Chapter 10
Chapter Ten
“Gwenllian.”
What the fuck was she doing here, in his bed? Was he dreaming?
Alexander had been awoken by the feel of a woman’s soft weight pressing down on him.
It had taken him a short but panic-filled moment to remember that he was in Scotland, that Lady Isabeau was all the way back in Audley and that he was safe.
He blinked. The woman sitting on his lap was not his brother’s French mistress but the little Welsh firebrand he’d been obsessing about for days.
He blinked again.
Not only was Gwenllian in his bed, astride him, but she was holding a length of rope.
One of his hands had already been tied to the bedpost. She was now fastening his other hand to the second bed post, and Alexander was far too fascinated by the moonlight illuminating her face and throat to do a thing to stop her. And after all, why should he?
All the way to Nead an Diabhail, he had fantasized about being in bed with her, and he’d almost convinced himself that she dreamed about the same thing.
It seemed he had been right.
“What are you doing?” he asked in a raspy voice, even if the answer to his question was rather clear. She was seducing him, like the temptress she was, tying him up to make it impossible for him to flee. As if he would want to do such a thing. He was right where he wanted to be.
“Ever since you talked about being tied up to the bed, I’ve been fantasizing about doing this,” she murmured, tightening the knot with decision before sliding lower down his body to sit above his knees, leaving his lap fully exposed.
He always slept naked, and before coming to sit on him, she had removed the covers.
As a result, he could feel the heat of her skin on his bare legs. The heat of her soft inner thighs.
Dear God. He instantly went hard as granite.
Gwenllian swallowed at the sight, and a little groan escaped her lips.
Like the other day at the tavern, she was wearing nothing but the lightest shift.
Had one of his hands been free, he might well have reached to tear at it and expose her breasts.
He already knew they would be the most perfect he had ever seen.
Should he demand she lean over him and bring a nipple to his eager mouth?
He would suckle her through the thin material until she could take no more and then removed it so she could feel his tongue on her bare skin.
No, he would not demand or even ask anything. He would let her complete the seduction she had so boldly started. She seemed determined to be the one in charge, and that suited him just fine.
“You have a penchant for dominance then, my lady?” he asked, doing his best to stay calm. Not once in his life had he lost his seed before he’d decided to let go, and he would not start now, no matter how aroused he was.
“Up until I met you, I had no idea I did.” Her voice was dreamy. “But I will admit that I do like to see you at my mercy like this.”
He growled. He liked it also. “I will admit there are worse places to be.”
“You have a pendant for submission then?”
“Until today, I was unaware of it. But apparently,” he said, glancing at his cock, which had never been so hard, “I do.”
“Good. But you’ll have to guide me, tied up as you are.” An idle finger started its sinuous path along his chest, skimming his collarbone, circling his left nipple, dipping into his navel, getting dangerously close to the part of him that was standing up so proudly. “I’ve never done this before.”
Something like alarm sliced through the haze of desire Alexander was drowning in. What did she mean by “never”? Or rather, which part of this had she never done before?
“Do you mean you’ve never tied a man to his bed to have your way with him?” Please let it be nothing more damning than that.
Gwenllian stilled and met his gaze. “No, I mean…everything. I’ve never been with a man. In any way. Except kissing.”
Everything within Alexander lurched. She was untouched.
He’d assumed as much, of course, when they had met.
She was a lady after all, and still young.
But after a few days, he had started to wonder.
She had told him she was looking for an adventure, and he’d had the distinct impression that this adventure would center around finding a man to bed.
He’d also remembered Christopher telling him about his first time with Sian, the shameless seduction the Welsh woman had played on him to make him take her maidenhead.
It seemed that fearlessness ran in the Hunter family.
The sisters were not afraid to take what—or who—they wanted, and he was to be the next victim.
Except that he didn’t want to be. He would be stronger than this.
He’d been happy enough to go along with this seduction when he’d thought she was no longer a maid, but now he knew different.
And he would do the right thing, or he would not be able to live with himself.
Alexander started to pull at the ties. Even though he had wanted her, and still did, he could not do what she was asking.
He could not let her use his body for her pleasure, at least not the part that would irredeemably ruin her.
She could have his hand, his mouth, his tongue, anything—just not his cock.
Another yank almost dislocated his shoulder.
Gwenllian stopped him with a hand on his chest and a smile. “Don’t. You’ll only hurt yourself. That is not the plan.”
“Better hurt myself than hurt you,” he said through gritted teeth. “I can’t do this.” That had not been the plan either.
A chuckle. “It seems to me that you can.” She closed her hand around his cock and gave a slow stroke.
The cursed appendage was showing no sign of flagging, little wonder considering what she was doing.
It was responding to her caresses, not listening to him, damn it. She sighed. “You’re so beautiful.”
“No, Gwenllian, listen to me.” Alexander was getting desperate.
Lost to her desire and fooled by his body’s reaction to the proximity of the woman he wanted, she was mistaking his hardness for agreement.
It was only natural, if she was a virgin untrained in the ways of the body.
But she would listen to what he was saying.
She would not ignore his wishes, he knew that.
“I don’t want this. My body is responding because I’m a man and you’re a very desirable woman, because I’m naked and you’re sitting atop me with your hand on my cock.
Of course I will be hard. But I don’t want this, not really.
Because I am tied up, I can do nothing to stop you from taking me, but it would be wrong, and you know it. ”
In the blink of an eye, her demeanor changed. Her face fell, her shoulders sagged and her eyes rounded in horror. She let go of his cock as quickly as if it had suddenly caught fire and scuttled backward.
“I-I’m sorry. You’re right. This is wrong. I never meant to force you to— I just thought… I thought that you wanted me.”
This was excruciating. He could see that he had hurt her feelings.
Only a moment ago she’d thought she was teasing a willing partner, playing the most tantalizing game with him, and now she was being told that she’d misread the situation and imagined the attraction he felt for her.
She had not imagined it, he did feel the most fervent desire for her. But he could not act on it.
“I did want you. I do. But I cannot… Damnation, Gwenllian, you’re a virgin. Surely you must see that it changes everything.”
A sob escaped her lips. “Yes, I do now. Forgive me. I never meant to force you. I’m sorry. I got lost in my need for you. Please, forgive me.”
And with those words, she fled, leaving him frustrated, ashamed of the pain he had caused her—and still tied up.
Fuck.
Alexander had never thought he would ever find himself in such a predicament.
Naked, alone, tied up to a bed and unable to get out of the bonds holding him captive.
What could he do? Would anyone hear him if he cried out for help?
He knew only two people here, Bethan and Cameron.
Even then, saying that he knew them was a bit of an exaggeration.
Did he want them to see him tied up this way?
No, as they would immediately guess who had placed him in that position and why.
So, should he just wait for the morning, in the hope that Gwenllian came back when she did not see him anywhere?
Yes. That was the only thing to do. In the meantime, he would try to loosen the knots.
Perhaps he could slip a wrist through one of the loops and free himself?
It didn’t take him long to see that all he was doing was tightening the knots further.
This was hopeless, and he would only hurt and exhaust himself if he persisted.
So he just stopped and closed his eyes, resigned to his fate.
Suddenly, he was reminded of that night in the barbican when he’d had no other choice but to wait for someone to come open the door for him in the morning. Just like then, he was trapped. Unlike then, he hadn’t done anything to deserve that fate.
A moment later, the door creaked open.
Gwenllian.
Her eyes were red and her face puffy. It was obvious she’d been crying. His gut twisted because he knew that it was his fault. She’d been crying because of his rejection.
“I came to untie you.”
Avoiding his gaze, she covered his groin with the discarded sheet.
Then she sat on the bed and started to loosen the knot at his right wrist. But his struggles had made the rope so tight she was unable to slacken it in any way.
A cry of frustration escaped her lips, and she screwed her eyes shut, as if to prevent another onslaught of tears.
“Use my sword, over there, by the window,” Alexander told her gently, nodding to his scabbard.
“Your sword!” She stared at him in horror. “I can’t. I will cut you.”