by Rebecca York
“A group of people who have no home. Outcasts. They move from place to place.”
“And what did they want with you?”
“They planned to sell me into slavery.”
He swore in a language she couldn’t understand. “I...the dragon should have burned more of them.”
“That was their leader’s idea. Most of them are just trying to make their way.”
He snorted. “If you say so.”
“The way you are,” she added.
The observation stung. “You compare me to those vermin?”
“No. I’m trying to make you understand that people do what they have to in order to survive.”
He answered with a tight nod. He’d been doing a lot of things he wouldn’t consider honorable, yet he’d justified them in the name of expediency.
His attention snapped back to her when she spoke again. “I’m clear of them now.”
“Thank the fates,” he answered as he drew her close and wrapped his arms around her. The last time he’d held her, she’d been wary of the intimacy flaring so quickly between them. Probably she’d been thinking that he was trying to take advantage of her. Now he sensed that her thinking might have changed.
* * *
Willow closed her eyes and leaned into Cullendor’s strength. Lord Carnas had intended to sell her into slavery, and he’d thought her a prize because of her virginity. Perhaps that wasn’t such an advantageous state for a woman traveling across the countryside.
“I need to rest,” she murmured.
“Yes, of course. I wasn’t thinking.”
“Are we far enough from their camp to stop?”
“I think so. And if we are not, I can protect you from them.”
He said it with confidence, as though he had scattered the people—not the dragon.
As they kept walking, she heard him taking deep breaths.
“What are you doing?”
“Searching for a safe place to stop.”
“How?”
“By scent. In the same way I found you.”
“You can smell the places where people live?”
“Yes.”
He changed direction to his left, and she saw a house standing in a clearing.
“I think this house is empty, but wait here,” he said.
He had done that before—made her wait while he inspected a hiding place he’d found for her.
When he returned, he looked satisfied. “There’s nobody here.”
“Why?”
“I think this house was too isolated, probably vulnerable to robbers. There’s evidence of a fight inside.”
“If it’s vulnerable...”
“I will protect you,” he said again with the same conviction in his voice.
Inside, she saw an overturned table and chair. But the people who had lived here were much better off than the ones who had lived in the previous dwelling. There were as many rooms as in her parents’ house.
Cullendor gestured toward a ladder, which led to the sleeping loft.
“It’s safer up there,” he said.
“Yes,” she answered, hoping her uneasy state didn’t come through in her voice as they stood facing each other. But he must have picked up on her hesitation, because he said, “What’s wrong?”
“I’m anxious.”
“About what?”
“Come up and I’ll tell you.”
She climbed the ladder first, into the darkness. He came up after her, and she saw that he had found a candle and lit it.
He set it on a stand at the side of the room.
“Are you still worried about traveling with me?” he asked.
“I need you to do me a service,” she said.
“Anything.”
She smiled at that, wondering if he would agree when he heard.
“I told you Lord Carnas was going to sell me into slavery.”
He made an angry sound. “A shameful way to earn money.”
“He said that I was worth more because I was a virgin. I think that what would have happened to me would have been...bad.”
“Yes.”
“It would be safer if I were not a virgin,” she said in a rush.
He went very still. “What are you saying, exactly?”
“That you would do me a great service by remedying that situation.”
“You are playing with me?”
“No. I am asking for your help.” She reached for him, pulling him close and holding him tightly against her. “Do this thing for me.”
“You thought me too forward before,” he said in a strained voice.
“And now I need you to make love with me. Better you than some rich man who can afford to buy slaves to take to his bed. What happens afterward, do you think?”
Instead of answering, he asked, “Why do you choose me?”
“You have already shown me that you care about me.” She felt her cheeks heat. “And I find you pleasing.”
He dragged in a breath and let it out.
“But you find me wanting?” she forced herself to ask.
“No. You are very desirable, but I think you have chosen the wrong partner for this endeavor.”
“Why?”
He answered in a rush, “Because I have never made love with a woman.”
Chapter Five
Willow kept her gaze on Cullendor. “Truly?”
He nodded tightly. “I told you I come from another land. I did not know the ways of people here, and I did not want to do it wrong.”
She laughed. “Then you have the perfect partner.”
“But if neither of us knows about this, maybe we will cock it up entirely.”
When he realized what he’d said, he flushed, but she ignored his embarrassment.
“I’ve heard women talk. I think I have the general idea—theoretically. I told you it’s about the man wanting to get the woman in the mood for making love. And while he does it, he gets aroused himself.”
“I already am,” he blurted.
“Then we’re moving in the right direction.” She had committed herself to this, and she threw all caution to the wind. Raising her face, she cupped the back of his head, bringing his mouth down to hers. She felt his resistance, but as she moved her lips against his, he yielded to her, kissing her softly as his fingers stroked over her face, then her neck and collarbone.
She sighed, liking the sensuality of the moment.
“We need to be undressed, I think.” Pulling a little away, she dragged her blouse over her head and tossed it onto the floor so that she stood before him, naked to the waist.
His breath caught as he looked at her.
He reached out to stroke the side of her breast. “You are beautiful.”
“Am I?”
“Yes. But are you sure you want to do this?”
“Yes.” To make herself perfectly clear, she reached to press her hand against the bulge at the front of his leggings. She heard his quick indrawn breath.
A sound roared in her ears, and she understood that it was her own blood racing through her veins. She felt bold, but the edge of fear made her want to get this over with quickly.
When she moved her hand against him, he stayed her touch.
“Are you trying to rush this?”
“Yes.”
“I think it will be better if you let me take the time to find out what pleases you.”
She swallowed hard. “Mayhap you are right.”
He pulled his shirt over his head, then kicked off his boots, leaving his leggings on as he reached for her and pulled her against himself. Her breath caught at the feel of his hair-roughened chest against her breasts. W
hen he swayed her in his arms, she gasped.
“That’s good,” she whispered.
“Very. I think we won’t make any mistakes if we only do things that feel good.”
“And don’t let ourselves be embarrassed by any of it.”
When she saw the intensity in his eyes, she could barely breathe, could barely keep her body from trembling.
He lifted his hand so that he could stroke her hair back from her face. Then he tangled his fingers in the thick tresses, angling his head so he could bring his lips to hers again.
She felt his mouth on hers, his hands moving over her body. His cock pressed against her thigh.
“We must tell each other what feels right,” he murmured against her lips.
“Everything we’re doing feels right, but it’s making my knees weak,” she whispered.
“Mine too. Our cue to lie down.”
He brought her down to the pallet. Stretching out beside her, he nibbled at her lips as he murmured, “I love your sweet mouth. I love the way you smell. I love your silky skin.”
He punctuated each phrase with little kisses, starting with her face then moving downward to the tops of her breasts and then to her hardened nipples. He licked at them, then took one into his mouth and sucked strongly.
Heat shot downward through her body. “How do you know to do that?” she gasped.
“Your breasts tempted me.”
She cupped his head with her hands, running her fingers through his thick hair as sensations spiraled through her body.
“Willow,” he gasped. “You are so perfect.”
“And you,” she agreed, finding his flat nipples and circling them with her fingers, feeling them tighten as heat surged high up between her legs. She pressed her face against his chest, loving his scent. When she stroked her tongue against him, she loved his taste too.
“You know how to join our bodies?” she asked.
“I have seen animals do it.”
“I have seen that too.” She flushed, shocked at the boldness of the conversation. “And I have seen my parents, when they thought we were asleep. They face each other, and move back and forth, pushing together and pulling apart.”
As she spoke of it, her sex became wet and swollen, throbbing now.
“Touch me at the place where we join,” she asked, pulling up her skirt to expose her woman’s parts.
He laid his hand on the crinkly hair at the top of her legs, pressing.
“I think...” Her voice trailed off as she dragged his hand into her slick folds, moving her hips to increase the friction.
Her breath caught as he began to stroke her.
“Did I hurt you?” he asked urgently.
“No. It feels wonderful.”
“For me too. It makes my cock hard as an iron rod.”
“There’s a place inside... The healer probed it when she was examining me.”
“Here?” He slipped his finger into her, stroking in and out, each thrust stoking the fire in her blood.
Another place begged for attention, and she moved his hand higher to that throbbing nub.
She remembered to breathe as heat suffused her whole body.
“That’s so good,” she managed to say.
“But I think it hurts a woman when a man takes her virginity,” he answered.
“I have heard that too.” She laughed nervously. “But we can’t avoid it, if we’re going to do this.”
She fumbled for the tie of her skirt, loosening it and pulling it off.
“Will you take off your leggings?” she asked.
“Yes.”
As he dragged them down his thighs, her gaze riveted to his rod.
“I didn’t know how big that would be,” she blurted.
He pulled her on top of him, so that his cock was pressed to the cleft at the top of her legs. He cupped her buttocks, moving her against him, and she gasped as heat flared in her sex.
They were moving urgently now, both driving toward a goal. She slid against him, her movements growing frantic as she felt tension gathering in her body, vibrations strumming through her like waves of pleasure.
This must be the right time, she thought with dizzy surety, taking his cock in her hand, and rising up so that she could come down on him.
There was a shock of pain, but it lasted for only a moment.
He gasped something in the language she didn’t understand as he buried himself in her, his hips thrusting and receding. She leaned forward, pressing the nub of greatest sensation against him, bringing herself back to the peak of pleasure. She felt an explosion of sensation take her and moved her hips to increase the friction. He kept moving within her, and she heard him shout as his own pleasure took him.
As she came back to herself, she sprawled on top of him, overwhelmed.
She had expected this joining to be a mere practicality, but the sensations he had created within her swept her away.
“Are you all right?” he asked, clasping her to him.
“Yes.”
She clung to him, moisture blurring her vision.
He rolled her to her back, looking down into her face, using his finger to wipe away a tear.
“I hurt you. I’m sorry.”
“Only a little.”
“Why are you crying, then? Are you sorry about...making love with me.”
“I didn’t expect that to be so intense—so beautiful.”
“I didn’t expect it either. It was amazing.”
He held her, sliding his fingers over her damp shoulder, kissing her cheek and the top of her head as he folded her close.
Willow nestled in his arms, feeling the steady beat of his heart.
* * *
Cullendor cleared his throat. “I planned to leave you here for the day,” he murmured, “but I think I should stay with you.”
“Because you’re afraid I will leave while you are gone?” she asked.
“No.” Although that worry nibbled at the edge of his mind. But he had a more urgent reason too. “Because someone could find you here.”
He eased her down to the pallet and sat up, looking around the loft. “The sun in your...country is too hot on my skin. I must spend the daytime in darkness, but I can stay up here.”
“Yes.”
“I will sleep soundly, but you can wake me if there is danger.”
She nodded.
He sighed and gathered her back into his arms. She had become very important to him in a short time. He had assumed she would make a good traveling companion and that she could help him learn the ways of this world, but he understood now that he wanted her to stay with him. She had given him her virginity. Not out of love but out of a sense of self-preservation. Still, that must mean more to her than she had thought it would. He didn’t understand women well—either women of his own species or humans—but he thought that she must feel something more for him than just a means to an end. Or else why had she become so emotional?
“Do you have enough food and water?” he asked.
She looked through the carry bag he had brought. “I think so.”
“Then I will sleep soon.”
“Thank you for staying,” she murmured, settling down beside him. He reached for her hand, weaving his fingers with hers, liking the feel of her shoulder and hip pressed to his. This was strange to him. The females of his clan did not stay long with their mates. It was only a brief arrangement to ensure the perpetuation of their species.
But he knew men and women stayed together, lived in partnership. Well, as much as a woman could be a man’s partner. In his world, the women dominated and drove out the males. Here, the men held the power.
* * *
Exhausted by everything that had happened, Wi
llow slept beside Cullendor, then woke in the afternoon. Her bladder was full so she climbed down the ladder and looked outside. When she was sure there was no one lurking around the house, she went into the woods and relieved herself, then came back inside and climbed to the loft again.
Cullendor was still sleeping. The candle had gone out, but some light drifted up from the first floor and she sat looking at the man who had made love with her.
She gently touched his well-shaped lips. When he didn’t waken, she brushed back his thick hair and stroked his cheek. She had told him she hadn’t expected to feel so much when they made love, and it was no lie. She felt bound to him now in ways she didn’t want to think about too closely.
All she knew was that he had given her what she had asked for, and it had been so much more than she had expected.
Did her mother and father enjoy such bliss in their marriage bed? Although she had spied on them, she had never talked to her mother about such things, and she only knew what she had heard village girls whispering about.
But now she had a man who was the equal of anyone she had known in Valleyhold. She clung to that idea, even when she still felt a tiny sliver of doubt about Cullendor. He had told her something of himself, but she couldn’t stop thinking that there were things he had deliberately hidden from her.
She thrust any doubts out of her mind as she slipped her hand under his shirt, stroking her fingers through the thick hair spread across his chest. There was a scar on his shoulder, like a place where he had been burned. When she touched it, his eyes blinked open and focused on her. For a moment he looked startled. Then she saw memories flooding back into his consciousness.
“Willow,” he whispered, pressing his hand over hers. “You stayed.”
“Yes.” She wanted to say that she couldn’t leave him now, but she kept the vow locked behind her lips. “What happened to your shoulder?”
“I was hurt in a fight.”
“It looks wicked.”
“It has healed. Do not bother yourself about it.” He pulled her down beside him and then rolled to his side facing her.
“It was like a dream, waking with you here. I never woke with another person before.”
She smiled at the emotion in his voice and made a small sound as he pulled her against his body and she felt his hard shaft.
