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has lots more questions for you.”
    When they were alone she leaned toward him. “Will, is this marriage what you want?”
    “No,” he admitted. “Oh, Jasmine, I have such a deep fear Eleanor will be like her mother when she grows up.”
    “I believe your fears are groundless … she’s never known her mother’s influence.” They looked at each other, not voicing their inner fears of tainted blood and what was bred in the bone.
    Will sighed. “I’ve insisted she have her own household. Ladies’ quarters have been established at Windsor and she’s to be constantly chaperoned. I’ve provided the best tutors and teachers. She even has nuns and Franciscans in her household.”
    “You are footing the bills for the entire upkeep of Windsor Castle, no doubt?”
    “And the Order of St. Bride’s.” He shrugged. “I would spend any amount of gold to keep her chaste.”
    Poor little girl, she thought. Jasmine’s hand sought Will’s. “Don’t leave her there too long. The best possible influence on her would be you yourself, Will.” She paused. “I would like you to take my sons into your service, Will.”
    He was almost undone at the great trust she placed in him. “You honor me, lady,” he murmured huskily.
    “Always,” she said, going on tiptoe to kiss him good night.
    De Burgh lay stretched on the bed, his arms behind his head. He slept naked and had taught Jasmine to do the same. The green flame in his eyes licked over her curves as she began to undress. “He’s in love with you, you know,” he murmured.
    “Will? Don’t be ridiculous. We’ve been friends since we were at court together.” Before she removed her chemise, she picked up her hairbrush.
    “Let me do that,” he ordered. She came to the bed and absently handed him the brush. The moment his hands tangled in the silken mass of her hair, his erection started. “He loved you then and he loves you now.”
    She half turned to look deeply into his eyes. “Surely you’re not jealous of Will?”
    “Oh, I’m jealous all right. Jealous of every man who dares look at you, but strangely I’m not jealous of Will. The poor honorable bastard tries so hard to conceal his love from you.”
    “He’s different from you. He doesn’t simply reach out his hand to take what he wants.”
    Falcon de Burgh made short work of the chemise. “Splendor of God, if I were in his shoes I’d have you on your back in a minute.”
    “Would you indeed? I seem to recall it took you longer than a minute to have your perverted way with me.”
    “I’ll show you perverted,” he said, dipping his head between her legs and running his tongue up the inside of her thigh.
    “It will take more than that to thaw me,” she teased icily.
    “No, it won’t,” he said with masculine conceit as he spread her center apart with his thumbs and licked the tiny bud inside the soft folds.
    She felt herself begin to melt, but didn’t want to give in to him so easily. “Stop, I think I’m going to faint.”
    “I’ll make you faint, by God,” he promised, thrusting his hot tongue deep inside her.
    After a few minutes of such delicious intimate play, it was not nearly enough for Jasmine. “Falcon, Falcon.” She knew the cry would bring his mouth up to hers. He loved to taste his name upon her lips. Her fingers slipped down his hard body to encircle his shaft, and she gasped at its size. It never failed to elicit a delicious quiver of fear. He thrust into her hot, wet center, stretching her to the limit, and she went wild with the unbelievable fullness he created inside her. His tongue filled her sweet mouth, moving in rhythm with his hips, and she wrapped her long, slim legs high about his back. Over the years they had learned how to make it last and sustain their pleasure endlessly.
    When Jasmine cried out from her release, William Marshal convinced himself it was the cry of a night bird upon the moon-bathed lough.

4

    E leanor Katherine developed an unquenchable thirst