Medieval 02 - Forbidden

’Tis foolish,” Amber whispered, “but not forbidden.”
    “Why not?”
    She bent her head and kissed first one, then the other, nipple. When she drew her tongue slowly over him, his whole body tightened with a pleasure that was nearly violent.
    “Because you promised that I would be safe here with you,” Amber whispered.
    “Today,” he said, doubting he would ever be able to withstand such temptation again.
    “Yes, today, now,” she said, “in this place where ancient stones watch over the sea.”
    Duncan framed Amber’s face with his hands, then took her mouth with a hunger that was like nothing he had ever felt before. The kiss was deep and powerful, urgent with the rhythms of the joining that he would not permit, for he had given his vow.
    Amber yielded her mouth and took his at the same time, glorying in the heat and strength of the man holding her. The pricking of her nails against his skin made him groan with pleasure. Hearing his passion, feeling it, tasting it, Amber raked slowly over his muscular back again.
    “You will make me wild,” Duncan said against her mouth.
    “I feel wild,” she admitted, “but ’tis your doing.”
    He bit her lower lip with savage care.
    “How wild do you feel?” he asked. “Enough to be naked to my hands and eyes? Enough to let me caress you in new ways?”
    The violence of the hunger that went through Duncan as he spoke told Amber that he wanted her to say yes so much that he was shaking with it.
    Knowing that, touching him, trusting him, it was impossible for her to say no.
    “Yes,” Amber whispered.
    Duncan’s arms tightened until she could barely breathe. Slowly he pressed her back until she lay once more on the ground. Her mantle fell away, revealing the pale curves and pink buds drawn tight by his mouth.
    “Lift your hips.”
    Duncan’s voice was hardly recognizable. The anticipation pouring through him as he looked at Amber’s half-nude body was so great that it almost overwhelmed her. She could barely breathe, much less move.
    Amber didn’t know what Duncan was going to do next. She knew only that waiting for it was piling fresh fuel on the wildfire of his passion.
    “Duncan?” Amber whispered.
    “Lift yourself,” he said. “Let me see the flower whose heart I foolishly vowed I would not take. Today.”
    Trembling with conflicting emotions, Amber did as Duncan asked. As her hips lifted, clothes slid down her body, urged by his strong hands. When he was finished she was naked but for the mantle at her back and the bright stockings on her legs. The feeling was both shocking and erotic.
    “You are beautiful beyond words,” Duncan said hoarsely.
    He was no longer touching Amber, leaving her suddenly vulnerable to her own innate shyness and unease. With a muffled cry she reached beneath herself and jerked a corner of the mantle over her hips. When he moved to pull the mantle aside, she resisted.
    “Don’t be shy,” Duncan said. “You are more beautiful than any flower in a sultan’s garden.”
    As he spoke, his hand slid beneath the mantle.
    The instant Duncan touched Amber, his desire arced through her. It was like being ravished by lightning both gentle and fierce.
    Fingers spread wide, he put his palm low on her body and spanned her pelvic girdle with a hand that trembled very slightly from passion and restraint. Then his hand turned and his smallest finger eased through the silky warmth of her hair to find even warmer, silkier flesh beneath.
    The unexpected caress sent a cascade of heat through Amber. The ragged sound of her breath breaking made Duncan smile. Seeing the centers of her eyes darken and expand in passionate response made blood pool even more hotly between his thighs until his hardened flesh leaped with every beat of his heart.
    Feeling the tight, sultry petals brushing against his finger tempted him mercilessly. With every breath he took he regretted the vow he had given.
    Duncan’s hand shifted again. Tenderly, insistently, watching Amber’s eyes, he caressed her.
    “Duncan,” she said. “What—”
    Then Amber could say no more. He had discovered the sleek, sensual knot concealed within her closed petals. A sound of surprise was dragged from her as golden pleasure pulsed.
    As though Duncan felt Amber’s pleasure as clearly as she did, he groaned. His finger teased the bud again, calling forth another shimmering pulse, then another. Each time he caressed her, the shivering, sultry heat of her response licked