Reunited at the King's Court

by Helen Dickson

William’s eyes narrowed. ‘If you think that, then you don’t know me very well.’

  ‘Well enough to have formed an opinion.’

  ‘Favourable, I hope, and if so we could get to know each other better.’

  Arlette looked at him steadily. She knew what he was suggesting and was ashamed of the temptation this presented. The two days she had spent with him on the road had rubbed her emotions almost raw and the solid wall she had built around herself in their defence was beginning to erode. One look from him could do immense damage to her heart and her mind, which was already a battleground of emotions. The thought of him held close against her, unencumbered by clothes, made her body tremble. She felt a sudden rush of anticipation and denial, and more than a little pleasure. Her pulse beat frantically in her ears. The corners of his mouth lifted in a ghost of a smile and he reached out and traced the line of her lips with the tip of his finger. A quivering began deep inside her and she knew she should protest, that she should pull away, but she couldn’t. She watched him in silence, bathed in the sensation of his featherlight caress.

  His hand moved to her jaw, to caress her throat. Then, slowly, he pulled away, leaving her in the aftermath of sensations he had created, bereft and wanting more.

  ‘I think it is time we were on our way,’ he said, getting to his feet and holding his hand out to help her. She took it and stood before him, confused and frustrated. ‘We have some way to travel before we stop for the night. Tomorrow we shall reach Mayfield.’

  * * *

  They reached the inn where they were to spend the night as the sun was sinking on the horizon. It was not a large inn and it was a busy night for the innkeeper. Only one room left, he told William. William turned and gave Arlette a questioning look. For a long moment his gaze held hers with penetrating intensity. It was as enigmatic as it was challenging and, unexpectedly, Arlette felt an answering frisson of excitement. The darkening of his eyes told her that he was aware of that response. Something in his expression made the breath catch in her throat and the warmly intimate look in his eyes was vibrantly, alarmingly alive. As they continued to face one another, she craved his lips against hers, her body within his arms, without thought to the consequences. She stared at him, aware how transparent she must look. As if he had read her thoughts he turned back to the innkeeper. Without a qualm William told him they would take the room.

  * * *

  They had eaten their supper in virtual silence, each of their minds focused on the night ahead. When she had eaten Arlette excused herself and went to the room ahead of him. She tried to gather her courage as she waited for him to come to her. She stood there for several moments in an agony of uncertainty. And then he was there.

  William felt a deep need to know Arlette, to learn all there was to know about her, what she liked and loved, but he would save that for another day. All he could think of at that moment was taking her to bed and making love to her.

  ‘Come here, Arlette,’ he said quietly.

  Her body reacted to the deep caress in his voice and her traitorous legs moved slowly forward. His arms went round her and he held her with infinite care, bringing her in close contact with his lean frame, savouring the warmth of her body against his and the softness of her hair beneath his jaw.

  Impatient to be closer still, buckles and ties were unfastened and clothes hastily disposed of. William’s eyes coursed down the supple curves of Arlette’s body, over the proud swell of her breasts and narrow waist, to the beckoning curves and soft, secret hollows and shadows of her hips. Her voluptuous bloom of womanhood evoked in William a strong stirring of desire. He could not believe how much he wanted her, that the body his own had so fiercely craved for so long stood in front of him. His hand reached out and gently traced the outline of her hip, his fingers moving over her slender waist and on to her breast, cupping its fullness.

  ‘Have you any idea just how lovely you are, Arlette, how adorable you are, of how much I want you?’ he murmured huskily. Her hair had come loose and lay in disarray about her shoulders.

  When William reached for the shoulder of her shift and Arlette’s fingers closed over his, he thought she was stopping him, but she took hold of the skirt and pulled it over her head. He thought he should stop, but Arlette’s exposed breasts, plump and pink-nippled, mesmerised him and compelled him to lower his mouth to the satiny flesh. His hands caressed her, leisurely arousing her, stroking her breasts and moving downward over her belly. Arlette’s whole body began to tremble as his lips descended to hers.

  They stood apart, gazing at each other as though they had not seen each other before.

  William had never made love to a woman who wasn’t willing. She only had to say no and he would stop. He looked at her face. ‘Is this what you want, Arlette? Are you certain?’

  She nodded, taking his hand and placing her lips on his open palm. ‘I do—more than anything. Just the two of us, here, in this room.’

  He smiled. ‘Two lonely people finding solace in each other’s arms.’

  ‘I would like to think it is more than that,’ she murmured, losing herself in those blue eyes, now hazy with desire. ‘I care for you so much, William. I know that each time I see you. I feel it each time you touch me.’

  Slowly his hand slipped about her waist as he drew her body against his and kissed her gently, amazed and intrigued by the mixture of innocence, boldness and fear which fired this woman. One thing he was sure of, he would make her body sing before he was done.

  His lips descended on hers, the kiss increasing his craving to a blaze of hot need that he found hard to restrain. Slipping his arms beneath her legs and shoulders, he lifted her into his arms. Carrying her to the bed, he laid her on the covers. He stood looking down at her, unable to believe she was here with him. He studied the arch of her eyebrows, her cheekbones and round, firm chin and soft lips, her eyes large and dark as they watched him steadily. Unable to help himself, he leaned over and placed a reverent kiss upon her lips.

  Every nerve in Arlette’s body was alive to his touch. She ached for it. Was this carnality? she wondered. Lying beside her on the bed, William slipped his fingers into her hair as he pressed her to his hard, lean body. She closed her eyes, breathing in the scent of him. Her pulse quickened as their lips met and she pressed herself closer still, melting into him until it seemed they were just one being. She succumbed to a hunger she had experienced with him before. She shivered as his fingers strayed over the soft, silky smoothness of her inner thigh. She cried out and her breath came in short gasps as his fingers coaxed and gentled her. She clung to him, sliding slowly into a dark abyss of desire.

  Heedless of what he was doing, William urged her to give him back the sensual urgency he was offering her, driving his tongue into her mouth until she began to match the pagan kiss. He kissed her again and again, lost in the heady beauty of her. By God, she was lovely and he wanted her with a fierceness that took his breath away. An uncontrollable compulsion to make love to her overwhelmed him and he kissed her until she was moaning and writhing in his arms and desire was pouring through him in hot tidal waves.

  His hands stroked downwards, over the curve of her hip, and then upwards along the velvet softness inside her thighs. She gasped, reflexively tensing her muscles and clamping her legs together. William felt her resistance and groaned.

  ‘Arlette, please, my love,’ he said huskily, his face taut with restraint. ‘Trust me. Relax. Don’t ask me to stop, for I fear I cannot.’

  Above her Arlette could see his face was hard, his eyes dark with passion, and yet there was so much tenderness in their depths that her heart ached. But it was the desperate need she heard in his voice that made her respond.

  ‘Please don’t stop,’ she whispered emphatically. ‘I want you...’

  His blood spilling through his veins like molten lava, William covered her with his body and lowered his hips between her thighs, seeing the su
dden panic in her wide eyes when she felt the probing, burning heat of his maleness intruding into her delicate softness.

  ‘I’m sorry, Arlette,’ he whispered, his hands moving behind her and raising her hips. ‘This may hurt, but not for long.’ He knew he must be gentle lest her fear destroyed the moment and, when he entered her, he was ready to be as patient as she needed him to be.

  Arlette wrapped her arms around his neck, pressing her face against the base of his throat when she felt the unrelenting pressure against her tight, resisting flesh, feeling his rigid hardness inch its way into her soft warmth. Her heart began to beat to a new, frantic rhythm that suffused her with an expanding warmth. The pain of penetration was but a brief discomfort that she forced back as she became aware of a driving need to appease an insatiable hunger. He held her close and began to move, gently at first, but the violence of their passion consumed them both. Arlette gasped at the sensations she was experiencing, sliding her arms about his neck and pressing her soft breasts into the mat of hair that covered his chest, pulling his head down to hers.

  William touched her lips, drinking in the glory of her, his hands cupping her buttocks, bringing her closer as he began to move. Amazement etched her flushed face as he met her stroke for stroke with vigour and the blossoming pleasure in Arlette’s loins intensified and swept her on with the promise of still greater heights to reach. In the room behind the fluttering of the curtains, among the rumpled sheets overflowing the bed, they shared a furious passion, the sounds coming from the inn below mingling with the laboured rhythm of their breathing and the salty taste of sweat on their skin.

  An eternity later William raised his head, the blood pounding in his ears. Arlette stayed in his arms, her cheek against his chest, her body pressed to his, trembling in the aftermath of the most explosive, inexplicable passion she had ever felt.

  Gradually Arlette’s breathing became even and the sounds from the inn below began to penetrate her drugged senses. Collapsed, spent, she lay supine in his arms, her chest rising and falling. The whisper of a sigh escaped her as she nestled close to him, wanting to hold on to this moment in time lest she lose some portion of it to the oncoming forces of normality.

  ‘Dear Lord, Arlette,’ William murmured, curling a tendril of soft golden hair around his finger, marvelling at the wonder of her, for her surrender to him had been complete and unconditional. ‘You are wanton beyond belief and quite magnificent.’

  Completely captivated by the intimate look in his eyes and the compelling gentleness in his voice, Arlette swallowed and said, ‘So are you.’

  William’s hypnotic gaze held hers as his fingertips stroked her cheek seductively, sliding along the line of her jaw to her lips. From the first moment he had taken her in his arms he had known they were a combustible combination and what had just passed had been the most wildly erotic, satisfying sexual encounter of his life. Whatever Arlette had felt had been real and uncontrived. ‘Do you regret what we have done?’ he asked.

  Saturated in the passion she had experienced, Arlette could not pretend, because she wanted to remember everything that they did together. She wanted to think about it, linger on it, close her eyes and squirm with pleasure at the thought of those hot, blissful moments they had made love. She wanted to dwell on each and every detail. Rolling on to her stomach and propping herself up on her arms, she looked at him. Her face burned where his lips had caressed her tender flesh. The dim light of the lamp cast its glow over his long, lean body stretched out on the bed beside her.

  ‘You did nothing wrong, William. It was my choice. I have no regrets. I am your wife now, in every sense. Are you shocked by my behaviour?’

  William gently smoothed her tumbled locks from her face, tracing his finger down the soft curve of her cheek. He gazed at her with something akin to awe and reverence, feeling humbled by her beauty and her unselfish ardour and uninhibited giving of herself.

  ‘On the contrary. Would you like me to tell you what I like most of all?’

  ‘Please do.’

  ‘I like the way your body fits into mine so perfectly and that it is attuned to what I want.’ Tenderly he kissed her lips. ‘I like to have you near me and it is my desire to have you near me every morning I wake. How do you feel?’ he asked, his voice gentle, his gaze so tender that Arlette’s heart contracted.

  ‘Rather wonderful,’ she murmured, placing her lips gently on his chest. ‘I never imagined for one moment that making love could be so pleasurable.’

  He smiled tenderly into her upturned face, bending his head to caress her lips lightly with his own. When his mouth left hers his hooded eyes smouldered with renewed desire as they moved with leisured thoroughness over her delicately hued curves, his loins already hardening in demanding response to her nearness.

  ‘Now, speaking of pleasure...’

  Arlette’s mouth curved in a sublime smile while his eyes grew dark and sultry. The heat of his gaze set her blood on fire and set her heart racing with sweet anticipation. She snuggled down so that they were facing each other, the soft flesh of her body lying against his. She lifted one leg and wrapped it around him, her eyes languid at the thought of what was to come. ‘There’s more?’ she murmured.

  ‘Absolutely,’ he murmured, nuzzling the hollow in her throat where a pulse was beating a tantalising fast rhythm beneath her soft flesh. ‘The night is not over and I intend to make the most of you while I have you in my bed. There is much I have to teach you before I can let you sleep.’ He moved against her, his body rousing, responding again to the softness of her.

  Arlette giggled softly and snuggled closer. ‘Then teach me,’ she whispered. ‘If you think some lessons will prove beneficial, then I promise I will be an apt pupil.’ Her sensual lips quirked in a half-smile, a rosy blush covering her soft cheeks.

  William revelled in the sweetness of her, touching and kissing her with all the skill of a virtuoso playing a violin, as if he had all the time in the world. She had the body that was created for a man’s hands and a mouth that positively invited his kiss. She had given him exquisite pleasure and, when the moment of his release came once more, he couldn’t have said who clung to the other more desperately. It was as though the very life source was being wrung out of him. He had turned her into a passionate, loving woman, a woman to fill his arms and warm his bed and banish the dark emptiness that had been a part of his life for so many years, a woman to fill his life with love and laughter. What more could a man want? What more, indeed.

  * * *

  As the night had drawn on they had loved and slept. When dawn came, sending a glimmer of light into the room, William considered his slumbering companion. Her tousled head rested against the pillows, her lips slightly parted and her eyelashes shadowing her cheeks. Her body, warm and soft, was curled next to his. Her nearness filled his senses with the delicate essence of her. It was pleasurable to watch her sleeping, to fix her image in his mind. Leaning over her, he placed a soft kiss on her cheek.

  On a sigh Arlette opened her eyes and stretched her lithe young body. She had a pleasant feeling of well-being and contentment. She felt a different person from the one who had left London. William had awoken feelings inside her that she had not known existed. She was no longer a naive young innocent but a woman, with a woman’s wants and needs. What she felt for him she couldn’t begin to analyse or understand. It was mysterious and consuming, a highly volatile combination of danger and excitement. Her face exploded in a blaze of scarlet when she thought how she had lain with him and she felt the pleasurable wanton feelings tearing through her again at the memory.

  Resting his arms on either side of her, he kissed her lips gently. ‘Time to get up, Arlette. I trust you slept well.’ There was a small quirk of a smile on his lips as his gaze lingered on her lips.

  Arlette gazed up at him, finding it difficult to hide her treacherous heart’s reaction to the deep timbre of his voice. Why, she wonde
red, did she feel different from the way she had felt yesterday? Why could she still feel his hands on her bare flesh and his kisses on her lips?

  ‘You’re dressed,’ she said, struggling to sit up. ‘Have you eaten?’

  ‘Not yet,’ he replied. ‘I waited for you. When we’ve had breakfast we’ll be on our way. We should reach Mayfield by midday.’

  * * *

  With her bags secured and once more in the saddle, Arlette mounted her horse for the last few miles of their journey. William wheeled his horse in time to catch Arlette’s eye. There was a sudden duel of glances as his eyes invaded hers, drawing her to him, drawing her in, and she felt again the sudden heat of suppressed passion. They were yards apart, yet in some strange way they seemed joined together.

  ‘Ready?’ he asked, his lips curving in a smile.

  She nodded, urging her horse on.

  * * *

  Arlette enjoyed the experience of going back to Mayfield, somewhere she was at once familiar with. The woods and fields and meadows buzzing with the sights and sounds of insects, the village that had once been important to her, all evoked distant memories that rushed at her the closer they got—memories of her father sitting in his study or by the fire, a smiling Hester helping cook in the kitchen or the buttery, Thomas’s incessant teasing, memories of herself riding her pony along the country lanes and Blanche, how she would wrap her motherly arms around her and instantly make her feel safe and loved.

  And then they came to Mayfield Hall on the outskirts of the Mayfield village, that gracious, noble house where Arlette had been born and had spent the happiest years of her life. At first appearance with smoke curling up from the chimneys the house appeared to be occupied. They dismounted and stood staring at it. Ivy ran rampant up the walls and the windows looked back at them like staring empty eyes.