“Most certainly,” John replied. Will felt Marian gather herself up to thank him. Before she could speak, the prince continued. “But you must stay for a bit. I should not want you to leave my private chambers”-he emphasized those words delicately-“without having been suitably entertained.”
The prince’s gesture directed Marian’s attention to the other side of the solar. She’d been facing John since entering the room, so Will knew it was the first time she’d looked there. Her breath caught audibly and she took a step back.
He didn’t have to look to know what she was seeing, and he caught at her arm from behind. His fingers closed around it tightly in warning, but that was all he dared do.
“Come, let us join them,” John said, rising from his chair.
Will tugged Marian back from the prince’s path as he moved to the other side of the chamber. She bumped into Will, and half turned. The expression on her pale face was no more than he’d expected: a combination of loathing and horror.
“Be glad you are my guest and not his,” he hissed into her ear, then directed her forward.
“Mayhap you would like to join me for a game of chess, my lady?” asked John, sweeping his hand to the side. “Or would you prefer to simply watch the entertainment?”
Will had become fairly inured to the sight of activities conducted in this chamber, but when he propelled Marian toward the cushions and chairs at the other side, he saw them from her point of view. Certainly she knew what passed between a man and a woman-she’d been married for three years, and Harold had not been an elderly man-but God help her if she didn’t.
Yet, John’s proclivities ranged far beyond what normally occurred in a bedchamber, and the sights that Marian would experience were unblemished examples of that. Although, surprisingly, this night the whips were out of sight, and the manacles and other restraints hung empty on the far wall.
The largest bed Will knew of stood before them, not obscured by its bed hangings or curtains-they were pulled wide, the better to view the activities within. The soft mattress currently boasted three naked women. One of them had red-tinged eyes and nose from crying, and was likely the cause of the snuffling Will had heard earlier. He recognized none of them, which confirmed the fact that they were serf women, a small blessing that meant that Marian wouldn’t-at least yet-be recognized by her peers.
“Chess, my lady?” John asked again when Marian remained silent. “Or mayhap you’d prefer to watch Nottingham and me play. He is quite good.”
She stood rigid and unmoving next to Will. He swore he could feel the sharp, hard pounding of her heart all the way through her body. When she looked over at the chess game, he felt her shock rise anew. The heavy wooden board rested on the back of a naked woman positioned on her hands and knees.
Will knew how that particular game was played, and he was in no mood to participate. “Mayhap Lady Marian would simply prefer to watch anight,” he said, giving her a little push toward a pile of cushioned seats far from the chess game and the bed.
“She does seem a bit shy,” John said easily, his eyes scoring over her yet again in a way that put Will on his guard. “I do hope you’ll relieve her of that propensity sooner rather than later.”
Shy, but not the tigress Will had described her as, which worried him anew. John might decide that it wouldn’t be much of an effort to tame her and renege on their agreement.
“You can be certain of it, my lord,” Will replied, settling onto a low, wide chair made specially for more than one. Because John expected it of him, he drew Marian onto his lap, more roughly than necessary, and made sure his hands moved crudely over her breasts before settling at her waist.
She stiffened but, other than trying to move his hands away, said nothing. Will persisted, sliding his palms up and over the sides of her torso and around to cup her breasts again. He felt her shuddering breaths, but she remained silent and still.
Wanting, needing, to get a rise out of her in order to support his excuses to John, Will moved roughly, sliding his fingers up into her hair and tipping her head to the side. He buried his face in the side of her warm neck, giving her a little bite just below the ear. It was a bite that turned into more of a nuzzling kiss. Her skin tasted like warm salt, smelled like violets, and was smooth. Unbelievably soft. Closing his eyes, he lifted his lips, keeping his hands strong and tight at her waist. When he opened them, he was relieved to see that John had found another distraction.
The prince had settled himself in the chair closest to the bed. One of the women-the sniffling one-knelt at his feet. She had removed one of his boots, and was unrolling the hose from that leg.
On the bed, the other two women had commenced with one version of the entertainment John enjoyed. Will couldn’t stop himself from watching as the two kissed full on the mouth, naked bodies aligned, breast to breast. They rolled to the side, hands shifting and legs sliding with soft scrapes. One bent to the other, her mouth wide, mauling an offered breast as her fingers slid down to cover the slick pink quim revealed by her splayed legs.
Marian was hardly breathing, and Will could tell that her shocked attention was fixed on the tableau in front of them. The soft whimpers and gasps from the two naked women filtered through the air, bringing their pleasure-real or feigned, Will was never quite certain-to surround their audience.
It was impossible not to watch-and even more impossible to close one’s ears to the sounds: the soft, wet suction of mouth to mouth and mouth to nipple, of fingers slipping in and around slick red nether lips, making their own wet, erotic sounds. The movement of flesh against flesh and fabric, the moans and gasps, and even the scrape of nail over the bed beneath. . pleasure and sensuality permeated the room through sight, sound, and scent.
Will glanced over to see that the prince no longer seemed to care that he and Marian were present, and instead had focused his attention wholly on the large bed. His attendant had removed the other boot and hose, and had lifted his tunic to expose a purple-headed erection. Her activity produced more sounds: wet lips and tongue laced with the grunts of her own exertion as she knelt between John’s legs. The prince’s face was a mask of dark pleasure, his eyes fixed on the bed while his hand clamped over the top of the woman’s head, holding her there. Even from the distance, Will saw the whites of his knuckles as he pressed his fingers into the sides of her skull as if wordlessly directing her, driving her. . as one signaled a bridled horse.
Closing his eyes, Will drew in a long, slow, silent breath, keeping his own fingers rigid and still at Marian’s waist. Impossible to look away, to ignore the sounds. . and to keep one’s own body from responding.
The scent of violets, the silk of skin and lush red lips were his for the taking. She’d made her choice, chosen him. Her breathing had changed, become quick and shallow, and she moved slightly against him in short little jerks that matched its rhythm.
When he changed the angle of his head and watched Marian from the side and behind, he saw that her lips had parted and her eyes were still fastened on the women in front of them. He couldn’t read the expression on her face-was it horror or fascination? — but he no longer cared.
His hands moved of their own accord, no longer able to remain still at her hips. They slid up the sides of her torso, filled their palms with the weight of her breasts through the tunic and undertunic, and felt the hard points of nipples through the thin fabric. She made a soft noise, an erotic little gasp, and he rubbed his thumbs hard over the fabric, teasing over her jutting nipples, and felt her breath turn to little shudders as she squirmed.
Suddenly, her skin was beneath his mouth again, there at the side of her neck, where her pulse raced and jumped, and he tasted and nibbled. She moved on his lap, brushing against the raging swell of his cock, and he had to stop for a moment and close his eyes. Breathing in that violet scent helped not at all, nor did holding her breasts in his hands, though they were protected by layers of cloth. He could feel the soft little pants of her breath and the roundness of her bottom against him. .
The two women on the bed continued their play, and the sounds became more urgent. One lay back on the cushions, her knees bent upright and her feet planted on the bed. Her companion bent between her legs, and Will could see the strong swipe of tongue over the glistening folds of her quim.
Marian breathed harder, fairly in tandem with the girl on the bed, leaning back against him as if he wasn’t forcing her to watch. His fingers slipped through the sides of the sleeveless overtunic, finding her nipples and the weight of her breasts through the thin layer of silk.
John gave a loud groan, followed by the unmistakable gagging and choking sounds of the woman in front of him.
The noise drew Will back to the moment, and had the effect of a splash of cool water. Not ice-cold water, and not a complete submersion. . but enough that the urgency waned.
