Twelve Kisses Read Free

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    “ Indeed.” He released her hands, marking how she did not stir.
“And bring you to bed after, I think.”
    A second sigh escaped her slightly parted lips. She was soft
in his arms, and when he murmured, “Put your arms around my neck,
sweeting,” she did so at once.
    Here was a surprise! He cradled her close, lightly kissing her
neck, hearing the seductive hiss of her skirts as he continued to
fondle her backside. She had her eyes closed, lost in what he
assumed were new sensations. It was tempting indeed to do more, to
lift up her skirts completely and caress and tickle and pat. She
would go very easily over his knee, and he could lay her down after
on her new furs.
    Gently, he warned himself with the
hard-won patience of the forge, while his blood thudded hard in his
ears . This is a novelty to her, as it is to
you. Even if she writhes in delight and clamors to be spanked, be
careful, or she may loathe you after . Yet
he would take a kiss.
    “ You have the right.” Her prim response made him realize, he
had spoken his wish aloud. “You may take, sir. You may take, though
I will not give.” She clung to him like a honeysuckle on a tree,
pliant as molten copper, and yet, contrary as only a wench could
be, she still fought.
    “ We shall see about that.” He kissed her now, not to silence or
punish, but because he could no longer resist her.
    She tasted of mints and smelled as fresh as a newly-washed
babe. Conscious for an instant of his own leather-sweat-horses
stink, David almost drew back, wondering if he should speed outside
and dunk himself in the water barrel. Then lusty good sense surged
back—this was his wife, and he would have her.
    They had kissed before, he and Alis, but never like this. The
light, tender embraces of his youth were as insubstantial as
dandelion fluff, these searching, deep kisses were something else,
far more.
    “ Mother of Christ, you make my head spin,” he growled, when he
could bear to tear his mouth away from hers. “Strip and into bed
with you.”
    He had meant to be slower, to part her gown carefully, to
divest her like a queen. But the want within him was as white-hot
as a blazing forge, and whatever came next, he must have
her.
    Years of war have kept us apart but no longer. Tonight you are
mine.
    He released her with another light smack on her rump to
encourage compliance and stalked to the doorway. “Be ready when I
return,” he ordered, hating the stark commands issuing from his
rigid jaw but unable to stop himself—he had to have her. “Do not
dally.”
    Avoiding her stricken face, he flung himself out into the
winter night.
     
     
     

Chapter
Two
     
    Naked under the soft warm sheets, Alis shivered, though not
from cold. In truth, she did not understand this adult David—at
times harsh, at times tender.
    He had smacked her; then stroked the stinging spot until her
very loins felt to be melting with a new, disturbing sweetness.
Never before had she been so aware of the moist space between her
legs. Her breasts, too, had tingled, as if he’d caressed them, and
her mouth...
    Alis traced the outline of her lips with a finger, wishing yet
not wishing that David would hurry back and kiss her
again.
    But I cannot be this way, yielding and slavish, or he will
think all Yorkists the same. Twelve kisses, he has promised me.
Twelve kisses for Christmas. Find a way for him to make good on
that vow.
    Alis pulled the bedcovers up over her ears, planning in her
mind. She counted off on her fingers. Do I
trust him still? Yes. Is he honorable? Yes. Does he treat his
servants well? Yes. Is he kind?
    “ Yes,” Alis said aloud, surprising herself.
His smack had been a warning, more a shock than a hurt. She had
endured far worse, for less, from her parents. And he had wanted
her to be safe, for in these dangerous times to speak too freely of
the new king was treason. David wants me to
be safe .
    She glanced at the table, where she had carefully laid her
clothes—her dark