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Category: Erotica/Erotic Romance/Historical Fiction
Description: In the time when the Plantagenet name is on the cusp of giving way to the rise of The Tudors, Lady Ariana Lindsey, a countrywoman who has caught the eye of the king, secretly desires Sir Richard Talbot, a trusted friend of the king and the man who is appointed to escort her to Wales. When the procession is attacked by French bandits, Ariana and Richard hide under the cloak of the forest and find the privacy they have longed for. Will their unbridled lust lead to everlasting love, or a perilous end at the hand of the king?
eBook Publisher: Sugar and Spice Press, 2012
eBookwise Release Date: September 2012

Available eBook Formats: OEBFF Format (IMP) [78 KB]
Words: 17685
Reading time: 50-70 min.

The ride had left me glistening with sweat. I untied my cloak and hung it upon a branch. "Sir Richard, I thank you for saving my life." I held my hands over my stomach as I sunk down upon a rock near the brook. "Never have I seen such carnage."

"How does it make you feel?" Sir Richard asked. His face was expressionless as he awaited my answer.

"Sick." I shook my head and felt my lips pout. "And ... excited. I suppose that is strange."

He rose and ambled toward me, his long and lean body gliding upon the rocks as if he walked upon the sky. "Not strange at all. The sound of the screams, the feel of strange hands upon your body, and the rapid end of a confrontation with another beginning merely seconds later. It is precisely how I feel after a battle. It looked as if you can fight quite well. I would like to see what you can do with a sword, and yet I shudder to imagine you in such a position again. You are lucky the Frenchman was so distracted by your beauty you had the chance to plant your knee into his groin." He stood before me and I could see the hardness of his masculinity outlined in his pants.

"I would have taken better care with my hair had beauty been the cause. That would have stopped him from leaping upon me in the first place," I said.

"I doubt that."

"Why?"

"Because he would have leaped upon you no matter what your presentation. These are the matters of war. May I?" Sir Richard said as he reached his fingers up toward my hair.

"For saving my life, you may kiss me. On the cheek."

"I would have asked for much less. I only wish to brush a twig out of your hair."

"Very well." I tossed my hair over my shoulder and registered a tiny shake in his fingertips as he drew them toward me. He ran them over my hair. I smiled at him under my batting eyes and lashes, allowing his touch to travel down the side of my neck. Slowly, his hand came back to rest upon my shoulder.

"Soft and perfect. Just as I had imagined. Men will leap upon you regardless of what you do."

I threw back my head and laughed. "Sit next to me, Sir Richard. When Edmund returns, their will be question after question for you, about the confrontation, about politics, and about the king. The Lindsey men are of a tenacious sort." We fell silent as a breeze blew through the trees.

Richard wrapped his arms around my body. "To protect you from the cold," he said softly. I shivered not from the cold, but the sound of his husky voice near my ear.

We fit together perfectly, for the curve of my breasts found an enclave in his chest, and my hip a resting place upon his thigh. I tilted my head up to his and his eyes came to rest upon my lips. Sighing deeply, I took his hand into mine. "What would you have done? If a man leaped upon you in such a manner and you had no weapon?"