He pressed his lips to hers, devouring her, familiarising himself again with all the soft contours of her mouth as his tongue stroked hers.
‘You beguile me,’ he whispered softly. ‘My unusual woman.’
He saw a flash of uncertainty pass over her face momentarily before she tightened her hold on him and wrapped her limbs around his, pushing him to the side and onto his back, before straddling him, moving on top of him and proving his point.
Eleanor was indeed different from any other woman Hugh had ever met, and he grinned at her daring—being on top of him, turning the normal way of the world on its head. He found that her shocking behaviour excited him, and even more so because she wasn’t even aware she was doing so. This was just who Eleanor was.
‘I rather prefer “ruthlessly dexterous”,’ she said, and smiled, biting the inside of her cheek.
‘I’m sure you do.’
He shook his head and locked his eyes with hers as he moved deep inside her. The image of her sitting atop him, with her dark hair spilling over and covering her nakedness, seared through him, filling his veins with wild fire.
He spread his hand on her chest and slid it down the centre of her body slowly. He curled his fingers on either side of her waist and watched as she tossed her head back and licked her lips. Her reaction to their lovemaking was uninhibited and instinctive, which he found strangely endearing.
Lord, but this woman had a hold on him.
Did she have any idea of the effect she had on him? He wasn’t sure, but it made him uneasy. His wife occupied far too much of his time and it must stop.
He wrapped his legs around hers and flipped her, making them both tumble back so that once again he was on top of her, making her take a sharp intake of breath.
‘You’ll find that I can be just as ruthlessly dexterous.’ His lips twitched at the corners.
‘I never doubted it.’ She dragged her fingers through his hair, drawing it back. ‘Although there are instances when the student becomes more proficient than the tutor.’
‘Is that so?’ he rasped, pressing kisses along the column of her neck.
‘Yes,’ she said breathlessly.
Hugh dipped his head, taking her lips, slanting his mouth across hers and kissing her long and hard. His movement inside her became all-consuming, giving and taking, until it became urgent and demanding. A mix of tenderness and wildness. The past few weeks of anger, frustration and tension were momentarily forgotten, momentarily reconciled. Everything that had gone before seemed washed and swept away on a tide of hopeless longing.
He fell on top of her, panting, complete, and she shuddered beneath him, her fingers moving up and down his back, stroking and soothing. He moved onto his back and Eleanor snuggled close into his arms.
But it wasn’t so.
He had wanted this, even though he shouldn’t. He had needed this, even though he mustn’t. Every rational thought had disappeared the moment he had kissed her, which had led to this intimacy. It was something he should not have done. He had got carried away. He had been so relieved that Eleanor apparently cared for him that he’d thrown caution to the wind and forgotten his duty.
Eleanor was a temptation that he was not strong enough to resist—but, damn it, he must! His honour demanded it.
He untangled himself from Eleanor’s embrace and sat up on the edge of the bed, rubbing his hands over his face. It wasn’t fair to continually torment himself, and neither was he being fair on Eleanor. He must talk to her and obtain all the answers he sought about the outlaws—but not like this. Not after bedding her!
His eyes darted around the room, without taking in a single thing. He had to leave.
‘Hugh, what’s wrong?’ She sat up in the bed with the coverlet draped around her.
‘Nothing, nothing...’ He picked up his clothes, strewn in a frenzied mess around the bed and on the floor, and started to dress.
‘If that is so then why are you leaving?’
‘I have something to attend to, Eleanor,’ he replied with his back to her.
‘Please don’t go,’ she pleaded. ‘Stay with me.’
He heard the distress in her voice and screwed his eyes shut, trying to dismiss it. Not to allow his wretched feelings and concern for her to pull him back to her.
‘I can’t, Eleanor,’ he whispered. ‘I just can’t.’
‘Whatever mistakes you believe you have made, we can surely overcome them, can we not?’
‘Mistakes I have made?’ He turned, frowning with incredulity.
She clasped the little cross around her neck tightly. ‘Don’t be angry with him, but Will mentioned it to me earlier.’
Hugh exhaled slowly. ‘Oh, Eleanor,’ he said, shaking his head. ‘He meant your mistakes—not mine.’
‘I... I don’t understand.’
His wife blinked several times, as though she hadn’t heard him properly. He folded his arms across his chest.
‘Don’t you, my lady?’ he asked softly, watching bewilderment and confusion flash across her face.
He allowed the silence in the room to stretch for a moment, knowing that finally the time to confront her had come—though it was sooner than he would have liked.
He nodded at her grimly. ‘I know, Eleanor,’ he said. ‘I know you’re a traitor!’
Chapter Sixteen
Hugh heard Eleanor gasp and saw her eyes widen in shock. Darts of emotion flickered in her eyes as she finally comprehended him and realised the magnitude of what he had said.
She lifted her head and finally spoke. ‘How...how did you know?’ she whispered, meeting his penetrating gaze.
At least she wasn’t going to deny the accusation.
‘I followed you. The night before we left to come here.’ Hugh expelled the breath he had been holding.
‘You seem to have made quite a habit of following me.’
‘For good reason,’ he said bitterly. ‘And you were not alone, my beautiful wife. Not only are you a traitor but so is your ever-faithful steward Gilbert
