Dream of Me/Believe in Me

for generations to come without having a keen eye for everything that goes on around him?”
    “But then … something must be done.”
    “Yes, which is why—”
    He was going to kill Udell. If not right then, sometime very soon. He had known that when he stood amidst the Mercians and offered him twice his wergild, money to buy an army and march against a throne, knowing Udell would never live to collect it. When he had been willing to be flogged, knowing the hand that wielded the whip would soon be in the grave.
    “Not now.” Krysta spoke emphatically but she didn't count on words alone. She hurled his tunic into a far corner of the room and promptly discarded her torn gown, shimmying it right up over her hips and breasts, freeing the glorious mass of her hair and tossing the garmentsomewhere over her head. As naked as he, she faced him proudly. “You aren't upset about Thorgold?”
    He ran his eyes over her with frank pleasure. “No, it's Udell I'm going to kill.”
    “I understand that. But if you wanted to shed blood in the house of the king, he would be dead already.”
    The corners of his mouth were twitching. “You're infuriating to be sure but you have a good head on your shoulders.”
    Very clearly, because she had to do this while she had the courage, she said, “I am part of your world and part of something more. All my life I have fought against it. When I came here, I feared only sorrow lay ahead. Was I wrong to do so?”
    Her heart was beating so hard she thought it must surely burst. She was terrified to speak so frankly, terrified of how he would respond, terrified of being terrified as though she would never be anything but if he should turn from her and leave her bereft in the cold.
    And she did feel cold, so much so that she began to tremble. She wanted to wrap her arms around herself but could not lift them. Indeed, she could do nothing but stare at him with all her longing in her eyes.
    “You are a foolish woman.” He spoke with gruff tenderness and yanked her to him, engulfing her in his arms, warming her with his strength. They tumbled back across the bed, limbs entwining, mouths seeking.
    Hawk tried, he truly did, but four days without her had left him ravenous. Even as he struggled to go slowly, to assure her readiness and draw out her pleasure, his need mounted unbearably. Groaning, he cupped her breasts, squeezing them together, his mouth moving from one to the other. Beneath his tongue, her nipples were hard and full. He suckled her urgently as he thrust a steel-hard leg between hers, opening her to him. Her arms closed around him in fierce embrace as though never to let himgo. The soft, curly apex of her thighs brushed his engorged manhood as her hips arched.
    “Please,” she whispered tautly, less entreaty than demand.
    He took her mouth, his tongue plunging deep, and felt her guide him just a little within her. He went slowly, beads of sweat showing on his forehead, as he struggled to give her all the time she needed to adjust to him. Even then, he held himself very still, not moving except at the very tip, stroking the hot, silken sheath that held him so snugly. Darkness swirled behind his eyes as a wall of sensation struck him with such force that he was robbed of breath. Gasping, he raised his head and watched in fascination her own surprise at the swiftness of her climax. In the distant regions of his mind still capable of thought, he realized he was not the only one who had found four solitary days to be exquisite torment. When pleasure ebbed a little, she lay beneath him, panting softly, her hands moving over his back with tender strength.
    Hawk rose above her, taking his weight on his knees and arms. He gave her a moment to recover, no more, before driving into her hard and deep. The exquisite milking sensation of his own release seized him and he erupted in surging bliss that seemed to go on forever.
    From the crest of pleasure to which he had so swiftly taken her, Krysta soared yet higher. Wave after wave of ecstasy rushed through her seemingly without end. She sobbed, crying out his name, and clung to Hawk as the world flew apart and she with it.
    T HEY WOKE SOME HOURS LATER TO THE DISTANT sounds of revelry in the king's hall, where their absence no doubt sparked amusement. It did not matter. They came together again more slowly, drawing out their pleasure and slipped seamlessly from it back into gentlesleep, only to be awakened again a short time later by the