How to Seduce a Queen: A Medieval Romance Novel by Stella Marie Alden Read Free Book Online

lower lip, and tucked a loose strand of red hair into her long braid.
    He moaned as his want swelled, aching toward its goal.
    “Oh.” She stared down between them, seemingly frozen for a moment. Then she blushed and hurried into the stables.
    She stopped where he’d hung shovels, pitchforks, and any manner of tool with handle. Saddles sat upon newly constructed four-legged holders. Oiled leather shined like never before. Reddish pottery jars stood at attention in a neat row. A fresh torch was ready for use in an iron holder. The floor, were it not dirt, would’ve sparkled.
    She touched the hanging tools and fingered pots, reverently. “This is miraculous.”
    He cleared his throat, annoyed that the horses had lived in such filth. “No, m’lady. This is what a proper stable should look like. Who’s in charge? They should be stoned.”
    Her eyes went wide, her mouth dropped open, and she paled. God’s blood. The woman took me literally?
    She whispered, “How could I’ve known? Until I was sent here, I lived as a princess. I’ve no idea how to manage a stable.”
    Nicholas cursed his stupidity, patted her palfrey, and handed her a currycomb, hoping to undo his mistake. “’Tis but a turn of phrase,” he said offhandedly. “Saint Francis teaches us all beasts should be treasured. Let me show you.”
    He stood as close as he dared, with her back against his naked chest. With one arm wrapped around her waist, he guided her hand. His swollen want pushed against her arse, and he bit down on his tongue. When she sighed and leaned back into him, he boldly let his hand inch up. The need to touch her drove him.
    He cupped her breast, squeezed, and when she did not move away, he slipped his hand inside her tunic. “Tell me something, lass. What happened in Scarborough? With my stepbrother?”
    “Honestly? Nothing.” She laughed without mirth. “I thought he cared for me. His eyes were warm when he gazed upon me, like yours . . . he didn’t tell you, did he?”
    “We don’t speak.” He continued to comb with one hand, while caressing her puckering nipple with the other.
    “I took off my kirtle, and waited in his chambers. I thought he and I would . . . you know. Kiss.”
    Kiss? Holy God. Nicholas sighed as he remembered how beautiful she was that night. How dangerous the castle, and that just behind the walls, spies watched from secret passages. Eyes that had the power to take her away and rape her.
    “And then?” He barely trusted himself to ask.
    Her voice cracked. “He called for Aunt Agatha. Made it known I could never return. Oh Nicodemus. How could I have misread him so fully?” She turned to him, eyes filled with tears.
    Dear God, had he known, he would have found a way to wed her. “Did you spend much time with him? Give him a chance to know you? Did he make promises?”
    She sniffed. “No. Aunt Agatha would give me no alone time with him. I thought perhaps . . .”
    “If you bedded him, he would marry you? Take you away from Man?” Nicholas had been thinking the very same thing that night.
    “Aye.” Her eyelashes, wet with tears, blinked against his chest.
    He was undone at the unfairness of fate. “You should have told him, lass.”
    “Aye. I suppose I should have. Now all is lost.”
    He held her into his chest and whispered into her sweet -smelling hair. “Mayhap he was nobler than you give him credit for? A man should not take such liberties with an—” He cursed under his breath as hooves pounded across the drawbridge. Letting go of her, he jumped away.
    Damn all the devils to hell. Horse frothing, face fuming, Sir Ferguson dismounted. He glared thunderbolts as he regarded Nicholas’s shirtless body and her guilty face.
    He stepped between them and scolded Fay, “You should not ride so far ahead alone. Again, I find myself searching everywhere. This needs to stop.”
    Oblivious to the depth of his ire, she waved him aside. “You were too slow.”
    “When you’re married to me, you