A Knight to Desire (25 page)

But that wasn't all she wanted to hold on to forever. The thought sent a ripple of awareness through her. She wanted so many things when it came to Simon. She wanted his trust. She wanted his companionship. And, if the feverish heat warming her limbs were any indication, she also wanted to be joined with Simon in the same searing fashion she had known before. She wanted to look at him in the evening light. She wanted to touch him. She moistened her lips and experienced a hot, melting sensation between her thighs.

A gasp tore from her lips.

His gaze shot to her face. "Is it your hand? Does it hurt?"

"Nay." She inhaled sharply and remained still, looking helplessly at him.

"Then what is it?" he asked.

She could not bear this. It was time to be brave. "I want you to touch me. I want you to kiss me."

He leaned back as far as their small structure would allow. "I can't touch you, Brianna." His voice was choked. "If I do I might not be able to stop and I have absolutely no desire to hurt you any more than you've already been hurt."

"You will never hurt me as
he
did." Her gaze was on his face and she smiled. If she wanted to be near him tonight, she would have to show him just how healed she was. "The Grail has done miraculous things for my fingers. Would you like to see?"

Before he could object, she loosened the bandages from her hand and slowly unwound the thin sheets of linen he'd placed there, until her fingers were freed. "My smallest finger sustained the most damage. I still cannot bend it, but it appears almost normal." She bent the other two fingers near the thumb. "You can still see a scar where you sewed me up, but other than that, they are working better than I ever dared to hope."

He reached for her hand and cradled it in his larger one. With his thumb he stroked the renewed flesh up and down with a feather-light touch. "Truly, I would not have believed this was possible if I hadn't seen it myself." His brow creased as a frown came to his face. "The man should have been dead after his fall from the castle tower. But somehow he managed to survive and kidnap Brother Roinald. Only Roinald could have revealed the location of the Templar treasure. Any good health de la Roche enjoys now is because he stole the Grail and used it for himself."

Brianna slipped her fingers from Simon's hand to frame his face. "We have back one of the treasures de la Roche stole. And we shall find a safe home for the rest eventually. Only finding the help we need to oppose the Frenchman stands in the way of our triumph over him."

"Will we find that help?"

"I believe so." She offered him an encouraging smile that suddenly shifted to something more passionate.

"Brianna," his gaze clung to her face and she saw an echo of her own desire. "You must stop looking at me in that way."

The beauty of his lips held her spellbound. She wanted to reach out and touch his lower lip with her tongue, to taste him as she had before. "In what way?"

"As though you want to devour me."

"But I do want that." The sound of the rain pelting the top of their shelter mixed with the scents of damp earth and the warmth of the fire, wreathing them in a mystical world of sensation. "I feel as though we are alone in a wild secret garden at the beginning of time, when anything is possible and nothing is forbidden."

Simon groaned and turned his head and kissed the palm of her injured hand where it touched his cheek. "Is anything possible?"

A shiver of sensation rippled through her fingers and up her arm. "Yes."

He pressed kisses down her palm to her wrist. His lips lingered on her flesh just long enough for her to feel their heat before he moved toward her forearm and elbow. Her pulse leapt at the touch of his lips.

He lifted his head, holding her captive with his eyes as he pulled her closer until she could feel the heat of his body against her own. Everywhere he touched burned. A shudder ran through her as he brought his lips to hers. "If anything is possible, then I don't want to think about my vows, the brotherhood, de la Roche, or anything else at the moment. Only you. Only us."

"Is there an us?" The unexpected words came out in a breathy rush.

"I wish I could say aye." He looked as though he'd been slashed with a sword. And she knew why. He was thinking about Teba. Their failure there would temper both their lives forever. "Neither of us knows how a battle will go. In two days' time, we will triumph or we will fail."

She nodded. "I don't want to think about the future either. I only want to feel."

Raw, unveiled passion lit his eyes — an almost animal intensity that stole her ability to breathe. He looked at her as he never had before — as though he wanted more than her touch, more than her kiss, more even than access to the secret passageways of her body. He looked as though he wanted her soul.

And she would give it to him. The realization sent a white-hot bolt of desire careening through her. He brought a hand up to caress her cheek and pushed his fingers back through the thickness of her hair. The sensation of his fingers on her scalp set her afire as he drew her near. "I think I shall—"

"Please, Simon, don't think. Thinking always leads us into trouble. Just feel."

He smiled. "As you wish."

An earthy, fresh scent surrounded her as he slowly let her hair slide through his fingertips. She found she was holding her breath as one hand left her hair to cup her shoulder then slide down her arm to the laces of her gown. The garment left her body, followed by her chemise as though they had melted away. When nothing covered her except her shoes and hose, his hands ran down the length of her legs to remove her boots. Then slowly, sensually, he rolled her hose down one by one, and caressing the bottom of her feet as he went, he freed her from the last remnants of her clothes.

With a seductive smile that warmed her all the more, Simon pulled back, and sitting on his knees, he removed his shirt and his boots and breeches until he was naked before her.

Despite the rain, the air was not cold in the private little shelter he had built for them. The fire flickered, sending its warming rays through the small space, illuminating his body in pale shades of orange and gold. She could only stare at him, enchanted by the hungry passion in his eyes.

Desire uncoiled deep within her body, sent frissons of warmth sliding through her blood. Her heart thundered in her chest as she watched him watch her.

"You're so beautiful," he whispered as he leaned over her to plant a kiss on her right nipple.

Brianna gasped at the unexpected contact, but before she could become accustomed to the sensation, his hands slid down her sides, forming against her thighs, gently urging her legs apart. Moving between her knees, he leaned forward. She strained upward to kiss him. His mouth slanted over hers and he forced her back onto the ferns.

He settled urgently between her thighs. Naked flesh pressed against naked flesh. She felt the thudding of his heart against her own chest. His hardness probed the wetness between her legs, but he did not enter. Instead he teased her with small circular motions until desire flared beyond her control.

She cried out with almost painfully throbbing need. His lips captured hers and moved in a gentle, sensual rhythm that left her breathless as he trailed kisses from her lips to her throat, each one like a spark against her heated flesh. He explored the pale curve of her throat, her collarbone, past her breast and to her nipple.

He flicked his tongue over the sensitive bud. Her breath came in hot, harsh gasps as he continued his slow seduction, laving one nipple then the other. She arched upward, craving his touch, as need such as she'd never experienced before washed through her in waves.

When she thought she would die from wanting, his tongue left her nipples to trail flames of desire down her tingling, burning flesh. And as he nipped and tasted, his fingers explored her flesh, finding places she'd never realized were sensitive to the touch: the inside of her elbow, the back of her knee, along the inside of her thigh.

He touched her until her skin fairly vibrated with tension; she grew hot and wet and desire was an insatiable need that threatened to tear her apart. Shamelessly, she opened herself to him. She clutched at his hand and guided it over her head where she held him captive. "Please, Simon, now. I must have you now."

She coiled her legs around his buttocks and guided his hardness toward the core of her womanhood. The warmth of the shelter wrapped around her as his hardness slipped inside her.

She gasped at the pleasure of it. The fullness. The rightness of this moment.

He moved slowly at first, allowing her to catch the rhythm, then he moved harder. In. Out. Long. Short. The ferns overhead were a blur of green above his shoulder, with every breath she took in the rich scent of earth and fresh green. The rustling of the leaves beneath the ferns was as sensual as his harsh breathing in her ear.

Her body tightened as a slow-burning desire built, higher and higher, bringing both desire and desperation. Her body quivered with each erotic sensation. She strained toward that cusp that would send her into splendor. Simon plunged inside her deep and hard, again and again, until she arched upward. She cried out her pleasure. Tears stung her eyes, blurred her vision as spasm after spasm tore through her.

His smile was savage as he moved harder, faster. He stiffened and then groaned. His body went taut as he released a cry that was both primitive and earthy into the night. A smile, the likes of which she had not seen before on Simon's face, touched his lips as he settled beside her on the ferns, rolling her with him so that they remained intimately connected even after their love-making was through.

His breathing was as ragged as her own as they lay there, listening to the sounds of the night. Her arms instinctively tightened about Simon's massive shoulders.

He lifted his head and looked down at her, his breathing labored. "Merciful heavens. You make love with as much passion as you fight."

"I hope that is a good thing?"

"Very good." He leaned down and kissed her, wrapping her in a cocoon of warmth to shelter her from any chill that might follow the storm overhead.

"Then shall we continue our battle?"

He threw back his head and laughed. "Not now. I think it best if we both rest for a while." He lifted her off him, curling her against his side. His lips brushed her temple as he settled her head on his shoulder. "I hope your hand was not hurt. We were very vigorous."

She nestled her cheek on his shoulder, running the tips of her fingers down the muscles of his chest in a loving caress. Drowsiness was already tugging at her as she murmured, "You didn't hurt me. I feel more at peace than I ever have before."

Simon gently stroked Brianna's hair back from her face as her breathing became even. He shouldn't have done this. He shouldn't have taken what she offered, but he couldn't have stopped himself. Brianna meant so much to him — so much more than he ever dared admit before. And now that he had taken her again, he knew he could never let her go.

He tightened his arm around her with yearning. But how could he commit to something so precious when it could all be taken away with the stroke of a sword? If Brianna's vision of the future came to pass, he would die. He could not offer her anything until after that battle came to pass, but he could make her happy in the moments they had left — however few or however many that might be.

Time was their enemy now.

In two days, they would either rest in eternal peace, or in each other's arms.

He knew which option he preferred.

Chapter Seventeen

"Brianna."