Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 91416 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91416 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
Dru kept her voice low but firm. “There is no way—”
Knox whispered as well, his voice just as firm, “Aye, there isn’t. You are too small for the likes of me and consummation would seal our marriage, something neither of us wants.”
Again, why it should bother her that he did not find her appealing made no sense. It should be a relief to her and yet it troubled her. She pushed the ridiculous thought from her head.
“Speak up, saying you don’t want to do this,” he whispered.
Dru had no trouble calling out and adding her own thought on the matter, “I want no part of this. You are too big. We will never fit.”
Knox seemed to give that thought, his eyes quickly assessing her, then he raised his voice. “I’ll see that we do.”
The way his dark brown eyes washed intimately over her and the confidence with which he spoke, as if he had not an ounce of doubt, set off a flurry of strange sensations running through her.
“Evidence is needed,” he whispered as if she would understand.
She scrunched her face trying to comprehend what he was saying, then realized what he meant. The reason she was so good at finding out information was because she observed everything and everyone. She had seen couples, thinking they hid themselves well, while mating and men, thinking themselves unseen as they spied on women while they pleasured themselves. Add to that what her own mum had gone through, and she had no interest in coupling with any man, not ever.
She was aware enough to offer. “You’ll need some blood to mix with your seed.” She reached for the dagger at his waist.
He grabbed her hand. “I’ll see to that as well. Get on the bed and make yourself ready.”
She did as he said, relief easing the tension that had gripped her body as she hurried on the bed to spread her legs and yank up her robe just enough so as not to expose herself.
“Moan shortly after you hear me moan,” he whispered, and Dru nodded.
Knox turned away from her, slipping his hand beneath his plaid.
That Knox would do this to avoid being locked into marriage with her pleased and annoyed her, to her frustration. She should be grateful he didn’t find her appealing and that he was willing to protect them from a forced marriage. So why then was she so annoyed?
His moan started low, and she waited until it grew a bit before she joined in. It intensified and she found her moans growing on their own along with an odd feeling deep and low inside her. She recalled women, women who didn’t care who they took between their legs, talking about the delights of coupling and how they would scream out as their pleasure grew until they couldn’t contain it any longer. Dru jumped, hearing a roar from Knox and she instinctively joined in, a strange feeling suddenly tickling at her.
“Spread your legs,” Knox ordered, suddenly beside her and pushing at her garment.
Dru pulled her garment up a bit more, but still at a decent height and intended to take his seed in her hand when he mumbled, “The blood.”
She quickly grabbed his dagger from his waist, and he held his free hand out for her to slice it, but she sliced her own and held it out to him. He quickly let her blood mix with his seed, then hurried his hand beneath her garment.
It was a quick swipe of his hand against her private parts, and it caused her to shudder. No one had ever touched her there. She barely touched herself there, her mum warning her against it.
Knox hurried his dagger into its sheath and ordered, “Lie back.”
He settled himself over her and between her legs just in time.
The door sprang open and Cleric Freen rushed into the room, Mother Abbess hurrying in behind him.
“Hide your bloody hand,” Knox whispered.
Dru buried her hand in her garment, intending to feign an accident later to explain the wound and the blood on her garment in case anyone should notice.
“Move off her,” Cleric Freen demanded. “Let Mother Abbess see.”
As soon as Knox did, Mother Abbess stepped forward her cheeks plumped red as she lowered her head to peer beneath Dru’s garment. She stood straight, her cheeks now flaming. “It is done. Their vows are properly sealed.”
“Good and I hope it proves a fruitful union,” Cleric Freen said satisfied. “Now I must be off and remember, Dru, your husband’s word is law.”
The cleric took off without any acknowledgment to Mother Abbess and she didn’t seem to expect one since she focused on Knox.
“Food and drink wait in the refectory, please enjoy it while I have warm water brought to your wife so she may wash before joining you.”
Dru couldn’t let that happen. It could cause suspicion and questions. A slight lift of Knox’s brow warned her that he thought the same.