Hellion (Seven Brides for Seven Bastards, 7) by Jayne Fresina Page A

seemed heavy with meaning.
Yes, she had taken her time gathering the courage to walk up to him
with her suggestion. She wished she had done so sooner. And she
also wished, suddenly, that she was not sweaty and wearing a
stained gown. For possibly the first time in her adult life she
yearned to be one of those graceful, elegant ladies, she previously
only scorned for having nothing useful to do with their
time.
    Helene approached the bed warily. "We
cannot be caught here together. You take a great risk."
    "And you haven't done the same these
past few nights, Hellion?" He smiled slowly, lazily, his head
resting on his arms and turned to face her. "It was my turn to come
to you."
    But despite his languid smile there
was a sharpness in his gaze, as if he held back some anger. Perhaps
he was still smarting from the two slaps she gave him last
night.
    "What do you want from me in exchange
for the services of your boar?" she asked, as if she didn't already
know.
    Salvador sat up and swung his feet
over the edge of her bed. "While my prize boar services your sow,
I'll service you." That was confirmed then. As if she might still
be in some doubt, he added a terse, "I want to fuck you. As many
times as I can today."
    "Thank you for being
so...clear."
    He smirked. "I didn't want to take a
chance on you misunderstanding. Thinking you might get away with a
little bit of touching again. This time I'm going in. I'm fucking
you. And spilling inside you." His point made, he stood and began
stripping off his chausses. "Bolt your door. We don't want to be
disturbed. I don't want your guards running if I make you
scream."
    Helene briefly thought of leaving,
calling for help to have this handsome sinner removed from her
chamber. That's what she should do if she was a real lady, delicate
and chaste.
    Lucky for him she was neither. Just as
she hid her hair under a plain wimple, she had hidden her true
desires under a pious mask.
    With him, there was no need to
hide.
    So she bolted the door and began to
remove her gown.
     
    * * * *
     
    She complied rather easily, he
thought. Remembering what Princesa had told him about another
husband coming there for Helene, he felt his anger burst anew.
Damnable woman wouldn't tell him that, would she? Now she planned
to get what she could from him, before this other man came. To use
him like a stud horse. Well, then he'd treat her the same
way.
    Get his fill of her while he
could.
    Hopefully he would get this strange
need out of his blood, because he feared it would weaken him,
soften his edges. She was like the sun melting the block of ice in
which he kept his feelings.
    He picked up the walking cane that had
aided him in his disguise and tapped it smartly against the palm of
his hand. "First, I must punish you, Lady de Leon."
    Her eyes widened, flooding with those
warm waves of lavender. Sal breathed in her scent deeply, his
nostrils flaring.
    "Bend over. I will give you a sore
arse to remember me by later."
    "I don't—"
    "Pay attention, wench. Obey me, or
I'll make it worse."
    She looked at him as if she might
flee, but then, slowly she walked to the bed. "Punish me for
what?"
    "Slapping my face. Forbidding me to
touch you." He paused. "Lying to me."
    She quirked an eyebrow.
    "You have lied to me, have you not?"
he demanded, trying to contain his temper and keep his voice low.
Her manor seemed to be napping lightly around them in the drowsy
afternoon heat and he didn't want to disturb their shallow
sleep.
    "No," she said, frowning
quizzically."What would I lie to you about? I have no reason to do
so."
    "No? You've had other men since your
husband died, but you lied to me."
    She folded her arms. "Indeed I have
not. You're looking for some reason to be angry with me, but you
bark up the wrong tree, mutt. I told you the truth. There have been
no other men."
    "Mutt? That is what you think of me,
eh?"
    "It's what you are." She walked up to
him until there was but an inch betwixt them. She tipped her head
back. "A