“Be still!” he commanded sharply when her knee rose dangerously close to his groin. “You would welcome the lash which effects much pain, but you scorn this, which gives only pleasure. Or is it only the humbling that you fear, for once done, there will be no doubt that you belong to me?”
“Your lying tongue will not make me submit!” she cried out in frustration. “I know of the agonies you would inflict on me!”
“Agonies?” he looked down into her terrified eyes and wondered at the demons that were planted in her mind. “The truth will come out in the doing, mistress.”
With that he moved from her, and Brenna thought briefly that he had indeed changed his mind. But she was fooled, for in the next moment her belt was pulled open and her shift yanked from her shoulders and down her hips, then thrown to the floor. She moaned softly at the humiliation of having her young body bared in its entirety to a man’s lusting eyes. And this man’s eyes did feast hungrily upon her nakedness, making her close her own eyes in utter shame.
“So this is the body you would deny,” he murmured huskily. “I would think to find a boyish form, not these perfect curves and mounds. Yea, you are a woman proud and true. Such beauty as the like I’ve never seen—and mine for the taking.”
Brenna started at his words and her eyes flew open. “Cease your mumbling, Viking! I am not yours, and you have yet to prove otherwise!”
He grinned down at her stormy gray eyes, her bright crimson cheeks. “I will do so with pleasure, Brenna.” He said her name like a caress. “Yea, much pleasure indeed.”
He leaned over her, his hands securing her arms by her sides, one leg covering both of hers, thus holding her immobile. Then he brought his lips down to the firm mounds of her breasts thrust proudly before him. He took one deep in his mouth, then sucked gently on its delicious peak until it rose impudently beneath his tongue. Brenna jerked at this assault. She had never dreamed that a man’s lips could be so hot. They seemed to sear her tender skin where they touched her. Was this intense heat part of the agony that she knew would come?
She looked down on him with wonder, at his golden head resting over her breasts, the wavy hair tickling her skin. His enormous shoulders met her eye, and she saw many little trails of blood from her scratches. She watched the iron muscles ripple on his back when she tried to move her arms and he stayed her. Brenna admired strength and courage; she always had. But this man’s strength was unbelievable. He held her with such ease when she tried her mightiest to move him. Though such a powerful body was magnificent to behold, that she lay at the mercy of its strength was unbearable.
“Garrick—Garrick.”
He looked up at her, puzzlement in his eyes. “’Tis the first time you have used my name. I like the sound of it on your lips.”
Brenna steeled herself for her next words. “Garrick, release me.” Her tone of voice was the closest she could come to pleading.
He smiled softly, his eyes afire with passion. “Nay, my beauty. ’Tis too late for that.”
At that he moved to kiss her, but she turned her head away. He released one arm to hold her head still. He instantly regretted his decision when her nails dug into a tender area of his chest like sharp teeth.
He bellowed in pain and quickly grabbed her hand again. “I see you have a weapon after all, my bloodthirsty wench!”
“Yea, but I regret it cannot reach your heart, for I would take that from you if I could and feed it to the wolves!”
“Well, vixen, there is something I will give you instead, though ’twill not go to the wolves, but between your legs,” he growled angrily, and pulled her arms together to hold them with one hand while his other removed his trousers.
With her legs free for a moment, she kicked wildly, but could do no damage. And then his hard and swollen member pressed against her thigh. From his position at her side she could see it clearly, and she gasped at the huge size of it and knew that Cordella had not lied. That proud beast would surely tear her asunder and render her screaming for mercy. Yet even as a horrifying fear spread through her, she could not voice the words to beg again for her release.
Her rising panic nearly choked her, and she squirmed and heaved to such a degree that she was not aware he had thrust his knees between her legs and now loomed over her. When he lowered his weight slowly, stilling her futile efforts once and for all, she knew she was trapped without the slightest hope of escape.
“You act as if I would slay you, girl,” he said, still amazed that she fought so fiercely. “Put your fears to rest. You will not perish in my bed.”
“The words of a sly fox to his chosen meal!” she hissed between clenched teeth. “I warn you, Viking. If you persist in this deed, you will regret it. I do not take injustice lightly!”
He ignored her threat and buried his lips in the curve of her neck, then whispered close to her ear, “Relax, Brenna, and I will still be gentle with you.”
“How can a bungling oaf be gentle?” she snapped.
Brenna did not see his face tighten in anger, but his voice gave testimony to his annoyance. “Then you shall have it your way!”
Her legs were spread wide by his hips. His huge member was like a thick steel pole pressing to enter her. It met the hard resistance of her maidenhead, a sturdy wall meant to keep out intruders. But like a battering ram, he broke through the fortress wall, tearing her flesh so she felt a stabbing white-hot pain. Her body was stiff with expectancy as she waited for the terrible agony to continue. She could feel the offending weapon deep inside her womb and then it left her completely, only to thrust into her even deeper. Again and again it teased her, departing, then returning quickly to bury itself within her. Where was the pain that she feared above all else? And what was this strange sensation that was slowly speading through her loins, which made her feel as if she were floating, somehow soaring on a mystical cloud that was lifting her ever higher—and to what end?
Brenna did not know that Garrick was watching the confusion which crossed her features. Finally he closed his eyes and thrust so deeply it seemed he would join them together for all eternity. Then he was still. Though he wanted to relax his guard and revel in this closeness, to take more pleasure from it, he could not trust her even now.
Brenna was deep in thought when he looked down at her, a frown creasing her brow. Garrick wondered briefly at her mood, why she was now so still and not demanding that he leave her. She had proved to be a greater pleasure than he had thought possible, and he found with some small bit of amazement that he already looked forward to having her again.
“Why did you stop?” Brenna asked him in a haughty tone.
He looked at her confused eyes and laughed. “Because you have my seed and ’twill be awhile before I can give you more.”
“But you are still hard within me,” she replied unabashedly. “I can feel you. Can you not continue?”
