“Information or I get my lady some hedge clippers,” he shared.
The man’s eyes grew round for a half a second, before he covered it and declared, “I demand a trial.”
“You’ll not sit in prison, doling out information for leniency,” Apollo shot back. “You talk here, or you die here.”
Nice. That was a good line.
“You’re already to answer to Queen Aurora for coldblooded murder,” the man retorted, tipping his head toward the man in the chair.
“The queen is just,” Apollo whispered. “But she also lost her husband to the schemes of traitors.”
The man blanched.
Goodie.
Now we were getting somewhere.
Apollo moved back to target. “Who sent you?”
The man said nothing.
“Again, who sent you?” Apollo repeated.
The man remained silent.
I watched the staring contest from close up.
It was scary. It was also frustrating.
“For God’s sake, would someone just get me the hedge clippers?” I snapped.
Apollo again looked down at me. A second later, he pulled me away from the man but pushed me gently to the side and I found myself not held by him but—I looked up—by Achilles.
“Take her to the dower house,” he ordered. “Stay with her.”
“But—” I started as Achilles rounded my waist with an arm and started pulling me away.
Apollo’s eyes sliced to me.
“Dove,” he said softly. “Go.”
I glared at him. Then I glared at the man on the hook.
I transferred my glare back to Apollo and blew out on a sigh, “Oh, all right.”
Apollo’s eyes moved over my face but I lost sight of him when Achilles turned me to the door.
I was out the door but it wasn’t yet closed behind me when I heard him say, “Hans, hand me those clippers.”
The door banged shut.
I smiled.
Chapter Thirteen
Lioness
In my crazy dream that was tinted blood red, I heard Apollo order from far away a growling, “Leave us. Now.”
My dream drifted to some ruins around a pool filled with blood when I felt my cloak that I’d wrapped around me to keep warm after Achilles finally got me to lay down thrown off.
I blinked.
My skirts were tossed up.
I blinked again, twice, fast.
And I came awake when my tights were torn down my legs.
My heart instantly racing, I shifted up hurriedly, pushing up the bed but got only so far when two strong hands wrapped around my ankles, dragged me back down and tugged them apart.
I gasped when a man covered me.
Through the firelight casting a weak glow through the room, I saw Apollo’s face.
I should have relaxed seeing as it was him, but the look on his face made my entire body go wired.
His hand drove into my hair, fisting as he rumbled, “You are a lioness.”
Hunh?
“What? What’s going on? Are you—?”
He cut me off. “Not even of your blood, not even a word exchanged, barely a glance, for them, you sank a blade into a man’s flesh.”
I thought I knew what he was talking about so I said, “Well, yeah. I did. But why are you—?”
His mouth came to mine and I shut up because I could see his eyes were afire. They were searing into me and they were doing it in a particular way.
I knew that way. It was slightly different, not charged by adela tea.
But it was also the same.
His next words proved me right.
“You’re going to take me now, Maddie, and warning, my dove, I’ll not be gentle.”
Yes, his eyes were burning in a particular way.
My stomach dropped.
“Apollo,” I breathed then he was gone.
But he didn’t go far.
My skirts were thrown back up, my panties torn down my legs and his mouth was there.
Holy cow.
At his touch, more precisely how really good it was, my back arched off the bed and my heels dug into the mattress, but not for long. He grasped me behind the knees and threw my legs over his shoulders. After he accomplished that, he scooped my ass in both of his hands, brought it up, pressing me deeper into his mouth and he fed.
And boy, how he fed.
My hands went to his head, fingers sliding into his thick hair. My heels dug into his back. My neck arched and my lips parted, pants whispering out as Apollo wasted absolutely no time taking me there.
And then I was there, teetering over the edge, my orgasm within reach, it was going to be good, and I whispered, “Baby.”
Then his mouth was gone.
Before I could even whimper, I was rolled to my stomach, my hips yanked up roughly and he pounded inside, filling me.
“Fuck yes,” I breathed, my fingers curling into the covers.
“Ride my cock, Maddie, take it yourself,” he ordered and then I felt the slap of his hand sharp on my outer thigh.
I jumped even as heat radiated from the sting to right between my legs and I did what he ordered, rearing back, fucking myself on his cock.
Another smack to the thigh, another jump, more sting, more fire burning to the heart of me and, “Harder, poppy.”
Oh God.
This was good.
I’d never been spanked.
And I wanted more.
I moved faster, took him harder, gasping and straining against him.
“Am I in there?” he growled.
Oh yes. Fuck yes. He was in there.
“Yes,” I whispered.
His hands spanned my hips, his fingers digging in, he stopped my motion and slammed in himself, staying deep and grinding.
“Am I in there, Madeleine?”
“Yes,” I gasped.
He started driving fast and deep and I got another smack on my thigh with, “Remove your gown. I want to see your skin.”
As he fucked me from behind, I did my best to make short work of sliding out of the dress I’d worn on our first date, and an entire twenty-four hours (and more) besides. This left me in nothing but my black bustier, my breasts spilling out the cups with his violent movements, my nipples skimming the covers and it started to move over me again.
“This arse, gods, your beautiful arse,” Apollo groaned, running his hand over the cheek of my ass even as he continued to thrust inside me.
And I felt it. My climax was right there.
I reached for it.
He pulled out.
God!
“No!” I cried.
His hands came to my ribs. He yanked me up to kneeling in front of him and one hand went directly to my breast, cupping it, as the other one went between my legs.
“Not without me, dove,” he growled in my ear.
“Hurry,” I begged.
His finger hit the target as he rubbed his cock against my ass.
My head fell back into his shoulder.
Nice.
“You’re magnificent,” he groaned.
“Tha-thank you,” I whimpered, pressing into his hand between my legs at the same time tipping my ass to push against his cock.
His finger and thumb found my nipple, rolled then pulled.
My entire body jerked and I moaned, “Baby.”
I got another roll of my nipple and a demanded, “Again.”
“Baby,” I breathed.
He buried his face in my neck. “Gods,” he groaned before his teeth sank into my flesh.
God. God.
Amazing.
Then his teeth were gone. I was turned, pushed back to the bed and his hands where behind my knees. He pressed them high at the same time pulling them wide. His hands left my knees and went to my hips. He was sitting back on his calves and he yanked me up his thighs, the sensitive skin of my ass gliding against the rough hairs on his thighs, making me do a full body quiver. One of
his hands left my hip and went to his cock. He guided the tip inside, his hand returned to my hip, and he hauled me up, filling me.
There it was.
“Yes, baby,” I moaned.
His eyes locked to mine, he used me to fuck himself then stayed buried as he fell forward, his thighs going out from under me, his hands going to the bed beside me, arms straight and he held himself over me as he drilled inside.
I lifted my hands to his chest, feverishly gliding them across the warm, hard wall and told him, “You’re magnificent too.”
“Keep your knees high for me, legs wide, poppy,” he grunted, powering in and I realized I was closing them in on him.
I stopped doing that, spread for him, exposed to him. It was wild, it was beautiful, it was hot, and I fucking loved it.
So much, I was nearly there.
“I’m close,” I gasped. “Are you with me?”
He stopped thrusting, starting grinding and demanded, “Look at me.”
I did, begging, “Apollo.”
He dropped his body to mine, his eyes boring into mine, his hand going between us, his thumb hitting the target and he pulled out, driving back in, groaning, “I’m bloody with you.”
Then we both came.
His sounded really freaking good.
Mine was a whole lot better.
I knew this because I felt his hips pound into mine through his. But I was still gloriously riding my climax when he drove in and stayed planted and his nose was nuzzling the skin behind my ear by the time I started coming down.
He felt it and I knew that when he stopped nuzzling and his teeth nipped my earlobe before he said in my ear, “Next time I’ll go slow and gentle.”
I almost smiled.
I didn’t.
When he’d lowered himself to me, he’d trapped my hands between us. I pushed them up his chest, his neck, and framed his face, lifting it and guiding it so I could catch his eyes.
“Are the children okay?”
His features softened to tender and if that look was good normally (and it wasn’t good, it was good) with him inside me, his face close, and after a fabulous orgasm, it was off the charts good.
Then he lifted a hand to cup my cheek, his thumb moving out to touch between my brows, gliding down over my nose to my lips, his gaze watching the trail of his thumb, that tender look not moving from his face.
That was sweet, very sweet. And I liked it. A whole lot.
But he didn’t answer my question.
“Apollo,” I called and his eyes came to mine.
“Élan has much exuberance for life, but she also has a sensitive soul,” he whispered. “She merely heard the men battling and took fright. She saw none of it and was never in any danger. Neither of them were.”
“Oh,” I mumbled, suddenly feeling stupid. I was also thinking maybe he thought it less stupid and maybe a little scary-crazy seeing as I stabbed a man and threatened another’s manhood with hedge clippers, all for nothing. “Well, then. Perhaps I overreacted.”
His body started to shake with laughter but abruptly it stopped and he closed his eyes, dropped his forehead to mine and slid his nose alongside mine.
Right. Maybe he didn’t think I was scary-crazy.
I slid my hands down to his neck and he lifted his head half an inch.
“Tell me about the children you lost, poppy,” he whispered.
That was a bolt out of the blue, a sneak attack, and my fingers flexed spasmodically in his flesh.
“Apollo—”
He pressed his body into mine and urged gently, “Tell me, dove.”
I licked my lips.
He waited.
My teeth worried my lower lip.
He didn’t move.
Shit.
Okay.
I looked deep into his eyes and saw he was not going anywhere until he had his answers.
Shit.
Okay.
Not that I wanted him to go anywhere, but we couldn’t have our staring contest forever so, haltingly, I shared, “Uh…I lost my son when I was still pregnant. Pol got pissed for some reason and started to—”
“Speak no more,” he growled and I shut up as his anger saturated the room.
I started worrying my lip again.
He got a lock on it, but his voice was rough when he prompted, “And your daughter?”
“Miscarriage at six months,” I whispered.
He closed his eyes and dropped his forehead to mine again.
It was my turn to wait.
He didn’t make me wait long.
He lifted his forehead from mine, gently slid out and rolled off me. I rolled to the side and curled up as he yanked the covers out from under me and tossed them over. After that, naked, he walked to the fire, threw some logs on and came back to me.
He got under the covers and gathered me in his arms, holding me close face-to-face with us on our sides, his hand moving up my spine to start sifting through my hair.
I drew in a deep breath and let it out, forcing myself to relax.
He spoke and he did it quietly.
“You’re in the dower house. It’s lovely, welcoming and warm. You’ll like it. It’s also, as you know, close to the main house. You’re here so that you can control when you see the children rather than running into them in hallways or hiding away in an effort to avoid them.”
Okay, I had to admit, I really liked that in the throes of all that was happening, he’d not only thought to give me that; he’d also given it to me.
He went on. “I’ve sent missives to Vasterhague for the return of our sleigh and belongings as well as Bellebryn to explain my delay and the information we gleaned from the perpetrator.”
I tipped my head back to look at him. “So you got something from him?”
He dipped his chin down to look at me. “Yes.”
He said no more.
“Are you going to share what that was?” I asked.
“On the morrow,” he answered.
I opened my mouth and he moved his hand from my hair to press his fingers against my lips.
“On the morrow, dove.”
I stared into his eyes and this time saw I would not get anything until “the morrow.”
So I shut my mouth.
He removed his fingers from my lips and resumed gliding them through my hair as he kept talking.
“As my children have become acutely aware of the dangers lurking, I will obviously wish to spend time with them in order to assuage their fears as well as assess when this is accomplished.”
“Of course.”
“I also wish for you to meet them so you can spend time with them as well.”
I didn’t reply to that, but my body did. It got tight.
His hand in my hair moved to become a thumb and side of his finger at my chin and he dipped his face close.
“You will love them. They will love you,” he whispered and my breath caught at these words. “I know this because you did not even know them, only knew they’d been frightened and you moved immediately to avenge them. It may be awkward and even difficult for you at first, but if you would do what you did this night without even knowing them, what could build if you did?”
He didn’t give me the chance to answer, he answered himself.
“Something of great beauty. I am eager for you to give my children that, but, my poppy,”—he got closer—“I’m just as eager for you to have it.”
God, that was beautiful.
I stared into his eyes then, in order to hold it together as I felt it slipping apart, I slapped his arm.
“Don’t make me cry,” I snapped. “I’ve had a couple of really bad days.”
He grinned, dipped even closer and touched his mouth to mine.
After he pulled back, he declared, “I will, of course, be spending my nights here. In this bed. With you.”
I rolled my eyes.
His danced with humor and he carried on.
“And as I sense you’ll re
quire time before you spend some with Christophe and Élan, and I also want to spend time with you, and because I don’t want the children around when it’s done, the plans that need to be made after the information we learned this night will be done here. So you will be hosting my men.”
That didn’t sound bad. In fact, I missed the guys so it sounded awesome.
“Okeydokey,” I agreed and that got me a smile.
His arms both went around me, he pulled me closer and I snuggled into his heat.
After a long ride, me going temporarily insane and Apollo doing…whatever-it-was-he-did that night, the hard part was done. The good part was coming. That being sleep, of which, since it was still dark outside, it took a while for Achilles to calm me down (he used booze—it was a good choice) and talk me into lying down, I was guessing I didn’t have much of it. Therefore, I was looking forward to it.
My eyes were especially and I knew this because they were drooping.
“You rode hard at my heels, not eating, not sleeping, not speaking, at my side the whole way to get me back to my children,” he whispered.
I didn’t say anything.
He did.
He cuddled me even closer, kissed the top of my head and kept whispering when he said, “Thank you, my dove.”
My answer was to press my cheek into his chest.
He fell silent.
I was warm and cozy under the covers, wrapped up in him, having had a really great orgasm, so my eyelids started drooping again.
“You liked our play.”
This was Apollo and my eyes stopped drooping mostly because I didn’t know what he was talking about.
This time, I spoke.
“Sorry?”
His arms tightened. “Our play, Maddie, was rough. Very much so. And you liked it. Also very much so.”
He could say that again.
But how embarrassing was this?
“Well…uh…the adela tea—”
“Yes, I sense this opened even more doors for us than I earlier imagined.”
I tipped my head back to look at him again.
“Sorry?”
“You took my cock yourself. And I could feel your excitement grow when you were spanked. Further, you kept yourself spread for me at my command,” he stopped. I was certain I blushed. His eyes narrowed slightly and he went on almost musingly. “In fact, you did everything I commanded.”