The master bedroom of the chateau was bathed in candle light as the sun slowly descended, and a silvery moon took its place high in the sky above as Anna hummed softly and a serving woman gently ran a brush through her mistresses' loose curls. Noticing a small, ornate hair slide on the vanity, Anna stopped humming:

"What is this?" She picked up the object and turned it in her hands. "I do not believe it to be one of mine." She held it up for the maid to see and frowned when the woman sighed.

"Mademoiselle Catherine was in here yesterday, my Lady." The woman placed the brush on the vanity and stepped away from Anna. "I do not know for how long, just that I ushered her out as soon as I found her."

"What did she want?" Anna turned on her stool to face the woman.

"I do not know, my Lady, except…she asked me how many dresses the Comtesse could expect to fit in the wardrobes…" Anna swallowed hard at the woman's words.

"She still intends on being his wife then?" She sighed at the woman's slight nod and stood motioning for her to fetch her nightdress.

Anna had been wary of Catherine since she turned up at the Chateau unannounced a few days ago. Of course, the blonde was aware of the fact that when they were children, it had been discussed that Catherine and Athos would wed to form a union of two strong lineages, however, upon his passing, Athos' father had beseeched his son the right to choose his own wife and so…

"That woman!" Anna broke out of her reverie as the doors to the bedroom were flung open and Athos strode into the room. "I do not know how I can further show her I am uninterested in marriage!"

"Perhaps if you ceased to indulge her in sunset walks around the lands?" Anna murmured as she continued to remove her jewellery, her eyes watching Athos' every move in the vanity's mirror.

"Can she not see that I share my life with someone else?" He asked as he slumped into a chair and poured himself some wine, content to ignore the maid still selecting a nightdress for his lover.

"Your life perhaps, but not a bed…not since she came anyway." Anna said to herself but felt her eyes widen as his gaze locked with hers in the mirror's reflection. She placed a hand over her mouth, unsure of how loud she had actually been and turned away from his gaze as quickly as possible.

The room was silent as the servant slowly laid out Anna's nightdress on the bed and edged towards her mistress to undress her.

"That will be all…thank you." Athos' order cut across her intentions and the woman hesitated before a nod from Anna allowed her to scurry from the room, shutting the door tightly behind her.

Anna rose silently from the stool and made her way to the bed, her hand on the knot holding her robe together. She turned her back to Athos as she let the satin material fall away to reveal just a corset and underdress. Her fingers reached out to pick up the dress when two hands on her hips halted her movements.

She could feel his breaths against the bare skin of her shoulders as they stood, waiting for the other to break the silence.

"She has been in here." Anna mentally cursed as the words fell from her lips, unintentionally losing their war of wills. "Catherine…" She clarified in a stronger voice. "…she's been leaving her things on the vanity and inspecting how many dresses she can expect to have once you are married." She let out a small gas as his hands tightened around her waist as they balled into fists. "Well that is the plan, is it not? When you become bored of me you will marry a respectful woman?"

"Anna…" He breathed her name against the porcelain skin of her back as he pressed a kiss to her shoulder-blade. "…I will never grow bored of you my love." He felt her shoulders slump. "And I will never marry Catherine." She turned in his arms and laid her forehead against his chest.

"Promise?" He chuckled at the innocence of her question and lifted her chin so her eyes met his.

"I promise, my love." He leant and brushed their lips together in the most innocent of kisses, smirking as her arms wound around his neck and pulled him closer to her. "Now…" He broke them apart. "About sharing my life but not my bed…" Anna reddened and spun away from him, her head in her hands as she tried to block out his laughter.

"Well I'm not wrong, am I?!" She said, suddenly becoming very short tempered as his laughter continued. "You haven't touched me since she waltzed through the door." His laughter stopped as he saw the hard set of her shoulders as she remained stubbornly faced away from him. "I understand if you want me to go, just please say it instead of pulling away from me and just leaving me alone all day and night."

"Would you stop insisting that I'm going to abandon you?!" He planted his hands on her waist to anchor her to the spot and stop her moving away from him. "When are you going to understand that I would not leave you even if the Queen of France walked through that door and demanded I bed her?" He pulled her to him, the laces of her corset trapped against his chest as he rested his head atop her shoulder, his breath sending shivers down her spine as it danced off her skin. "I just…want to give you what you deserve: this is not the proper way for a Gentleman to act around a Lady."

"I am not a Lady and I don't want proper." She whispered as his hand found hers and she relaxed against his chest. "I just want you." There was a beat of silence as he digested her words before he pressed a kiss to her neck and felt her head loll back to rest against his shoulder as he teased the spot beneath her ear. "Ath-"

"Shhhh." He moved from her neck and took a step back as he slowly undid the first knot of her corset. "Let me look after my neglected love."

He watched her breathing quicken as eased the laces out of their loops and allowed the pads of his fingers to skim along the skin he was releasing from its crushing bindings. The material hit the floor with a light thud, finally allowing Athos to gaze upon the naked form of his lover's back. His fingers traced the angry red marks left by the corset around her body until they came to a stop at the edges of her breasts.

Unable to withstand his agonisingly slow movements any further, Anna turned once again in her lover's arms and gazed up at him. Her hand slid to cup the back of his neck as she brought them closer, their lips uniting in a soft embrace as her tender skin brushed against the material of his shirt and open doublet.

She gasped as his hands slid along the length of her body until they came to rest at the backs of her knees. In one motion she was lifted from the ground, her legs wrapped around his waist as he led them to the bed, their kiss broken only as he lay her down on the feather mattress.

"I am yours." He promised as he peppered her skin with light kisses as he worked his way down her body enjoying the small gasps he elicited from her as he teased each tender spot along the way. "Forever."

He parted her legs before pressing the lightest of kisses to her most sensitive spot of all. He felt her fingers wind into his hair as he continued to love her with his mouth and smirked against her as he felt her muscles tighten and her body quiver at the sensations.

"It's entirely unfair that you're still wearing so many clothes." She breathed, her head still swimming with desire, as he rose from his potion at the foot of the bed.

"Is that so?" He asked, one eyebrow raised, as she knelt on the bed and began pushing the embroidered doublet off his shoulders.

"It is." She grinned as she pulled him to her and captured his lips between hers once more before using his own weight against him as she pulled him onto the mattress and straddled his hips.

It was her turn to set his nerve endings on fire as she left open mouthed kisses along the 'V' of skin the wide neck of his shirt revealed as her fingers gently rolled the material up his torso, allowing him to lift himself from the bed only to remove it and throw it onto the floor beside them. She sat back on his hips, her hands exploring the toned planes of his chest as he gazed up at her.

"Tell me again how you got this scar?" She asked as she leant forward and pressed a kiss to the almost invisible mar on his shoulder blade.

"An insatiable blonde who got over-excited during her first sword-fighting lesson." He grinned as he rested his hands behind his head, content to watch her explore him. "I have never seen someone panic so much over a simple nick." She rolled her eyes at him. "It was then I knew I had to have her." Their gazes locked at his words and she wordlessly rose off him, her fingers deftly undoing the ties on his trousers before pushing them down his les and onto the floor.

"And I am yours." She whispered as she sunk onto him; joining them, body and soul.

His hands on her hips guided her movements as she rocked above him, her eyes closed and hands braced on his chest he thrust up into her, increasing their pace. He felt her movements become sloppy as her released drew closer and in one movement, he had her pinned into the mattress, her eyes wild as he grinned down at her.

"Not yet." His voice was rough with lust as he lifted her legs to wrap around his waist and he snapped his hips. "Look at me." He rasped as her eyes fluttered closed and her body arched off the bed.

"I-"

"Look at me."

She forced her eyes open at his words and groaned as he rewarded her with faster and deeper movements as his hand snaked between them to tease her further, finally allowing her to find her release as fire flooded through his veins and into her.

"Do you think we were loud enough to prove a point to our guest?" She gasped as he rolled off her and lay beside her on the enormous bed.

"I think…if you give me 10 minutes, we could be louder." He joked as he propped himself up and pushed back the hair that had fallen onto her face.

"Louder, huh? I'm not so sure of-" She cut herself off as his hands attacked her sides, leaving her in peals of laughter as they rolled across the bed.

A.N. First time writing/posting anything 'M Rated' so I hope you liked it. xx