Alex felt the words come out before she could stop them. “So, kiss me,” she replied.
In less than a second, his lips were on hers, his hands in her hair. Desire was a thick musk that poured out of him, and she couldn’t deny that it thrilled her. He wasted no time and his lips parted hers. She felt the warm invasion of his tongue. Having never kissed a man this deeply, she followed his lead, and matched his movements with her own.
He was kissing her with more than just his lips. He used his whole body to squeeze the reason out of her. His hands began moving down her sides. They stopped at her hips, where she felt his fingers dig into her. Then he lifted her and pressed the hard length in his pants against the one spot on her body that could make her fall apart. The pleasure of contact shot through her, and she had to break their kiss as a ragged gasp escaped her lips.
Her own desire was a revelation, but somewhere, swimming in the back of her mind, was a tender kiss from long ago: their first kiss, her only kiss. She had spent many nights idly imagining encounters between them, inwhich something more grew from that simple kiss, but this was well beyond what she was prepared to handle.
Philippe recaptured her lips and moved against her as he held her nailed to the wall. Her body was blooming, but she knew it wasn’t right. It was too intense. It was too fast. She would have to stop this, but it felt like a crime to do so.
He was the one to break away. “Shall we try to make it to another room?” he asked. His eyelids were heavy and his tone pure syrup. He nipped at her lips as he waited for her answer.
“What do you mean?” she asked, her mind not working.
“Or we could be scandalous and drop here to the floor.”
“For what?” she asked with an edge to her voice, reason coming back to her.
“To make love, darling,” he said, still moving in rhythm against her. “Please don’t make me beg. But I will if that’s what you like.”
She held her hand out against his chest. “I do not intend to make love to you,” she spat out.
“And why not?” he asked, trying to kiss her again. “Your reputation as a lover precedes you.”
She shoved him. “You lie,” she said.
Now it was his turn to stare at her. “Mademoiselle…” he started, releasing his hold on her body. “Alex,” he said. “I’m sorry if this is not what you wanted. But it is widely known that you have taken many lovers. I don’t see why you would still hate me so?—”
“Those are rumors,” she interrupted.
“But–”
“They are rumors,” she said again. At least now she understood this sudden attention. He didn’t think of her as anything special. He just thought she’d be an easy lay.
“Oh no,” he said. He dropped his gaze and backed away from her.
A laugh bubbled out of her. “You clearly haven’t changed much.”
He didn’t look up. Instead, he rubbed his forehead with his index finger and thumb. “Alex,” he said. “I don’t know what to say.”
“Don’t worry about it,” she said. She picked up her sword. “And thank you for the apology,Monsieur.” She curtseyed low to the ground before leaving him in the training room, alone with the dummy.
Chapter Four
Philippe felt terrible. He had never insulted a woman like he kept doing with Alex. And the problem was, he really liked Alex; he always had.Et mon dieuhad she become a beauty, like nothing he’d ever seen. The women he knew were simple, less complicated. Alex had an intensity to her that always drew him in. Unfortunately, it also made him act like a perfect idiot.
He stood in the equipment room, staring at the wall where moments before he’d held her captive. How had he read the situation so wrong? It wasn’t like him. He ground his feet into the dirt then picked up his sword, took a few breaths, and walked blankly into the young night. The cool air felt good against his agitated skin. He smelled the scented, budding lavender as he found his way to a wooden bench at the entrance to the gardens. Up ahead was the stone palace. Warm lights glowed inside as snatches of conversation floated out the open windows. Down below, the town was nestled in the valley with the great arena far at the other end. He watched as smoke from evening fires streamed from the chimneys to meet the winking stars, the families settling in for the night.
Had he really been so out of line? Earlier that day, and after the initial shock of seeing her, he’d gone to the tavern, where he heard tales of the lady guide and how she took lovers like a man. Of course, he knew it had to havebeen exaggerated, as the stories of drunken men always are, but their words had convinced him she was no dewy maid. He’d been torn. The idea of sleeping with a woman who had no inhibitions was incredibly alluring and made Philippe want to sprout wings and fly back to find her. But there was something else, raw and almost painful, that had been triggered inside of him by their stories. The thought of her beneath some rutting beast of a man clenched his stomach, and he had to shake his head to get rid of the image. Was he feeling protective? The charming girl she had been lived in his memories. He knew the caliber of man she would find on the road. Who among them could equal a woman such as her?
After hearing their tales, his own desire had won, and he’d gone to find her. Philippe understood what it meant to be lonely and far from home, when finding comfort in another person is the only thing that can keep you sane. He didn’t mean to hold any past liaison against her. When he found her in the equipment room, where he’d known she would be, she was every bit as bold and tempting as they had said. So why had she turned him away? At one point, they had shared a special friendship. If their swordplay was any indication of what could happen in the bedroom, why in the world would she say no? Of course, maybe she was still just angry. His apology had been flimsy. He could admit he was too eager to have her forgiveness to give it the proper weight. Maybe he had to pay in blood before she’d let him get closer. But he wanted to get closer. Everything about her drove him mad. Her eyes, her lips, her words, the fact that she seemed to hate him so. It all made him burn. When he had held her pinned to the wall and had been overcome with the intimate scent of her desire, he could think of no better way to finally bring them together.
However, if she was in fact still pure, he had just insulted her beyond belief. This possibility picked him up off the bench and took him down the stone walkway towards the palace’s guest quarters. He usually had no trouble interpreting a woman’s intent, but Alex, wrapped in pants and guarded with a sword, was a damn enigma, and he couldn’t trust his judgment. He approached the low stone building at the back end of the palace. The voices of several men rang out of the courtyard. Philippe came around the corner and saw the men with whom Alex had traveled that morning.
He approached them, calling out, “Bonsoir,Messieurs.” He spoke to theolder man, the one who had told him where to find Alex that morning at the stables.“Monsieur,” Philippe said. “May I talk with you a moment?”
“Of course, my lord.”
“Do you mind if we walk?”
