Page 109 of Forbidden
“Nay,” she said.
Her voice was so soft that Erik could barely hear it.
“Are you certain? Some men are vicious when lust takes them,” Erik said bluntly. “No matter how badly I need Duncan as my own, I’ll not condemn you to spend your life lying beneath a rutting beast who is twice your size.”
Amber put her hands to her suddenly hot cheeks. “Stop!”
Erik cursed beneath his breath, stood abruptly, and came to stand as close to Amber as he could without touching her.
“Look at me, Amber.”
A combination of regret, tenderness, and concern was mixed together in Erik’s voice and in the expression on his face.
“Did Cassandra never talk to you about the ways of men and maids?” Erik asked.
Amber shook her head.
Erik sighed. “It must be that she believed you would never be able to touch a man’s hand without pain, much less hold part of his body within you in the marriage bed.”
A small sound escaped Amber as she looked away from the tall lord she had known all her life.
Yet never had they talked like this.
“Nay,” Erik said. “There is no need to be embarrassed about the way in which men and women unite. It is a gift of God. Did you find it…distasteful?”
Amber shook her head.
“Hurtful?” he asked.
She shook her head again.
“Then he didn’t take you too quickly?” Erik pressed. “He’s not unskilled?”
“Erik,” Amber said faintly. “We should not talk of such things!”
“Why not? You have neither mother nor sister, and Cassandra has never experienced a man. Or would you rather talk about such things with a priest who has never experienced a woman?”
“I’d rather not talk about it at all,” Amber muttered.
The returning life in her voice sent a surge of relief through Erik. He didn’t know what would happen to Amber if she believed Duncan lost to her.
Nor did Erik want to know.
“You must talk about it,” he said, “if only this once.”
A sideways look convinced Amber that Erik wasn’t going to be turned aside. Reluctantly, she nodded.
“If Duncan is unskilled in the arts of love,” Erik said matter-of-factly, “it can be remedied. If he is a brute, there is no remedy.”
“He is neither unskilled nor a brute,” Amber said.
A long breath of relief was Erik’s first response. Then he smiled.
“I begin to understand,” he said.
“I’m glad one of us does.”
Erik hid his smile.
