“Such will be your reward if you are the last to move,” he said, his hands lingering on her hair. “I considered topazes, but the garnets look magnificent with your hair.” He leaned closer, brushing his lips over hers. “I vow, I cannot decide if I wish for you to win, or to lose, Lady Marian.”
Then John turned away to adorn the other ladies in a similar manner, with different jewels in girdles, necklets, or bracelets. The maidservants received much smaller baubles in the form of slender silver chains.
“And now. . let the contest begin,” John said, spreading his hands wide and gesturing for his male companions to join him.
During this time, Marian had gone from flushed hot to bitterly cold and fairly trembling, from horrified to numb. She could hardly believe that she was to stand thus. . to have such intimate liberties taken with her body. And that she could not move or find relief from the position! Already her limbs ached.
But as John shifted about the room, readying for the contest, the heat of Glynna’s mouth burned into her breast, and the weight of her fingers, positioned over her quim, began to feel less like an invasion. . and more titillating. Her shield of numbness faltered, and she became aware of the pressure of gentle finger pads against her quim lips. . and the weight of a mouth, of lips parted wide over her nipple.
Yet Marian refused to allow herself to think about where her own fingers had been placed, and instead stared unseeingly across the room at a tapestry on the wall. If she ignored the sensation at her nipple, the pressure within her quim. . the heat and dampness of the nether lips of this woman next to her. . she could bear it.
The thought occurred to her that she might move, might pull away, and end her part in the contest, removing the other woman’s hands from her body. . but she feared John’s punishment even more. This. . was awkward, but not painful nor even as humiliating as the other nights.
The men had moved from the far end of the chamber and now came into view. Marian kept her gaze focused straight ahead, fully aware of the trickle of saliva that had begun to run down her breast and torso from Glynna’s open mouth. It tickled, making her want to move and brush away the itch. She drew in a deep breath, staring into nothingness, willing the little discomfort to go away.
What were the men going to do? Try to make them move?
She was already having a hard enough time remaining still. . If they-
Suddenly, Glynna’s tongue flickered over her nipple. Marian snatched in her breath sharply and barely kept herself from jolting.
John turned to look closely at her, and she stared straight ahead. “Do you surrender so soon?” he asked, moving so that he came into her line of vision. “I had thought you more stubborn than that, Lady Marian.”
She didn’t move, didn’t allow her eyes to focus on him. Instead, she stared straight through him, his hair and handsome face nothing more than a dark blur.
Glynna’s tongue darted around her nipple again, secret and sure behind her open mouth. Marian caught her breath and nearly moved again as little frissons of sensation blasted through her. Nay. . oh, this was not. .
John moved very close, and she could barely breathe, knowing that if she moved, he would notice even the slightest twitch.
Please, not again. .
“You may of course move your eyes, Lady Marian,” he said, adjusting her hair once more. “And look about the chamber at your competition.”
She closed them, struggling to maintain her composure, measuring her breathing.
“You may move your eyes, but you must keep them open, my dear, or the others will cry foul,” John said in a deep voice near her ear.
Marian had no choice but to raise her lids to see that he was watching her with satisfaction. Then a faint sound from behind him drew his attention, blessedly, away. Marian nearly relaxed, almost biting her lip-which would have ended the contest-when she saw that Sir Louis Krench was watching her closely.
He licked his thin lips and she recognized the glint in his eyes. “Come now, my lady. Would you not rather a randy cock betwixt your legs than a whore’s fingers?” He would have moved up into her face, she believed, had a large dark figure not edged between them.
“I rather doubt she would find your cock all that randy,” Will said in an obvious jest. His voice held a tone of good humor that Marian had never heard before. “ ’ Tis more than a bit overused.”
“Step back, sirrah,” Louis replied in the same bantering tone. “For I doubt you can even find your cock, considering the amount of times you’ve used it.”
Will laughed, a short hard bark, as if he had to force it. “ ’ Tis not the measure of frequency but the manner in which it is wielded that concerns me. And the ladies.”
Glynna’s tongue flickered out again and Marian could barely contain a surprised gasp, and when the finger that had settled over her swollen labia began to move gently, yet purposely. . she went rigid. Her mouth dried and she struggled to maintain control.
Breathe. Concentrate.
And then she could ignore it no longer. . The wave of sensation swarmed over her. . heat, pleasure, the tightening of her nipple, suddenly jewel hard beneath the rhythmic tongue. . the insistent, teasing pressure of a light finger over her hard little pearl. Oh, nay. . she couldn’t breathe, could barely keep herself from twitching, from spinning away from the silent torture.
And then she felt Glynna move. . beneath her own fingers. She felt a little pulse against her, and noticed the slickness of the hot folds of flesh as if they burned down into her hand.
Marian closed her eyes, breathing deeply, holding herself stiff and unfeeling, even as the secret little tongue moved wickedly over her tight, sensitive skin. Trails of sensation coiled down, deep into her belly, and her breathing rose, became harsher, as she fought to keep from giving in to it.
A soft cry drew her attention and her eyes flew open in time to see Pauletta and her female partner separating, being pulled apart by John and Lord Ralf.
Marian could not recall exactly the position in which they’d been arranged, but she knew it had been just as provocative as her own. The maidservant was sent to the corner, where she crouched with a complacent look on her face and fondled her winnings: the silver chain.
Mercifully, her own private torture seemed to have stopped for the moment, giving Marian a chance to gather control and fight the increasing sensitivity in her own body. Vaguely, she also realized that now she was to see exactly what awaited her if she could no longer restrain herself.
Pauletta didn’t seem dismayed as she was arranged over the huge half barrel, feet flat on the ground, back arched over the fixture, belly facing up. Her arms were drawn up over her head, and reached nearly to the floor behind her, where they were manacled in place. Her breasts lifted, her legs spread and chained, her dark hair spilled down the side of the barrel into a pool on the floor.
Her pale skin gleamed like soft pearl skin in the yellow light, her pink nipples and the dark bush of hair over her mound the only color in the living statue. Pauletta breathed hard, her breasts shimmering with each gasp, her hips twitching, and Marian could see the dark folds of her quim glistening.
She licked her lips, then realized she’d moved, and her eyes darted quickly around to see if anyone had noticed. They were all watching Pauletta, praise God, and no one had noticed her weakness.
Even Will, who stood nearby, his face like marble, had his eyes focused on the long, slender body on display before him.
I should love to be the woman who brings him to his knees. Pauletta’s arch words settled in Marian’s mind and burrowed there deeply. He fascinates me.
Would he touch her? Marian couldn’t take her eyes off the scene in front of her, her heart thumping madly. Her belly felt tight and expectant, but, mercifully, Glynna chose to remain still. Mayhap the woman realized that no one would be watching if she continued her torture.
Or mayhap she wanted to listen to the proceedings-for she could see nothing from her position.
But Marian could see it all.
John moved first, so quickly that Marian didn’t realize what was happening. But then she heard the light smack of leather striking flesh, followed by a soft grunt of surprise. She saw Pauletta’s body twitch as John raised his hand and rained blows over her belly and thighs.
They were light ones, for there were no corresponding blood lines drawn onto her skin. But each touch of the slender leather caused Pauletta to gasp and jerk and cry out in pained pleasure.
