Page 48 of A Knight for Gwenllian

Yes. Yes, she did, damn him.

And she would make sure to get it.

By the time the sweetmeats were brought to the table, she was ready to implode. Fortunately, the music started, and the guests stood and began to mingle. This was her chance. She could not bear being ignored any longer. One way or the other, Alexander would have to deal with her.

Unable to wait another moment, she went straight to him. The moment was ideal, as he was standing on his own in a corner of the room, Christopher having just left him to go run after his daughter Lizzie, who had decided that now was a good time to go out into the bailey.

“Sir Alexander.” She swept a small, appropriate curtsy. Had they been alone, she would have delighted in sweeping him a curtsy as ludicrous as the one Lady Isabeau had, all those months ago, knowing he would understand the allusion. But they were surrounded by people, even if in all probability no one could hear them, acting thus would draw unwanted attention, which was the last thing she needed.

“Lady Gwenllian,” he answered in his blandest voice. “It is a pleasure to see you.”

Was he trying to provoke her with the use of the word pleasure? She smiled sweetly to hide the fact that her core had started to swell. “The pleasure is all mine. Or at least it would be if you did not do your best to ignore me,” she added, lowering her voice to a whisper.

He coughed at her directness. “What else am I supposed to do?” he said between his teeth when he had recovered from the fit of coughing. “Your whole family is here. Your uncle. Bloody hell, can’t you see that I can’t just go and⁠—?”

“You don’t have to tell them that you’ve more than once stuck your head between my legs and licked me until I cried out your name, you know. You could just say we met in town one day.” She leaned in even closer. “No need to mention that I’ve licked every inch of you either. Or how much you liked it.”

Alexander was stunned. What was his little Buttercup doing? Was she trying to unsettle him? Make him go hard, here in the middle of the great hall for all to see? Was alluding to their scandalous nights together her way to make him pay for ignoring her during the banquet? To his dismay, it worked. His groin stirred at the memory of all they had done together, of his mouth on her, and her lips on him. And when she leaned in closer, and her familiar, maddening scent reached him, his cock went fully erect.

This was the moment Siân and Christopher chose to walk over to them.

“Do you need an introduction, or do you know one another?” his friend’s wife asked her sister, tilting her head. Has she detected a familiarity between them? It was not impossible. He could well believe that their connection was obvious to anyone who cared to look. The very air between them seemed to crackle.

“We do know one another,” Gwenllian answered before Alexander could think of a suitable answer.

His heart started to beat unbearably hard. What would she say? That, of course, they knew one another, since he had stuck his head between her thighs time and time again? That she had licked every inch of him, including the ones currently straining against his hose? He wasn’t quite certain she would not. What would he do then? He had no idea.

Except that, if she did, he might well find himself with Christopher’s sword pressing against his throat.

“It is hardly surprising, since we are neighbors,” Gwenllian finished, allowing her to breathe.

Siân didn’t appear convinced by this explanation. “No, I suppose not, but I didn’t realize you⁠—”

A piercing scream interrupted her. She rolled her eyes and looked over to where two of her daughters were chasing a puppy. Everyone was looking on with amused smiles.

“I suppose I had better go rescue Sir Stephen’s dog from Ellie and Lizzie. Will you come with me, Gwenllian? I fear that two of us will be necessary since a puppy is involved.”

The women left, and Alexander found himself alone with Christopher, who had not said a word during the whole exchange. But his unusual eyes were alive with questions. The blue one was glittering, while the brown one seemed to burn a path to his soul. Damnation. His friend had guessed not all was as it seemed between him and the little Welsh firebrand.

Fortunately, at that moment, Matthew Hunter, Gwenllian’s uncle, called him, and he had no choice but to go. Alexander took the opportunity to slip outside into the dark night. He needed a moment alone to get his thoughts in order and his body under control once more.

What he had feared had happened. He had seen Gwenllian, and it had not taken him long to understand that his resolve to forget about her was in vain. She still made his heart beat faster and his blood sing.

He breathed in the night air but it was not long before someone came to stand next to him.

Christopher, as could have been predicted.

Alexander braced himself for the interrogation he felt sure was coming. At least they were in the dark, which would help conceal his thoughts—and the bulge in his hose, which had still not fully subsided.

“So, you do know Gwenllian, then?” It was not a question but an affirmation.

Yes. I know every inch of her delectable body, and she knows mine like no other woman does, having licked and sucked me until I lost all control.

“I do.”

“How did you meet?”

Because his mind was in turmoil, he didn’t even think of lying. “I rescued her from two ruffians attacking her last summer.”