Ariana's Pride

Excerpt:
Even in the feeble moonlight he could see her face was flushed and her breathing shallow. He reached out and touched her face, feeling her skin flaming to his touch. How long she had been there he did not know, but he did know he could not let her lie out here. Though it was spring, the nights were yet cool and she needed shelter.

He was well acquainted with this area of the woods and felt sure they were near an abandoned hut he had found during a hunt the previous year. Carefully he tried to pick up Ariana, but in her delirium, she fought him. With more strength than he would have given her credit for, she caught him with a roundhouse punch just under his eye and he landed with a thump on his backside.

Jeremy waited until she settled and spoke to her soothingly, just as he would have to calm a skittish horse. Slowly he reached out and softly stroked her arm, still whispering soft nonsense to her. Inch by careful inch, he slipped his other hand under her shoulders until he could lift her. Holding her close, he set out to find the hut.

He tried to concentrate on finding his way to the shelter, but his thoughts kept straying to Ariana, now curled so trustingly against his chest. He walked carefully, trying not to jar her. He held her closer, telling himself it was for her safety. But the heat from her fever seemed to be spreading from where he held her against his muscular chest down his stomach to the stirring of his manhood. His thoughts were rapidly slipping away from Ariana's care to the feel of her softly rounded breast where it rested against his hand. He moved his hand slightly, caressing the side of her breast, wishing he could feel more.

He had always taken women as he wanted them and he wanted nothing more at this moment than to bury himself in her fiery body, seeking comfort in the womanly depths of her to drown out the fearful events of the past few days. But even he could not take advantage of an unconscious woman; not even one against whom he had sworn vengeance.

As he looked around he began to recognize some of the landmarks. He knew he had to be more cautious in his approach to the hut, in case someone had gotten there ahead of him.
Reluctantly, Jeremy laid Ariana down in the shelter of a tree, away from the wind that had suddenly sprung up. He unwrapped his sword from the blanket in which it had been concealed and loosed the blade from its sheath. Step by carefully step, Jeremy crept stealthily toward the hut, moving in and out of the shadows. There was no sign of life, but still, he approached cautiously. Reaching out, he leapt through the open door, sword drawn. In the moonlight shining through the unglazed window he could see the hut was empty and had probably been so for months.

Quickly he returned to where had left Ariana and carefully lifted her once more against his chest. Such a slender little thing she was, light as a feather in his arms. As he wrapped her in his arms, he realized her slimness was deceptive. She was fuller of hip and breast than he would have imagined, her womanly curves all but hidden by the billowing tunics she chose to wear when riding.

Gently, Jeremy laid her on the heap of straw he had found in the corner, loath to release his hold on her. He found a wooden bucket by the door which he filled at the nearby dew pond and gathered a few sticks of wood to start a small fire. It was dangerous, he knew, but he would have to risk the fire to keep Ariana warm. Striking a flint, he started the fire in the small hearth, hoping the chimney was not blocked. As the wood caught, the smoke rose straight and true through the chimney, relieving his mind of one worry, at least.

Ariana's undergarments were still wet under her riding clothes and her shivering attested to the fact that she was cold. Well, he'd undressed many a young maiden, and this one's rank made no difference to him. He tried to keep his mind detached from the rosy flesh slowly revealed in the flickering firelight as he struggled with the wet laces of her clothing.

Each accidental brush of his hand across her feverish body brought a moan from Ariana's lips, first of protest, then of reluctant pleasure. With the stripping of each piece of clothing, she shifted on the mattress, bringing his hands in contact with her body. As he eased her pantalets down her hips, beads of sweat broke out on his forehead. He sat back to wipe the sweat from his brow, allowing his gaze to rake across the whiteness of Ariana's breasts, rosy pink nipples puckering in the cool night air down to the deep cup of her navel.

He let his hands rest lightly on her ribs and watched, fascinated, as she sighed and stretched when he moved his hands softly to the indentation of her waist, spreading his thumbs to brush across her stomach, till he reached the top of the undergarment resting on her hips. Jeremy leaned forward and blew softly on Ariana's navel and she shivered at the unfamiliar sensation. One more inch and he could brush his lips across that soft spot, nibbling and licking around the edges, as he eased down the pantalets, barely brushing the soft down between Ariana's burning thighs. She was moaning in earnest, now, as he continued to kiss the softness of her belly.
The ache of his own hardness was almost unbearable. His need nearly all consuming to taste the full passion he had roused in this innocent young girl, laid out so helplessly before him.