Leonn strode through the heavy golden doors intricately carved with angels that sheltered the small chapel within.
He spied Bella where she kneeled silently before the altar, her violet gown pooled around her. Soft light filtered through high glass-stained windows, bathing her in its warmth and turning the scarlet tresses tumbling down her back into a fiery river of red-gold.
Every morning she came here to pray, and every morning he found himself following her, feeling strangely jealous. He knew her connection to God was strong. She had been raised in a convent, and was to become a nun before his men had her kidnapped. Yet he wanted to be her connection to him, for want of a better word, to be stronger.
"Have you reconsidered, little one, and consented to be my bride?" he asked, leaning against a pillar and crossing his arms over his broad chest. He watched her shoulders stiffen, of how she gazed over her shoulder, lashes lowered.
"You know I have not," she replied softly.
He turned and quietly strode from the chapel, leaving her to pray in peace. He would soon wear her down, he knew. She was too sensual a creature to be able to withstand his refusal to make love to her until she gave in to his demand.
~*~
Bella eased over onto her back, her legs tangling in the bed sheets. Her rosy nipples strained against the soft muslin of her chemise as they rose and fell with her agitated breathing.
"No...please," she moaned softly.
"Shh, Bella," Leonn murmured, reaching to brush away a stray tendril feathering across her softly parted lips. He gazed down at her sweet face, softened in sleep, feeling his heart wrench. "It's only a dream. No one can hurt you here."
"Marie..." she cried, her voice full of dread, and he closed his eyes for an instant as he battled the burning anger that tore through him at the thought of Marie tormenting Bella in her dreams.
He caught her small hand in his large palms, smoothing down her fingers where they had clutched fiercely at the muslin of her chemise. She murmured something intelligible as he pressed his lips into the heart of her palm. She shifted in her sleep, her chemise riding up over her thighs, and he could have groaned aloud as moonlight revealed a tantalising glimpse of soft curls between her slightly parted thighs.
His tongue delicately traced the lines of her palm as he gazed down at her, possessiveness coursing through him at the evidence of her slightly swelling belly in the rumpled chemise.
He had frothy chemises made for her that revealed more then they hid, and it had become a source of irritation to him. The first time he had gently removed it from her, and she had been sweetly furious when she woke to find herself wrapped in his arms, his gaze locked on her face. He sensed it had more to do with the bruises on her back, although her sweet shyness would be a close second. Bella still refused to come to his bed, and every night he carried her sleeping form from her chamber and laid her on his bed. It had become a silent war between them since their arrival back at his castle a week ago, one he was determined to win.
But her distressed sleep made him worry. He knew the bruises would eventually fade from her body, yet he feared it would not be so from her mind.
[i]Damn Marie to hell...[/i]
His burning amber eyes moved down over Bella's sprawled body, and the vision of her barely covered by the soft transparent cloth that clung to her creamy skin made the blood pool between his thighs.
His mouth and hands had explored every curve and shadow of her sweet body, making her tremble and quiver and cry out with her need. Her sweet innocence drew him, challenged him, and he knew he would never stop until he removed every last vestige of modesty from his innocent lover. Eventually she will come to realise her place was in his bed and in his arms, with no barriers between them.
The tip of his tongue lightly traced the finger that he was determined would soon bear his signet ring, his gaze transfixed by the curve her lips as she mumbled something in her sleep.
She continued to refuse him, declaring that he sought to marry her for the sole purpose of having their child born without the stigma of bastardry. In his mind it boiled down to just one thing: trust. She didn't trust him. And he couldn't blame her. He had been unable to protect her from her father, nor from the poisonous Marie.
Leonn was determined to do everything in his power to prove to Bella that she could trust him to protect her and their child. His men scoured the countryside for Marie, and as soon as Bella became his wife, Leonn would ride to join them.
Leonn shifted down on the bed, gently running his hand up her inner thigh and easing her thighs further apart. He breathed in the womanly scent of her, and he hardened as he imagined the feel of her tight pussy closing around his shaft as he slowly sunk into her, filling her. He groaned softly. Denying her the delights of lovemaking until she consented to marry him took every ounce of his will power. He wanted nothing more right then than to position himself between her spread thighs and slide up deep inside of her welcoming heat.
With an inward groan, he drew her chemise higher, revealing the tiny waist still untouched by his child growing in her womb, the tiny breasts with their delightfully tender pink crowns.
Leonn felt himself harden further at the thought of latching onto one of those sweet tips, suckling and nibbling like a man dying of starvation. Unable to fight the urge, his tongue darted out of its own accord and swirled around the pink tip until he felt it stiffen delightfully. He stilled as she whimpered softly, her thighs falling further apart as she shifted restlessly on the bed.
He slipped his hand between her thighs and gently parted her lush pink lips. The tip of his finger lightly stroked her, teasing her, and she whimpered, her bottom wiggling.
He felt her growing wetness as he gently played with her between her thighs while she slept. Her hips arched instinctively as his finger eased up inside of her, exploring her, massaging her.
He began to ease his finger in and out of her, feeling her wetness coating his fingers as he sought to draw on her body's exquisite responsiveness as he slowly built her need to fever pitch. He carefully eased another finger up inside of her.
He sensed the moment she came awake, the slight stiffening of her body, her soft gasp as his fingers worked insistenly inside of her.
"Leonn," she breathed, her sleepy green eyes widening as her hips arched on his fingers as he immersed them in her pussy to the hilt. Her nails dug into the mattress as he thrust another finger up inside of her, stretching her, as his thumb moved over her pink nub. "Oh!"
