Read To Be Queen for Free Online Page B

his laughter caressed me, like hands running up my spine and into my hair. I shivered, and Rancon drew me closer, the heat and weight of his body against mine.
    I felt a tremor of fear, but my lust rose to conquer it. Rancon leaned down and took my lips with his.
    I drew back from his mouth before I fell to him completely. I forced lightness into my voice, a tone that belied my desire. “How do you know who I am? I might be any number of women, come here to meet you . . . one of my ladies, perhaps.”
    Rancon laughed low, and again, I felt the heat of the sound on my skin. His hands moved up from my waist to caress my rib cage, as he pressed me back against the stone wall. “My lady, I would know you anywhere.”
    â€œThen let me be clear,” I said. “I will not give you my maidenhead. That is for another.”
    He kissed me, but drew back almost at once, as if to seal a bargain between us. “I swear I will protect you, my lady. Even from yourself. You will beg me to take you, but I will not. I seek only to give us both a little pleasure.”
    He leaned close, and I felt his smile against my cheek as he bent down to nuzzle my throat. “After all, it was you who invited me.”
    I thought to reprimand him for his impertinence, but his hand moved to cup my breast, and his lips trailed over my throat. He opened his mouth on mine as his hands caressed me.
    I understood now why women must guard themselves so carefully before marriage. It would have been so easy to slip, to give myself and my future away for a trifle.
    But it did not feel like a trifle, with Rancon’s tongue on mine, his rough, large hands caressing me. Just as I thought to push him away, his touch turned gentle, and his lips caressed my cheek, his breath warm in my ear.
    â€œLady, forgive me. I can go no further with you. I do not trust myself to stop.”
    Rancon laid his forehead against my own, and we clung to each other. He caught his breath before I caught mine.
    â€œYou will soon be bound in marriage to another. But know this, lady. Nothing is over between us.”
    His promise was a warm balm against my already heated skin. He covered my lips once more with his, pressing his body against me for one long, delicious moment. Then he pulled away and left me without his heat or touch.
    The cold of my father’s castle surrounded me, and crept along my flesh beneath my gown, for Rancon’s hands had laid my cloak open. I was light-headed, and my blood still thundered in my ears. I knew that I had come too close to the abyss.
    But how sweet it was, to touch a man like that. When I was married, I would touch my husband that way, and no one would stop me.
    I made my way back to my rooms. When I scratched on the door, Amaria drew me inside and brought me close to the fire. I did not let her undress me right away, but sat by the brazier, my cloak wrapped around me. Rancon’s scent lingered in its woolen folds.
    I remembered his last words to me as I sat safe in my rooms. I heard the promise in them, and I shivered, as if his hands were once more on my body.

    The next morning, my father called me to him. I had slept little; I still felt the heat of Rancon’s touch. Amaria dressed my hair with pearls and gold, covering her handiwork with a veil of silk. My bronze hair hung down my back in braids, in case my father wished to go on a hunt, as he had promised me we would.
    I entered Papa’s antechamber and found a tall, emaciated monk whose tonsure revealed a network of veins and bumps on the crown of his head. Never before had I noticed a monk’s tonsure, but never before had one looked so hideous to me.
    My father stood when I entered, but the monk remained seated, as if to show that he had no more respect for me than if I had been a common drab. I felt the first flame of my temper rise, but I tamped it down. I curtsied to my father, including the monk in the gesture of good manners that Alix had spent