Nothing. And no Brienne in sight.
Trotting back toward the cave, he saw the flames flare again, and then the cave grew dark. Then her smaller form crawled out of the cave and stood. The branches were not where she’d left them, and she glanced around before climbing to her feet and brushing the dirt from her hands.
How had she . . . ? There had been nothing in that cave except the fire burning in the corner. Had he missed another entrance or hiding place within? Nothing there but a fire. William shook his head at the notion that took hold of him.
A fire burning with no wood or peat to fuel it. A fire made out of nothing?
Had she created it as she had the fireball in her hands? It was too nonsensical to accept. He must have missed the signs of another way in or out of that cave. He shook his head again before realizing the absolute and sheer insanity of his thoughts. Thoughts that a month ago would have seen him imprisoned as a madman or a heretic now did not shock him at all.
Was his father so afflicted or had his strange words of warning caused this in him? How had things changed so quickly in his otherwise clear and orderly life? How had he changed so much?
The woman at the center of his speculations had yet to see him, so he stepped into the path and watched as her eyes widened in surprise.
“Sir . . . William,” she stuttered out the words. “I . . .” He watched as she tried to come up with some excuse or words of explanation. William shook his head at her and shrugged his shoulders. “I did not see you there,” she finally said.
“Nay, you did not.”
Waiting for her to reach him, he noticed the way her cheeks flushed as she met his gaze. Innocent. He must remind himself that she was an innocent. Or, he had no doubt, the well-muscled fists of the blacksmith would remind him so. It mattered not, for nothing in this world could stop the desire for her that grew within him. And the need to protect her.
Who was this young woman?
When he was rational and thought on it, she could have no place in his life. That much he knew and understood. And as an honorable man, he would not dally with an innocent when he could not offer the protection of his name. As he could not. Once his lands were secured, once the king confirmed the grant and title, then he would seek a wife and establish his household. And it could never be this woman.
No matter that the need to claim her filled his body and soul every time he encountered her.
“Your expression is quite formidable, Sir William,” she said softly, now right before him. “Have I done something to displease you?”
For a moment, he was diverted by her words.
“You need to have a care, Brienne. I thought you’d gone into that cave and burned when I saw the fire burst forth.”
“I thank you for your concern, Sir William, but these lands are known to me. I was searching for something left behind by one of the village boys in that cave. And I saw no fire there.”
For a scant moment, he doubted his own sight, but that was before he remembered the other strange things he’d witnessed only a few days ago. Such things raised questions and could have been witnessed by any number of people, putting her in grave peril. Over the last several days, too many strangers had entered this valley—from the last of his men to the additional armed men who rode into Yester Castle’s yard to the newest arrivals whose identities he knew not.
“There are strangers in the valley, Brienne. You should have a care not to be caught alone,” he warned. The irony of his warning was not lost on him.
“Lord Hugh is in residence now,” she said with a slight lift of her chin. “No one would—” She stopped as though revealing too much to him.
“Do you think that is enough to protect you? And if a man did not know you were under his protection? How long do you think it would take a man to . . . to . . . do this?”
He gave up trying to warn her and instead just took her in his arms and showed her what could happen to her. At least that was what he told himself in that moment. Then he kissed her as he’d wanted to for days.
The last time, the first kiss, he’d held back, exploring Brienne’s mouth gently. This time he was not gentle. He did not explore. He claimed.
He possessed her.
What began as a way to show her the vulnerability of a woman alone became an exploration of the growing passion and attraction between the two of them.
Sliding his hands into her hair, he held her face close to his and kissed her long and hard. Then, easing back, he kissed along her forehead and along her chin, the same one she’d recently raised in challenge to him. Unable to resist the taste of her, he teased her lips with the tip of his tongue until she opened for him. His tongue plunged into her, finding hers and drawing it into his mouth.
She made soft sounds against him as he suckled on her tongue, driving him mad and making him ache to take all of her. Her hands crept up along his and yet he did not stop. Then she leaned in to him, the heat of her body igniting his desire even more. He slid his hands along her neck and shoulders and then down to her waist. He eased them around her and cupped the globes of her bottom, pulling her up hard and tight against his raging flesh.
And never for a moment did he release her mouth from his. When she wrapped her arms around him, holding him close, he kissed her until she was breathless and then moved his mouth over the gentle skin of her neck, kissing and nipping down to the place where her gown lay low on the swell of her breasts.
He should stop. He knew he should. He planned to. But her hands slid into his hair just then, her fingers tangling in the curls and pulling his head down. He let his desire flow, loosening the ties of her gown and chemise with one hand while his mouth played its way along her skin. Tugging the edges lower, he licked the stiff peak of her breast and drew it in his mouth.
Her legs gave way then, and he guided them down, first to a kneel and then onto the ground. Holding her gown away, he kissed the soft mounds and caught a tip once more, this time worrying it with his teeth and licking the pink bud of it as she gasped. Her body lay next to his, writhing and rubbing against him in the way of an innocent who did not know the pleasure before her. William caressed her body and placed his hand over her belly and then lower, grazing his fingers over that place where he knew she ached, even if she did not understand it.
