He panted as he stared darkly at her. “If you’re trying to distract me from my task, you’re only making me desire you more.”
If only he did desire her, truly wanted her, not just her body. She was still afraid of him, but if he always touched her so masterfully, she might not have to be. She had to get the hell away from him.
Spending another night in his arms only reminded her of how hard that was going to be. She’d tried to work herself free from his hold several times during the night but it was impossible. With his arms wrapped securely around her and one of his legs draped over her, she was trapped.
It was their third day on the road and her time was running out. He’d said the journey would take four days. Five if she slowed him down. She was going to have to figure out how to slow him down. Once they reached his home, escape would be more difficult. She had to get away before then.
“How is it,” Gavyn started out, “that you were never once arrested, while your family enjoyed frequent visits to the local jail?”
“What?!” She sat up in the saddle. She hadn’t expected that.
“Your eldest brother recently spent a month in jail for petty theft.”
She glanced at him over her shoulder. “How did you know?”
“I’ve been following you for a long time.”
What other horrible things had he uncovered? “I prefer to sleep in my own bed.” She wasn’t giving him any information. He was clever enough to use it against her.
“You moved around so often, it’s hard to believe you know what that feels like.”
“Despite what you think you know about me, I used to have a real home. Once upon a time.”
With a real family.
“What happened to your mother?” he wondered.
Jane was not talking about this with him. It was too painful to share with anyone. “You killed her, remember?”
“I meant your real mother.”
Her evasion skills were not working with him. “She’s dead.” It was all she’d give him.
“I imagine by some deceit of your father’s.”
Now she was getting angry. She would not let him tarnish the precious memory of her mother. “She died of the fever when I was a little girl.” Tears burned her eyes.
Jane remembered seeing her mother succumb to the illness; remembered how she herself had died inside along with her; watching the only person she'd ever loved wither away and choke on blood and finally close her eyes for the last time.
“What was she like?”
“That’s none of your business!” Jane could handle his spite, but she’d be damned if he started in on her mother.
“I think you loved her verra much.”
She stared ahead, pretending to ignore him.
“You must miss her.”
That was it. She’d had it with this. “Do you miss your family?”
“I never want to hear mention of them from your lips again!”
“I feel the same about my mother!”
“Gods,” he cursed. “You’re a difficult lass.”
“I’m not sharing anything with you. Insult me and my family all you want, but leave my mother out of it!” How disappointed her mother would be if she were still alive.
Jane had been reduced to a street rat; gambling and cheating and pick-pocketing to survive. She sometimes dreamed of another life. One with her mother still in it; teaching her how to be good. Protecting her. Loving her. The reality had been taken from her too soon. Maybe she was a bad person.
“I’m only curious,” he mused. “Because in the time that I’ve been watching you, I haven’t seen any resemblance to your family. I assume your mother must have had some influence on your nature.”
Jane choked back a sob. It almost felt worse hearing him speak well of her mother. She was so confused. Gavyn was starting to get under her skin, turning her world on its axis. And she didn’t like it.
“Why did you stay with your family?” He continued to question her.
What sort of question was that? Where else would she stay? She’d imagined running away a thousand times, was used to fending for herself, but that wasn’t what she wanted. She wanted to make a decent, respectable marriage, and couldn’t do that unless she was one, a virgin, and two, had a family name. No matter how bad the name of the family, it was still a major detail. No man of worth would want to marry a common street rat, as cute and cunning as she might be.
Now here she was. Alone. Her family murdered by a warlord. Suddenly she had a past that could work to her advantage. It wouldn’t matter that she was on her own, she had reason to be. She could invent any story she wanted and snag a husband in no time. Her future was looking up.
“I had my reasons for staying.”
“I’m glad you did,” he murmured at her ear. “Else I never would have found you.”
How did he have the power to do that? Degrade her one minute, then build her up the next. It was throwing her.
“I’m regretting the decision now,” she said. “Had I known you’d be coming, I’d have run a long time ago.”
“It’s too late for running. You’re mine now.”
His? No chance. For once she was going to be in control of her life. “How much longer until we reach your home?”
“We’ll be there by tomorrow evening. I imagine you’re ready to be off this horse.”
“You have no idea.” Off this horse and away from him.
“In fact, we’ll stop early tonight. I want to have plenty of time.”
“Time for what?” But she already knew.
“I’ll be having you tonight, lass. More than once.”
“Shouldn’t you wait until we’ve been wed?” She tried to stall the inevitable.
“Who said anything about marriage?” He grunted a laugh. “I want young from your body, not to be saddled with you for an eternity.”
This constant back and forth with him had her weary. The way he looked at her, the way he touched her, sometimes made her think he had feelings for her. Then he went and said hateful things like that. She was starting to get emotional with this man. She wanted his warmth, his regard, not his venom. But things between them would always be this way. Tonight she would leave him. It was her last chance.
Easier said than done. After stopping at what Gavyn informed her would be the last inn, he’d once again ordered food and wine. A fire and a hot bath. Damn those baths. They’d spent a considerable amount of time bathing together, getting more familiar with each other. She took him in hand twice, but lost track of how many times he’d pleasured her. She only remembered the water finally went cold.
She watched him now as she lay spread out on the bed, naked. An odd haze had come over her. She should be more nervous, considering she was about to lose her virginity to a man who hated her. Aroused was the only thing she felt.
He rubbed a towel over her body to dry her, then began drying himself. His erection stood proudly from his body, but it didn’t hold as much fear for her anymore. She knew what to expect. Gods, please let it not hurt. She wanted it to feel as good as the other things they’d shared.
Her heart raced excitedly as Gavyn came to rest his knee on the bed, hovering over her, using one of his hands to part her legs. This was her first choice as a free woman. It was time for her to fully experience a man. She’d need to know what she was doing out there once she was on her own.
“I want to kiss you, lass.” He brushed his fingers over her sex. “Right here.”
The way he stared at the flesh between her legs alarmed her. She’d never seen him so tense with need. The muscles in his jaw clenched, his shoulders were tight, his back rigid. He was focused on one thing. Her. And she liked it.
Fascinated, she watched as his head moved between her legs, and she gasped when she felt a light flick of his tongue. Too good. He was too good.
She moaned as he lapped at her, circling and driving with his tongue, sucking her clit between his lips. Pleasure flowed into her o
n a wet rush of warmth and she shuddered. His hands moved over her hips, fingers splaying across her stomach, and up to cup her breasts. He massaged them, rubbing his thumbs over her nipples as his mouth sucked, tongue flicked between her legs.
“Gavyn!” The pleasure had never been so intense before. She writhed in his hands, almost out of her mind with blazing lust. She was beginning to crave his touch.
He rose up over her on the bed, kicking her legs apart with his knees. As the tip of his erection slipped between her wet folds, he pressed gentle kisses along her neck.
“I've waited so long for this,” he murmured against her skin. “Too long.” He thrust his hips forward, surging into her.
Jane gave a small cry of protest at the invasion of his thick length, burning and stretching her tender flesh. He was barely inside her, but he kept pushing. Even as her body was forcing him out. She tried to close her legs on him. The pain was searing.
He spread his knees and held her legs wider apart as he slid further into her untried opening, really starting to hurt her now. Bracing her hands against his hips, she fought to push him away from her. He would never fit all the way.
“Please,” she cried. “Stop. I can't do this.”
He forced his way in another inch then paused, looking down at her, brows drawn in confusion. “You're a virgin?”
“Yes.” She could feel the tears coming on. “Criticize me all you want, say mean things, but please stop. It hurts too much.”
He pried her hands off his hips, rested them on his shoulders, and kissed her. She loved kissing Gavyn. Loved feeling his lips on hers. And the way he took his time, languidly devouring her mouth, running his hands through her hair, proved he also liked it.
He didn't break the kiss until she was squirming under him, moving herself up and down along his shaft. The way he filled her was almost starting to feel good. He pulled back and asked, “Why didn't you tell me?”
“I didn’t want you to know.”
“Why no'?”
Tears came to her eyes. “Because I didn't want you to hurt me worse.” Would he now?
“Hush, lass.” He gathered her in his arms, holding her against his chest, the strong muscles flexing under her hands as he comforted her with soft words until she was quiet, calm. Then he began moving inside her again.
He started with slow, shallow thrusts into her and she turned her head to the side, squeezing her eyes closed and waiting for the pain to return.
It didn't. She relaxed a bit, felt him sliding in and out of her, teasing her with short, smooth strokes, accommodating her to his size. Pleasure swelled in her as he took her patiently, gradually urging her to receive him deeper.
He groaned as he met the subtle resistance of her virginal barrier. “I need to be all the way inside.” He dragged his hips back.
“Wait!” She braced her hands against his hips, as if that could stop him.
He drove into her with a deep, stabbing thrust. Tearing her. Penetrating her with his hard shaft. Making her cry out. A wild groan escaped him and he buried his face against her neck. Jane blinked. It was over. She was no longer a virgin. Just a common woman with a man's throbbing cock shafted deep between her legs.
Gavyn pounded into her, his hips slamming against her with sharp, painful thrusts.
“Please ...” She sobbed, squeezing his shoulders, digging her nails into the skin. “It hurts.”
Holding back, he shook his head. “You just feel so damn good.”
He began working his fingers between her legs and took one of her nipples into his mouth, suckling until it ached. Pleasure shot through her.
“Oh yes,” she moaned.
He began driving into her again, strong, steady strokes, feeding his hard length deeper and deeper as the pain dulled and nothing but pleasure flowed through her.
“More!” she heard herself say as that desire rose from deep within her, coiling through her as he moved faster.
She ran her hands over the hard muscles of his chest, delighting in touching him, feeling his skin and the soft hairs covering his body. Every part of him sought to pleasure her. She clung to his shoulders, helpless beneath him as he slammed into her. Never had she known such ecstasy.
Gavyn tensed and shuddered, groaning and heaving over her. His thrusts turned frenzied, desperate, and the friction between their bodies pushed her closer and closer to that delicious edge. Pleasure flashed through her, the tension building, until it finally seized her, gripping her in a rush of pulsing heat.
She came around his hard shaft, crying out over and over again as her climax rippled through her. A guttural sound erupted from him as he pumped his own release into her, hot and deep, before collapsing next to her on the bed.
Jane was lost. Consumed by the passion they’d just shared. Why was he doing this to her? He was supposed to want to hurt her, to satisfy his revenge with her pain and humiliation. He acted more like her lover than her enemy.
As she rested next to Gavyn, both of them panting, covered in sweat, something he’d said was still echoing in her mind: I’ve waited so long for this. She had to wonder just how long he’d been watching her family, waiting for the right moment to attack. Had he spent that time dreaming of her? Taking her body over and over in his dark, sinister fantasies?
“I never considered you'd be a virgin,” he told her. “Not with the way your family let you run around.”
She wanted to be angry with him, but the words didn't feel like an insult. Just a statement. “I did what I had to in order to survive,” she explained. “I always hoped to be married one day to a good man who would take care of me. I wanted to save myself for that.”
“Is that why you stayed with your family? Because you wanted to marry?”
Jane shrugged her shoulders. “I used to think so, Now ... I don't know. None of it matters anymore.” She turned to her side, facing away from him. Her escape would not be easy. Some part of her didn't want to leave him now.
“Do you know why I took you, lass?” He sat up behind her and ran his fingers through her hair.
“Revenge.” He'd told her as much.
“That was part of it,” he admitted. “But watching you with your family made me curious. You were so different from them, preferred to be on your own rather than join them. I watched you roam the city streets, charming everyone you met with your smile, your light little laugh. You somehow managed to charm me as well.”
Shocked, she turned to face him. “What are you saying?”
“I spent months watching you and somehow went from hating you to desiring you. I wanted to see you everyday. By the time I took you I was crazed from no' being able to talk to you, to touch you, to get you out of your clothes.” A sensual smile turned up the corners of his mouth.
“How can you say that?” She searched his eyes for some sign that he was lying to her. “After what my father did to you? I'm a Stewart, remember?”
“You're innocent of your father's crime, lass.” He took her chin between his thumb and forefinger and brushed a light kiss over her lips.
“How long did you watch us?” she asked.
“Six months.”
“So, your family hasn't even been dead a year?” She was astonished. His loss was extremely recent.
“They've been gone almost five years.” His eyes went cold, distant.
“Five years?” She faltered. “Why didn't you come after us sooner?”
“I was ... detained.”
“Detained how?”
“In prison.” He scrubbed a hand over his face, gauging her for a reaction.
“Prison?!” She sat up, her heart pounding with fear. She was crazy to feel anything for this man, even if he did have a charming side. Criminals didn't change. He'd murdered her family, proving that.
“I served four years before breaking out.”
“You escaped?” The story was only getting worse. “How long were you supposed to be there?”
“The rest of my life.”
Jane swallowed nervously, afraid to ask the obvious question. “For what?”
A strange sadness came over him. For a moment he looked, weary, exhausted. “Murdering my family.”
“But you –- I thought my father –-”
“Your father pinned their deaths on me.”
At her display of shock, he continued. “I had been in a neighboring village, helping some of the people with harvesting their fields. Your father met my wife while at our local pub and wanted to have her for a mistress. She refused him, so he kept pursuing her. He harassed her for more than a week before she finally told him to leave her alone, so he burned our house to the ground, with her and my two boys locked inside. It only took me two days to track your father down, and I managed to beat him senseless before his thugs dragged me off and had me arrested. When I was sentenced to prison, I vowed revenge on your father, and now I've gotten it.”
Jane had never heard a more heart-breaking story. She was convinced her father was the devil. How else could he kill so easily? And send an innocent, suffering man to prison?
The wounded look on Gavyn's face was tearing her apart. She knew there was nothing she could say to offer him comfort. So she boldly took his mouth in a kiss. He responded, pushing her back on the bed and settling himself between her legs. His erection sprang to life, ready to take her. She'd have him this one last time.
He entered her with a quick, sharp thrust. There was pain, but not enough for her to want to stop. She wanted to give him this. Wanted to soothe some part of him. He moved fast, burying his face in her hair as he took her strong and deep. Delirious pleasure raced through her. Intense. White hot.
She watched his powerful body as he pumped into her, his muscles tensing and flexing, eyes held shut, breath ragged. Her fearsome warlord. Giving her overwhelming pleasure.
She writhed helplessly, moaning his name, as every furious, wild thrust shafted the pleasure deeper, sending her climax slamming into her, rushing through her entire body. His thick shaft pulsed inside her and then he was shuddering, groaning low in his throat as he came.
The Warlords Revenge Page 4
