For several moments, Bianca stared at the heavy wooden door that had just been closed in her face and then stamped her foot in a fit of anger. The damned man had rejected her again. This seduction was not going well at all. She knew how the tale should end. Had not she written story after story in which the knight in shining armor rescued the maiden in distress from the evil villain and then proceeded to carry her off on his great steed to live happily ever after in his castle in the distant sunset? What was it that she did wrong?
Bianca glanced at her bed considering whether she should return to it, but immediately rejected the notion. Going back to sleep was impossible after what had just happened. And knowing that Draco stood on the other side of her chamber door was nearly beyond bearing.
Restlessly, she wandered across the room to her writing table and lit several tapers. Since she knew sleep was impossible, she sat down, determined to work on her newest fable. But when she dipped her quill into the ink, her hand stilled and she stared unseeing at the clean parchment, her mind a perplexity of emotions. When she finally did begin writing, it took her several attempts to get the words she wrote to make some sense.
For the hundredth time Bianca glanced at the closed door. She groaned aloud in frustration. What was wrong with her? Draco had made it clear that he wanted nothing to do with her and that should have put an end to it. But it had not. It was agonizing to be not more than ten paces from him and not to be able to see his face, to touch him. Perhaps she should tell him to go back to his own bed, so that his nearness would not torment her.
Bianca was on her feet and crossing the room before she could reconsider her actions. Her fingers touched the handle before she realized what she was doing. Snatching back her hand as if she had been burned, Bianca chastised herself.
“Do not be foolish!” Then a horrid thought entered her mind. What if he already thought it? “There is no need to give him further proof of his assumption,” she muttered as she stood, staring at the closed portal as if it were her worst enemy.
No matter how much she tried to talk herself into climbing back into her lonely bed for what remained of the night, she could not get her feet to move. Instead, she put her splayed hands against the door and then leaned her forehead to the cold slab of wood that was all that separated her from Draco. She turned her head and lay her ear against the door in an attempt to hear any sound he might make. But there was only silence from beyond.
An exasperated sigh whooshed past her lips as Bianca whirled about and hunched her back against the offending orifice. In total dejection, she slid down the rough woodwork to sit on the floor, thinking to use the door as a backrest. Too late, she realized her mistake. The thin night rail she wore provided little protection against the rough surface.
Bianca slapped a hand over her mouth to stifle the sharp cry of pain that rose to her lips as a splinter of wood that felt to be the size of a lance embedded itself deep in the sensitive flesh of her shapely posterior. Only a low moan escaped her throat. But as she rose carefully to her feet, the long splinter, of which a great portion was still attached to the door, broke off causing even greater pain. Tears welled up in her eyes and Bianca swore viciously beneath her breath, berating herself for her stupidity.
Venting her pain and frustration satisfactorily proved to be a difficult matter without making any sound. But Bianca managed it. She hopped about the room on her bare feet with tears streaming down her face, her mouth still covered as she held the injured nether cheek with her free hand. She glanced fearfully at the door, wondering if by chance Draco had heard her and might come into investigate the strange noises she made. She hastened to the door and eased the bar over the door to block him out if he happened to grow inquisitive. It would be just too, too embarrassing if Draco saw her in her present predicament.
She carried one of the tapers she had lit earlier and sat it on the floor in front of her full-length mirror to give her enough light to ascertain the damage. Fearing what she would find, Bianca pulled the tail of her gown up slowly until she saw the black outline of the wood fragment. It was embedded much deeper than she had first thought.
“What am I to do?” she quietly lamented to her reflection. She had the urge to weep and indeed a couple of sniffles broke the stillness of the room before she resolutely staved off more. She needed to be logical about her miserable situation. It was obvious that even if she could twist as she was now, looking at the splinter in the mirror, it would be impossible for her to remove the offending piece of wood herself. Bianca worried her bottom lip as she thought on the matter. It was evident that she would have to seek help.
Hearing a loud commotion in the corridor just beyond the door, she dropped her gown and spun around. Holding her breath, she waited for Draco to knock at her door and demand to know what she was about. Heat suffused her cheeks at just the thought of him finding out what she had done.
After a few moments, the sounds of shuffling steps in the corridor faded and no knock sounded on her door. Bianca sighed with relief. But she still had to take care of the sting in her nether cheek. She needed help that was a certainty, but asking Lord Draco for assistance was definitely out of the question. Bianca wished that Leia had come up as she usually did to sleep in the dressing room, but she did not expect her maid to show up until morning.
She could go to Galen, but Bianca feared that he would be too inquisitive and demand an explanation as to why she was up at that time of the night. No, the situation was much too delicate to take to a man, even if he was the resident healer. That left only one person. She would to seek out her cousin, Modesta. But that presented one very huge problem. Lord Draco. He was standing out there in the corridor guarding her door.
No, she would have to devise another way to get to her cousin. Bianca paced back and forth her butt aching more by the moment. She frantically searched for a solution even as the tender tissues began to swell.
Finally, with a sketchy plan firmly in mind, she grabbed the bedclothes from her bed and began knotting them together as she eyed the only way out left to her. It was a bold plan but she was left with few options. If the vile viscount could use her window to come in, then she could certainly use it to get out. But she would not be foolish and rely on the unreliable trellis on which an abundance of prickly roses grew.
Tying one corner of a linen sheet to the bed frame, Bianca tossed the remaining portion of her makeshift ladder over the window edge. She leaned out to gauge the distance to the ground but in the dark, it was difficult to tell exactly how far the knotted sheets reached. Assured that it must be long enough, Bianca eased her leg over the window ledge and carefully lowered her body down into the darkness.
A quarter of the way down the rose-covered wall, Bianca began to doubt her presumption that she could make the climb with ease. Her arms were beginning to give out and thorns cut into her tender, exposed flesh causing more discomfort than the large splinter in her buttocks. As she attempted to move one hand below the other, she suddenly slipped and let out a loud yip of horror. She fell several feet before her scrambling hands found hold of the bed covers, stopping her rapid decent.
But it was the ominous sound of ripping fabric above her that left her desperately wishing she had not been so impetuous. Was a fatal fall to the ground worth preserving her dignity? And then her frantic mind pulled up the ridiculous vision of what would happen if she did fall and was found sometime later. In her hysterical musing she pictured the guards finding the Duke de Neige’s only daughter lying dead on the ground, nearly naked. It would be at dawn’s first light while they made their rounds. The very thought brought a deep blush to her cheeks even as she hung precariously from the makeshift rope. Bianca sent up a whispered prayer.
“Dear God, please deliver me from my impetuous ways.”
In her haste to get to Modesta, Bianca had not considered what she wore. She had not even thought to don a cloak over her thin nightdress before climbing out the window. Now as the thorns ensnared the fabric of her thin garment, Bianca cursed her ill fortune. Her arm muscles burned from the effort of clinging to the impromptu ladder. The venture sapped what strength she had. It quickly became apparent that she could go neither up nor down at this point. Her original mildly distressing predicament of moments ago had suddenly turned into a dangerous, life-threatening situation.
Looking back up at length of knotted bedding that she had descended, Bianca decided that her only option was to climb back up to her window while she still had a little strength left. But as she released one good handhold to reach for another, her hand slipped and she dropped. Her startled cry blended with an ominous ripping sound.
With her eyes closed, Bianca hung there whimpering in fear. Steeling her nerves, Bianca finally opened her eyes to total darkness. It only took a moment for her to understand why she could see nothing. At that same time, she became aware of the chill that enveloped her entire body. Her nightdress was now above her neck. Bianca found herself hanging naked from a rope made of bedcovers halfway down the side of the outer wall of the west tower of the keep. Carefully she eased herself down a fraction more and her head popped out of her nightgown that now hung empty entangled in the thorny brambles above her.
Could her circumstances become any worse?
“What in God’s name?” The incredulous exclamation exploded from the darkness above her, from the vicinity of her window to be precise. Bianca’s grip on her makeshift rope tightened as she wondered at Draco’s discovering her escape.
If she did not love life so well, she might have considered letting go and plummeting down into the darkness below her. But Bianca deemed by the way her fortune had run so far this night, she would probably survive the fall and her quandary would know no bounds. The sudden thought of her father’s guards made her shudder.
“What the hell do you think you are doing, Bianca?”
“Taking a stroll in the gardens, what does it look like?”
Her sharp sarcasm was not lost on him and his frown deepened as Draco noted that her hold on the makeshift ladder was weakening. In the pale moonlight, he could make out only shadows and a ghostly semblance of white against black. He blinked several times to determine what he was actually seeing and suddenly he choked on an obscene curse. The damn woman was naked!
“Climb back up here!” He fairly roared at her. “Get your lily-white butt back up here this instant. What the hell were you thinking? Perhaps that is your problem. You were not thinking.” Even as he snapped out his orders he realized that his lovely, nude lady was in danger of falling to her death if he did not do something fast.
“Please, my lord, do not bellow at me in such a fashion.” He could hear the tears in her voice as she begged for his tolerance.
“I cannot, Draco,” she finally admitted. “I cannot go up or down. I am stuck.”
After taking in her perilous perch, Draco made a hasty retreat down the stairs thinking to find the nearest window to her position and try to retrieve her before she fell. He knew he had only moments to accomplish the task.
A moment passed and Bianca swore that she heard a snicker of a laugh. She would never forgive his cold-hearted attitude at her dilemma. His amusement hurt her more than she dared to admit. She would let him feel the heat of her wrath for his sniggering at her expense when she was once again in a position to do so.
When Bianca heard nothing more from him, she glanced up again and found that he was no longer there. “Draco? My lord?” When she received no answer, she panicked. “Please, Draco, do not leave me here. I am truly stranded.”
“Yea, my lady, I heard you the first time.” The words were a mere whisper in her ears and hands grasped her waist. So startled was she when he suddenly appeared at her side, Bianca shrieked and lost her grip on her makeshift ladder. Strong arms grasped her around her bare waist and she was pulled through a window beside her.
Clutching his head and neck with frantic arms, anchoring herself to him as if she would never let him go, Bianca buried her face into the side of his neck and inhaled his alluring masculine smell as she tried to stem the tears of relief that flooded her eyes.
She was safe! Her knight in shining armor had appeared to rescue her once again!
Then to her horror, her sniffles suddenly turned into heart-wrenching sobs that were torn from her throat. Her whole body shook with the force of her weeping.
“You are safe, Bianca. Hush, my love.” The words were out before he realized that he had said them. But oddly enough, he found that he did not want to retract them.
As he held her convulsing body, Draco tried to ignore the fact that his lovely lady was completely nude. But it was an impossible task. His body reacted to her soft skin and sensual curves. His hands moved over her back and shoulders, one dropping low to cup her bare bottom, possessively.
The feel of her arms about his neck so trusting and her firm, round breast crushed against his chest so tempting had his body flushing with hot desire and regret that he could do nothing to satisfy his body’s raging need. It was clear that Bianca trusted him explicitly by the way she relaxed in his embrace, but he would be damned if he would take advantage of an emotionally distraught woman. When he took this woman to his bed, if he took her to his bed, he amended, it would not be because she was grateful to him for rescuing her. It would be because she wanted him as much as he wanted her.
He cuddled her close until she quieted. Cradling her trembling body against his hard chest, Draco carried her from the darkened, unused bedchamber up the stairs to her own chambers. It had been a stroke of luck that he had noticed this door as he flew down the staircase. The fates must have been watching over them this night.
“What were you doing out there?” he asked her. His anger grew as he carried her up the stairs. It had taken the forefront of his emotions as his anxiety subsided.
“I have a splinter.”
“A splinter?” Her answer was not what he had expected. In fact, it made no sense whatsoever. “I will attend to it momentarily. Now tell me, why did you attempt such an idiotic act, Bianca? Were you trying to escape me? I was not holding you hostage by guarding your door. I was protecting you. You could have simply opened the door and asked for whatever you needed and it would have been yours.”
“It was because of the splinter that I went out the window.” Her sobs had long since subsided; she still hid her face in the crook of his neck, muffling her words.
“That is such a minor excuse for putting your life in danger, lady. I hope you can think up a better story than that.” It was abundantly clear that Draco’s patience was at an end. He would not believe her ridiculous tale that a splinter would send her out the window. “Now tell me. What was the true purpose that had you dangling from your bed covers out the window?” He walked through what was left of her door. After hearing her muffled cries, he had kicked it in while attempting to gain entrance.
“If you would but listen, I have explained why I was out there.” Her sharp words of reprimand did not set well with Draco in his present state of mind.
“I would remind you, lady, I have just saved you from certain death. You owe me more than an explanation. You owe me a little respect. Do not give me sharp words.”
“I apologize, my lord, but I have given you my explanation and you are not listening to me. The reason I was out my window was because I was too embarrassed to come to you and ask for your help to remove the large splinter I managed to get in my …in my…backside. I slid down the door, you see. So I decided to go to my cousin for help…” Her words trailed off as she looked up to find him looking at her strangely. The hot desire that she saw in his eyes as they moved over her nude body was tempered with the crooked smile that moved his lips at her obvious embarrassment at having to admit her quandary.
“A splinter, in your…backside?” The small twitch became a crooked grin and his eyes twinkled brightly at the heightened color of her face and neck and shoulders. His eyes dropped lower and Bianca watched as the twinkle turned to a hot, hungry expression before his gaze came up to meet hers once again. “You need to turn around so that I can examine the…offended area.” The sensuality of his words nearly melted her. His voice was thick and smooth, as warm honey, low and seductive. He wanted her, it was obvious and as she gazed into his lust-glazed eyes, hope flared in her heart.
Abruptly he stopped next to her bed and set her on her feet. He stooped to pick up a discarded blanket from the floor and draped it over her shoulders, slowly bringing the edges together as he looked his fill right to the last. The temptation was great but he had a delicate task to perform before he could let his heart dictate to his head and body. Her nudity was too great a temptation.
“I do not think it necessary to disturb your cousin, especially as it is the middle of the night. I am quite capable of removing the offending sliver of wood from your lovely…your buttocks, Bianca.”
“No.” Bianca pulled away from him, appalled that he would suggest such a thing. She backed away, slowly edging her way around the bed until she bumped into the bedpost, wincing when her offended nether cheek was jounced painfully.
A slow knowing smile spread across his face, a black brow arched wickedly.
“You dare to laugh at my pain?”
“Was I laughing?” he asked innocently, his hands spread in a conciliatory manner as he slowly, steadily approached her.
“Stop! Not a step closer!”
But he did not stop until her hands were splayed against his well-muscled chest. The heat of his hard body burned through his wool tunic. Unconsciously her tongue darted out to moisten her suddenly dry lips. Images of what lay beneath her hands filled her mind and she found that she wanted to push his clothing aside and run her hands over his hard muscles, to explore every inch of him to her heart’s content. But his next words shocked her back to reality.
“I need to see the…wound if I am to help.”
“I have not asked for your help, my lord. It would be far too embarrassing to have a strange man viewing that part of me. I can still go to Modesta.”
“Now that would be just plain selfish of you. Waking your cousin in the middle of the night for such a minor injury when I am here and able to offer my assistance. Do not be so stubborn, Bianca. And I am no strange man. I think what we have experienced together over the past few days qualifies me as your best friend.” His gaze dropped to her lips and then to the thin blanket that covered her breasts as if to emphasize his words. “Perhaps much more.” At her gasp of outrage, he relented. “Did you not ply your needle to my hide just this morning? It will be my pleasure to reciprocate your…kindness.”
His words made her realize that her show of outrage at his offer was unwarranted. It would be no different than what she had done for him, would it not? She took a deep breath and released it and reluctantly she accepted his offer.
“Fine. But there will be no pleasure in it.”
“Perhaps only for one of us, my lady,” Draco murmured under his breath as he watched her turn and climb upon the bed to position herself across the flat surface onto her stomach. The thin blanket she still wore did little to hide the curves and hollows of her back and buttocks. Draco stood looking down at her for several moments before he turned away to cross the room where he gathered every candle he could find. By the time he finished lighting the tapers and setting them on the small bedside table, the area around the bed was illuminated with a bright glow.
Then he turned his attention back to the woman laid out so helplessly, so seductively across the large bed. As he moved to her side, she tensed but remained silent. She watched him closely as he placed the supplies he had gathered at her side.
To warm his hands he rubbed them together vigorously. Slowly, carefully, Draco pulled the edge of the blanket up over her long, slender legs and shapely bottom, until it was gathered at her waist. She reached back to pull it down to a more modest position.
“Huh, uh. Leave it alone.” And he pushed the blanket back up to her waist. The lovely white skin that he viewed was enough to stall his breath. There was so much satiny white skin, the curve of her buttocks and the deep crevice between her nether cheeks where a hint of black curls peeked out. It was enough to make a lusty man cry for more, much, much more.
Tearing his gaze from the forbidden fruit, Draco forced himself to look upon Bianca as a casualty of war who needed his help. He tried to ignore her womanly assets, her soft white skin, and her heart-shaped derriere. When his eyes perused the angry red skin around the large splinter embedded in her cheek, he winced with empathy at the pain she must be suffering.
He knelt on the floor behind her, leaned over her and tentatively touched the area around the offending piece of wood with gentle fingers, reasoning out the best method of removing it. Finally he came to a decision and drew his dagger from its sheath.
“This will take but a moment,” he warned as he placed the lethal point on her tender skin. He hesitated, beads of perspiration forming on his brow. He had gone to battle and hacked men to pieces but that had been nothing compared to making a tiny slit in Bianca’s lovely backside to extract a tiny piece of wood. To steady his hands, Draco took a deep breath and then proceeded to make the small slash in her soft flesh.
It took only a fraction of a moment to make the small cut and remove the splinter, but Draco was sweating as if he had fought a major battle. As soon as the sliver was extracted, he wiped the small amount of blood away and soothed the wound with some warm water before pressing a piece of clean cloth to the area. He held it there for several moments until the wound ceased to bleed.
During the entire time, Bianca was so quiet that Draco would have thought her sleeping but he noticed that she had her fists clenched around the edge of the blanket just before his attention was concentrated on removing her splinter. He gave her credit for her bravery. He knew grown men who would have fainted at the sight of a dagger cutting into their skin. Bianca, however, did not make so much as a sound and that fact made him inordinately proud of her.
“That should take care of it. Are you feeling a little better? Do you need anything?” The gentleness in his voice was met with an obstinate shake of her head.
“Look at me, Bianca.” Again his only reply was a jerky movement of her head.
Carefully he eased up onto the bed beside her. He took her by the shoulders and turned her into his arms, he held her close, firmly imprisoning her in his steely arms.
“What is it, my sweet?”
“Tis nothing,” she murmured, still refusing to lift her gaze higher than his chin.
“Now Bianca, do not lie to me. Tell me what troubles you?” He lifted her chin with his fingers, but her eyelids drifted closed as she still refused to look at him.
He smiled at her stubbornness and leaned forward until his lips were but a breath away. “Tell me,” he whispered.
“‘Tis just….” she began and then wet her suddenly dry lips, a motion that brought a groan of desire rumbling in his chest and certain notions to his mind.
“What?”
“I never suspected that the first time I found myself naked in bed with a man, it would be to have him cutting a damn splinter out of my ass.” She did not know what she expected of him at her admission of embarrassment and frustration, but she did not expect his ear-splitting laughter, that was for certain.
Anger flared in her eyes as she lifted her head to look at him. The dolt actually laughed at her and by the looks of it, he was nearly incapacitated in his amusement. Bianca became so outraged by his reaction to her heartfelt confession that she tried to free herself from his embrace, from his very presence, but his strong, muscular arms were like bands of steel and he was not about to release her.
The built-up emotions that Draco managed to keep under control over the last few days burst from him in that roar of laughter. He was so lost in the relief of it that he could not stop long enough to tell her that her predicament was only a small part of his spirited outburst. In truth, he was not laughing at her. But until he managed to collect himself, he could not explain that to her. Instead, he collapsed back upon the bed, taking her with him. She landed sprawled across his broad chest as he held her close, fighting for self-control.
It was not until his hands moved down over her bare hip that realization dawned on them both, sobering Draco instantly. They lay together on the bed and he was the only one clothed. The light blanket had fallen away from Bianca’s body when they had shifted on the bed.
They found themselves in a most provocative position. And if either were to admit it, they found no objection to being there. Bianca gazed down into dark, hungry eyes as she waited breathlessly for his next move. She wanted him to kiss her.
Draco moved his hand slowly down the indention of her back to caress the nether cheek that had been damaged. His touch drew a moan for her. “Forgive me, sweetling.”
“Whatever for?” Bianca’s voice hitched with sudden apprehension that with his next words he would put an end to their embrace. She was not certain that she could live through such rejection and in self-preservation, she closed her eyes and waited with bated breath. But his gentle stroking over her sensitive bare skin did not cease and the caresses became bolder, moving lower and more intimate, doing strange things to her concentration.
“For having to take my blade to your lovely little derriere,” he whispered against her ear as his hands cupped her offended cheek gently. He smiled against her skin as she gasped at his boldness. He blazed a slow trail of fire down the side of her slender neck with his lips and teeth and tongue. He placed hot, wet kisses along her jaw to her chin as his hands moved, exploring every part of her. Soon Bianca found it difficult to breathe under his tender assault.
It was only when his movements stilled that she opened her eyes. She found him staring up at her with such a look of hopelessness in his eyes that it left her breath stalling within her chest.
“You did not hurt me too badly. It was a necessary measure.” Her gaze dropped to his mouth and she found that his firm, sculptured lips were too tantalizing, so near and so inviting. She touched her trembling mouth to his in response to the torment that she detected. His response was instantaneous.
With a deep groan, he clasped her head as his mouth moved over her lips, his teeth nipping, his tongue licking until Bianca’s lips felt bee-stung. But he wanted more from her.
“Open for me, dearling. Open your mouth.”
When she complied, she found her mouth filled with his tongue as he explored the moist cavity. His fierce passion threatened to consume her. His mighty arms enveloped her slight body and crushed her against his massive chest as his mouth ravaged hers, leaving them both breathless, yearning for more.
“Oh, my!” Her breathy exclamation after the long, passionate kiss brought a satisfied grin to Draco’s lips. Bianca opened her eyes and gazed down at his handsome face, flushed with desire and his eyes hot with hunger for her and she wondered at this passion that flared between them.
Bianca had been attracted to the great Black Dragon from that moment in the Great Hall when she had first laid eyes on him. She made the decision then that there would be no other man for her. Bianca wanted Draco for her husband and she had set out to seduce him in any way she could.
But now as she lay draped across his broad chest, his hands wandering over her body at will, she came to understand what physical love was. Bianca had believed herself in love with this great man from the beginning, but it was not until this moment that she understood that there were two kinds of love.
One was a young girl’s first fantasy love that she creates in her childish dreams before she matures into a woman. As a young woman, she soon begins to aspire for a husband and perhaps lover, and a woman’s love, physical and spiritual, fulfilled only when she finds the one and only true love great enough to fulfill all her dreams and more. Bianca had experienced both. As she gazed down at this great warrior with his battle scars and lonely, hungry eyes, she realized that she loved him with her whole heart and soul. Nothing would change her feelings not in this lifetime.
And then suddenly she was more afraid than she had ever been. How could she hope to hold fast to such a worldly man, her being so naïve and innocent? Perhaps this night would be just one more in a long procession of passion-filled nights for him. She had witnessed the looks that the gypsy dancer gave him. The thought scared her to death.
It was a fact that passion was something that could flare between any man and woman if the circumstances proved to be right. Even as much as she loved him, Bianca wondered if she could every hold a man like Draco? Could she force him to love her back?
If there was one thing Bianca had learned since Draco had set foot in Castle Neige, it was that love was not make-believe. Love was definitely real and at times, it could hurt. She loved Draco with all her heart and she wanted to believe that he would someday return that love. But until he said the words aloud, she accepted that she would have to be satisfied with the great passion that flared between them.
Bianca carefully studied his handsome, rugged features, her slender fingers moving over his strong jaw, wide cheekbones. She traced one fingertip down over the long scar that divided his face. Then she lowered her head and pressed her soft lips to his cheek and kissed it tenderly, drawing a low groan from him that rumbled deep in his chest. He cupped the back of her head and held her while his mouth captured hers in a passionate kiss.
Did Bianca ache for his touch, as he did hers? Draco could no long deny that her touch affected him. He had tried to do just that, but it had all been a lie he made up to convince himself and her, but no longer. He wanted Bianca more than life and now that she was here in his arms, there was no way he could pretend to be even a little chivalrous. She was his, at least for the moment. Tomorrow would take care of itself.
Even as those thoughts flew through his mind his mouth moved over hers in an uninhibited, ardent kiss that left her moaning her need into his mouth. Ravenously, he deepened the kiss, plunging his tongue into her warmth again and again. And without reservation, Bianca moved restlessly against him. She returned his kiss with unconcealed passion.
Without breaking their kiss, Draco rolled Bianca beneath him, wedging his large body between her soft white thighs, nestling the ridge of his throbbing, male hardness against her moist curls guarding her womanhood. The only thing separating them was the soft wool of his breeches.
Shocked at the feelings that swept through her at the intimacy of their position, Bianca drew back from his kiss and stared up at him in wonderment. The intensity of his gaze held her as he reached down between their bodies. The feel of his hand caressing down over the bare skin of her abdomen and lower into the tight black curls of her mons left her breathless with anticipation. And then his fingers found the delicate folds of her nether lips and the sensitive nub hidden there.
“Oh, oh!” The soft sigh of feeling that escaped her lips was little more than a soft puff of breath. As he manipulated the delicate, swollen bud, Draco watched Bianca’s passion-flushed face as her eyelids drifted closed and she worried her bottom lips with her teeth.
“Oh, God! Do not stop!” she begged as he removed his hand.
“Do not worry, dearling, I have no intention of stopping. We have not even begun yet.” He adjusted his position to give himself a better view of her lovely secrets.
“Open your legs, sweetheart. Oh yes, wider. There. God, you are so beautiful!”
Draco wanted to rip off his breeches and thrust into her right then, but instead, he tore his eyes from the lovely sight of her and moved up to cover her body with his. His mouth took hers in a passionate kiss, leaving her whimpering in her need. Again, his lips slanted over hers as he cupped her breasts, kneading them, his thumb rolling her nipple until it pearled beneath his touch. Then his hot, hungry mouth was there, taking one hard nipple into his mouth, lapping its peak with his hot, wet tongue and then drawing on it, suckling her long and hard. The result was a writhing lush body beneath his.
“Oh, Draco, please. Please!”
Her plea brought him close to the end of his endurance and he knew that he had to bring her closer to the edge before he could take her completely. His fingers found her wet and swollen and he knew that it would not take much to bring her to climax. He manipulated her nub with his thumb as he lowered his mouth over her other breast and suckled it until she was wild in his arms. He raised his head to nip her kiss-swollen lips once again and then grazed across her cheek to her ear.
“It will be all right, Bianca. Relax. Enjoy your release.”
Leaving her ear, Draco moved to her glorious breasts once again, paying homage to them with thoroughness that left her breathless and moaning. She was so lost in her need that he was sure she did not realize he had lifted her legs to wrap them around his waist so that she was fully open to him.
“Feel how much I want you.” Draco’s hands clutched Bianca’s bare buttocks to hold her tight as he gently rocked with her, the ridge of his arousal pressed against her. He thrust against her, becoming more demanding in a tormented search for release. As she writhed beneath him, it was apparent that Bianca was close and with one last undulation, Draco pressed himself tight against her. As he felt her stiffen and her cry of release echoed off the walls, he let his own fantasies carry him over the edge and he threw back his head as he gripped her hips and shuddered as he spilled his seed within his breeches. It took several moments for him to relax enough to ease his hold on her, and then he collapsed beside her, all strength ebbing from his muscles.
Draco rolled to his back taking Bianca with him draping her wantonly across his broad chest. Her body still shuddered from the aftereffects of her climax. He was amused by the stunned expression on her face, as Bianca fought to regain control over her overwhelmed emotions.
Her composure was in tatters. Despite all the new and breathtaking sensations that she had just experienced, the one thing that lay utmost on her mind was that Draco had brought her such pleasure and fulfillment and yet he had not actually penetrated her. It had been caressing and rubbing and she had enjoyed every moment of it, but she was also bewildered and somewhat embarrassed that she had been naked all the while and Draco had never removed his breeches. She had no notion that people could find gratification in such a manner.
As if reading her thoughts, Draco pulled her tense body close and kissed her hot cheeks. “There is no shame in what we have just enjoyed together, my sweet. This way I could give you carnal pleasure without breaching your maidenhead.” But his words did not stanch the furious blush and as her eyes welled up with hot tears, Bianca turned her face to his neck and wept quietly.
“Hush, my love. You break my heart with these tears. What can I do to reassure you on this point?” Bianca raised her head and looked at him through her blinding tears.
“Say that you do not think less of me for what we have just done. I could not bear it if I lost you because I could not give you the same pleasure you gave me.” Even with tears wetting her face, Bianca still blushed at what she insinuated. She found great pleasure in their lovemaking, but if he had not even removed his clothing how could he have felt anything? Of a sudden, a distant rumbling sounded beneath her hands, splayed across his chest. She glanced at Draco and when the corners of his mouth tilted up, she realized that he was laughing at her. She fisted her hands and began to beat his chest in fury at his rudeness.
“How could you? How could you be so callous? I am only thinking of your comfort and you laugh at me.”
Her wrath was precious. Draco captured her flailing hands in his to still them before she bruised them and raised them to his lips.
“Who said that I received no pleasure in what just happened? Did you not notice my high agitation or hear my bellow of release? I assure you that even with my clothes still covering my body, I could feel every move you made. Just looking at your lovely body gives me more pleasure than I have ever experienced previously. Yea, you, Bianca de Neige are more than just beautiful. You are passionate, arousing, exciting, magnificent. Do not underestimate yourself. You are all woman.”
When she opened her mouth, Draco cut off her words by leaning over her and covering her mouth with his. He kissed her until she was nearly senseless. And then he lay back on the bed and drew her into the crook of his shoulder before pulling a light blanket over them.
“Sleep, my love. Sleep and dream sweet dreams.”
* * * * *
With pertinacity best attributed to a courageous knight,
The Maid de Neige vowed she would be this man’s wife,
Even if it took her all of this lifetime and into eternity.
She vowed to concoct a scheme to keep him in close proximity,
Pretending to peruse the canaille out to claim her inheritance,
Whether the man looked like a mouse, a cat, or a frog, for instance.
Alas none were good enough, her sweet Knight decreed,
Still he stubbornly denied her the choice that was he.