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I do not own Merlin or the characters and I certainly don't own Wicked In Your Arms.
Gwen whirled around...
Prince Arthur stood before her, his cheeks raw from the cold winter air and his blonde hair tousled and windblown.
Her stomach fluttered at the towering sight of him...
But she went back to patting the horse's neck, struggling to appear unaffected at his sudden appearance...a definite challenge when she could only think of the night before in his bedchamber.
"Did you enjoy your ride?" she asked in a voice that did not even sound like it belonged to her...so small and breathless.
He didn't answer.
He didn't speak.
He advanced on her, looking dangerous and predatory with his piercing eyes and hard jaw. And his silence unnerved her more than anything he could've said.
She backed up until the door of the stall stopped her from moving any further.
Still, he kept coming...
Her hand suddenly tapped at her side nervously, tangling in her skirts. And she looked desperately to the right, then the left...
No one.
No groom lurked about the many stalls.
Not a single soul.
They were all alone.
For now at least.
Suddenly, it was last night again... Only this time she wouldn't run away. This time she would be bold. She would take what she wanted. She would take him.
They leapt at each other and came together in a fierce union of grasping hands and melding lips.
And their mouths began a furious mating.
He fell against her and she slammed back against the stall door. And the wood slats knocked from the force.
His body flattened against hers, all warm, hard lines covering every inch of her.
And she ran her hands through his hair, reveling in the silken strands as cold as the wind whipping outside...almost icy against her palms.
But that did nothing to chill the heat stirring inside her.
"Guinevere," he groaned, dragging his mouth down her throat.
She sighed, arching her neck for him.
Closing her eyes, she forgot everything.
Everything but this.
But him.
But her.
Alas, a sharp male voice cracked over the air and Gwen jerked. Someone was approaching...
She beat a small hand against Arthur's shoulder, forcing him to stop.
He pulled away from her, chest heaving and staring at her hungrily with his heavy-lidded gaze as the angry voice grew nearer.
Smoothing a trembling hand down her bodice, she stared wide-eyed at him and shivered at the promise she read there.
The promise that this wasn't finished...
That they weren't done.
"Dammit, boy, are you mentally deficient? How is it someone absconded with three horses and you heard nothing?"
"I'm sorry, milord. I didn't hear a sound all night."
The earl and a stable boy hurried down the lane between the stables side by side. But the earl's manservant traveled several paces behind, as if he wanted to distance himself from his angry master.
The copper-haired stable lad seemed unaware that he should proceed with such caution, however.
He sputtered profuse apologies for sleeping through the night and not waking when Lady Phillipa and her cohorts snuck three horses from the dowager's stables.
Well, the blustering earl had finally reached the end of his control...
He turned on the boy and knocked him to the ground.
Gwen choked out a small cry as the slight boy flew several feet landing on his side.
His small face crumpled from the pain. And he curled himself into a tight ball and clutched his arm close to his thin chest.
Gwen hurried forward and crouched beside him, gently touching his shoulder.
"Are you all right?" she asked.
"Leave him be!" the earl snarled. "He needs to be schooled on what happens when he falls short on his duties."
Gwen lifted her gaze.
"You're vile. He's just a boy."
"And you need to mind to your affairs, woman! And guard your tongue when addressing me. You're lucky to even be a guest here."
A low growl emanated from Arthur.
"Have a care when addressing Miss Davies," he said, his voice a warning. But the earl didn't get a chance to respond.
For the boy's face flushed with both pain and embarrassment as he struggled to sit up. Then he leveled suspiciously wet eyes on his attacker...
"You're just angry because your daughter ran away with a groom!"
The earl's eyes bulged.
"You insolent little whelp!"
He lunged for the boy, his arm pulled back to deliver a backhand slap.
But Gwen moved in and shielded the lad.
"You'll not harm him again," she defiantly said.
The earl wagged a sausage-like finger in her face...
"I warned you to..."
Before he could even finish his sentence, Arthur stepped in and knocked him off his feet with a deft punch to the face.
The crack of bone on bone rang out in the stable...
And the earl landed with a solid thud on his backside.
Gwen gaped, certain she hadn't just watched Prince Arthur strike a gentleman in defense of a servant... in defense of her.
"What did you do that for?" the earl cried in muffled tones, clutching his afflicted nose where blood trickled thickly between his fingers.
Arthur shrugged.
"I've never been partial to men who bully children and women."
"Well, you can forget ever marrying my daughter!"
Arthur chuckled.
"Even if I was still interested in marrying your daughter, she's presumably on the way to Gretna to marry your groom."
"I'll have it annulled!" he cried.
Arthur shrugged again as he moved to take Gwen's elbow.
"I don't really care what you do...so long as I never see you strike another servant in my presence or speak to Miss Davies with such disrespect again."
Gwen's head reeled. Why should the prince care how others addressed her?
"Will you be all right, lad?" Arthur asked the boy, who stared up at him with adulation.
He nodded his coppery head...
"Thank you, milord."
At that, Arthur ruffled the lad's hair and said,
"Off with you."
Still astonished over all that had just transpired, Gwen watched in bemusement as the boy scampered away on his twig-thin legs.
"Come."
Arthur grasped her elbow, his touch light but nonetheless searing. So much so, she felt the imprint of each finger through the fabric of her gown.
She briefly spared a glance over her shoulder for the earl as she was led away. He was still laying sprawled on the ground, a hand pressed to his bleeding nose, and staring after them in total bewilderment.
"Why did you do that?" she whispered as they strode from the stables.
"No one should treat another person like that," Arthur said. "I don't care who they are, servant or king. No one is so privileged they can simply beat another person when the whim seizes them."
She slid her gaze up at him, studying his fixed, resolute expression. And something loosened inside her chest. Then a very real panic stole over her as she realized he was nothing she had thought him to be.
She liked him in that moment.
She even admired him.
Once inside the house, Gwen pulled her arm free of the prince, the desperate need to escape him stronger than ever as a sudden terrible realization seized her.
Her face flashed hot and cold...
She just might be drawn to the prince for more than his delicious good looks and mesmerizing voice.
She might in fact be...
The pulse at Gwen's neck hammered...
"I-I have to go. My sister...is waiting," she stammered.
Arthur released her and crossed his arms over his broad chest, watching her in that probing, intent way of his, saying nothing.
She backed away, wringing her hands anxiously as her slippered feet slid over the slick marbled foyer.
"We made...plans," she continued lamely.
Still, he said nothing, just simply continued to stare at her with his blue-grey, devouring eyes... Seeming to see right through her, past her fabrication to the truth.
With a muttered parting and her heart trying to beat it's way out of her chest, she lifted her skirts and whirled around...
And as her slippers pounded up the steps, she refused to look back at him again.
A little short but the next chapter will be longer.
Stay safe!