He kissed her then, long and lingeringly, binding her to him with lips as well as body. His shaft only left her, only to reclaim her tender flesh before she could draw breath. His actions caused her to stop with her plans for him, he smothered her protest with his lips, and now he was achingly slow. With a gasp her body accepted his, she was stunned to discover the burning sting had ebbed, replaced by a strange pleasure, heady and sweet. She quickly moved the dagger back to its original hiding place.

Her hands dug into the sleek flesh of his shoulders, for his palms were beneath her now, lifting, guiding...She gasped again as her hips began to match his seeking rhythm. He plunged harder. Faster. And soon he was driving almost wildly.

The burning ache was back again, different now, this time a flame that simmered low in her belly, burning higher and higher. Then she was being swept away, flung into the midst of a white-hot explosion, consumed by the fiery blaze that promised so much. Dimly she heard herself cry out. She was both petrified and elated, for never ha she experienced such glorious ecstasy. Above her, Robin gave one last piercing lunge. He buried his head against her shoulder and shuddered. Confused, shaken, she could only cling to him, feeling herself filled with a flooding, melting heat.

Her pleasure fled as if it had never been. A halo of pain crept around her heart. Daniel! His name was a silent cry of anquish. Oh Daniel, what have I done?

A burning self recrimination scaled her mind. She had, she reflected with stark, painful clarity, made things ridiculously easy for Robin. She had thought to fight him, to challenge and oppose him in whatever way she could. But alas, he had gained all he sought with pitiable ease. There had been no need of force at all, for he had seduced her with kisses of fire and bold caresses that made his will her own. She had yielded...Nay, not yielded...

Surrendered

Victory was his...yet again

He still lay sprawled on top of her. She shoved at his shoulders, desperate to relieve herself of his weight-his very presence. He obliged, shifting to her side, but one dark hand still lay sprawled across her belly. She tried to wrench it away but he held her fast, pulling her back against his chest. She lay in stifling, silence, but one bitter thought crowding her mind the night through.

She had been wed...aye, and bedded.

As was his habit, the moment Robin opened his eyes, he was wide awake, alert and aware. But he did not instantly rise, as was also his habit. Nay, on this particular morn, he had reason to linger.

The reason lay pressed against his side,beautifully naked and sleek.

Ah, she was a temptress, this new bride of his, a bewitching temptress who could easily become an obsession. He shifted slightly and eased the sheet away from the graceful slope of her shoulder that he might appreciate her more fully. Her hair lay spread beneath her, tangled waves of darkness. His gaze boldly swept the length of her, lingering on gently quivering breasts, rising and falling now with a soft sigh. Her skin was flawless, pale and smooth. He drew a finger down the flare of her hip, he had discovered last night that his hand just spanned the hollow of her belly, for she was unearthly slender.

He had also learned that despite the enmity that raged between them, neither he nor she could deny the fiery heat of desire that erupted between them.

She stirred, presenting the naked length of her back to him. Unable to resist, he pressed his lips against the flare of her shoulder. The sweet scent of her was dizzying. His hands filled with the upthrusting bounty of her breasts. A primitive satisfaction flared when she arched into his caress, her nipples peaking hard and tight against his palm. She was exquisitely sensitive there, he decided...and elsewhere as well.

One hand drifted down to the her core, recalling the silken clasp of that part of her around his throbbing member last night made his loins tighten and swell all over again. He touched with delicate demand and earned a tremor of reaction in return. Was she awake? He turned her in his arms.

His fingertips trailed her mouth only to raise his head and stare at her through eyes that flamed like fire. His fingertips trailed a rousing path down her neck to rest with precise awareness on the trembling swell of her breasts, a touch that robbed her of breath.

"I made you my bride," he said quietly. "Then I made you my wife." His eyes darkened. "May hap it's time I made you my woman."

Robin rose quickly on an elbow. Greedily he charted the tender feminine flesh and supple curves that lay open to him. His mouth grew dry as he seized her hand and carried it to her jaw.

"I've thought of no woman save you since long before we were wed. Tis you and no other who is ever on my mind, Regina, ever and always." Robin swore to her.

His declaration washed through her like warm, sweet wine. Robin was not a man to utter pretty speeches that he might gain what he sought more easily. He was a man who would take what was his as if it were his due...So it was that a well spring of emotion unfurled within her, like the cascading rays of sun.

"Admit it, Princess, you want me so badly, it hurts," Robin whispered. His tongue trailed a path from her ankle up her calf, placing nibbling kisses.

Regina was going mad with the wanting of him. His tongue trailed a fiery path up the soft skin of her thigh. She groaned, feeling herself becoming warm and open. She squeezed her eyes tightly, feeling his tongue inches from her desire. She felt his hands move up and over her thighs and hover over her essence, and just when they would have touched her, they retreated and she moaned in clear disappointment.

Regina arched instinctively toward him as he moved and grasped her buttocks and he whispered love words while his hands worked their magic, rubbing and kneading her buttocks, bringing her closer to his mouth.

"Watch me, Princess, open your eyes, love." She felt him breathe, his breath inches from her desire, and knew what she sought would not be given unless she complied. She willingly opened her passion dazed eyes.

"Can you imagine how good you will taste? Can you even now feel your own desire well up, longing to flow over my tongue? Can you imagine the velvety feel of my tongue?" he whispered hoarsely. She groaned at his words and cried aloud when his tongue stroked her desire, sending electrical currents through her so strong, she thought her legs would crumble.

When he moved his tongue away, she pushed her head back, groaning in protest. Her legs widened, but he held her still and lifted his mouth. She arched her hips to his mouth. "Please...don't sop... not yet." Her fingers gripped his hair, pulling him closer to her own core of desire.

"Savor it, Regina. Let it build till it hurts." His tongue returned to stroke, to tease her, till the bittersweet pain became unbearable, and she pulled his hair in need, yet he withheld from bringing her to release. "Not yet, love, not till you feel as if you'll die from the wanting." And then his mouth and tongue worked its magic, and when he felt her unfilled desire well and begin to flow, he brought her legs over his shoulders, and reared over her. His hands hands slid up her buttocks and lifted her closer to his mouth closing over her. Her legs stiffened as her body convulsed in a climax that sent her spinning slowly down into a pool of sensation as each shocking waved after another washed over her.

Keeping her legs over his shoulders, Robin rose and entered her in a long, smooth stroke, feeling her muscles contract in climax. Regina cried out when he filled her. Robin withdrew, concerned that in his need to possess her, he had hurt her. Feeling his withdraw, Regina whimpered in protest, again feeling the first of desire ignite.

"Please...don't go...oh, please," Regina whimpered out.

Robin groaned, a sound deep in his throat, and complied with her please. Grasping her hips firmly, he drove into her, watching her eyes darken with pleasure, feeling her body sheath him tightly. She moved, writhing beneath him, drawing him deeply into her warmth. Her yes widened when she felt him plunge deeper and she contracted against his manhood, bringing them both to release.

Lying against her, he felt the rapid flutter of her heart. He shifted his weight onto his hands and gazed down into her glazed ones. Still within her, he felt the final contractions of her muscles against his member, causing him to spill the last of his seed into her. Slowly withdrawing, he savored the sensation as much as when he entered her. He lowered her quivering limbs from his shoulders and withdrew from her completely. Regina moaned, feeling a sense of emptiness.

She felt his breath against her damp cheek as he whispered, "I love you," and then covered her mouth with his own in a gentle kiss. She could taste herself on his lips, a musky, bittersweet taste. Robin moved from her sweet limbs and left the bed, he returned a few moments later and she felt herself lifted in strong warm arms and carried to their bath where he let her soak in the huge tub.

The weeks were going by with Robin and Regina settling into a normal routine, she found herself this day gazing out the huge library windows. She lifted her chin in a defiant manner, she remembered exactly the lengths this man had gone to secure his prize, her. And again she congratulated herself over her decision never to yield her heart to him. God knows she had a difficult time in not yielding to him, for he was an opponent who gave no quarter. By God, she had already lost her body to him, unable to deny the unbearable pleasure he gave her. Her soul, alas, had yielded as well, for he nutured and drew it from her. She sighed, remembering he had once promised her he would have nothing less than all of her, all that remained was her heart, but that she would hold from him, for it belonged to another-Daniel.

"Regina," Robin said as he walked into the library. He walked over to Regina, drawing her into the circle of his arms. He raised his hand and caressed her windburned cheek.

"You rode without me, Princess. Why?" Robin asked.

Regina shivered at his touch and felt a fluttering in her belly at his soft spoken words. A delicious shiver went down her spine as she felt her body against his. "You have already ridden and were engaged in business."

He smiled softly. "Aye, Princess, indeed I did ride a most tender mount this morning. A raven maned, fiesty mare with a soft saddle who I left quite exhausted and sprawled sleepily across my bed. So exhausted from her ride, I was unable to roust her up to put her in a different saddle.

Regina felt her cheeks pinken at his words. Refusing to be drawn, she asked. "You did not tell me you were going abroad. I felt quite foolish, you know when Mr. Bonidace asked." She moved back to the windows.

"Wanting nothing more but your happiness, I arranged a trip to France. On our way I thought a week in London, going to the opera, theater, and such, would be nice. Then I thought we'd travel to Paris and attend a horse race." Robin said.

"A horse race! Really?" Regina rushed over to Robin and stood between his legs, her dark eyes as big as saucers. "You're not teasing me, are you?"

Robin smiled in response to her question and shook his head.

Regina squealed with delight, throwing her arms about his neck, placing a quick kiss on his lips. Robin was pleased with her uninhibited response but would have liked to plunder her sweet mouth in a deep, passionate kiss. His hands encircled her waist, bringing her closer to him, as she rushed on. "Really? You do mean it, don't you?"

Robin nodded his head. "Have you a doubt?"

She laughed with joy, it was music to his ears. He vowed he'd take her anywhere, just to hear that sound.

Her laughter died with her words. "But Mother always said a horse race was no place for a lady, that only ladybirds and paramours attended such."

Robin lifted her chin with his fingers and said, "Princess, you are a duchess, you can do as you please, no matter what your mother's notions are. You are my wife, my lover, my paramour, if you will. And yes, we do have a horse entered."

"Which horse do we have entered?" Regina asked.

Robin loved the sound of the 'we' she had used. He loved her abandoned joy and he loved her more than life itself. "You shall see, love, and there'll be no prying it from me."

Regina pouted at his words, but Robin refused to be daunted, adding. "Our horse has better than fifty percent odds at winning but is virtually unknown. Will and John will be joining us there, for they are much interested in wagering some pounds."

Seeing the unasked questions in her eyes and knowing her love of gambling, he answered her. "And of course, Princess, you may wager all my wordly treasures, except of course,yourself. That I would not allow." Regina stiffened in his arms, but Robin held her tightly.

"You presume too much, my lord. You do not own me nor do you control me," Regina said.

"Really, Princess? I beg to differ, for you own and control me as well." She pushed against him, wrenching free. Robin smiled and she glared at him, knowing she was free because he allowed it.

"Princess, I control and own you body and soul, every morning, night and often in between." Robin said.

"Aye, but only then, my lord, never any other time." She stalked to the door, yanking it open, and before leaving, she turned and said. "Body and soul maybe, but never my heart."

As she walked out, she heard the underlying promise in the words that followed. "That, too, will pass."