Free A Lord for Haughmond by K. C. Helms

furrowing her brow, the ticking bunched beneath her head for support.
         Distracted by her enticing and vulnerable appearance, he stumbled to a halt. Occupied by such tender beauty, his train of thought retreated into confusion. She was captivating. He forced aside the titillating thought, remembering he was merely her champion. He must needs maintain his present course. Katherine, with her luminous and trusting eyes, was one entanglement he’d be unlikely to forebear. ’Twas meet he did possess a will of iron.
         He cleared his throat and continued. “I survived the ordeal, madame. I slew the dragon and saved the damsel in distress.”
         “Pray, how is it you survived, where others failed?”
         “Ah, the audience wishes to descry my secrets,” he murmured, pondering her frown of consternation. “If truth be told, I masqueraded as a lowly page. The dragon was unable to sense the danger before my arrows did find their mark in his scaly hide.”
         Katherine’s frown disappeared and she laughed aloud. “That is your tale? Forsooth, ’tis rather brief by any measure, would you not agree?”
         “Mayhap,” he responded, thinking him chastised, yet fascinated by her shifting expressions. At the moment ’twas obvious she was trying to suspend her disbelief. Her eyes, full of suspicion, glittered like moonbeams in the dim light. Absolutely charming! “Know you the consequence of your complaint is that you needs tell a better tale,” he admonished with a good-natured chuckle.
         Katherine’s countenance changed yet again. Her incredulity transformed into alarm. “I know none,” she exclaimed. 
         Regretting that he’d aggrieved her, Rhys responded gently. “Fair lady, ’tis the penalty for fault-finding, do you know.”
         “Faith!” She let loose a groan. ’Twas a long moment before she spoke. “Once—once upon a time there was a princess—”
         “It must needs be a lovely princess, with long flowing dark locks,” he interrupted, flopping onto his side and grinning down at her, supporting his head on the heel of his hand.
         “Yea, if you wish it,” Katherine replied with a slow smile. “—who fell asleep in the forest. While she slept a magnificent unicorn, with a long white mane and a beautiful swirled horn upon its forehead, came and laid its head upon her breast—”
         He could well imagine the scene, with Katherine reclined upon a carpet of green moss and a dreamy look within the depths of her dark, trusting eyes. Clothed in her tresses alone, that flowed over her shoulders and curled about her naked breasts, she offered up a sweet and gentle smile, much like her present expression.
         A tremor shivered through him at the scintillating image.
         “Fortunate animal!” His breathy comment came out with a vengeance.
         She gave him a sharp look and hastily corrected herself, “—lay its head upon her gown.” 
         The picture shattered in his imagination. Disheartened, he conjured up a gown. ’Twas sewn of sheer linen and very scant and very short and displaying her long limbs to advantage. He knew precisely how they should appear. Long and slender, with the smallest curve beneath her knee that tapered to a delicate ankle, so dainty and refined he marveled at their sturdiness.   
         Yea, he knew precisely the shape of her limbs, and their length. ’Twas not an image he’d likely forget, for he’d been driven to distraction the entire day.
         Katherine’s low voice continued and he strove to pay attention. “The lovely princess with the long, flowing, brown locks awakened and spied the unicorn. She threw her arms about its neck. And—and so they lived happily thereafter.”
         Through the silence that followed, Rhys continued to stare at Katherine on her straw pallet, with her hair swirling about her. ’Twas easy, indeed, to imagine she lay naked