If he could not make her want his claiming within the time the challenge loss had given him, then it was her right to seek protection elsewhere at the end of her service, and that did not please him at all. Already she was thinking of doing just that, if her questions were any indication. And already he had begun thinking of ways to get around it, even if he must trick her into challenging him again. To challenge her himself would unfortunately not have the same effect. She would see it for what it was, an attempt on his part to make her his claimed woman without limitations, which was what she so strongly objected to. It was the nonpermanence of the challenge loss that allowed her to accept it. Of this he was certain.
His gaze moved slowly over her face, noting things that the brilliance of her eyes and vitality and boldness of her expressions had kept him from noticing before. There was color on her cheeks that did not belong there, a very subtle rose tint that was barely discernible. Surrounding both of her eyes was a thin line of black that was not natural. He touched it at the corner of one eye without waking her, but nothing appeared on his finger. He had heard that the women of Malnik in the north sought to enhance their beauty with face-coloring, but with colors that did not fade or smear?
His little warrior was not of Malnik, but from where did she come? This he would not think of, for what he suspected he did not want to be true. And right now his body was telling him that his control was slipping, soon to be gone entirely. Did he not wake her now, she was going to miss their joining, it would be over and done with so quickly. Coming off dhaya juice was the one time a warrior lost his arrogance and pride in the skills that never failed to satisfy his woman, for those skills were most times forgotten in the wildness of need. Such must not happen with this woman.
In moments Challen had removed his bracs, then had to fight again not to bury himself immediately in the warm, sleeping body beside him. The scent she wore was still strong, filling his nostrils with floral sweetness. But it was the scent of arousal he wanted to smell now, and with that in mind, he made short work of removing her covering, bringing her half awake. His kiss completed the process, deep and compelling, demanding the desire she had known so frequently and with such swiftness on the previous rising.
When he leaned back to judge her reaction, her eyes were droopy but open, her lips smiling at him. “I thought you’d never get around to this,” she said with a sigh.
“You do not fear joining with me?”
“Do I look afraid?”
“Your words are brave, kerima, but I would expect no less from you. But even Kan-is-Tran women fear a warrior’s touch at first, no matter that they might want that warrior for their own. Such fear is normal and continues until the woman grows accustomed to her warrior. Such fear is even more prevalent in women captured or claimed.”
“Into which category I presumably fall? Let me take a wild guess, babe. Your women aren’t much bigger than I am, are they?”
“This is so.”
She laughed suddenly. “It must be hard, being a giant. Poor baby… now don’t take offense. It really is funny from my point of view. Have you had to be so careful with all your women?”
“Women are fragile and easily damaged,” he told her shortly, annoyed with her humor and her ability to completely distract him from his purpose.
“Some women maybe, but I’ve gone through a rough-and-tumble training. I’m not going to break if you feel like letting go.”
Unfortunately, she did not know what she was suggesting. “I fear I cannot be gentle with you whether I wish it or not. Too much do I remember of the previous rising.”
“All that superhuman control coming back to haunt you, huh? Well, I’ve got no sympathy for that, babe. Your farden control put me through hell.”
And his lack of it now would do the same if she did not be quiet and let him bring her to need. There was only one sure way to silence a woman without gagging her. This he proceeded to do for as long as his control lasted. It was not long.
The fire grew slowly, but when it arrived it was a conflagration that banished all traces of exhaustion from a sleepless night. And no sooner did she feel the full force of it than the barbarian moved to cover her completely. How had he known she was ready? Who cared. At last she was going to be breached, and by a man she’d known for only one day, though it seemed as if she’d known him forever. That was the incredible part, not that she wanted him so much and had waited so long for this to happen, but that she felt such an affinity toward him. Of course, having despaired of ever finding anyone who would suit her probably accounted for it. Going through so many ups and downs with him in the short time since they had met also would contribute to her feeling of having known him much longer. And none of it mattered next to the wild turmoil he so easily set loose inside her.
He was well positioned between her legs now, had risen up to do so, his full weight supported by his arms. The biceps bulged and glistened with moisture. There was so much of him to touch, and Tedra loved touching him, looking at him. But right now she wanted to feel him deep inside her.
“If you wait much longer, Challen, I’m going to-”
She gasped as his heat entered her. Stars, there was such tightness, such fullness. She knew her body would accommodate him, but she didn’t think she could wait long enough for it to do so. She didn’t think he could either. His great body trembled in restraint, his muscles quivered, sweat broke out all over him. Either he was in as much discomfort as she, or he was putting on another superhuman effort. The effort was wasted. Despite the discomfort of his entry, of knowing there would be greater pain to come, Tedra wanted all of him and she wanted it now.
“Are you waiting for my permission?”
He made a sound between a growl and a moan, and gritted out, “Permission is not needed of a challenge loser.”
“It figures,” was the best she could say at the moment, unable to take exception to anything just now except his restraint. “So why are you holding back?”
She thought he might laugh at that, but he couldn’t quite manage it. “Because you are so small.”
“I’m small? Maybe I’m normal, and you’re just too big.”
Challen could not believe he was even having this conversation, though he had to admit it was helping to keep him from savagely letting go. “Think you I have known so few women I cannot tell the difference? Long must have been your journey to come here.”
Tedra didn’t know what that had to do with anything, nor did she care just then. “Well, I’m not going to get any bigger, babe, until we start doing this on a regular basis. So if you’re holding back on my account, don’t.”
“Patience is a virtue you would do well to practice, woman.”
“Like you are? Forget that. If you don’t get on with it, I’m going to think you’re punishing me again by making me wait.”
His eyes closed and his forehead dropped to hers. His straining had become worse. “I do not want… to hurt you.”
She was filled with a warm feeling of tenderness for him upon hearing that, but there was no reason for them both to suffer. Her hands went to his face to make him look at her as she explained, “This is a breaching, Challen. Pain is unavoidable for me no matter what you do. I could have fixed it if I’d anticipated… You don’t know what I’m talking about, do you? You will if you’ll just fill me, so come inside, my gentle warrior. Do it now. I promise you I can take it.”
There was no stopping him after hearing that, but he also heard the scream that ripped from her throat as he plunged to the hilt. Never in his life had he drawn such a sound from a woman, but instantly he knew the reason for it, had felt the skin as it was carelessly breached. Breaching-her word. If he had only known its meaning was literal. And now he understood her unusual smallness, not abstinence because of a long journey without a man at her side, but abstinence her whole life. She had been untouched, a woman of her bold looks and words, a woman, not a young girl. It was the one thing he would never have imagined her to be.