Falcon's Honor

Heat filled her cheeks. Rhian admitted, “’Tis not exactly you that I fear.”

Faucon’s soft chuckle raced warm across her heart. “Your imagination is far-reaching. It is not as if I will impale and kill you.”

At the absurd vision his words created in her mind Rhian had no choice but to laugh.

Faucon tipped his head to one side, shot her a boyish-looking half smile before asking, “Would it upset you to know that I have not the vast experience you seem to believe I possess?”

Rhian sighed. Then pulled up the skirts of her gown and turned around on his lap. With her legs astride his, she placed her hands against his chest.

“Disappointed?” His deep voice rumbled up from his chest.

Rhian smiled up at him. “Disappointed?” She shook her head. “Nay, Milord Faucon. I am relieved.”

Chapter Five

“Relieved?” Gareth wondered how any feeling of relief fit into their current situation. His heart pounded like a hare caught in a hunter’s snare. If relief truly coursed through her veins then he was obviously doing something dreadfully wrong.

Rhian answered, “Aye. Relief. You will not be disappointed by comparing my fumbling against countless other women.”

Gareth nearly choked on her skewed logic. But with her fingertips tracing a path across his chest and her legs straddling his, any logic was fast slipping away.

She rubbed her cheek against the hair on his chest before scooting closer. “What do we do now?”

He knew what he should do. Leave. Stop. Do nothing to dishonor her, or himself any further. But a driving need to know how far she’d take this game urged him on.

He could take her like a whore now. No niceties. No kissing or stroking. But regardless of how she was acting at this moment, Rhian was not a whore and did not deserve so little regard.

Gareth slid his hands around her back and worked the laces holding her gown in place.

Hands that could deftly wield a sword with deadly accuracy, shook. Would he manage to undress her before she cried hold? Gareth gritted his teeth in an attempt to refrain from simply tearing the thin fabric of the gown from her body.

Rhian sat patiently, but he saw the corners of her mouth twitch in what he knew would have been laughter at his fumbling had she not bit her lip.

“Laughing at me?”

She shook her head. “No. Never.” He heard the amusement in her unsteady voice.

Finally, the knot came free and he slid the laces from her gown. Rhian slipped her arms easily out of the overlarge dress, letting the fabric pool at her waist.

Gareth traced a fingertip down her neck and across one shoulder. Her flushed skin was soft beneath his touch. As he stroked along the edge of her chemise, his fingers itched to caress her breast. He yearned for more. But when he caught her gaze, she closed her eyes and turned her head away.