A Moment in Time

An arm sliding about her waist would have startled her terribly had not Madoc's voice whispered in her ear, ' 'Tis only me, dearling. I see you have tamed Hearn to your hand.'

'How can you be certain it is Hearn?' she demanded of him.

'How can you be certain it is not?' he replied. Reaching out, he rubbed the muzzle of the big buck with the knuckles of his hand.

The great deer, finished eating, raised his head to stare directly at them both. Then turning gracefully, he moved off slowly across the meadow, browsing casually on choice tidbits here and there as he went.

Madoc turned Wynne about so that she was facing him and smiled down at her. 'You are clever that you can entice the beasts of the forest to your side.'

'There is no trick to it, my lord. I merely concentrate on not being threatening to them,' Wynne told him, and she shifted nervously in his arms. It was happening again. She could feel the heat beginning to pound through her veins. Why did he have this odd effect upon her?

Madoc could plainly see her discomfort, but he appeared in no hurry to release her, and Wynne would not ask him to do so. 'I believe I was to give you a lesson in kissing the other night,' he said quietly. 'As we were not able to meet then, I think now as good a time as any.' He tipped her face up to his. 'Open your lips slightly.'

'What?' She found the request startling.

'To kiss properly you must part your lips,' he explained seriously, struggling very hard with himself not to laugh. Teaching a maid to kiss seemed a strange occupation. Most girls appeared to come by it quite naturally.

'Like this?' Wynne, obviously very intent on getting it just right, pursed her lips adorably.

'Close your eyes,' he said.

'Why?' she demanded.

'I believe it's considered more conducive to kissing to close one's eyes,' he told her.

Her beautiful green eyes shut obediently, the thick, dark lashes fanning across her pale skin like smudges of black dirt. For a brief moment Madoc stared down at her in rapt awe. She was really incredibly beautiful. Who would have guessed that the pudgy infant he betrothed himself to those long years ago would have turned out to be so fair? Then he smiled to himself. He had always known. His mouth closed over hers without further delay, savoring the sweetness of her, the tenderness of her flesh.

Had her soul left her body? For a brief moment Wynne was entirely certain, for she seemed to soar, but then the heat consumed her as never before. Her stomach seemed to clench and unclench over and over again. Her heart beat a wild tattoo, and as passion, that hitherto unknown sensation, caught Wynne in its firm grasp, she became intoxicated with the intensity of her feelings. She was kissing him back, suddenly knowledgeable, a student no longer. She pressed herself against Madoc with an eagerness that caused him to gasp with surprise. She could not possibly understand the cravings she now felt; nor even those she engendered in him. All Wynne knew was that kissing was a most marvelous pastime, and she was filled to overflowing with her enthusiasm.

Madoc, however, knew that if he did not stop her now they would shortly be rolling about in the sweet green grass of the meadow, consummating their union in a manner Wynne could not possibly even imagine. Not that he could not teach her to enjoy that too, but it was far too soon for such revelations. He broke off the kiss and set her firmly back from him, smiling to show her that he was not displeased. 'Dearling, you are as apt a pupil as any man could want,' he assured her.

'Again!' she said, launching herself at him, lips at the ready. 'I like kissing you!'

Swiftly he brushed her lips with his and then said, laughing, 'And I like kissing you, dearling, but there is more to love than just kissing. It is too soon for us to explore other things, and I would enjoy courting you slowly, that we may first be friends.'

'Is it possible for a man and a woman to be friends, my lord?'

'Aye, and the best of friends, Wynne, make the best lovers, I promise you,' he told her.

'Kiss me,' she wheedled him. 'I feel there is a storm within me and only your kisses can calm the tumult.'

'But your kisses awaken the turmoil within me, dearling,' he returned. 'Trust me and let us go slowly that our first union be all the better for the waiting.'

Her cheeks grew rosy with his words, and she was suddenly shy of him again. 'What must you think of me, my lord? I have been most bold with you.' She turned away from him.

'Look at me, Wynne,' he begged her, tipping her face back up to him. 'I adore your boldness; but there are so many degrees of passion that I would have you experience first. Let me guide you in this as in other things. Do you not understand that I want you to love me?'

Wynne looked distressed. 'Ohh, my lord, I have told you that I do not believe I am capable of such an emotion. I dare not be owned!'

'To love is indeed a possession of sorts, Wynne,' he admitted, 'but when one truly loves, it sets you free. I want you to love me, but if you do not believe you can, then I will be content to have you for my wife and my friend. Now you must call me by my name, for I will not have you sounding like a stranger or a servant.'

'Who are you, Madoc of Powys,' she asked him, 'that you are so patient with me? I do not think Rhys of St. Bride's would have been so considerate of my feelings.'

'Rhys was not meant for you. He did not love you.'

'Nesta, however, is another matter,' Wynne said with a smile. 'Oh, Madoc, I want to laugh when I see him with her! He is like a great bear trying too hard to be gentle and tender of your sister. She says she has no magic about her, but I do not believe it so!'

'She has certainly bewitched him,' Madoc agreed, 'but it is love with which she has ensorceled Rhys. Nothing more, I vow.'

'And you, Madoc,' Wynne said boldly. 'What sort of magic do you use? Your family's reputation precedes you. I admit to being curious. Most curious!'

'But not afraid,' he noted, amused. 'Well, dearling, I shall tell you all you need to know once we have returned to Raven's Rock, but for now I am ravenous for my breakfast! Since I will not allow myself the pleasure of feasting upon your sweet flesh, we must return to the house for more conventional fare.'

'You are wicked!' she accused him, blushing scarlet at his words.

'Nay, good!' he told her with implied meaning. 'Only good, I swear it, Wynne!'

'I dare not think otherwise, Madoc,' she answered him, and taking his hand, led him back to the hall.

The next few days were probably the most idyllic Wynne could ever remember. The weather remained warm and fair. The two pairs of lovers strolled the meadows, the hills, and the forest, happy to be in each other's company. They picnicked by swiftly flowing woodland streams and sat upon the benches by the main fire pit in the evening, taking turns singing while one or another of them played upon a small stringed instrument.

Wynne, who had adored Nesta from the first moment they had met, now found herself looking at Rhys through different eyes. To her surprise she found she liked him. He was a bluff, honest man with a strong sense of morality in him; and he had a most marvelous sense of humor which delighted her. Wynne always believed you could trust a man with a sense of humor. Obviously and hopelessly enamored of Nesta, he now treated Wynne with the gentle courtesy of an older brother. She wondered had they wed if she would have found the true man within him, but thought not. Gwernach would have always stood like a wall between them.

She considered how incredible her own luck had been to send Madoc to Gwernach just in time to prevent her from pledging herself to Rhys. Madoc. Wynne smiled dreamily to herself. There had been many lessons in kissing since the morning in the meadow, although both of them acknowledged that Wynne needed no more lessons in that art, especially after Madoc had shown her just how sweetly two tongues could cavort. She had never imagined that a tongue could play a part in lovemaking, but he assured her it was so.

Now Wynne faced the moment of her departure from Gwernach, and she was overwhelmed with a plethora of mixed feelings. How could she leave the home she loved so deeply? How could she leave her aged grandmother, Mair, and especially Dewi? How would they survive without her to look after them?

'Must I go with you now?' Wynne asked Madoc for the hundredth time. 'We know each other now, and I do not resist at the idea of becoming your wife any longer. They need me here!'

'We do not!' Enid contradicted her quickly and bluntly. 'You think a few kisses have shown you the merit of this man, my child? Ohh, how much you have to learn about him. If you are wed a thousand years to him you will