’t, little one. Don’t let them destroy you this way. Hold on to me. I won’t let you fall.”
She gazed up into his eyes and felt an awesome power filling her up. His protection gathered Adrenia close in a cocoon of safety. In awe, she could almost believe what he said. She touched his face, and the stubble on his cheek prickled her fingers. Though the shadow of fear still tugged and pulled at her defenses, Terentius brought comfort and strength. The evil she’d experienced last night, through much of her life, might just lose its hold.
His gaze glittered with renewed attraction, and she recognized desire rebuilding inside her. No man had ever stirred her this way, made her feel as feminine, as protected...as free.
“You give so much to me,” she said. “The only way I could be destroyed was if you didn’t like me. If you believed the villagers who attacked me.”
“I would never believe them.” He smiled gently.
He leaned in and his lips possessed hers with an aggressive devouring kiss.
If she’d thought his other kisses held hunger, this one asked for more, tasted more, took more. Terentius’s tongue plunged deep, stroking, enticing, asking for a response. She plastered her hands against the stone wall behind her, not daring to touch him for fear she would cling and never let go. Her mouth, coaxed by his kiss, started its own response. Her tongue mated with his, loving and feeling his textures, taking his clean taste into her with ravenous need. One hand cupped her waist and slid relentlessly upward until he touched near her left breast. She gasped into his mouth, the moan of pleasure taking even her by surprise. He pressed his body to hers, his thighs hard, his chest wide and stalwart, a sheltering presence. One hand plunged into the tangled, roughly cut hair at the back of her neck so he could tug her closer. His hips bumped hers, pressed, and his cock went hard. He bent his knees slightly and wedged his cock between her thighs just enough.
She gasped as he tore his lips from hers, and savored the delicious sensation of long, hard cock pressing her clit. His hips moved, and she gasped in sharp pleasure. Undulating gently, he thrust again and again with a heady rhythm that brought her closer and closer to a sweet pleasure. She closed her eyes and her head tilted slightly back. A feathery touch brushed over her nipple, and as she moaned, he pinched her nipple once. Twice. All the while his hips moved, his breath a hot, hard rasp in her ear.
“A man has never touched me like this,” she whispered.
“Never kissed you like this?” He touched his lips to hers tenderly. Then his mouth savored hers with deep, delicious kisses that devoured and tasted. “Or this?”
“No,” she managed to mumble.
She rubbed against him, stimulated and hot for a new touch. He cradled her left breast. She moaned at the exquisite sensation, and he slipped his touch upward to pinch her nipple. Both nipples ached for his attention, tingling and drawing tight.
He tore his lips from hers long enough to whisper in her ear. “Let me give you this pleasure.”
As his mouth smothered hers once more in long, delicious kisses. Adrenia arched her hips in rhythm. He reached under her tunica and found her naked buttocks. As his hands squeezed and stroked her flesh, he rocked his hips faster. Moisture gathered between her legs. She writhed in his powerful hold. Terentius lifted the front of her tunica, and though he clasped her butt in one hand, his other hand slipped between her legs. As his tongue plunged in and out of her mouth, he eased two big fingers slowly into her tightness. She moaned as bright, hot pleasure rose higher and faster. Amazement and delight swept aside all her bad dreams and memories as exotic sensations took over. He only pushed his fingers in a little ways, then he drew out. Embarrassment edged past her passion, and she drew away from his kiss. His wet fingers caressed a spot at the top of her sex.
“Oh.” Her breath exclamation of pleasure took even her by surprise. “Oh, that feels...”
“Yes.” Low and guttural, his answer didn’t stop him from touching her again. Again. His touch dancing, flicking, caressing the bud that ached and burned with pleasure.
“Oh, please.”
“Tell me what you want, Adrenia.”
She whimpered, her gaze latching onto his fierce expression. Trembling, she reached for the pleasure, panting for air. It felt so good. She needed...she needed...
She rose higher, reaching for it, wanting it—
His mouth closed over hers, his tongue plunged deep as the ecstasy swallowed her whole. She screamed into his mouth, shaking as she burst into the most glorious pleasure she could have imagined in a million days and nights.
Adrenia panted against his lips as Terentius removed his touch. His cock pressed her thigh, and her heat clenched and released.
“My sisters were wrong.”
While his eyes still blazed with need, his muscles flexed with tension, he gazed down at her with barely leashed tension. “About what?”
“They said sex was dull and to be avoided as much as possible unless their husbands demanded it.”
His eyebrows speared up, then he kissed her forehead. “You don’t believe them now?”
“What we just did...you wouldn’t need to demand it from me.”
He chuckled and pressed his forehead to hers. His touch flowed over her, continuing a searching caress that reawakened and heightened her senses.
“That’s not all of it.” His palms skated over her buttocks. “There is far more.”
He looked her directly in the eye, his intensity mesmerizing. Adrenia inched her hand over his hard arms, exploring him almost as much as his restless touch toured her body.
His gaze held pure admiration. “You are a remarkable woman, Adrenia.”
His praise diminished the hot wire of pain threatening to return if she thought about last night. No, she wouldn’t think of that. “A man’s never treated me with such respect and kindness as you, Terentius.”
He shook his head. “The men of Durovigutum must be idiots.”
“Why?”
He traced her jaw with his index finger. “They haven’t seen you the way I have. Your passion. Your fight. The way you shiver when pleasured. If they could see that, they would worship at your fee
t.”
Open-mouthed and astonished, she stared at him. “I don’t know what to say.”
When he spoke, it was reverent and filled with conviction. “Think of it and know it’s true.” Terentius kissed her forehead. “I must go back to the fort, but I will come for you tonight.”
Her eyebrows lifted. “Tonight?”
His gaze stayed warm and hungry. “I want you with me tonight, and I know just where we can go for some peace.”
She brushed at his armor, marveling in the sculpted, hot strength beneath fabric and covering stalwart bone.
“Be safe, Adrenia. Lock this door behind me.”
When he left she quickly latched the door and sagged onto the bed and closed her eyes. Her encounter with him had left her one part exhausted, another part elated. That two such feelings could exist within her at the same time confused her, but she should be used to it now with Terentius Marius Atellus. Despite her circumstances, despite her aloneness in the world, she had the knowledge that at least a solitary person cared what happened to her.
Adrenia sat on a bench in the courtyard, her cloak gathered around her. The temperature had warmed some during the day and melted snow. Puddles dabbled courtyard stonework, and her breath puffed out in the cold.
Adrenia closed her eyes and drank in this tiny piece of nature. Despite the cold, it kept her mind clearer and less apt to wander into melancholia. She recognized exhaustion when she felt it. Nightmares had broken her slumber last night. Fire, screams and stench of burning flesh haunted her thoughts even during the day. She shuddered as memories intruded. She drew in one deep breath and then another, trying to find the inner quiet nature provided.
She couldn’t wait until Terentius came for her tonight.
A shadow fell near Adrenia and she started.
“Adrenia.” Cordus walked toward her. Dressed formally, he appeared ready for important political business in town. “How good it is to see you out.”
He smiled, and she managed to return the expression even though her heart pounded. “Thank you, sir. Your hospitality made it possible.”
He came closer, and she saw an odd light in his eyes. Uncertainty perhaps. He smiled and nodded toward the bench near her. “Is it all right if I sit?”
“Please.”
He settled on the long bench, far enough away for comfort. “I know talking about your parents must be painful, and that is why I haven’t mentioned this before.”
“I appreciate your thoughtfulness.”
He smiled, but the expression didn’t hold. “I’d like to honor Terentius for saving your life. In a couple of days perhaps we’ll have a dinner and invite people to celebrate his bravery.”
What could she say? She could see Cordus wanted approval. “I thank you.”
He sighed, his eyes going harder and concerned. “I see your hesitation and understand it, too. It is a touchy situation when...well, frankly, when a death is so tragic and violent.”
“What sort of honor would you give him?”
“At the beginning of the dinner we will offer food and drink to Jupiter, Mars, and Minerva. Cordia tells me you worship at the altar to Coventina. Perhaps you would like to offer something to this goddess as well. I’ll ask Terentius if he wishes to offer anything to the gods.”
Adrenia swallowed hard. “If you think it should be done, sir.”
He stood and paced along a short length of the sizable courtyard. A cold breeze wafted over her, prickling the hair along her arms. “I think it is only right.”
Adrenia hadn’t expected this. “Sir, I am beyond grateful for your hospitality and protection. So many would have left me to the cold. I am—”
“My dear.” He held up one hand. “I didn’t expect praise. This was the only right thing to do. Brigomalla once served me well. So well I felt it necessary to reward him with his freedom. As a result, you were born a free woman. As the daughter of a freedman who was attacked most viciously, I can do nothing less.” He turned his gaze into the heavens. His slow pacing didn’t stop. “There is one thing I must ask, however. And this may seem extremely intrusive, especially at a time like this. My daughter is at a very marriageable age.”
Wary of where he planned to head with the conversation, she didn’t fill the silence when he paused.
He cleared his throat. “You are older and more experienced with men than my daughter, no doubt.”
She frowned. “My life with my parents was somewhat...cloistered. They didn’t approve of me associating with men without a chaperone.”
“Yet you associated with Terentius.”
Her stomach tightened. “I’m not certain I know what you mean, sir.”
He turned the full effect of his piercing gaze upon her. “Do not worry, my dear. I’m not trying to trap you into saying anything to blacken your reputation. But my eyes are wide open. I was a soldier for thirty years, and I know a soldier’s mind. Terentius is a new centurion, trying his wings and showing his masculinity. Part of his rank responsibility is to show other soldiers the right way to live. If he takes a wife now he may be considered either foolish or ambitious. Any soldier who plans to climb the ranks knows having a helpmate at his side can be invaluable. I discovered that in Nerva.”
Her mind raced. Fear warned her as well as intuition. She wanted to run away from whatever he planned to say next, but common sense held her in place.
“Are you saying I should marry Terentius?” she asked, blurting out the question.
He chuckled softly and without sarcasm. “I’m saying that there are rumors that you and Terentius are affianced. Is such a rumor true?”
That wasn’t what she expected him to say. She hesitated. “We are not.”
Though he nodded, he didn’t look convinced, and that worried her. “Good. For you see, Cordia finds Terentius intriguing. As a father, I see these things even when she thinks I don’t. Cordia is a...well...willful young woman.” He returned to pacing. “Because of that, I would have her marry a man capable of keeping her under control without harming her. A difficult thing to do.”
A cold, hard knot formed in Adrenia’s stomach as she understood his angle. Still, she would not say it. Would not ask what she knew he would tell her anyway.
Adrenia drew from wells of inner strength. Those embers, that fire she relied upon to keep her moving forward flickered. “I see. You wanted to make sure there is no understanding between me and Terentius.”
“Exactly.”
As she acknowledged the truth, a dull ache thudded in her heart. “We are not betrothed.”
“Good.” He started to move away, back the way he originally had come. “Very well my dear, I have business in town. I will see you much later.”
Without another word, he entered the double doors and disappeared from view. Shaking inside, Adrenia analyzed why this situation brought her such pain. Terentius needed a woman who would love him and not see him as a stepping-stone to higher wealth and privilege. He needed a woman who would give her heart with everything inside her with no blemishes on her past. He deserved that. Adrenia knew Cordia didn’t meet the requirements for any of these qualities. After all, she planned to force him into marriage. She clenched her fists in her lap. She spread her fingers and tried to relax.
Hesitating between two ideas, her mind raced for an answer. She didn’t want to see a man like Terentius trapped by Cordia. He was an honorable man, yes. Brave and strong and attractive. A woman could do far worse than to be his wife.
But she also couldn’t abide the idea of him married to Cordia.
Chapter Eleven
“Antaene animis caelestibus irae.”
(Is there so much anger in the minds of the gods?)
Virgil
Roman Poet, 70 BC–19 BC
“Where are we going?” Adrenia asked as Terentius directed their horse toward the east and the center of Durovigutum.
“A private bath. My friends Capito and Longa own it. They purchased the house not long ago and plan to rent it o
ut. It has space and privacy.”
“My goddess.” Her heartbeat skipped and tumbled, and she swallowed hard. “He’s letting you use it for tonight?”
“Yes.” Terentius smoothed a warm touch over her belly once more. She wriggled her hips a bit, and he hissed in a breath.
Adrenia sighed as she leaned back into Terentius’s secure embrace. Before long they traversed Durovigutum’s streets. Sounds and smells grew together in the town’s rumble. Few people even glanced at them as they rode by. Far too many other people traversed the area on horseback, including the occasional soldiers.
As they rode into the deepening night, she couldn’t ignore Terentius’s possessive hand on her lower belly. Anyone taking the time to observe would understand the meaning behind that touch. She was his and his alone, if not in marriage, in the bond of their bodies. As his warm breath stirred the hair at the top of her head, excitement rose. She hoped and feared they’d find the heights of ecstasy they’d discovered before. Part of her worried it wasn’t possible. After all, now the urgency had left, and the threat of death didn’t hang over them, how would they regain that deliciousness? Could they create anything that wonderful again?
Terentius shifted on the horse, and his arm tightened around her. His hips pressed into Adrenia. A hot stirring coiled in her stomach. Oh, yes. He did want her, and his desire built hers. She squirmed.
“Patience.” The husky sound of his voice increased her gathering desire. “We have all night.”
Though she understood his meaning, she asked, “For what?”
He whispered into her ear. “For us to come together. Me, deep within you. Tasting you. Learning your secrets. And if you chose, you learning my secrets.”
Fine shivers of delight went through her. “Are you sure I haven’t shown you all my secrets?”
He chuckled. “I’m sure.”
She’d never understood the sensual undercurrents between a man and woman so well as she did now. For his heat, his strength, everything within this man breathed new life and excitement into her. She couldn’t resist what her life presented, swept away on eager cravings to understand Terentius. She wanted to experience what these powerful wantings meant and if she could fall into their secrets without losing herself. Perhaps she could learn who she really was soon. Maybe within his embrace the truth would free her.
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