It whet her appetite for more, made her long to see him bare. With a courage that astounded her, she tugged at his surcoat and tunic.
He laughed at her eagerness before he pulled back long enough to divest himself of his garments.
Kenna swallowed at the sight of his bare, tawny skin gleaming in the sunlight. He was superb. Every part of him. Biting her lip, she reached out with her hand to trace the taut muscles of his shoulder down to his powerful biceps, then over to his pectorals.
He hissed at her touch and held himself still for her exploration. And explore him she did. She ran her questing hands down his chest to his hard, steely abdomen, where every muscle was well defined. Down to the small trail of hairs that ran from his navel to the waistband of his breeches.
Kenna hesitated to go any further. She desperately wished to see all of him, and yet she was a bit scared. She’d never seen a man naked before.
What would he look like?
“Don’t stop there,” he said, tugging at the laces at his waist.
Her throat dry, Kenna yielded to the curious part of herself and took courage in the hot, yearning look on his face as she gently sank her hand down into his breeches.
She found him instantly. He was swollen and wet and hard. Her hand trembling, she wrapped her fingers around his shaft. He groaned.
He held himself above her with one arm and used his other hand to cover hers. Kenna shivered as he showed her how to stroke him.
“You like this?” she asked, moving her hand down to the base of his shaft.
“Aye. I do.”
Wanting to please him more, she cupped him in her palm while he teased the flesh of her neck with his mouth. Chills covered her from his hot breath.
She found it hard to believe that she was doing this with him, that they were about to share the most intimate of all experiences together—and yet why shouldn’t they?
This was something she didn’t want to share with anyone else. Only Simon had ever made her feel womanly. Desirable.
Oh, how she loved his hands on her. The feel of him in her own hands. He was so soft and hard as he rocked himself against her.
Simon pulled back and removed his boots and breeches.
Kenna licked her lips at the sight of his bare, masculine form. He was all sinuous power. All golden skin and muscles. If she could, she’d spend the rest of her life staring at that lush, wonderful body.
Her desire for him tripled, leaving her breathless and weak.
He reached for her, then removed the rest of her clothes. Kenna shivered, feeling terribly vulnerable.
She knew she wasn’t a beautiful woman. Knew she had never driven men wild with desire.
But she wanted to do that now with Simon.
“Am I disappointing to you?”
Simon was aghast at her question. “How could you ask that?” He’d never wanted any woman more than he wanted her.
She smiled at him. “I didn’t want you to regret this.”
“I could never regret you.”
He gathered her into his arms and held her close. The feel of her body against his was enough to drive him to madness. He kissed his way slowly down her skin. From her neck to her breasts, then lower and lower.
There was no part of her he didn’t want to sample. No part of her he didn’t want to touch.
Kenna’s eyes widened as she felt his hand probe her between her legs. Her entire body burned as he slid his fingers in and around, teasing her with pleasure.
He pulled his hand away, then covered her fully with his body. Recapturing her lips with his, he parted her legs wide and slid himself deep inside her.
She hissed as pain spread through her.
“Shh,” Simon breathed in her ear. “It’ll pass in a moment, I promise.”
She bit her lip and waited as he remained perfectly still. The fullness of him felt so strange. She’d tried to imagine what it would feel like to have a man inside her, but nothing had prepared her for the reality of it.
It was so intimate to have him there while he looked down at her.
He smiled tenderly. “You are beautiful, Kenna. A treasure truly.”
She reached up and laid her hand against his cheek as she stared into those searing blue eyes. “I love you, Simon.”
He dipped his head down and kissed her, then slowly started to move against her.
Kenna moaned at the sensation of his body thrusting against hers. She let her love for him wash over her. Her need.
He returned to her mouth, his breath stealing hers as they kissed and stroked each other with their hands and bodies.
Simon could barely breathe as he lost himself to the softness of her. He had seldom known comfort in his life. Seldom known tenderness.
His life had been spent with those who’d had little to no regard for him. He’d always had to prove himself. But not with her. She loved him for what he was. Not for his sword arm, not for his ability to think quickly.
She loved him for his heart.
With her he didn’t have to pretend to be anything he wasn’t. He could be soft with her. Gentle.
It was so unfair that he couldn’t keep her.
She ran her hands over his back, her touch searing him to his soul. She was all he’d ever wanted in a woman.
And everything he couldn’t have.
But she was his for this moment.
Delighting in that fact, he lost himself to her.
Kenna moaned as all her pain faded away to the pleasure of Simon inside her. The hard strength of him filled her to overflowing. She’d never known anything more sublime than him sliding in and out of her, over and over, until she was breathless and weak.
“Oh Simon,” she breathed in wonderment.
Her body clenched and unclenched with his movements. Her ecstasy mounted until she was sure she would die from it. And then, just as she was certain she could stand no more, her body burst around her.
Kenna held him close as she cried out from it.
Simon growled as he felt her climax. Unable to bear the pleasure of her body clutching his, he joined her in orgasm.
He nuzzled her neck with his lips as wave after wave of pleasure racked him. The scent of her filled his head, making him dizzy.
He didn’t move for several minutes but stayed there in her arms, letting her softness soothe him.
Afraid he was hurting her with his weight, he pulled back. “Thank you, my lady.”
Kenna smiled up at him. This was so strange. The feel of him still inside her while he spoke to her.
He was so handsome, his face flushed, his hair damp from exertion.
Reaching up, she brushed his damp bangs back from his forehead, then traced the line of his jaw.
How she wished they could stay like this. But it was impossible.
She saw the reluctance in his eyes before he withdrew from her. He picked her up from the ground and carried her toward the water.
“What are you doing?”
“I plan to bathe you, my lady. Every part of you.”
She bit her lip at his words as a rush of excitement went through her.
He carried her to the lake and set her down to stand waist deep in the water, then he made good on his promise. He ran his hands over her heated skin, bathing her with a tenderness that seemed at odds for a knight of his caliber.
He dipped his head under the water.
Kenna watched the water play over the muscles of his back as he broke the surface, then caught her up to him. It was a wicked sensation to have his wet body pressed up against hers.
“I am so glad you came with me today.”
She smiled up at him as she touched the locket that held her hair. “As am I.”
After they bathed, they lay naked on the grass, waiting for their bodies to dry in the sun.
Simon looked so good spread out under her. She particularly liked the way dark, auburn hair dusted his legs and chest. The way his shaft looked nestled in the dense hairs below his waist.
Truly, the man had no equal.
Kenna lay on her stomach, mostly for modesty’s sake. She was draped over Simon’s chest as he played with her hair and told her stories of his travels with Stryder.
“He does not snore,” she said with a laugh at his latest declaration of Stryder’s faults. If she didn’t know better, she would swear he was only recounting the man’s shortcomings out of jealousy.
“Like a bear. I swear it. There are times he’s so loud that he wakes himself up with it. He’ll grab his dagger and brandish it about, demanding to know who awakened him.”
She laughed again. “He would kill you if he ever heard you repeat that.”
Simon’s smile made her heart light. “He’s heard it oft enough. I make no pretense of niceties to him.”
“’Tis a wonder he tolerates you,” she said as she ran her hand over Simon’s chest. She’d been tracing circles over his skin the whole time they lay there.
For some reason, she couldn’t get enough of touching his bare skin.
“Tolerates me? ’Tis a wonder I tolerate him. Truly the man is a beast.”
“He can’t be too bad if he sees the good in you.”
Simon leaned up to capture her lips in a light kiss.
Kenna sighed in satisfaction. What a wonderful day this had turned out to be…and an emotional one.
This morning, she’d assumed she’d spend the day with Stryder. Never would she have guessed the day would end like this.
That the man of her dreams was Simon of Ravenswood.
Simon pulled back and sighed wistfully as her stomach rumbled. “I fear I should return you before you’re missed and Sin sends a search party to find you.”
“I wish we didn’t have to. Can we not run away together?”
His fingers played across her cheek. “I wish we could. But I have my own oath to the Brotherhood to uphold. I am the only one Stryder trusts at his back. He has enemies who would do anything to see him dead.”
“I know. But I wish…”
She couldn’t finish the thought. Not that she needed to. Simon knew her wishes the same as she did.
Simon tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. “And there is the matter of your cousin, who would never rest if he thought I had taken you away from your home. Malcolm would never leave us in peace.”
Again he was right.
“Promise me that you won’t just leave me, Simon. Swear to me that you’ll always write to me.”
“I promise.”
Heartbroken, she moved away from him and got up. Neither of them spoke as they dressed and mounted the horse.
Kenna couldn’t stand the thought of what was to come. It tore through her like a vicious blade, carving out her soul.
How she wished she had been born another. Some lesser-known lady whose position would have been equivalent to Simon’s. Then perhaps there would have been a future for them.
All too soon they returned to the castle.
Simon rode them into the stable, and the first thing she saw there made her entire body run cold.
“Are you all right?” Simon asked as he slid down from his saddle.
Kenna couldn’t answer. Her gaze was fastened onto the roan stallion in the nearest stall. It was a horse she knew well.
It belonged to her younger cousin Malcolm—the king of Scotland.
She shivered at the thought of why her cousin would be here.
But she didn’t have to wonder for very long. No sooner had they entered the castle than she was besieged by the entire gathering of English and Scottish nobles.
A hush fell upon the crowd.
Swallowing, Kenna forced herself forward.
Malcolm was seated on the raised dias in the Great Hall, next to King Henry II of England.
Her spine straight, she forced herself to walk forward so that she stood before her cousin. Simon stayed by her side, his presence giving her comfort as she curtsied.
Malcolm looked uncomfortable. “Cousin Kenna, we have been searching for you all afternoon. Wherever have you been?”
She forced herself not to look at Simon lest she betray either one of them.
“Forgive me, Majesty,” Simon’s deep voice rumbled. “I fear I detained her.”
Malcolm’s look was harsh. “And you are?”
“Simon of Ravenswood,” King Henry answered. “He is brother to the earl of Ravenswood.”
“And a personal friend of mine.”
Kenna passed a grateful look to Sin MacAllister, who spoke up from the small crowd that was gathered to her left. Sin was a friend and advisor to King Henry and had become a trusted ally to Malcolm as well. Both kings looked to the man favorably.
Malcolm relaxed. “Then he is trustworthy?”
“I would trust him with my life,” Sin answered without hesitation.
“Good,” Malcolm said. “I would hate for anything to come between my cousin and her marriage.”
Dread consumed her.
“Marriage?” Kenna repeated.
It was then she saw Stryder of Blackmoor as he made his way through the dense crowd. The look on his face was one of hell wrath.
He passed a murderous glare to Simon, then offered her a forced smile.
“Dearest,” Stryder said in a voice that was far from warm. “It appears that on the morrow we shall wed.”
Chapter 4
“Pardon?” Kenna asked, unable to fathom what Stryder had just said.
With any luck, she’d gone deaf this afternoon and had misheard him.
Unfortunately, she wasn’t so fortunate.
Malcolm smiled. “We are very proud of you, cousin. An English champion will make a fine alliance for our family. You have chosen very wisely for your husband.”
Kenna struggled desperately to maintain composure. She dared a quick glance at Simon, who stood as still as a statue. There wasn’t a single clue as to his mood, except for the angry tic in his jaw and the pain in his eyes.
“Majesty,” she said, amazed at how level her voice sounded, given the fact that what she wanted to do was run screaming from the room. “Might I have a word with you in private?”
Malcolm hesitated.
“Now, please?” She pressed.
To her relief, he agreed. They were shown to a small antechamber just off the Great Hall, where they could speak without being overheard.
But to her further chagrin, King Henry came with them.
When Stryder tried to join their company, she put her foot down and banished him from the room.
If only she could do the same with Henry.
Not that it mattered. She refused to marry Stryder. Such a thing wouldn’t be fair to either one of them now that she knew the truth.
“What is wrong?” Malcolm asked as soon as the three of them were sequestered.
Kenna took a deep breath and blurted out her desire. “I’ve no wish to marry Stryder of Blackmoor.”
The two kings exchanged shocked looks.
“Caledonia assured us that you loved the earl,” Malcolm said. “That you have spoken of nothing but him for months now.”
She bristled uncomfortably. “I was wrong.” She cringed a bit more as the words came out sounding more like a question than a statement of fact.
“Wrong?” Henry repeated. “Lady, are you daft?”
Malcolm arched a regal brow at the harshness of the older king. “Our cousin is quite sound. Perhaps there is a flaw with your champion.”
Henry scoffed. “Our champion is undefeated. Test his steel yourself and you shall see that none can touch him in prowess. We assure you, the flaw is not with Stryder.”
“Please, Majesties,” she said before they started a war over this. “I beg you not to fight. There is nothing wrong with Lord Stryder or myself, it’s just—”
“You love someone else.” It was Henry who spoke.
Kenna looked away.
“Is this true?” Malcolm demanded.
She nodded.
He
r cousin sighed as he considered that. “And who is this man?”
She choked on the answer, too afraid that by speaking his name she might do him harm.
But then she didn’t have to say it. Henry did. “Simon of Ravenswood. It is why the two of you were together.”
Silence rang in the room for what seemed an eternity.
Kenna had no idea what to say. She was terrified of doing anything that might cause Simon to get into trouble for her actions.
“Kenna?” Malcolm’s voice was deep and calm.
She met Malcolm’s gaze levelly.
“What say you about this man?”
“I do love Simon, Majesty.”
Malcolm’s gaze turned steely. Speculative. “And again We ask you, who is this Simon of Ravenswood? Is he someone of rank or privilege?”
Henry shook his head. “He is a knight-errant who travels with our English champions. He has neither title nor any prospect for such.”
Malcolm’s gaze turned dull as he nodded in thanks for Henry’s honesty.
When he looked back at Kenna, her heart shrank at the sadness and regret she saw on his face.
He would offer her no hope.
“Kenna, you know the wealth that comes with your hand. You are the last of your father’s children. Would you have Us marry you to a landless knight?”
“If you’re asking me for the answer in my heart, Majesty, then the answer is aye. If you ask my head, then I know the truth. Please don’t torture me with it. As always, I will do as you command.”
Her cousin’s gaze softened a degree. “We have come here to see you wed an English champion.” He looked over to Henry. “You were to hold a show of arms tomorrow, were you not?”
“Aye.”
“Then the winner shall take my cousin’s hand.”
Kenna was shocked by Malcolm’s unexpected words. “What say you?”
The familiar determined fire returned to Malcolm’s eyes. “Your Simon has but one chance to win you, Kenna. Pray tonight that he is as deft with his sword as he was with winning your heart.”
Overjoyed by his words, Kenna threw herself into his arms and hugged him tightly. It was a breach of etiquette, but she knew her cousin wouldn’t mind.
“Thank you!” She kissed his cheek.
Malcolm patted her on the back, then released her.