Damien resisted the urge to look at her again, though the seeming double meaning in her words played havoc with his senses. He steeled himself to begin the lesson, preparing, as always, to review what she had learned during the previous session.
The previous session…oh sweet heaven, he had taught her a sequence of moves to free oneself from attacks that come from behind. That meant he’d taken great pleasure, yesterday, in directing her to stand facing away from him, with the sweetly rounded curves of her bottom fitted to his groin and her shoulders resting against his chest. His left arm had been wrapped around her waist, while his right had snaked around her chest…across the tops of her delectable breasts, good God…
“Shall we begin?” Alissende called cheerfully, and he realized that she’d taken a few steps away from him to stand, back to him and arms slightly raised, inviting him to take hold of her in the pose they’d left off with.
Damien bit back a groan, gritting his teeth and moving into position. This was ridiculous; he was a seasoned warrior, by God, tested through bloody battles, stifling desert sun, and the tortures of the Inquisition. He could manage this—thisneedshe incited in him—without falling to pieces over it.
Slipping his arms around her, he tugged, pulling her back into him somewhat more forcefully than he might have under normal circumstances…enough that he heard her breath leave her in one swift rush.
Now his own irritation was getting the better of him, he thought in disgust. In this position, his lips were close to her ear, and he deemed it only proper to murmur an apology for his overzealous action, though just as he did, he could have sworn he caught a glimpse of her smile.
But when he looked more closely, she seemed composed, merely nodding in acceptance of his contrition. If anything, at that moment he thought she looked serious and ready to get to work.
Taking care not to breathe in too deeply, for fear of being captivated anew by her delicious scent, Damien stared straight ahead and set his jaw. “Do you remember what you must needs do first, lady, should anyone come upon you like this?” he asked gruffly.
“I believe so,” she answered.
But she did not follow that statement with movement, and in another moment he almost growled, “Is something amiss, then, that you do not begin?”
“Nay.” She sounded cool and unperturbed, despite the fact that they were locked in a close and quite sensual embrace. He did not know how she remained so steady in the face of it, for the feeling of her pressed against him like this was sending molten fire undulating to his core.
“I am not quite ready to begin yet, for I was just thinking,” she continued. “Once we leave for court, day after next, we will no longer be able to pursue this kind of training in public. It would be more awkward there, even, than it has been here—yet I believe we should proceed with it, as I have not mastered enough in these few days to warrant ceasing my instruction.”
As she spoke the last bit, she turned her head against his chest to look up at him, her eyes wide open and innocent. “What do you think?”
For the second time in this quarter hour, Damien choked. Gazing down at her, his lips mere inches from her own, he took in a shallow breath, then exhaled just as gradually, not making any other kind of movement or sound. At last, he blinked and somehow marshaled enough strength to murmur, “I think you are likely correct.”
She gave a slight nod, seemingly unaware of the chaos she was unleashing inside him, a state that only worsened when she added, “I am glad, for I have been musing a good deal about this, and I must tell you that, despite my initial reluctance, I now realize howgratefulI should be for the opportunity you have provided me. And because of it, I wish to repay you in kind.”
She smiled again, sweetly, and Damien could not help but stare at her. His trepidation rose with every second, as he knew by instinct that whatever she was leading up to, with such a complete and unexpected turnabout in her demeanor, could not be good.
“What, exactly, did you have in mind?”
He spoke because she seemed to be expecting him to say something, though he groaned inwardly as soon as the words were out, well aware that it was likely the most ill-advised thing he could have asked her at that moment.
Alissende, however, seemed thrilled with the question; she smiled more brightly.
“I thought we could undertake an activity that you might find as stimulating as I have found my instruction. Though it, as well, would need to be undertaken in private, I think.”
She tipped her head as if considering, and Damien struggled to hold still. It went against every masculine instinct to do so when her words stirred the fires inside him anew, sending heated jolts along familiar paths.
“Aye, privacy would be best,” she added at last, looking up to cast him a glance of pure dalliance, “for I find it difficult to believe that you would want anyone watching us at the activity I have in mind.”
Disbelief rocked through Damien at the immediate, erotic images that sprang into his mind. She could not be contemplating what he thought she was. Nay, it couldn’t be. He was insane even to consider it…
“Actually, I suppose we need not wait until we arrive at court to begin,” she continued in that cheery voice, while the implication of her words pounded into his stunned brain like iron nails. “In fact, I do not see why we cannot start as early as tonight, in our own chamber here at Glenheim.”
Through the shock that kept rising higher and higher inside him, Damien somehow heard her say just after that, “There. Now that that’s settled, shall we commence our lesson?” He even managed to grunt out a kind of response that seemed appropriate…
A reaction he immediately regretted, when she did exactly as he had bid her do during her instruction yesterday, taking hold of the smallest finger of his right hand and yanking painfully back on it, causing him to involuntarily loosen his grip on her, while at the same time using that opening to drive her elbow directly into his midsection.
Hard.
Damien’s breath left him, for good, it seemed, just as was supposed to happen with this move, and he staggered back, bent over double and gasping in his effort to regain his wind.
Through the haze that covered his vision, he saw Alissende turn around, her startled expression quickly shifting to one of triumph. She dug her fists into her hips, and just before he dropped to his knee, having been defeated this afternoon, he realized, in more ways than one, he heard her gentle laughter. The sound of it washed over him, impish and merry all at once.
“It seems you were mistaken about one thing, in regards to my training, Damien,” she teased, still laughing. “I did manage to catch you unawares. However, I must admit that you were quite correct about another.”
