“Except for when you are performing the ‘hey, you do this’ countessing tasks.”
She socked him on the arm. “Now you are making fun of me.”
He rubbed his arm as if that were a fierce blow. “Teasing you, pretty lady. You are one of very few people I have e’er met who can take as well as she gives. ’Tis a quality of yours I greatly admire, and one which gives me much pleasure.”
That single word hung in the air between them. Finally Isabel gave a short cough into her fist and then said, “Have I allayed your fears, King Arthur? Have I answered your questions to your satisfaction?”
“You have. And I am deeply sorry for expressing my doubts.”
“Big bad kings don’t have doubts. They strut around doing kingly things.”
“Oh, yes, how is it possible I misremembered? Hey, you, Countess, do this.”
He kissed her, pulling her flush against his hard, really hard, body.
His lips moved over her face, to kiss her temple, and then suckled the lobe of her ear. “You smell so good,” he whispered. “You always smell good.”
If not for his arms firmly around her, Isabel had the feeling she’d fall to the floor like a rag doll.
But finally she’d had enough of this foreplay, because need was a powerful thing.
She straightened and pulled away. “There is this game I like to play.”
“Yes?”
“Yes. It’s called, last one to my bedroom has to get naked first.” And then she picked up her skirts, ran into the castle and up the back staircase.
ARTHUR caught her right before she hit the door to her quarters. As he had followed her, laughing the entire way, he debated which he wanted more, but it seemed to him to be a win-win, so decided a tie was in order.
He picked her up, swallowing her squeals of protest with his mouth. He carried her into the room, only to stop short. There were candles alight everywhere, and a tray with a cask of wine and two goblets sitting side by side.
“Mary,” Isabel said.
“Remind me to reward Mary,” he said, and laid Isabel on the bed.
He looked down upon her, the glow of the candles making pretty Isabel almost breathtaking.
“I want you,” he said. “Do you feel the same?”
“Who ran up here faster?”
He decided reminding her that he could have overtaken her at any moment would not be a great idea. He dragged air into his lungs. “I am at your mercy. But please, help me to settle down.”
She laughed. “No, sir. I want a lesson in how to undress a king.”
“You are very much not helping, madam.”
She looked into his eyes, and Arthur was lost. He feared he would lose all ability to satisfy her afore either of them were unclothed.
She rolled off the bed and rose blithely to her feet.
“Your tunic appears easy enough, sir, as I can simply pull it over your head,” she said quietly. “However, you need to allow me to remove it.”
He held his arms up, and she pulled it over his head and off, tossing it aside.
“And next would be what I can only consider a turtleneck, but I am certain you have another name for it.”
“I am certain I do, however, for the life of me, Isabel, I could not name it if you placed a dagger to my throat.”
“No chance of that.”
She removed his undergarment, leaving him naked from the waist up.
“Oh, Arthur,” she breathed, tracing the scars across his body.
“I am so sorry,” he said.
“No! Do not apologize. The beauty of these is that you fought and won.”
“Or merely survived,” he breathed.
Her lips moved over his body, and he knew not how to stop her. He did not want to stop her. Yet he was dying to get his turn on hers. “You are killing me, Isabel,” he said.
“So I am actually killing a king? There must be a terrible punishment for that.”
“I cannot begin to tell you how severe if you do not let me touch you,” Arthur managed to say.
“I am quaking in my knickers,” she said. “Now, please tell me how to make you naked from the waist down.”
“If I admit the secret, may I please, please touch you?”
“Yes.”
“There is something called a belt. It is a manly way of saying laces of sorts.”
Isabel giggled. “Found your belt, King Arthur.”
“’Tis way beyond time you did, Countess.”
He felt the belt give way, and his leggings loosen around his hips. Isabel slipped lower, as did the material around his legs.
She forced one leg up and his clothing off. Then drove him near to mad as she kissed her way up his naked ankle to his calf to his thigh. Her soft hand followed, but inside his thigh. She stopped afore his privates. Unfortunately.
“Take off the other half, please, Arthur.”
“I am taking off everything, yet you are not allowing me to help you do the same.”
“I have learned the tricks of your clothing. Once again, I wager it will take you more than mere moments to figure the workings of mine.”
Arthur kicked aside his clothing and had no trouble making Isabel naked in seconds. She did not look displeased at losing the wager as he once again picked her up and set her on the bed.
“I have needed this, needed you, from our first moment, Isabel. Had I my druthers, I would have attempted to seduce you that first moment in the woods.”
“Please just allow me to explore you.”
Arthur laughed, even as he pulled her up and into his arms. “How much more exploration do you want?”
“Years.”
“That sounds wonderful. However, ’tis my turn.”
His fingers trailed up and down, from the side of her breast to her hip and up again. “You are so soft. I wish my hands were not so rough.”
“I love your hands, Arthur.”
He leaned over and took her breast in his mouth, suckling and licking her oh-so-sensitive nipple. Isabel cried out, arching upward. The sensation radiated all the way down and nearly exploded between her legs.
His tongue ran slowly one more time over her breast, and then his mouth returned to hers, kissing her as his hand traveled down over her belly, and then lower. Those rough fingers explored her, spreading her lower lips apart, and gently caressing her.
“Oh, dear gods,” she said as an orgasm shook through her. Her entire body shuddered. He held her close, still stroking her until he’d managed to wring every ounce of shattering ecstasy out of her.
He raised his head and smiled down at her, his green eyes heavy but sparkling. “Oh, lady, the gods created you for loving. You are so sweet and wet and beautiful in your . . . your ...”
“Happiness,” she finished for him.
She grabbed his arm, pulled him over and down onto his back. “I very much want to give you happiness,” she said.
“I am already . . . oh, gods, Isabel,” he said as she slipped lower and took him into her mouth. “Please, I do not want to be anywhere but inside you, part of you, when I find this . . . oh . . . this happiness. Please.”
Isabel lifted her head but continued to stroke his penis. “I want your happiness any way you want it.”
He choked with laughter. “Hey, you, please do this,” he said, then rolled her to her back.
