Black spots danced over her vision as she gazed at her father in horror. His fingers gripped her cheeks painfully as his large frame pinned her against the cold stone wall. Something sharp pressed against her throat.
"You tried to kill me." A chilling smile curled Alain d'Alsace's thin lips. Bella's legs almost gave way beneath her. Her lips parted to call to Leonn, but no sound came.
His head dipped, his breath warm on her face as his lips pressed against hers. She tried to turn her head, a small moan escaping her, but punishing fingers held her still. She squeezed her eyes shut as his mouth moved warmly over hers, nibbling and teasing, his tongue seeking entry. Her hands pushed at his chest as his fingers pinched her nostrils close, and her lips finally parted as she sought to draw air into her burning lungs. She felt bile rise.
His tongue plunged into her mouth. She couldn't breath, couldn't think. Dizziness washed over her as he explored her mouth greedily, his firm lips moving forcefully over hers, his breathing heavy as his solid frame pressed against her softness.
Bella shuddered when she felt the sharp point at her neck drawn down over her chest, over the uneven rise and fall of her breasts barely constrained by the thin silk chemise. A gasp was smothered by his mouth as the dagger sliced through the strap of her chemise. She felt the material slip down over the crest of her breast.
Her fingers clenched around his wrist as she felt the sharp tip press against her taut nipple. A tear slid down her cheek as the stinging sensation grew worse, a mere promise of what was to come. Her teeth clenched and she tasted blood. Her father jerked back angrily, his hand going to his mouth.
"You bit me!" he bit out angrily as his fist connected with her temple, sending everything black.
~*~
Leonn stirred, drawn from the edges of sleep by the creak of the chamber door. He wondered who dared enter his chamber at this early hour. It was of little concern if a servant accidentally happened upon him naked in his own chamber. His own manservant was long used to laying out his clothes and arranging hot water for his baths. But it was Bella who had changed the routine of his household. In the week his servants had come to know her, they had begun to dote on her, basking in her sweetness and gentleness. Now it seemed there was a silent agreement among his servants that none would breach the privacy of his inner sanctum for fear of causing his shy Bella embarrassment.
Leonn's hand slid over the rumpled bed linen, seeking to draw Bella into his arms and cover her sweet curves from view. He frowned when his fingers discovered only cool emptiness, then his lips curled in amusement. His little coward had fled back to her own chamber rather than face his tender punishment for what she had done.
He hardened instantly at the memory of her sliding down upon his length, of her nails digging in to his chest. The exquisite frustration of being bound to the bed as she rode him, of being forced to watch the exquisiteness of her taking him inside of her. Of her soft moans as she bucked upon him, her taut little nipples pressing against the silky chemise, begging to be suckled.
Leonn groaned into his pillow. She had bewitched him from the start with those innocent eyes and delightful curves, yet he hadn't allowed those feelings to veer him from his course of revenge. He had stolen her virginity and forced her to accede to his every desire as he held her captive. All for the sole misfortune on Bella's part for being the daughter of the man that had killed Leonn's father.
Even now Leonn could not completely regret his actions, only the circumstances. Her innocent sensuality had taken his breath away as he sought to enslave her with the bonds of lust. To make her crave the feel of him pressing between her thighs. Only to find himself enslaved...
Out of the corner of his eye a shadow stirred, and the breath stilled in his chest. His narrowed gaze flew to where his sword rested but two arm lengths away on a brocade chair. The muscles in his arms tensed just as a familiar voice reached him.
"Don't move."
He turned his head swiftly, and noted with interest how the sliver of early light gleamed on the menacing blade gripped tightly in her hand. Leonn forced his body to relax.
"Marie," he acknowledged coolly, fighting back the hatred that burned through him as he finally came face to face with Bella's tormentor. He had no intention of obeying her command. He sat up, swinging his long over the side of the bed with a lion's grace, unconcerned by his nakedness.
Marie's arm stiffened, the sword raising up between them even as her eyes lowered to the masculinity nestled between his golden thighs. "Pleasant dreams?" She murmured, moistening her lips.
"To what do I owe this honour?" he queried dryly, not bothering to draw a sheet over his lap as his erection subsided.
"I heard you were looking for me," Marie said, an eyebrow raised as she moved closer to the bed. "So here I am."
"How convenient," he replied calmly, noting the tight black leather breeches and tunic that clung to her long thighs and waist and molded the full swells of her breasts dispassionately. "You saved me the trouble of paying the ten thousand gold pieces I promised for your capture."
Marie smiled coldly as her gaze flickered over him. "You will find that I can be very convenient."
Something swirled low in his stomach as he gazed intently upon Marie's face. "You are - were my father's wife," Leonn bit out. He struggled to keep his anger under tight control. "There could never have been anything convenient between us, Marie. That you took a belt to Bella's back when she was at her most vulnerable..."
Marie's eyes narrowed dangerously. "You are very protective of a woman who does not want you. Yet you continue to amuse yourself with her, despite knowing she would gladly give you over in order to return to the convent after what you have done to her. Only we all know that the convent would never take her back when the evidence of your sins is clear for all to see. You wonder why she refuses to marry you, yet the answer is clear. Bella simply bides her time until she rids herself of your bastard."
"Leave now, Marie, and you do so with your life," he promised her coldly, his glittering amber eyes locked with her dark ones. He stood up, towering over her, his hatred for her clearly visible. He ignored the weapon raised between them.
Her fingers tightened their grip on the handle. "I won't be leaving until I get what I want."
"And what is it that you want, Marie?" he asked with deadly softness.
Marie's eyes flashed, before her lips curled cruelly. "To make you suffer."
"How? By denying me the delights of your well ridden body?" Leonn asked idly. As fury sparked in those eyes his hand shot out, gripping her wrist and twisting sharply. She cried out as the sword clattered to the stone floor, and again as he forced her up against him as he twisted her arm awkwardly behind her.
His fingers stroked the side of her neck as his warm breathe stirred the stray brown curls at her temple.
"I want to hurt you, Marie," he murmured against her ear as his fingers trailed down to hook over the leather tunic where it dipped between her breasts. "I fantasise about my guards holding you down as I take my whip to your back as you did to Bella. Of watching them mount you, forcing their pricks into you eager pussy over and over."
"Leonn," she moaned.
"We both know that you would be hot for them, don't we, Marie?" he murmured as his hand slid down beneath her tunic, finding a hard nipple. "That you would spread your legs eagerly, welcoming the humiliation as you begged to be fucked roughly."
"No..." she muttered.
"No?" Leonn queried, as his finger lazily circled her nipple. She arched against him, pressing her breast into his palm.
"I hate you," she moaned.
"Do you really?" he mused as he toyed carelessly with her nipple, watching her eyes darken with desire. "Then perhaps you will be pleased to know that it is Bella, and not I, that will decide your fate."
Marie stiffened, then laughed softly. "I don't think Bella will be deciding anything in the near future. Not if her father has anything to do with it."
Leonn froze. "Pray, Marie, that it is indeed Bella who decides your fate," he said softly. "Where is she?"
Marie gasped as he wrenched her arm higher behind her back, bringing tears to her eyes. "The church," she muttered, and he thrust her from him as he strode from the chamber.
As he called for his guard, he knew that this time he would ensure that Bella's father could no longer harm her. In the meantime, Marie could enjoy the comforts of his dungeon.
~*~
Bella moaned softly, her hand flying to her throbbing head, only to flinch back as lightening agony shot through her skull. Sweat beaded on her forehead as she lay there, waiting for the pain and dizziness to subside.
She remembered. Leonn asleep. Slipping from his warm bed before the servants awoke. Her father. The dagger. She sat up jerkily, squeezing her eyes shut momentarily against the pain, before slowly opening them again. She must warn Leonn.
Her fingers clutched at her chest, and she gazed down, startled. She wore a gown of blue chiffon, so deep it almost seemed like violet. Long sleeves swirled from her elbows, and a deep bodice clung to the tiny swell of her breasts. Trembling fingers reached up, discovering the crowning garland pinned over her loose, flowing hair. Bella swallowed hard as realisation slowly dawned. He couldn't...
A noise startled her, and her head turned, the sudden movement causing the world to spin before righting itself. Her heart began to thud as she gazed upon the large solid man leaning against the doorway to the sparse chamber, his arms crossed lazily over his chest.
Bella took a deep shuddery breath. "There is not a priest in this land that would condone a father marrying his daughter."
His lips twitched, yet the humour never reached the cold brown eyes moving intently over her. "No?" He strode toward her, and she scrambled back until she felt the cold stone wall against her back.
"No," she whispered. Bella knew this to be the priest's antechamber leading off from the main chamber of the church that was housed in the grounds of Chayboneau. Knowing that Leonn could not be far away gave her some comfort as she returned her father's gaze. Her mind raced as she tried to think of some way to escape, to get to Leonn.
"Then it seems it is fortunate that I am not the intended groom."
It was a moment before comprehension dawned. Oh god, she thought. He would force her to wed a stranger, binding her to a man she did not love. A man who would not protect her from her father's wicked desires. She swallowed hard as he squatted before her.
"Had you done your duty, all this would be unnecessary," he said, catching a silky red strand between his fingers. "Yet your stubbornness has left me with no choice."
