Page 71 of Raven's Rise
“So?” he asked. “Was this what you wanted?”
“For now,” she said with a smile.
“Oh, God.” He looked astonished, then hungry, and then his old smile returned. “I think I’ve met my match.”
She reached up to kiss him.
“Release me, darling,” he said in a low voice. He reached to run one hand along her right leg, still locked around his body, keeping him tight against her.
She untwined her legs from him, and sighed as he withdrew from her. She held her hand out, a wordless entreaty for him to lay beside her. He did, stretching out on his back, closing his eyes. He kept her hand in his for a moment, then let it go.
She watched him for a moment, shamelessly appreciating his body. He was gorgeous, and she didn’t want to forget a single detail. If only her visions could be of him.
Angelet giggled inwardly. She would have made a disappointing nun.
She flipped onto her stomach, looking across the floor. The dagger lay within her reach. Idly, she picked it up once more and slid it out of the sheath. She tilted it toward the candlelight, bemused at the play of fire along the blade.
“Are you having any vengeful impulses I should know about?” Rafe asked from where he lay on the bed, watching her. He hadn’t fallen asleep as she thought.
She looked back over her shoulder, smiling. “You’re safe from me.”
“Thank God.”
“But I thank you for teaching me.” She brandished the dagger, a little too showily, but she was feeling exuberant. “Now I feel as though I’m not quite so helpless on my own.”
“Like you were before we met?” he asked, his eyes narrowing.
“Well, yes. I suppose.”
“Was it only Ernald? Or were there others?”
She looked away, re-sheathing the dagger. “Very few men around Dryton would have dared assault me, even if they’d found opportunity. I am of noble blood.”
“So it was only Ernald you had to fear.”
“Why does it matter? Will you challenge him to combat?”
“Say the word and I will. Iamgood at it.”
“But you have no grounds. He never actually carried out the threat, not once.”
“Making the threat is enough!” Rafe said. “I should just challenge him anyway. I’ll doubtless be avenging some woman, if not you specifically.”
“You’re God’s instrument of justice?”
“Entirely possible,” he said. “I meet an inordinate number of people who are in need of divine retribution.”
“You move in circles filled with the worst sort of people then.”
“I’m a fighter by trade. So yes. On the other hand,” he added, “I’ve met good people too. Like you.”
“You say that while lying in a bed after we have sinned together.”
“We are offering ourselves freely. Not all marriages have that,” he added darkly. “I refuse to accept that sharing a night with you is a sin.” He kissed her again, slowly.
Desire reawakened in her, and she kissed him back, savoring him in a decidedly sinful way. “We’re sharing more than one night,” she pointed out, between kisses.
“Mmm. Well, I’m not the person to ask when it comes to questions of proper moral behavior. If you want to know about immorality, though, I’m your man.”
