Page 67 of The Champion

She reached up and placed her hand against his stubbled cheek. “You are more entitled to your noble status than any man I know of,” she said sincerely. “You’re the only knight I know who is decent. Honest.”

He grunted at that. “Perhaps you need to get out more.”

She smiled as he used her words against her. “I get out quite enough to know the truth.”

He dipped his head down and kissed her gently on her lips. The taste of Stryder and wine invaded her head and set it reeling. His kiss was fierce, demanding.

Breathless, Rowena didn’t protest as he laid her back against the floor. Her body burned at the intimate contact of his body pressed against hers while his weight pressed her down, trapping her.

It was the most wondrous thing she’d ever experienced. His lean, hard body lay fully against hers. His chest to her breast, his legs to hers.

A deep-seated fire started inside her, making her hot and aching.

Stryder licked and teased her mouth, wanting to taste more of her. Nay, he needed to have more of her.

Her taste and scent were all he could think of. And the feel of her beneath him was more than a mere mortal man could take.

He had to have her...

Stryder pulled back with a deep groan borne of great pain and effort. “You should leave now, Rowena.”

She frowned up at him with an innocent and open gaze. “Why?”

“Because I want you too badly to be a gentleman and I’ve had far too much to drink. If you don’t leave me now, I’m going to take you, and show you the physical side to those songs you write about.”

Rowena swallowed at his deep, husky voice. At the promise he was giving her and the choice.

She could see the need in his eyes as he watched her closely. See his naked desire for her.

Go.

She didn’t. In truth, she’d always wondered what it would feel like to take a man into her body. Elizabeth and Joanna had long ago lost their virginity. Late at night, after all were abed, they had often told her what men were like.

Rowena had always been too afraid of herself, and her position, to try what they had.

But, for the first time since Joanna had returned from her first tryst all rosy-cheeked and filled with details, Rowena felt her courage swell.

She wanted to know this man. It didn’t make sense. She had spent her lifetime trying to convince men to lay aside their swords, and yet, here she was, about to hand her most prized possession over to a knight.

But, he wasn’t just any knight.

He was Stryder of Blackmoor.

“Will you hurt me?” she asked, remembering how Bridget had cried the night she’d first been with a man. Even though he had been a minstrel, he’d been less than gentle with her friend.

He looked offended by her question. “How could I ever hurt you?”

Taking a deep breath for courage, she cupped his face in her hands and forced herself to speak her heart. “Then I am yours, my lord.”

Stryder couldn’t breathe as her words played havoc with his foggy sense. Surely, she wasn’t really going to let him...

“Do you not understand what I’m telling you?”

“Virgins aren’t stupid, my lord.” She laced her fingers in his hair, sending chills down the length of his whole body. “I’m a woman, full-grown, and I understand completely what it is you’re wanting from me. And I’m willing to give it to you.”

He returned to her lips then and let the full weight of his desire course through him. For so long he’d been numb to the world. Numb to the appeal of a woman’s caresses.

How ironic that now with his senses dulled by wine, he was strangely lucid and fully aware.