He paused, not going any higher. She froze beneath his hand, quivering with indecision. He could almost hear her thoughts as she debated letting him go further or pushing him away.
She tore her lips from his. “I don’t understand any of this.” The confusion in her voice went straight to his soul and he sought to reassure her.
“All you have to do is enjoy the pleasure I want to give you.” He rubbed her leg, moving no more than an inch upward before moving back down, settling her like he would a skittish mare. He didn’t want to spook her any more than she already was.
“I want to touch every inch of your body. I want to uncover your breasts and tease your nipples into hard buds. I want to bury my face between your thighs and feast on your sweet flesh until you scream with pleasure.” Radnor stared into her smoky gray eyes, willing her to agree. “All you have to do is say yes.” He wanted to stake his claim now before Sednar met her. He knew without a doubt that Sednar would put up a fierce fight for her affections. How could he not?
By rights, he should scoop Roxanne into his arms and take her into the keep. She had a bump and a slight gash on her temple. Not life-threatening, but it needed tending.
If he were a decent man, he’d be more concerned with making her comfortable and seeing to her needs instead of wanting to fuck her.
But he’d never claimed to be a decent man. He was a hard man with rough ways.
He’d learned to fight for what he wanted and he wanted Roxanne with a fierce longing that threatened to choke him.
His pulse pounded in his temple as he watched her. She was a miracle and his first inclination was to snatch her away and lock her in the tower room, pleasuring her until she couldn’t even think of leaving him.
He dragged a hand though his hair and huffed out a deep breath. If he did that, he’d be no better than his older brothers had been. He’d be an animal. Old hurts rose to the fore as he remembered his sister and his mother. He’d been unable to protect them as much as he’d wanted. But he could protect Roxanne from anyone who dared to try to hurt her. He could also protect her from himself.
Slowly, he removed his hand from her leg and sat back to give her some space.
Roxanne’s mouth was open and he could see the shock in her eyes. And no wonder.
He’d barely met her and he’d told her in very graphic details what he wanted to do to her. What woman wouldn’t be afraid? Especially one who was already on the run from a man.
He almost growled at the thought of her ex-husband hurting her. Radnor wanted to meet the man who would do such a thing and make him pay for his crimes. Roxanne didn’t know him, didn’t understand that he’d never hurt her. The problem was he had only three days to make her understand, to get her to want to stay.
He stood abruptly and held out his hand. “Come. I will take you inside. You can bathe and have your head injury tended to. Then you will eat and rest before you meet my brother.”
“Brother.” Her word was little more than a whisper. Her eyes grew larger as her face got paler. “Is he about your size with brown hair and two skinny braids framing either side of his face?”
Radnor nodded.
“I really am dreaming.” She sounded more bemused than afraid, for which he was grateful. He hated to do anything to make her fearful, but he couldn’t allow her to go on lying to herself.
“No. You’re not dreaming, Roxanne. The tapestry is magic. It has brought you to the land of Javara. You are not the first woman it has brought to our world. It has been going on for generations. Here, woman are scarce and are treasured. Brothers compete to win the right to marry a woman. Only one brother can marry her and claim her children as his own. The other brothers get one night a week in her bed and vow to take care of her if her husband dies. There are no more than three brothers to a woman.
There is only Sednar and myself. And he will want you as much as I do.”
Chapter Five
Roxanne’s head was spinning. One minute Radnor was kissing her senseless. The next he’d pulled away and was looking more fierce than ever as he told a crazy tale of a magic tapestry, a strange world and brothers who competed for a woman’s affection.
Did she believe any of this? For a dream, it was damn real. Her head throbbed from her fall. Her breasts and her pussy ached with sexual need. Her leg still tingled from where he’d touched her and her lips felt swollen and damp from his kisses. She’d gone from fighting for her life to being immersed in sexual pleasure.
In some ways it wasn’t so far-fetched. One intense emotion had been swapped for another. Fleeing from death made her want to celebrate life in the most elemental way.
That was a very human and natural reaction. And since it was her dream, she’d much rather be kissing a hunk like Radnor than fighting with her ex for her life.
But the things he’d said to her. She lifted her hand and fanned her face, feeling the heat climbing over it. He’d been quite explicit about what he wanted to do to her.
Radnor’s words still echoed in her mind. Bury his face between her thighs and feast on her sweet flesh until she screamed with pleasure. Just like her dream from last night.
A thought occurred to her. Compete. Did she really want to know? “Umm, what do you mean, compete?”
Radnor’s gaze was fierce as he watched her. A sense of determination surrounded him. “Sexually.”
Her mouth dropped open and she shook her head in denial. Surely he couldn’t mean what she thought he did.
He plowed forward, ignoring her denial. “We will take you to bed, separately and together, and pleasure you. That way you will be able to choose which brother you like better.”
“That’s…” she struggled to find the right words, “that’s crazy.” At least that’s what her brain was saying. Her body was thrumming with sexual arousal, as though it had decided to embrace this dream to the fullest and take advantage of what was being offered.
Radnor’s lips pulled into a thin line. He propped his hands on his hips. He looked huge standing over her. She realized she was still reclining on the bales of hay, her dress riding up, exposing a large amount of bare thigh. She scrambled to her feet and shoved the pink polyester down to cover herself. It wasn’t a soft bed anyway and the stiff blades of grass were sticking into her bare legs and scratching her arms.
“Not crazy,” he said, his voice low and controlled. “It is simply the way things are here.”
This was the strangest dream she’d ever had. It was very real. If the situation in her real life wasn’t so dire, she might like to stick around and see where things went. But she didn’t have that luxury.
She tried to reason with him. “Okay, let’s just say for the sake of argument, I believe this is real. I didn’t ask for this. What if I want to go home?” Roxanne backed up a step as Radnor stirred restlessly in front of her. He seemed to become even bigger, every muscle in his arms rippling as he crossed his arms over his chest. “The tapestry will appear again on the third day. You will then have to make your choice. Go or stay.”
She shook her head, making it throb. This was crazy. Totally unbelievable. Three days. She didn’t have three days. Not even in a dream. She had to wake up this very moment. Now.
She scrunched her eyes together and concentrated fiercely on waking. She opened her eyes to find herself still in her dream world. Try as she might, nothing happened.
She was still standing in a large, stone structure, her bare feet on the smooth ground and several strands of hay stuck to her uniform.
The sweet smell of the hay and the darker, lusher scent of hot male wafted around her. The sound of her breathing got louder with each passing second. There was still an incredibly handsome and extremely large man standing in front of her. It all seemed so real even though she knew it wasn’t. It couldn’t be.