Medieval 01 - Untamed

sound. Before she could withdraw her foot, Dominic’s hand closed firmly. The grip both steadied and restrained her.
    â€œBe easy,” he said. “There is nothing to fear.”
    â€œâ€™Tis rather unsettling,” she said.
    â€œBeing touched?”
    â€œNo. Realizing that a man I’ve known only a few days has the right to touch me however and whenever he wishes.”
    â€œUnsettling,” Dominic repeated thoughtfully. “Do you fear me? Is that why you ran into the wood?”
    â€œI expect to feel pain when I lie beneath you, but that isn’t why I went to the wood.”
    â€œThe tiny leaves for your potion?” he asked.
    â€œAye.”
    Bells rang discreetly as Dominic wrapped one chain around Meg’s ankle and fastened the clasp. He tested the security of the clasp and then stroked his palm up Meg’s calf. Her breath came in audibly. The subtle jerk of her body set the bells to whispering musically.
    â€œWhy do you expect to feel pain when you lie with me?” Dominic asked, stroking Meg slowly. “Is it that difficult for you to accept a man?”
    â€œAccept? How so?”
    â€œInto your body.”
    Meg’s breath came in swiftly. “I don’t know. Eadith has told me ’tis no pleasure.”
    Dominic’s hand paused, then resumed its slow, gentle strokes.
    â€œYet she flirts so intently,” he pointed out.
    â€œThat is work, not pleasure. She is casting for a husband. Just as you are casting for an heir.”
    Dominic was too much a tactician to deny the truth. He simply feinted in another direction, distracting his opponent, keeping her off balance.
    â€œDo you like it when I touch you?” he asked, squeezing Meg’s calf with sensual care.
    â€œI…” Her breath caught as he stoked her calf again. “I think so. ’Tis strange.”
    â€œWhat is?”
    â€œYour hand is very large and strong. You make me feel rather fragile by comparison. Yet I don’t think of myself as delicate at all.”
    â€œDoes that frighten you?” he asked.
    â€œIt should.”
    â€œWhy? Do you think me brutal after all?” Dominic asked.
    â€œI think I’m quite glad that you don’t beat falcons.”
    He laughed, but he didn’t cease the slow caress of his palm up Meg’s calf to the back of her knee. Tender frissons of fire raced through her body.
    â€œYou were very angry when you came into the herbal,” she said, trying not to be distracted.
    â€œYes.”
    â€œAnd you’re quite strong.”
    â€œYes,” Dominic said, hiding his smile against Meg’s tunic. “But you fought me anyway, small falcon.”
    Slowly he traced the sensitive crease at the back of her knee and felt the subtle, almost unwilling shiver of her body in response. Carefully he shifted her foot from his thigh to the floor.
    â€œNow the other foot,” Dominic said.
    When Meg moved, bells chimed beneath her tunic. She waited in taut anticipation of more of the disturbing caresses while Dominic wrapped a second chain around her ankle and fastened the clasp. As unsettling as his touch was, she found she likedthe shimmering sensations that came in the wake of his caress. It made her want to forget what she knew all too well—beneath her husband’s careful seduction burned a warrior’s cold ambition rather than a lover’s hot passion for his mate.
    Dominic straightened with a grace that reminded Meg of Black Tom. He stood so close to her that her breasts almost brushed against him with each breath she took.
    â€œNow your wrists,” he said.
    His low voice ruffled Meg’s nerve endings almost as much as his touch. She moved skittishly, making bells cry beneath her skirts. Tentatively she held out both hands.
    In a silence that was somehow intensified by the muted stirring of golden bells, Dominic wrapped bracelets around each of Meg’s slender wrists. When he was finished, he lifted first one of Meg’s hands and then the other. Slowly, he kissed the center of each palm, then tasted her with a single touch of his tongue.
    The sound Meg made was a combination of surprise and sensual discovery. It went to Dominic’s head like winter wine. He wanted very much to pull her into his arms for a thorough kissing, but his body had hardened in a rush that boded ill for the careful, and unfinished, seduction he must conduct if he were to win the first