Christina Phillips - [Forbidden 01] Read Free Page B

rosy nipple until she screamed for release.
    He flicked the tip of his tongue into the hollow of her ear, felt her shudder in his embrace, and slid his hand between their tightly meshed bodies. Her arousal shimmered all around, tantalizing and frustrating, edging his lust to unbearable heights.
    He needed to touch her feminine folds, her swollen clitoris, the wet heat of her slit. As his finger grazed over her through the cursed barrier of her gown, he rasped in Latin, “You deserve more than a quick fuck in the forest, my lady. I promise once we’re back at the settlement I’ll see to your every comfort.”
    She tensed, as if his touch had shocked. Surely he hadn’t hurt her? He stilled his finger, although every impulse urged him to explore further, to seek her hidden treasures. “Don’t fear me, lady.” His voice was husky, but he couldn’t help that. She knew he wanted her. “I won’t allow any other to touch you but me.”
    The very thought of another man touching her boiled his brain. She was his. She would always be his. If a husband came searching for her, the choice was plain. Surrender his wife to Maximus or die.
    Her hand flattened against his chest and this time there was no pretense in the way she pushed him. “Please.” Her voice was low, yet he clearly detected the panic clinging to that one word.
    He dragged his hand from the apex of her thighs, although the action went against every screaming nerve in his body. Frustrated desire shredded his mind, wiped every word of her language into oblivion.
    “Come with me.” If only she understood him. “You know that sooner or later we’ll find your kinsfolk. With me, you’ll be safe.” They had obviously fled to the hills to escape the invasion, but that act of cowardice had gained them, at most, only a few months of extended freedom.
    And this girl was no coward. She didn’t deserve to be hunted down like a rabid dog and either slaughtered in the rage of battle or taken as a spoil of war.
    But she couldn’t understand him and his words didn’t sooth. Instead she pulled from his arms and her braid slithered around his hand before escaping.
    She stood before him. It would take no physical effort to simply sweep her into his arms, toss her over his horse and take her back to the settlement. Once there, he could imprison her as an insurgent. Could have her whenever the urge gripped him.
    The image churned his stomach, made bile rise in his throat. He wanted this golden wood nymph, but not at any cost. What pleasure would he derive from her total subjugation?

Chapter Two

    The fear that had previously been absent now clouded her fantastical eyes. Incomprehension tore through him, melding with fiery frustration and creating a maelstrom of fury against a foe unknown. Why did she fear him now ? What had he done to make her so afraid?
    He fisted his hands but still she didn’t move. Why didn’t she run from him, if that was what she wanted? He wouldn’t follow. Wouldn’t take her captive. While he’d have no compunction in slaughtering anyone who attempted to take her from him, she had to go with him willingly.
    “You shouldn’t wander the countryside unattended.” His throat was raw. His voice didn’t sound like his own. He searched for the right words to tell her to be careful, to remain safe. To avoid the scouting parties systematically searching the hills for renegades.
    But her Celtic eluded him. “Stay with your menfolk,” he said instead. Perhaps they would be able to protect her. But no man could protect her as he could.
    Maybe he should take her with him despite her reluctance. She would come around to his way of thinking eventually, when she saw the futility of resisting the might that was Rome.
    He searched her face, unwittingly memorizing the proud angle of her jaw, her high cheekbones and her strange, captivating eyes. If he was Rome, she was Cambria, and if he took her against her will, everything that she was would