Cool air cocooned his head. She stepped back, triumphantly brandishing his turban. 'No, we are not.'
'I am hungry, Megan,' he said deliberately.
'What did you bring us to eat?' she asked, moss green eyes sparkling.
His breath caught in his chest.
No woman had ever jested with him. Teased him. Engaged him in sexual banter.
'What would you like?' he asked, voice too gruff.
It did not deter her-his voice-his body.
'Meat pie,' she riposted.
'Then you are fortunate,' he returned. 'There is a meat pie in the bucket.'
Megan laughed.
It rang out through the thicket of branches and leafing bushes, ricocheted off the stone walls that isolated Madron Well from the intrusion of modernity. Wings fluttered up to the sky-she had startled the warbling bird.
His groin tightened.
He untied his cloak and spread it on the ground. She unbuttoned her cloak and spread it on top of his.
Her nipples stabbed her bodice.
'You will get cold,' he warned.
'No colder than you,' she rejoined.
He was not cold.
Turning, he walked to the stone fence where he had left the bucket. His loose cotton
Megan sat on their cloaks, black gown primly tucked around her legs, tugging off black silk gloves.
He stalked her.
She glanced up… and stared at his groin. His robe was tented.
'Your meat pie, madam,' he said. And set the bucket down on top of their spread cloaks.
Setting her gloves aside, Megan raised her head. Her moss green gaze snared his black one. 'I do not see it.'
The heat surging through him owed nothing to sunshine. 'Look harder, madam.'
'There is a cloth covering it,' she returned, 'Perhaps you should remove it.'
There was no mistaking her inference.
He remembered the press of her lips and the lick of her tongue when she had kissed his verge.
His heart thudded against his chest. 'We will both catch our chill,' he warned.
Megan reached for the top button on her bodice. 'But we will always have fond memories of meat pie, will we not?'
She unfastened one button, two, three… and shrugged out of her bodice.
Her breasts, warmed by sunlight, gleamed like alabaster. Full. Heavy.
Perfect.
'Take down your hair,' he said in a strangled voice.
He watched the lift of her arms, her breasts, noted the glint of red-brown hair underneath her arms, catalogued each quiver of her soft breasts.
A long, thick braid fell over her shoulder. Laying aside the hairpins, she slowly unraveled it and raked her fingers through it to straighten out the kinks.
The red, bronze and silver that had only glinted in her hair when it had been secured on top of her head, now was a blazing waterfall that cascaded over her right breast and down to her waist.
The thud of his heart shook his entire body-his chest; his knees.
Megan was willing to satisfy a eunuch's fancy; he could do no less.
He jerked the
In the dim light of morning with the curtains closed, his condition had been blatant but not the scars. There was no hiding them in the full light of day.
She did not cringe from their sight.
Solemnly, she uncovered the bucket of food. Equally solemn, he accepted in his bare hand the slice of meat pie she offered him.
Sitting down, he crossed his legs, acutely aware that she could see everything… his scars, his desire, everything he had spent the last forty years trying to hide.
Pulling out a small jug of cider, Megan filled two glasses, left breast quivering with her motion, nipple stabbing the chill spring air.
He reached out and flicked back her hair, so that he could see both of her breasts.
The meat pie was tasteless, the cider sour. He would never forget them.
When they had drained the last drop of cider, finished the meat pie and licked their fingers clean, she returned the jug, glasses and empty pie plate to the bucket.
Megan stood up and unfastened her skirt, her bustle, her petticoats. Her hair shielded her face. 'I would ride you, sir.'
Twenty-four hours ago, he would have thought her ridiculous.
Twenty-four hours ago, he had not opened his door to admit a widow who masqueraded as a whore.
Straightening his legs, he kicked her underclothes off their cloaks and lay down.
The sun was hot. Blinding. The weight of her body was more welcome than his next breath.
Kneeling over him, she grasped his verge.
He stopped breathing.
Wet heat kissed him.
His heart stopped beating.
Unrelenting pressure. Scalding moisture.
He concentrated on Megan's face as she determinedly tried to put him inside her. She bit her bottom lip, like a child studying for an exam.
'Take me home, Megan,' he said hoarsely.
And wondered where his home was.
He knew where others thought it was, but he himself did not know.
Without warning, her portal opened and she swallowed him.
She moaned.
He groaned.
Her pubic hair prickled his pelvis. The tip of his verge abutted her cervix.
He could feel the pulse of her body frantically beating against him.
Megan stared down at him. 'I think I'm too old for this.'
He grabbed her hips. 'I think not, madam. Ride me,' he gritted. 'Ride me like you saw the young girl ride the boy.'
Tentatively she lifted up; cool air surrounded his verge while his crown was gripped by molten fire. Her gaze did not waver from his, green eyes moist with sexual need and something more, the need to please him.
It was not her consideration he wanted; he wanted her selfish enjoyment.
He bucked up; at the same time he pulled her down, forcing her to take the hardness that was all he could give her.
Megan threw her head back; a low cry vibrated along the length of his verge.
He did not know who it came from-her, or him.
She had a long neck, white, graceful.
Slowly, she learned the rhythm: up, thighs and vagina squeezing him; down, thighs and vagina opening. Blindly reaching, she clasped her hands over his.
They were the hands of a woman used to cleaning and toiling.
The sun haloed her head in a crown of red, bronze and silver. He alternately watched her breasts jiggle and the
