Hooves pounded the earth as Audrey's arm curled about Lukas waist, her glistening breasts pressed against his chest and dampening the fine lawn of his shirt. She sat across his taut thighs, extremely conscious of the muscled warmth upon which her bare bottom was nestled.
Long wisps of her wet hair lashed at the arm and face of her captor as he held her to him, the folds of his cloak covering her nakedness. His arm wrapped tightly about her tiny waist, his wicked hand slipping beneath the cloak to splay intimately between their bodies in a V that cradled her breast.
The horse beneath them traversed a hasty path along the river bank in the opposite direction of the convent. Her body rose and fell against Lukas with the rhythm of the horse's strides, conscious of the friction of his clothes against her skin. His warmth and scent surrounded her, as much as prison to resist as the physical strength holding her possessively.
"Lukas, please, this is madness. You must return me to the convent." Her head was cradled against his shoulder, her head tipping back to gaze up at his.
"Not madness, sweet Audrey. Sanity." He didn't glance down at her, merely tightened his hold about her waist.
What sanity was it that Audrey found herself naked atop a horse, having been stolen from the stream by the convent? If she were discovered alone with Lukas like this, she would never be permitted to become a nun. Audrey would be punished, and worse, shunned. And Father Matthews...
Something fat, brown and furry popped from beneath a bed of leaves, grunting and snuffling. The horse skittered and bucked beneath them, rearing up onto its hind feet. Audrey screamed, feeling herself sliding. Captive arms tightened about her, dragging her sideways. She felt herself falling in a tangle of arms and legs. Then the solid earth rose up to greet them hardily.
Lukas grunted, half beneath her, half behind her. Pain shot through her as Lukas's arms slackened about her. Audrey lay still, dragging in much needed air, her eyes blinded by her hair and leaves. She gingerly rolled to her side facing away from Lukas.
The horse streaked away, disappearing into the forest as Audrey slowly sat up, cradling her tender wrist. Her ribs felt sore from where Lukas had squeezed her to him, hurting with each breath.
She gazed down at the outstretched palm of her abductor laying near her hip. Something about its stillness and the silence alerted her. Audrey peeked back over her shoulder, and gasped. Lukas lay unmoving on the grass, his face slack and pale.
Every instinct urged her to run, now, while Lukas lay unconscious. But Audrey was a novice first, a woman second. She could not leave an injured man untended. Twisting to kneel at his side, her gaze flickered urgently down over the broad shoulders and chest covered by slightly damp fine white linen, yet no injury was revealed to her. His long legs, molded by grey breeches, were sprawled out but not misshapen or bloodied.
"Lukas?" There was no response. She leaned over him, her small hands lightly shaking his shoulders, ignoring the pain it caused her. "Lukas?" Audrey swallowed hard, alarm sweeping over her. She gazed searchingly down at his silent, unguarded face, taking in the dark lashes resting against tanned cheeks, the parted lips that had drawn from her an unexpected need.
She cupped his face, lightly patting his cheeks with her fingers. "Lukas," she whispered, and didn't know why she was whispering. It was unearthly quiet besides the heavy drum of the waterfall in the distance beyond several bends in the river.
A soft male groan was his only response. "Lukas," she murmured, cradling his jaw. Dark lashes flickered, before revealing cloudy gray eyes. He tried to smile as his hand tangled in her long chestnut hair, drawing her face down dangerously close to his.
"Sweet Angel," he murmured before his lips tried to catch hers. Daring fingers brushed against her bare breast. Audrey didn't move for fear of causing Lukas further injury. A thumb feathered across her pink nipple, and she bit her lip as it tingled and tightened. The pressure of his hand on the back of her head grew, and she covered his waiting lips with her hand.
"You must stop. You can't touch me this way. It is forbidden."
The hand cupping her breast tightened, before relaxing and sweeping down to rest at her waist. "I will not stop this time, Audrey. I will not allow you to go on hiding behind the strictures of your convent and deny what lies between us."
She was unprepared for his strength drawing her across his body, one arm on the small of her back pinning her on top of him. The other swept her silken mane back from her heart-shaped face as she gazed down at him in vexation.
She writhed on him, her thighs falling to straddle one of his own as she sought to wiggle free. She froze atop him when he groaned, seemingly in pain. "Lukas? Are you hurt?" No longer resisting him, she became distinctly conscious of the hard bed of warmth she lay upon.
His hand swept down from nape to cup her bottom as his thigh rose between hers. The feel of him pressing firm against her there while the evidence of his masculinity was nestled against her thigh was making her throb in tumultuous aggravation. She couldn't prevent the anxious squirm against him that only seemed to make matters worse.
His lips quirked. "A searing agony, my sweet novice, that has haunted me since that night in the clearing." Relief warred with exasperation.
"I - Lukas, please, you must end this." A wicked finger traced maddening circles over her soft flesh of her bottom. She bit her lip, suddenly finding it hard to breath. She knew she must rise from him, push away the hand firm on the small of her back. Yet something besides his hold on her held her caught in the tension between them.
Had she not secretly imagined being close to him, touching him? His stolen kisses and caresses had tormented her waking and sleeping moments, their wicked sweetness so different from the dark submission demanded from her by Father Matthews. Even knowing that Lukas merely amused himself with her did little to abate the overwhelming sensations the mere sight of him wrought within her.
"I am going to kiss you." Audrey blushed at the guilty flare of pleasure those words brought her. Lips settled over her sensitive flesh just below her ear, tasting, teasing, before skimming down to the hollow of her throat.
"Then will you let me go?" she whispered, moistening her dry lips. She felt him shake his head. Audrey swallowed hard. His hands slid up to hook beneath her underarms. He righted her so she sat straddled upon his hips. Her hands swiftly rose to cover her breasts, her cheeks warming at his heated gaze.
