by Georgia Fox
Chapter Eight
The horses clattered into the snowy yard, dragging the cart full of animal carcasses after them. Cedney leapt down from her mount and patted its neck. Once again the beast had carried her safely through another productive hunt. She'd hoped to prove herself today to Rufus Redbeard and he seemed impressed. Good.
But there remained the way he had touched her. His suggestion of tutoring. She did not know for sure whether he still believed she was a man, but whatever he thought her sex, Redbeard had made it clear he was attracted. To her or to the man she was supposed to be? Did it matter?
Of course it mattered, she chided herself sternly. What if he gave her away, exposed her as a woman?
And there was more that concerned her. If he was truly the uncle of Lady Rosamund, would he act this way with the man meant to marry his niece? She was more certain now than ever that he was not the person he pretended to be. His motives, therefore, could be wicked, dangerous to her manor.
To encourage his lustiness meant flirting with trouble, and she ought to keep herself above all that, as she always did when it came to men who had dared make their interests plain to Cedney. But this was different. Her attraction to the man who called himself Rufus matched his to her and it was not easily swept aside. They were drawn together by an invisible, magical force. From first sight she was lost in his powerful aura.
There was only one way to get him out of her blood.
* * * *
"I would talk to you in my private chamber, Redbeard."
He'd been brushing down his horse in the stables and turned in surprise at the sound of that clear, firm voice.
"I...want to show you something."
It was only half an hour since they'd returned from the hunt and, although expectation was heavy in the air between them, he hadn't expected anything like this to develop at least until evening.
Perhaps the young "lord" thought that they would rouse less suspicion in daylight. Or else she was too impatient for some of that tutoring he'd offered. Dom smiled and followed her out of the stables. She walked ahead of him with that long, confident stride—one she would never be able to manage in a long, wool skirt, he mused. He tried to picture her hair grown out and wondered if it had always been chopped short. It seemed likely. She had evidently done the best she could to hide her good looks, to roughen her edges.
It suddenly made him want to buy her gowns, to pamper her from head to toe, to wrap her up in warm furs and feed her with fruit basted in honey. No woman should have been left the burden of this manor. She had handled it admirably, but was she happy, content, fulfilled? His brothers would laugh at that question, saying there was only one way for a woman to be kept content. But Dom was the thoughtful sort. Indeed, that caring side had often been his downfall.
His brothers frequently teased him because of the gentle nature, hidden under his gruff exterior. Admittedly it took him a long while to ponder his thoughts sometimes, but it was worth it in the end, to get it all straight in his head and to be sure he did the right thing. That way he would never have any regret.
Now he turned his thoughts to this strange woman trapped in a man's clothing.
One certain thing he knew already: he would not cause Cedney Bloodwynne hurt or trouble, but if he walked away, turned his back and did nothing, someone else may soon come along and care far less about her and what she'd achieved. They would take everything from her, perhaps even her life, because of this trick she'd played. And it simply was not possible for her to keep this up forever. Sooner or later the truth would come out. She needed someone to stand by her, to protect her.
Not that she would agree, he thought wryly. The woman still thought she had him fooled. Perhaps she had played the part of a man for so long that even she believed it. Certainly her fyrdsmen seemed to believe it.
Cedney took him through the great hall, up a short flight of wooden steps and into her large private room. The bed cover, as he'd noted last night, was a richly colored tapestry—considerable luxury, and there was a woven cloth on the flagged stone floor to add a touch of warmth underfoot. There were even curtains around the bed to keep out drafts. Dom had seldom seen such splendor. His father's fortress was a work in progress and since it was inhabited only by men for some years there was little in the way of comfort. But now that the brothers began collecting wives the place bore more resemblance to a home. Dom's elder brother, Salvador, had built his own castle some miles across the fields from their father's manor, but that was a place as grim as the temper of its owner.
"You referred to the fact that I have a secret, Redbeard," she said suddenly, spinning on her heels to face him. "So I decided I should show it to you. No reason to hide it any longer."
He grinned slowly. "Indeed." With fumbling fingers he began removing the brooch that closed his cloak. "It is the only sensible thing to let me share your secret."
But she remained still, watching him with faint amusement in her eyes.
As his confused gaze circled the room, it caught on a gleam of gold. Atop the table where last night they had played chess, there was a small box with the lid partially open. A sultry shimmer of light came from within, as did one half of a stream of gemstones that lay like a languid snake in a coil upon the table.
She gestured toward it with a limp hand. "This, Redbeard, is the secret I wished to show you. Some of it, at least."
His pulse slowed.
She shrugged off her mantle and tossed it over the end of the large bed. "But I also wanted to offer you a gift. In celebration of my forthcoming marriage to your niece."
"Is it not I who should present you with her dowry?"
"This is not a dowry." She strode to the table and laid her hand on the lid of the box. "This is nothing more than a token. A little thing to show my appreciation."
Dom looked at her. If that was only a "token" then Cedney Bloodwynne must be very rich. That meant she was in even more danger than he'd realized. It also explained why the woman went to such lengths to hide her true sex. No woman would be allowed to keep such an inheritance.
"This is my secret," she said firmly.
Apparently she meant to go on with her lie. "I hope, for your sake, you don't go around showing your precious jewels to all and sundry," he muttered.
"No, Redbeard." She came toward him and as she tilted her face upward, cold, snowy afternoon light through the window cast her features in silver. "I'm only showing them to you."
One hand suddenly clasped his balls.
"I trust you can be discreet and keep them to yourself," she added.
Excitement surged within. Teasing, arrogant, domineering woman. He tried to calm his desire as best he could, but he was fast falling under this fascinating creature's spell. "You ask a lot of me," he growled.
"But you know now that I can pay you well to keep my secret. You have seen your reward for that silence."
The woman was not only an excellent rider and hunter, but she was cunning too. He knew now that she was testing the waters to see how much he'd figured out. The treasure she offered in return for his complicity with this lie was great indeed, but there was other treasure here before him. And he was far more tempted by what she kept inside her clothes than he was by her box of gold and pearls.
He wanted to lick her eyelashes and her brows. Wanted to consume her whole. "My silence comes at a high price. Are you certain you can reward me enough?"
"Oh, I am."
"You're very sure of yourself this afternoon. The hunt must have fired your blood."
She smiled. "We both have secrets, don't we, Redbeard?" Then she was solemn again, as she reached up and ran a finger over his rough cheek. "I don't suppose you're going to tell me who you really are. I won't ask. We'll both keep our secrets and go on with life as it is. No questions. No trouble."
Dom was shocked. He thought he'd had her fooled. But she was too clever for his hasty excuses.
"Now, I'm going to bend over this bed and lower my breeches so yo
u can put that lovely big cock in my bottom," she added. "That's part of your reward too."
"Bribery, eh?"
"If you wish to call it that." She turned away, lowered her breeches just enough to show her firm backside, and bent over the end of the bed.
Dom stared at the smooth cheeks and then fumbled to untie the laces of his chausses. He hadn't been this eager to fuck for some time, perhaps ever. The yearning was almost too fierce, too feral. "I'll need something to smooth the path," he grunted, looking around the chamber.
"Why?" she demanded over her shoulder.
He was amused. Clearly she'd never done this before. "Because I'll rip your pretty arse to shreds without it, my tender young lord." Usually a woman would have some scented oil in her possession, but naturally Cedney Bloodwynne, masquerading as a man, did not.
Dom couldn't wait much longer. He had to have her. That delectable little bottom was begging for a rutting such as only he could give it.
* * * *
Cedney heard the man moving about behind, breathing harshly. "I'll have to be resourceful." She felt his breath on her buttocks, just before she felt a large dollop of his warm spittle fall into her crack. She knew then that he was kneeling behind her. A moment later his tongue touched her anus, squeezing and thrusting between her cheeks, probing firmly at the tiny hole, moistening it steadily.
She gasped. Dear lord, what was she letting herself in for? It was madness. But she had to have this man inside her somehow. And at least if he came in her backside it would not leave her with a child to explain away. She'd just have to trust him to manage that tight hole.
He licked at her furiously, grunting as his hands grabbed her buttocks and parted them. His tongue jabbed at her, over and over. Below, hidden from his view, her pussy was wet with yearning.
He spat again and she felt it drip down. His tongue tried to follow the trickle, but she protested, tightening the fierce hold on her breeches. One of his hands tried to pull her breeches down further and she knew he meant to get a look at her pussy.
"Stop!" she exclaimed, over her shoulder. "You get my arse. Be content with that or have nothing."
He growled and tried to thrust his hand between her legs but she kept her knees tight together, so he laved at her anus with an angry intensity. And then he spanked her. Hard.
She swore, the curse flying out of her as she almost fell forward on her face.
While her arse cheek still stung he smacked her again with an open palm. Once more he tried to wrench her breeches down the back of her thighs, but she was having none of it. Two more sharp slaps were delivered to each cheek and then the thick head of his penis was pushing between them.
Evidently he was not accustomed to a woman laying down the rules. His irritation at being denied entrance to her pussy was clear. No doubt he usually got whatever he wanted.
Now he forged his way through the tight ring of her anus. She bit down on the urge to cry out. Despite his efforts to prepare her for the impalement, a burning pain seized her for a moment, shooting up her spine. Her body struggled to accommodate his size, but in vain. Rufus pulled back and began working a finger into her bottom. That was better. Ah yes, she could manage that.
His breath rasped over the back of her neck and then she felt his teeth nip her skin. "Never been fucked, eh?"
"Never," she gasped, eyes closed.
"I'm a lucky man."
"Glad I am that you know your good fortune. Do not push it."
"Bossy, aren't you?"
"I am lord of the manor. My word is law here."
"But your arse will be mine." Rufus added a second finger, working both in and out of her arse steadily, stretching the entrance. Meanwhile his other hand slid under her, pushing between her body and the bed. Cedney writhed, realizing what he was up to, but it was too late, his large palm cupped her pussy through her breeches and she heard him make a small, low sound of victory because he had finally found what he sought most. "Yes!"
"Don't." She shivered, but not with fear. With blistering-raw, blinding-white, wicked-hot desire. The don't was as much for herself as it was for him. As it happened, it was ignored by both.
Chapter Nine
He was sweating. Wild with need. She made some attempt to keep his hand from exploring, but she couldn't stop him. Dom was on a mission, determined, intent. With two fingers buried in her backside, he sprawled over her body, one of her legs trapped between his thighs, his second hand working its way under her and inside her cowhide breeches.
He could feel her pulse, throbbing hard— could hear her groans of helplessness and need. "Cedney," he growled into her hair. "Let me claim you as a woman should be claimed."
She was slick and wet between her legs. He slipped his fingers quickly through the entrance she had tried to hide from him. Carefully he stroked her satiny pearl until yet more dew soaked his fingertips. Under his weight she jerked, her breath exhaled in sobs of desperation.
"I can't," she exclaimed. "Don't. Please."
"No one will know," he replied, not pausing his stimulation of her pussy, feeling her buttocks squeeze even tighter on his thrusting fingers. "Just you and I." It wouldn't be right to leave her unfucked, he decided. She was a beautiful, unique woman and she ought to be pleasured. Fully pleasured. "Your secret will remain so with me."
He didn't like the thought of anyone else one day finding her sweet pussy under these worn old breeches and taking what should be his. Fate had left her untouched all this time—against the odds, really—and Dom felt as if she'd been saved thus just for him. There were not many women left with a maidenhead attached these days, yet she had preserved hers. Admittedly, she had done so in a way that he should not approve. But his admiration of her spirit and determination could not be helped.
"Let me have you," he growled, tasting her hair on his tongue. "I must, Cedney. Let me."
"Dear God, what are you doing to me?"
"Fucking you. I can't stop. Lie still for me or I'll hurt you. I won't mean to, but I'm too large to go easy and too roused to go slow."
He thought he heard her chuckle at that. Suddenly she was pushing down, grinding her cunny in his palm and he knew she was coming already.
Dom gave a shout of delight and as she opened her thighs to him at last, he rolled atop her body, wrenching her breeches to her knees. She was still trembling when his cock found her pussy lips and probed insistently between them from behind.
"Don't hold your breath," he warned tersely. "Let your body relax for me." Damn, he needed to be inside her.
After giving her a moment he thrust forward. He felt the soft wetness part and then undulate around the length of his shaft as he sank into her blissful heat. She cried out just once when her maidenhead yielded to his weapon and then he was where he yearned to be, hilt deep. His fingers were still filling her arse. He was only sorry he had nothing at hand to fill her mouth too— give her something to suck upon with those clever lips— but his brothers were not there to help. Not this time, in any case.
His cock filled her newly opened pussy and he growled with delight as her satin walls held him so snuggly, squeezing and tugging on him. He kissed the back of her neck under her short fair hair and heard her groan with excitement, felt her shiver.
"Fuck me," she gasped out, turning the side of her face to the bed, showing her flushed pink cheek. "Oh, yes, fuck me!"
He gladly obliged, thrusting in and out, cock in her cunny and fingers in her arse.
"Don't spend in me," she managed.
"I must."
"No." Her eyes opened wide.
Dom kissed her hot cheek. "I must. I am wild to spend in you."
"Don't you dare! Not in my cunt. If you must, use the...the other."
Oh, he must. With a curse he pulled out of that lovely pussy and forced his slick cock between her firm buttocks. When she protested the roughness, he tersely reminded her it was her idea.
He couldn't help the sudden lash of anger that swept through him because
she did not want him to release inside her sex. Of course, it was only good sense that she didn't want that, considering this role she'd assumed in her life, but it still infuriated him. Perhaps it was made worse by the fact that she made the rules of this encounter. And Dominigo d'Anzeray had never been in such a position before. No woman had ever given commands to him.
When he shot his load he bit down on the urge to shout her name, remembering it was afternoon and the manor churning with people going about their daily work. He shuddered, back arched, legs tense. His seed rushed in a wild torrent and he ground his hips against her, planting deeply, lavishly inside her tight bottom. He thought his cock had burst open, such was the raging flood that shot forth from his body and into hers.
* * * *
He buried his face between her thighs and ate from her cunny as if he was a man starved. Cedney had removed all her clothes for she was hot, her skin dripping with sweat even on that winter's afternoon, and she lay across her bed, staring up at the roof beams, wondering what would become of her now.
This man—whomever he truly was— had shown her heaven. What would she do now, once she put her manly garments back on and resumed her life without him?
He must leave, of course. She would have to make him go, because he knew her precious, dangerous secret.
His tongue slipped deeper inside her and his hands clutched her bottom, raising it up off the bed, so he could get his mouth over her entire pussy. His dark eyes watched her over the tight blonde curls of her mound and she saw his wild, lusty pleasure. Felt it too.
When she came this time she was almost sore from it, drenched, weakened. And then he covered her again, his massive cock forced into her aching pussy as they lay this time, belly to belly. He kissed her and she tasted her essence on his lips and tongue.
"Don't spend in me," she reminded him, breathless.
