Page 99 of Raven's Rise
“Rafe, you can’t even joke about that.” And yet she was so tempted to say yes.
“I’m not joking. I want you. We have the place all to ourselves. Why shouldn’t we enjoy the privacy?”
“It is not private. Anyone could walk in.”
“They won’t.”
“The priest will return…”
“We have half the night till the next office. And I happen to know that the priest here is a sound sleeper.”
“Rafe—” Angelet’s next protest was cut short when he slid his hands over her breasts. He knew her too well, and knew exactly what she liked.
“Sin with me, love,” he begged.
Angelet’s eyes slid closed. “I want to. But I’m not strong enough. I’m still healing…”
“I’ll be careful,” he promised. “Trust me this time. No orders, no games. Just let me be with you.”
“Yes,” she breathed, still clinging to him. “But Rafe…”
“No one will see anything,” he said. He kissed her again. “Come with me.”
He took her hand and led her to the side of the church, where the design of the apse created the alcove for the lady chapel, not much more than a little room with an altar specifically set up for the veneration of Mary. Behind the stone altar there was a shadowed space, just large enough for two people to lay together.
She was flushed and distracted, but she still realized just how…knowledgeable he was about this hidden place. “You’ve taken other women back here, haven’t you?”
Rafe looked wounded. “Never.”
“Truly?”
“I swear.” He gave her a quick grin. “But I have thought about it. Plenty. They forced me to attend mass, but mass is boring. And I was young and easily distracted by pretty girls in the next row.”
“Now that sounds like truth.”
He cupped her face in his hands. “You’re so beautiful,” he said suddenly.
“So are you.” Her voice was raw. “Rafe…I…” Angelet’s stomach was in knots. Rafe’s touch destroyed her calm, made her think only of him and how much she wanted to be with him.
“Are you still nervous about being found out? No one will bother us here.” Rafe took her in his arms. “Do you mind the dark?”
“No.”
“I do,” he said, his voice low and provocative. “I wish it was full daylight and I could see you.” He found her mouth and kissed her, making her knees weak by the time he had her lower lip in his teeth.
She reached for him, pulling him to her and twining her fingers in his hair. “I dreamed about you,” she confessed. “I woke up sweating, so certain you were with me in bed.”
“Believe me, I had the same dream, love,” Rafe said. “I’d wake up, reach for you and feel nothing there. Tonight will be different.”
He used their cloaks to arrange a makeshift bed, then he pulled off his shirt and bundled itinto a pillow, apologizing for the crudity of the materials.
“I don’t mind,” she told him. “As long as we’re together.”
“You’re the perfect lover, Angelet. Discreet yet daring. And very accommodating.” He started to loosen the lacing at the sides of her over-gown.
She smiled, but his words needled at her, though she knew he meant nothing cruel. She had been a perfect lover for Rafe. Discreet enough to hide their relationship. Daring enough to accept his proposition. And accommodating of his every suggestion. And safe, since she’d never bear him a bastard child, something Rafe feared, living so long as a bastard himself.
But now he had a name. And a legacy. He’d want to build on that legacy, reclaim his family line. That meant marriage…to a woman who could bear his children.
