His response was to kiss her again, suckling the life from her. Corisande couldn’t catch her breath and her entire body was hot and tingling. Cole’s touch lit a fire under her, too, and perhaps that was why she was inclined to ignore him, to not fall into his arms every time he looked at her. His touch made her want to do things with him that only naughty women did. She knew about the ways of men and women and she’d seen enough servant women being groped by soldiers to know that men liked to touch parts of a woman’s body that even a woman didn’t touch very often, so she well understood how men and women could behave with each other.
Cole made her want to behave like a wanton.
“I have not had the chance to speak to my father about Audrie,” Cole said as he nibbled her jaw. “I have wanted to do this properly, Cori, but the more that time passes, the more I am not sure if that is even possible. I do not know when I will see my father again to speak on something other than warfare and it is something I wish to do personally, but I may not be able to. Would you object to my sending him a missive and telling him of the situation?”
Corisande’s hands were on his big shoulders as he had his way with her. “Nay,” she said. “The sooner you do it, the better.”
“Then I shall,” Cole said, pulling back to look her in the eyes. “But I want to ask your father’s permission to marry you before the situation with Audrie is resolved. I will be truthful with him and explain everything, but I wish to do it now. I do not want to wait another moment, Cori. May I?”
Corisande hesitated and he saw it. He gave her a pained expression and she hastened to reassure him. “I am not sure how he will react if he knows you are betrothed to another woman.”
“I amnotbetrothed to her.”
She put her fingers over his mouth to shush him but he ended up kissing them, softly and gently, which only caused her resolve to weaken further. “I know,” she murmured. “But mayhap you had better not tell him, not unless you have to.”
“I have to,” he told her. “Thanks to Essien, Anteaus already knows there was something between Audrie and me, and he will undoubtedly tell your father, so I have no choice. I do not want your father to think the man who wants to marry his daughter is a liar.”
Corisande cupped his big face. “My strong and noble knight,” she said softly. “Truth is important to you.”
“It is the only thing that makes a man truly honorable.”
She smiled faintly, stroking his stubbled face. “You have always been honest with me and I appreciate it more than you know,” she said. “You know that you will always have my honesty as well. I cannot imagine not having that between us. It is the foundation upon which everything else is built.”
He leaned forward to kiss her again, this time with more emotion than lust. It was a kiss that shook him from his head to his toes, something that consumed his entire being.
“I never knew I could feel this way about someone,” he murmured. “You are strong and admirable and brilliant, Cori. How is it that a woman like you could even consider a man like me?”
Her hands were still on his face. “Because you are kind and gentle, strong and wise,” she said. “I am the one who is unworthy, Cole. You are from a great family and as your father’s heir, you should marry the daughter of an earl.”
“I do not want to marry the daughter of an earl,” he said. “I thought I made that plain. I want to marry the daughter of the man who would be the King of Northumbria if there was such a kingdom. I want to marry Princess Corisande.”
She grinned. “I amnota princess.”
“You will always be my queen.”
Her smile faded as his sweet words touched her deeply. Leaning forward, she kissed his cheek, his chin, before pausing to look him in the eyes.
“Speak to my father before the day is through,” she whispered. “I will tell my brothers so they know what you are about to do. I am sure they will support you. They like you a great deal.”
Cole shook his head. “I appreciate the offer, but I shall speak with them,” he said. “This must come from me. You will tell your sister and make sure to tell her not to pinch me anymore. If anyone is going to pinch me, it will be you.”
Corisande’s eyes narrowed. “Did she pinch you again?”
“She did. And I swatted her for it.”
Corisande’s eyes widened and then she began to laugh. “God’s Bones, that little goat deserved it,” she said. “Well done, my darling. I applaud you.”
His smile faded. “Say it again.”
“Say what? Well done?”
“My darling.”
She put her arms around his neck, pulling him against her tightly. “My darling,” she murmured. “You are my dearest darling.”
He held her close in a moment that was ever so pivotal for him. “And you are mine,” he said. “I have never had anyone call me by a term of endearment. There is something about it that makes me feel as if I belong to someone, a bond that cannot be broken.”
“It cannot,” she assured him. “It will not. But you must speak to my father.”
