Medieval 02 - Forbidden

though it were thread in a finished weaving.
    “Thrice in my life I have felt a man’s passion. The first time I ran like a deer until I was safe. Then I knelt and vomited until I was too weak to stand.”
    “How old were you?”
    “Nine.”
    Duncan said something vile beneath his breath.
    “At that age, you were too young to respond to passion,” he said. “But now that you are old enough—”
    “The second time,” Amber interrupted, “I was nineteen. More than old enough to respond to passion, wouldn’t you agree?”
    Duncan shrugged.
    “Wouldn’t you agree?” she persisted.
    “Yes,” he said, his voice harsh. “And you did, didn’t you?”
    “Respond with passion?”
    He nodded curtly.
    “Oh, yes,” Amber said. “I was consumed by passion—”
    Duncan’s mouth flattened.
    “—if you concede that anger and loathing are passions,” she said sardonically. “I drew my dagger, stabbed the hand that was groping under my skirt, and ran until I was safe. Then I vomited until I was too weak to swallow.”
    “Who were those animals?” Duncan demanded.
    “The third time I felt a man’s passion,” Amber continued, ignoring Duncan’s question, “a stranger’s hand was tangled in my hair and chills of golden pleasure coursed through me.”
    “A stranger?”
    “You.”
    “I don’t understand,” Duncan said.
    “Neither do I, but ’tis true just the same. The first time I touched you, I felt a pleasure so keen that I cried out.”
    “It was my desire you were feeling, not your own.”
    “You were senseless at the time,” Amber retorted.
    Duncan’s eyes widened. The reflected leap of candle flame made them appear almost as golden as Amber’s eyes.
    “What are you saying?” he whispered.
    “I touched you, I knew you, and I wanted you . You were senseless, knowing nothing, remembering nothing, and fire curled through me when I ran my hands over your chest.”
    The sound Duncan made could have been Amber’s name or a low sound of hunger, or both urgently mingled.
    “I was made for you,” Amber said, unfastening her mantle. “You and you alone. Won’t you take what is yours and give me what is mine?”
    “And what is that?” Duncan said.
    But his smile and the thickening of his voice told Amber that he knew very well what was hers.
    “We are joined in our souls,” she said softly. “Can our bodies do less?”
    “Turn around, precious Amber.”
    Uncertainly, she turned her back to Duncan. The feel of his fingers on her laces sent both desire and relief through her.
    For a time there was no sound but the whisper of candle flames and the sigh of clothing as it was smoothed down warm flesh to fall in bright pools on the floor. Finally Amber wore nothing but her own warmth and firelight flickering over her skin.
    Duncan’s finger traced the length of Amber’s back from nape to the shadowed cleft at the base of her spine. She held her breath.
    “Do you like that?” he asked.
    “Yes.”
    His fingertip traced again, sliding slowly down until it must stop or be caught between lush, alluring curves. The trembling of Amber’s body and the raggedness of her breathing told Duncan that she did indeed enjoy the caress.
    “Because I like it?” Duncan asked. “Is it my pleasure that makes your breath break or is it yours?”
    “Both,” Amber said in a husky voice. “Your pleasure and mine combined.”
    Again Duncan caressed the feminine line of back and hips, sliding more deeply into the shadow that tempted him mercilessly. He knew if he followed that dark curve he would find a place that was even softer than his dreams, hotter than his desire.
    “I would like to feel that,” Duncan murmured.
    “What?”
    He smiled slightly. “My desire and yours combined.”
    “Then take the gift of my body. Give me the gift of yours in return.”
    “You have the poorer of the bargain.”
    “Only because I am naked and you are clothed.”
    The combination of tartness and passion in Amber’s voice made Duncan laugh softly.
    “I will stay clothed for a while yet,” he said.
    “Why?”
    “Because that way, I might be able to keep from taking you like a green squire who can’t hold his seed long enough to see to his partner’s pleasure.”
    Amber made a startled sound as Duncan bent and lifted her into his arms like a child. For one searing moment she felt the depth of his hunger. The next thing she knew, the fur bed cover was sleek and cool against her naked body and Duncan was no