Droit De Seigneur by Carolyn Faulkner Page A

moved, she risked another punishment.
    As it was, she couldn’t keep one of her hands from drifting down to try to cover that which he had so completely exposed. He hadn’t told her not to, so she wasn’t technically disobeying. But she knew it wasn’t something he would want her to do.
    Piers was beside himself with desire. It was all he could do not to fall on her and ravish her, hard and quick, and purely for his own pleasure. But he wanted more from her than that, more, he knew, than he could ever have expected from that simpering fool downstairs. Still, he would have chafed at being required to marry anyone.
    To have her at his mercy like this, spread before him like the buffet William had compared her to . . . But then he looked up and saw the fear in her eyes that she was bravely trying to ignore and felt a twinge in his heart. That wasn’t something he was accustomed to, and he did his best to ignore it, although it did prompt him to press the chalice to her lips again and encourage her to drink deeply.
    She nearly drained it all, but he saved the last swallow for himself.
    When it was gone, he returned to the end of the bed and mounted it, crawling towards her like a great beast to settle between those beautiful legs, simply staring down at her in wonder.
    He’d seen his share of quims, but none of them had truly belonged to him. None of them would be producing his children or sharing his life. This woman would be with him until he drew his last breath, and, if he let himself think of it, there wasn’t a better woman for him in the world.
    But right now, he could smell her. She’d not had time to bathe just before the ceremony, as he had, what with all the women cackling about her, most of who only indulged in an annual bath themselves. But she had been bathing when William happened upon them, and now she simply smelled of the essence of herself, mixed with the flowers and lotions the women had used on her.
    She smelled wonderfully enticing, deeply earthy and sensual. He wanted to eat her up, and that was exactly what he intended to do.
    Amber could feel his breath on the essence of her. She wasn’t sure if that was one of the effects of the drink or if it was merely that she felt unbearably exposed. She could feel that she was wet, the way he liked her to be wet, but that way was almost as embarrassing to her as if she had lost control of her bladder. It came as the result of her punishments, and wasn’t something she could control. It made her feel an ache that only he could fulfill, and he’d only done it that once. She wasn’t at all sure she wanted him to do it again, and she wasn’t even sure if that was what he intended to do from his current position.
    She hated not knowing what was happening. It was an unusual position for her. She had always been the one who was in charge at home – well, besides Da, but she ran the house. She was the one people came to about how to do things. She knew everything.
    Here, now, she knew nothing of what was to come. Some form of pain and pleasure, she was sure, but that was about it. Nothing she could say yes or no to. He was in complete control of everything about her, even more so, it seemed, than when she was his servant. Being his wife made her even more chattel than being his servant, and he had legal access to do with as he pleased to her body.
    And she knew that was exactly what he intended. To do what he pleased.
    Her bottom throbbed, even against the softness of the furs beneath her. And he was going to be even stricter on her now that she was his wife?
    It didn’t bear thinking of, and that was good, because he chose that moment to descend upon her, using his broad shoulders to block any attempt she might make to close her legs against him.
    “You are mine even more completely now, wife,” Piers said. “I can, in good conscience, claim that which I hadn’t before, because I own it in exchange for my name and my position. I warn you not to be