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Neda bent her head to Hugh. “It shall be as my lord commands.”
Edlyn stepped inside and muttered, “I’m sorry I ever interceded for her.”
Hugh didn’t answer. He was too busy staring.
Burdett hadn’t begun to describe the solar. It was as large as many a great hall. Gold cups and pitchers waited atop polished wood tables. The diamond-shaped windows glittered even when the rain splattered them, as it did now. The fireplace opening yawned in the wall like a dragon’s mouth, spewing warmth and light. The bed…ah, the bed. It rose on a dais, its great posts pointing to the ceiling and each finished with an eagle. The bed curtains were a fuzzy red material, thick and heavy enough to keep out the winter breezes, and they were pulled back to reveal furs of every color and thickness scattered across the mattress.
Hugh considered the furs, then considered Edlyn, then considered the furs on Edlyn.
Edlyn didn’t appear to be following his train of thought. She still gaped around her. “What a magnificent chamber.”
Her veneration freed Hugh to say, “Edmund Pembridge chose poorly when he decided to support Simon de Montfort.”
He thought he heard Burdett say, “Damn fool,” but when he looked, Burdett was turning to his wife.
“Let us leave our new lord and lady to their devices and find places for the rest of their retinue.”
Edlyn stepped forward. “Where will my sons be?”
“They have refused to leave the young man Wynkyn and are sleeping with the squires and pages in the great hall.” Neda smiled. “I’ll watch over them, my lady, and personally see to their safety.”
“Just where they should be,” Hugh said. “With other noble lads involved in the noble endeavor of fighting.”
Edlyn didn’t answer. Apparently she thought she’d challenged him enough that day, and that suited Hugh fine.
She did answer Neda, though. “If you would keep an eye on them and bring them to me should they ask, I would be most grateful. Change frequently makes them…anxious.”
Neda looked surprised. “I hadn’t seen any sign of that, my lady. They’re just excited to be here and to have the care of young Wynkyn, and they’re taking their duties very seriously.”
“Well”-Edlyn pursed her lips-“good. Good, I’m glad.”
Burdett and Neda backed toward the door, bowing as they went. Before they shut the door, Neda said, “If you have need of a maid, my lady, call me and I will perform the service.”
“She won’t need a maid.” The door had already closed, but Hugh didn’t care. He stalked toward Edlyn. “I’ll see to her needs myself.”
As if she didn’t know just what he was talking about, as if she hadn’t been deliberately enticing him, she gave him a startled glance. Then she sighed loudly. “Hugh, I’m sore from riding.”
“I’ll ride you carefully.”
She didn’t struggle as he discarded her wimple and crispinette and pulled her cotte over her head. “Do you want me to beg for…for…”
“Swiving?” He finished her sentence while staring at the darker place on the linen where her nipples rippled the material. He found himself suddenly, violently aroused, as if his body had been saving itself for this moment. “You can if you like, but there’s no need. I’ll give you what you want, and more.”
Her breasts rose and fell quickly, and crimson rinsed each of her cheeks. Was she only angry, or was she aroused, too? He picked her up by her waist, and she remained stiff. Her hands clenched in fists at her sides, and her toes curled. She had that stubborn, you’re-a-man-and-you’re-swine look on her face, and he wondered what he’d done to deserve it this time.
More than that, he wondered what he could do to erase it and replace it with that soft glow of passion.
He’d never begged anyone for anything in his whole life, but he was desperate. “Edlyn,” he whispered. “I beg of you…please.”
He could scarcely believe it, but it worked. It worked! She placed her hands on his shoulders and stared at him with suspicion. He didn’t know what she saw—agony, maybe, or his cock trying to fight its way out of his breeches—but she said, “Aye,” and wrapped her legs around his waist.
“God.” He threw her on the bed, lifted his surcoat, and dropped his drawers around his ankles. She struggled to remove her shift, but he had to have her now. He jumped on her. Just jumped on her with no finesse, like a boy with his first woman. He got the shift out of the way and her legs spread, and he looked. “God.” It was the prayer of a sinner seeing his heaven. “Can you take this?” he asked frantically while sinking between her legs and probing for entrance. “Sweeting, am I going to hurt you?”
“Nay.” She placed him just right. “Give to me.”
Just like before, he worked to enter her. She was tight, cupping him, yet her body must be saying yes because she was slick and, oh, so hot. He could feel his pubic hair singeing.
Then she bucked, taking him all the way in and he couldn’t feel anything. Or else he felt everything. He plunged and rocked, holding her thighs so she opened to him all the way.
