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She hesitated for a long, unsettling moment, then moved forward. There was a tautness in her bearing as she crossed the room, her small frame simmering with careful control and bitter resignation.

Ral cursed inwardly. He would strip it away, he vowed. He would find the chink in her armor, a way to breach her defenses. He would make love to her until she forgot her cool facade, forgot all but the feel of him thrusting his hardness inside her.

She stopped before him, her shoulders proudly set, just as resolute as he, determined she would not lose herself to her passions.

When Ral bent forward and kissed her, he felt her soft lips tremble for an instant, felt their warmth, then a cool reserve infused them.

He kissed her again, coaxing her lips apart, nibbling the corners of her mouth, forcing it to soften.

Then his tongue slid inside and he tasted the sweetness of her breath, the berry flavor of wine and the seductive essence of woman.

His hands found her breasts and he cupped them through the thin linen fabric.

He remembered every sweet curve, remembered how high and lush they were, how rosy they were at the crests.

He remembered how it felt to draw them into his mouth, to suckle them until he felt her hands digging into his shoulders.

He wanted to do that now, so he lifted off her camise, turned her a little and began to trail warm kisses down her back and along her spine.

Her skin felt soft and smooth beneath his lips, and so warm it sent a fresh rush of blood to his groin.

Already stiff and throbbing, his shaft rose up and hardened even more .

Still, he could sense her resistance and he meant to set it away.

“Sit down on the edge of the bed.”

Caryn’s jaw tightened. “As you wish, my lord.” She said the words grimly but her voice shook a little, and he believed she was not as immune to his touch as she appeared.

She settled herself at the foot of the bed and tossed back her hair, looking calm and collected, but a wash of pink tinged her cheeks at the fact that she was naked, and the warm appreciative look he gave her body.

“I have thought how lovely you are a thousand times.”

Caryn said nothing, but her breathing went a little bit shallow. She fixed her gaze on the wall off to his left.

“Open your legs for me. I would see that which you work so hard to deny me.” Though the color in her cheeks grew brighter, her legs remained closed. “You are my wife,” he reminded her, leaning forward to kiss the hollow of her throat. “’Tis your duty to obey me.”

She slowly eased her legs apart and Ral moved between them, urging her backward on the bed.

He leaned forward and kissed her forehead, then her eyes, her nose, her mouth.

The kiss he took was searing, his tongue delving in, tasting, coaxing, mating with hers then darting away.

All the while his hands caressed her breasts, worked her taut little nipples until they puckered and tightened, turning a darker shade of rose as he took one into his mouth.

Caryn made a sound in her throat, a small odd whimper that might have been fury or pleasure. He opened his mouth to take more of her, used his tongue to tease the rigid peak, then circled it and began to tug gently. For his efforts, he gained another soft moan, one that could not be mistaken.

He trailed his hands lower, through the silky auburn curls that guarded her sex, a finger spreading the petals, circling them, then easing gently inside her.

“So soft,” he whispered as his mouth followed the path his hands had taken, trailing damp warm kisses along her flat belly, his finger still pressing inside her. “So wet.” He ran his tongue into her navel, ringed it, then moved lower.

“You were meant for this, Caryn. Can you not see that?” But of course she did not answer, and he felt her draw a little bit away.

He spread her legs wider and knelt between them, kissing the inside of her thighs, continuing to tease and stroke her with his hands.

“Please…” he heard her whimper, her palms on his shoulders as if she might push him away.

“Please what, Caryn? Please, Ral, do not make me feel this way? ’Tis my right as your lord to take all that you can give.” Several more soft kisses along her tempting flesh, then he found the small pink bud of her desire and settled his mouth over the tiny crease of sensitive skin.

His tongue touched her there and her musky scent enflamed him, sending fire to his loins and making him throb with unspent passion.

He was ablaze with wanting, aching and pulsing with every heartbeat.

He felt her small body quiver and arch toward him, saw that she thrashed upon the bed, and slid his tongue deep inside her.

Caryn cried out his name and the sound of it drove him on.

Even as he laved and tasted, she fought to deny him, fighting herself as well.

Then he felt her hands in his hair and her body lifting upward.

She moaned softly in her passion, parting her legs a little wider, her breathing swift and ragged.

Still he plundered her sweetness, his hands sliding under her bottom, gripping her buttocks and forcing her to accept each stroke of his tongue. He felt her body stiffen, heard her small sob of defeat, felt the tremors of pleasure engulf her, and knew he had accomplished his goal.

Before she’d had time to spiral down, Ral had stripped off his clothes and returned to the place between her legs. His hardness probed, found entrance, and he plunged himself deeply inside her.

Caryn cried out at the feel of him, the bunching of his muscles as he moved above her, and the rock hard thickness of his shaft.

Dear God, I must not let him win. But even as her mind rebelled, fresh waves of sweetness washed over her, tendrils of heat and incredible pleasure. He was taking her there again, lifting her to that fiery plateau with every hard thrust of his body.

She wanted to deny him, to guard herself from the pain she knew would follow, but this time Ral would not let her. There was nowhere to go, no way to run from his relentless pursuit, no way to save herself from her passions.

She was burning with heat, on fire with pleasure and wanting.

She wrapped her legs around him, slid her arms around his neck, and clung to him fiercely.

She tried to think of the future, of Lynette and the women he would want, but the moment was the only thought she could conjure.

Even that slipped away until there was only Ral’s big hard body, only the feel of muscle beneath smooth dark skin, only the feel of him driving inside her.

“Ral…” she whispered, “dear God, Ral.…” She reached her peak once more, felt him tense and jerk forward, then felt the spilling of his seed.

Even before it was over, tears formed at the corners of her eyes and slipped in salty rivulets down her cheeks.

She tried to get up but he would not let her, sliding an arm around her waist and drawing her close against him.

She rolled to her side, fighting back sobs, her body shaking with her effort at control and the burden of her failure.

One of Ral’s big dark hands smoothed the hair away from her cheeks. “You cry because you think you have been defeated,” he said softly. “Can you not see it is you who has won?”

A half-stifled sob was the only sound she made.

Ral gently turned her to face him. In the flickering light of the candle, his eyes looked more blue than gray and a lock of thick black hair fell over his forehead.

“Listen to me, Cara. There is no more need for tears. ’Tis you who have won this battle, not me.” He smiled, but weariness shown in his features. “I have made arrangements with the Lord of Pontefact. On the morrow, by the time we leave this room, Lynette will be gone from the castle.”

“What?”

“I am sending her away.”

“But why?” Caryn searched his face. “Why would you do such a thing?”

“Is it not plain, cherie? ” A hard male knuckle brushed the wetness from her cheeks. “’Tis not Lynette that I want. ’Tis you and no other.”

Caryn watched the play of shadow against his dark features, the proud, beard-roughened jawline, the steady look in his eyes. Did he mean it? Did she dare to put her faith in him again? “I want to believe you, Ral, but—”

“’Tis the God’s truth, Cara. I have thought of no other since the night I left your bed.”

Fresh tears stung her eyes and she had to look away. “Then why did you do it?”

For a moment Ral said nothing, then he sighed. “’Tis hard for me to say. In part, ’twas because of Stephen and Eliana. Because of the power she holds over him. I have seen what a woman like that can do to a man.”

“But I am not like that.”

He smiled at her softly. “No, you are not. ”

“Did you love her?” she asked. Do you love her still?

“Mayhap I did… once. Now I see her for the greedy, power-hungry female that she is.”

“And Stephen?”

For a moment he seemed uncertain. “He loves her as a man loves a woman.”

“You do not mean—”

“Aye.”

Caryn sucked in a sharp breath of air. “’Tis the gravest of sins.”

“Aye. ’Twill mean God’s wrath for sure.”

“I still do not see what it has to do with me.”

“Do you not, Cara?”

“No, I—”

“Mayhap ’tis better that you do not.” He kissed her then, long and deep, and she could feel the steady beating of his heart.

“I have missed you so much,” she said softly.

“Nay, my love, not nearly so much as I have missed you.”

Caryn closed her eyes and let the warmth of him engulf her. He hadn’t said he loved her, had only said he desired her above the rest. Still, it was a beginning, more than she dreamed he would ever concede.

He tightened his hold, raking his fingers through her heavy auburn hair, then pulling her head back to take her mouth in a hot, demanding kiss. She was trembling when he finally released her.

“We are good together, Cara. Can you not see?”

Good for pleasure, for the easing of a physical need, but what of love?

she wanted to ask. He had once loved Eliana and he had been hurt badly.

Could he learn to love again? ’Twas a question she did not ask.

She had not told him of the love she felt for him.

She was afraid to. He had run from her once. He might do it again.

The next time, she could not forgive him.