Free RulingPassion by Katherine Kingston

endeavor to do so
to maintain order. Few lords make such an effort to be fair about it as do
you.”
    He lifted his head to smile at her. The warmth of it and the
need she saw in his expression reached into her and touched her heart. “My
lady, Rosalind, I have tried to allow you time to heal, but I have need of you
tonight. Think you can tolerate my invasion?”
    “My lord, I can do that and more.” She reached for the belt
holding his overtunic in place, releasing it, pulled it off him, and then
tugged loose the laces of his shirt. “Would you give yourself into my care
tonight?”
    One dark-blond eyebrow rose as he considered. A lopsided
smile spread slowly across his face and he nodded.
    “First we must rid you of these encumbrances,” she said,
tugging his shirt over his head. Because he was considerably taller, he bent to
let her slide it off more easily. His grin grew and became more amazed as she
pushed him onto the bed and removed his boots. He obligingly wriggled his hips
to allow her to strip off his breeches. The powerful body thus revealed near
robbed her of breath. She reached to run a hand down his chest, but he grabbed
her wrist, halting the attempt.
    “A condition, Rosalind. You must be in the same state of
dress as I. I’ll build up the fire to keep you warm.”
    He was as good as word, and Rosalind had the pleasure of
watching muscles play under his skin while he lifted hunks of wood and tossed
them on the blaze until it roared up and the warmth poured from it. She
required his help in releasing hooks at the back of her clothes, but eventually
she, too, shed all encumbrances.
    “Now, down again, my lord,” she instructed him.
    “Jeoffrey,” he murmured. “Jeoffrey, when we are alone and
private. What say you, Rosalind?”
    She blushed lightly at the intimacy of using their names
rather than titles in private. “I say you leave me nearly speechless,
Jeoffrey.”
    “Ah, I doubt that.” The words ended in a sigh as she reached
for him and brushed a hand over his chest, letting her fingers rake through the
light furring of blond hair there.
    Heat poured over her body, from the fireplace, but also from
somewhere deep inside. That place responded to the man, admired his body,
wondered at his intelligence, valued his efforts at justice, treasured his
humor and craved the care he showed toward her.
    She sat on the edge of the platform bed and turned to face
him, studying his face and body with unabashed delight. His skin glowed tawny
gold in the firelight, accented by the brighter sheen of blond hair. Hard
shoulder muscles rippled as she brushed careful hands along them, tracing the
fine line of throat and collarbone down to his arm. The hard brown nipples
fascinated her. He drew breath sharply and flinched when she circled them with
her fingers and tweaked, but he made no move to stop her.
    When she ran the tip of a finger along his compressed lips,
he stared at her, and the hard line of his mouth relaxed into a smile. The
smoky gray of his eyes reflected the firelight in wicked glints. She leaned
forward to kiss him, and he put a hand on the back of her head to hold her in
place while she probed gently at his mouth, parting his lips with her tongue
and exploring the mysteries within. Not content, she moved away from his mouth,
trailing kisses down along his bristly cheek to the softer skin of his neck.
The pulse in his throat throbbed invitingly under her probing tongue, while his
earlobe made a soft, tender contrast.
    He dropped his hand to his side when she drew back. She
sucked in a breath and let it out on a long sigh of joy and doubt, staring at
his pleasure-tensed face, then reached over to lay her palm on his flat
stomach. He stilled and waited. It took her a few moments to work up the nerve
to move her hand lower, letting her fingers creep across his belly, smoothing
the lighter tangle of hair there until they reached the jutting length of his
hardened cock.
    He flinched and moaned at the