From What I've Tasted of Desire Pt. 02

Finished, he lets her stays drop, sighing at the sight of her in just her chemise and leggings. Lifting her chemise, she begins to untie the leggings beneath, eyes locked with his in the mirror as she does it.

"What happened," she asks, leggings falling before turning to face him. "What happened between you two?"

He motions for her to sit on the bed as he kneels in front of her, setting her foot on his leg before sliding a palm up her calf.

"There'd been problems with a central territory -Kandy - for decades." He began untying the silk garter, and she felt it as his hands trembled, pulling down her hose. "They'd successfully kept British rule at bay - Dutch before that."

"It was a heavily forested, wet, mountainous terrain they knew and we didn't. But we wanted it, badly."

He began to start on her other leg. "Their King, or whatever the hell he was, was quite mad. A nasty piece of work. Torture had become the norm in his kingdom."

"We'd gotten word that he'd taken a group of British traders prisoner, and as lieutenant, Marriott ordered me to take my platoon and save these men. So I did."

Her legs now bare, Robert seems to take the time to enjoy the feel of her skin, hands running up her calves. When he gets behind her knees he pulls her legs apart, just wide enough for him to get between.

She's barely breathing now, not wanting to break the fragile atmosphere that seems to have settled around them. Her stomach feels tight, nipples sensitive with every brush of the thin fabric she wears.

"What happened next," she asks breathlessly. Because she wants to know. She wants to know what happened to him, what happened between him Marriott. But she's also hoping talk of reality and the world outside this room will keep her from losing all sense.

He lays his forehead against hers, wrapping her legs around his middle. "Robert," she whines softly, because everything seems to be happening too fast and too slow at the same time.

Dragging his forehead against her temple, he releases another heavy breath, as if he's preparing himself. "I entered Kandy, set on doing my duty and rescuing these men. But before I could we were set upon by our enemy."

She leans back quick to look at him, suddenly worried.

"They caught us. Dragged us into a village and began their torture."

"You were tortured," she asks, horrified at the images playing in her head.

"No. My men were tortured. In front of me, as I was tied to a post and forced to watch." He smiles as he stares over her shoulder, a cruel, sardonic smirk. "I was left relatively unharmed after all my men had been murdered. And then I was sent on my way into the wilderness, where I proceeded to become lost."

"But why? Why would they let you go."

Robert shrugged in a disturbing, carefree way. "Presumably to tell my superiors of the horrors I'd witnessed, to scare them into staying out. But it didn't matter, since we never returned my commanders assumed the worst." He clicks his tongue, looking at her, open for him and wearing nothing but a thin shift, but even so, he wasn't really seeing her.

"It was just what they wanted. What they planned for."

She shakes her head, not wanting to know.

"They needed an excuse to attack with full force, and the news of twenty of her majesty's bravest men being killed, on nothing more than a rescue mission, was a very good excuse."

She could do nothing but watch him with shock, not knowing what to say. Blinking away tears, she lifts her hands, bracketing his face. "And you?"

"I was presumed dead with my men. But found later, wishing I was."

She leans in, kissing him chastely, trying not to think too hard about how relieved she is that he's here with her now. She shivers at the feel of his hand steadily making its way up her thigh, lifting the hem of her chemise with it.

"Robert-"

"Now, now, pet," he breathes into her mouth, biting her bottom as he uses his body to push her back onto the bed. "I've told you my sad story as promised."

"Will you be good for me tonight?"

She squeezes her legs harder around him. "Yes, sir."