A Kingdom's Cost, a Historical Novel of Scotland by J. R. Tomlin Page B

her head, but still
pressed against him. He buried his lips in the curve of her neck and breathed
in. She smelled of roses. "James. I need to talk to you."
    Inside he groaned. Talk? "What do you
want to say?"
    Her body shook with laughter. "You,
too. My father used to say women always want to jabber."
    "Do they?" His breath came in
gasps. This business of talking wasn't going to be easy.
    "You have to know. I need you to know
that I've never--done this before. I mean not--" She seemed to choke on
the words and then laughed. "Why is this so difficult? I've been with no
one but my husband, James. I was afraid you'd think I was a harlot." She
cupped his cheek with her palm. "I suppose I just wanted to tell you that
I am coming to love you."
    Her words lit his body like fire. He
plunged his hands into her hair. "I could never think you that. But we
shouldn't--" So near the camp, what if they were seen?
    Her eyes closed, she caressed his lips with
hers, fingers tangled in his hair.
    He ran his hands up her body, and she
dissolved softly against him. "I love you, want you," he heard
himself say, all thoughts of camp forgotten. His mouth plunged down on hers,
his tongue probing her mouth. Shrugging his cloak onto the ground, he stripped
hers from her shoulders. He tugged at her gown whilst he devoured her mouth,
her neck, her shoulders. She came to his aid, unfastening the buttons that ran
down the front of her kirtle and wriggled to let it slide down over her body. He
cupped her breast, filling his hand with the warm flesh.
    "You too," Isabella said, giving
a tug at his sword belt.
    He sucked a breath in through his teeth,
stepping back and unbuckling it to let it drop to the ground and pulled his
hauberk over his head. She stepped out of the puddle of material at her feet. Her
white body glimmered in a stray shaft of moonlight. His eyes drank her in. He
was as hard as the stone of the mountain behind them. Of all of the times that
he'd seen her, he'd never known how beautiful she was. Her legs were slender
but well muscled. In the moonlight, the hair where her thighs met was a mat of curling
blonde.
    "I love your soft skin. I love your
lips and the way you kiss me," he said as he pulled her to him. "I
love your breasts." He knelt and pulled her down with him. "I want
you," he heard himself say and forgot everything else. He caressed her
mound as he lowered her onto the soft padding of leaves, lying between her legs.
She opened her arms to pull him to her as he thrust. Welcoming him, she
whispered endearments against his mouth, his ear, into his shoulder as she
shuddered and grasped him fiercely. When the moment of his pleasure came, he
called out her name.
    Afterward, she buried her head against him
even though he was dripping with sweat. He stroked her hair and wondered if she
felt shy, reaching for one of the cloaks to pull over her.
    "You're beautiful, you know," she
said as he cradled her head on his shoulder.
    He snorted. "The moonlight is playing
tricks with your eyes." James knew perfectly well he wasn't a fair knight
who'd dash off with every lady's heart. Sir Edward might but James didn't want
to mention him. "I'm neither fair--nor beautiful." It didn't matter
when he had his good hands with a sword.
    She brushed a lock of hair back from his
eyes. "Mayhap not fair the way some might think of it. But I love your
black hair, you see, the way it falls across your forehead." Her lips
softened, and her eyes got a hazy look as she stroked his brow. She shook
herself and touched a finger to his mouth. "Your lips are fine and strong.
And I love your hands." She rolled away from him onto her back and took
his hand to twine her slender fingers into his.
    "You have a strange taste in what you
call beauty, my lady, but I won't complain." He pushed back the cloak to
stroke her breast.
    She sniffed. "You're going to question
the taste in beauty of the daughter of Fife? For shame, Sir Knight."
    "Never," he said, lips twitching.
"If you