A Heart's Chance Read online

  “My lord, please.”

  “You requested help and such is a husband’s obligation.” Mikeli eased the dagger down her body and licked his lips when the material surrendered with the sound of soft complaint. The binding article of clothing all but spread open of its own accord as the sound of subtle tearing filled the room.

  Her fear-filled breaths uncontrolled, Ilona closed her eyes and swallowed. “Please.”

  “Does my blade scare you?” At her apprehensive nod, he dropped the dagger on the bed, seized her bodice and ripped it open to her narrow waist. Her sucked in breath earned his smile of approval. “I never did believe a woman should confine her assets.” With his gaze locked on her face, he bent his head to her small breast and latched onto her enticing nipple. His sucks gentle at first, his hunger intensified while his tongue caressed the pink bud and the darker areola. He fondled her other mound and rubbed his thumb across the hardened peak.

  She fought for control of her traitorous body, but failed. The soft moan she bit back twice before now escaped her lips in a broken utterance.

  Mikeli raised his gaze, read her face and ascertained her lack of deep sexual involvement with men. He released her and straightened. “Your first husband never pleasured you with his mouth?”

  Ilona averted her face. “N-no. Such… behaviors are… inappropriate.”

  Her blush admired, he pitched his voice to seduce, “Not true, wife. Let me show you what pleasures a man’s mouth and body can provide.” He guided her back onto the bed and picked up his dagger. “I suggest you remain very still.” His smile broad, he gathered the hem of her gown in his grip, raised it over his head and made quick work of her lower undergarments.

  The tear of material swept a chill over her until his warm breath cascaded across her in an area no man’s face ever ventured. Wide-eyed, she jumped. “My lord!”

  His quick intervention shielded her tender flesh from his dagger’s tip. Mikeli chuckled at her tightened legs. He set the blade on the bed and placed his hand on the smooth skin of her inner thigh. “Let me see heaven.” Her legs coerced wide for his viewing pleasure, he grinned. “Such a pretty sight and so virginal in this area of exploration.”

  Ilona squirmed against his hold. “I’m begging—”

  “Always liked a woman who did.” The expanse of his chest kept her legs apart while he flipped her lower gown up and over her upper body to hinder her struggles. Ever gentle, he opened her satin slit and lowered his head until his lips encircled her delectable clit. He placed a seductive kiss of wanton passion on the hooded pearl.

  The heat of his mouth unveiled a bundle of sensitive nerves she never knew existed. A shudder racked her body and her hips bucked. “My lord, no… ohhh…” Objection died on her lips and she slapped her untangled hands beside her hips. Her palm hit something hard and her senses reeled. When her hand closed around the dagger hilt, his intimate invasion of her body compelled her arch into his oral massage.

  Mikeli caressed her tender clit with his tongue and enjoyed the succulent morsel he licked and lapped until her hips bucked against his face. He sheathed his deep plunged tongue inside her delicious inner silken walls and milked her toward orgasm. The clamp of her thighs coaxed and his mouth latched onto her hooded nubbin. His finger slid inside her clenched pussy, his caress of her unexploited passage gentle, erotic, seductive.

  Ilona squirmed to escape his ravenous mouth and stroking finger, but her traitorous body arched into his touch. “Don’t… stop…”

  His growls vibrated her as he suckled and kissed until her trembles subsided. When his arms straightened and pushed him up, he narrowed his eyes at the item clutched in her hand. The weight of his knee dipped the bed in a slow deliberate action to provide her the chance to rethink her choice. He lowered his body over hers, lodged his hips between her thighs. Her moist tunnel beckoned when the crown of his thick length nestled at her velvet entrance.

  She opened her eyes and met his gaze. “I will never love you.” His ribcage her target, she plunged the blade upward.

  His reaction swift, Mikeli shifted, intercepted the dagger with the underside of his forearm and sneered as the metal grazed bone and bit muscle. Trained to ignore pain, he clamped his hand around her throat and pressed his thumb into the sensitive section just under her jaw. He applied a slow pressure, his command a mere growl, “Pull it out and lay it beside your hip. Mind you, refusal will steal your thought and leave you at my mercy. And, depending on how fast you obey, perhaps that of my men.”

  Ilona gasped for air, but none filled her lungs. Locked in his grip, her lack of breath promised unconsciousness. Her compliance hasty, she dropped the dagger at her side and pried at his hold in desperation.

  “Do not move, my lady.” With her gaze locked, he released her throat, seized the dagger and, his fury controlled, threw the blade at the headboard. Its bite in the wood accompanied his long low growl. He raised his arm, scoffed at the minor damage then pressed his palm down on her upper chest with enough pressure to render her torso immobile.

  She gasped for air. “I will not tolerate your cruel treatment—”

  “It takes a lethal strike to kill a warrior.” Mikeli lowered his arm. His fury on edge, he narrowed his eyes and furrowed his brow. “Cruel? The response from your own body announced your pleasure as my lips nibbled, my mouth sucked, my tongue explored and my fingers caressed.”

  Aghast at the declaration of his actions and the trail of blood down his arm, Ilona slapped his face. “How dare you!”

  Infuriated, he seized her wrists, pinned them over her head and wedged his hips between her thighs. “I was going to teach you pleasure, my lady, but now…” His ire controlled, he plunged his rigid cock into her satin sheath with a single thrust. Her startled scream acknowledged with a satisfied grunt, he admired the tightness of her silken inner walls mingled with her gasp while he withdrew. Tempted to tell her of her former husband’s lies about her experience and use, he shoved aside all thought of the vile fiend and focused on the wife he claimed.

  “I shall simply take my pleasure from your body and use you to bear heirs for my realm.” He retracted and surged back into her tight pussy. Enraged by her attack after his gentleness, he deemed it unnecessary to provide her pleasure and enjoyed only his own. His drive relentless, he plowed the crown of his shaft through her soft folds and into her slick passage as his repetitive strokes buried his voracious erection to the base. With the intent to use her more than anything at this point, his merciless plunges pounded, drove and filled her deep, fast and hard.

  Excited by the slap of his legs against the back of her thighs, he grunted when her slick creamed nectar coated his veined hardness with every thrust. He withdrew, grabbed her waist and shoved her face down on the bed. The view of her bent over seized his very soul. “Still wish to deny me, Lady Ilona?”

  “Forever, Lord Mikeli.” She scrambled to escape until his evil laugh slid over her skin in a melted caress and froze her every nerve. The heat of his palm closed around her ankle and his grip intensified.

  “There is no where for you to run.” Mikeli dragged her back, hoisted her onto her hands and knees then lifted her gown and flipped the bunched material up over her back. He gripped her hips, raised her until her glistening folds waited poised and ready for his pleasure. His view of her satin slit enjoyed, he ignored the urge to ram.

  Her secret hope for him to answer no, Ilona shivered. “Are you finished with me, my lord?”

  “Never, my lady.” With the undeniable need of his thick length held at bay, he stroked her warm folds with the head of his cock. “Your resistance is far too enjoyable.” The hardness of his shaft granted him an unerring slam deep inside her velvet tunnel. He treasured her uttered moan. Her position granted him depth and speed while he mercilessly buried the full length of his hammered erection in her soft sheath. “You will bear me numerous heirs, my lady, for I will use you as I desire.”

  A wanton moan escaped. “I will bear your heirs,
my lord, and every one of them shall be as I.” She clutched the sheet in an effort to conceal the pleasure his every dynamic thrust into her body provided until his seed poured into her eager pussy.

  Chapter Four

  Twenty-three years passed.

  Swelled with pride, Ilona appreciated the ordeal of a birth once every two years. “I kept my word as a good wife and provided the promised heirs. Too bad all are female.” Comfortable on the window seat, she gazed into the courtyard below while her ninth born child, now five years old, guided the small pony over the low hurdle under the supervising eye of the alert riding instructor. “Marija is quite an accomplished rider.”

  Mikeli folded his arms over his chest. His youngest far more than simply such, he knew one of the rare celestials would come for her one day for he felt the strength of her soul and understood the length of her life. “She is a strong young woman.”

  She glanced at the open door of her chamber. “I dislike when you appear unannounced. Does my lord wish something?”

  “No. The holding of your father’s realm is sufficient.” He strode across the floor and peered below from the second window. “I choose our youngest as my blood heir. I know she is mine for she is the only one of my daughters who didn’t acquire her mother’s hatred of me by the age of three. She still hugs me and sees me as her father, not the monster you wish. It hurts me you turned my children against me in their training as ladies. I was never unkind or failed in my generosity to them.”

  Ilona leapt to her feet. “Our oldest accused you—”

  “At your behest.” Mikeli leveled his gaze on her lovely face. “I may have stormed into your world and drawn blood from those around you, but I showed you kindness the minute you became my wife.”

  “And it ended that night—”

  “After you stabbed me.” He stepped closer and scowled at her matched move in the opposite direction.

  Ilona never hid her hate. “You murdered my husband and mother.”

  Mikeli narrowed his eyes. “A husband you knew for a mere month after your wedding night and a mother who plotted and bartered to leash you with the whelp in exchange for land and wealth. I came because your precious husband offered you as payment for his debt to me when he begged for his life after he raped, shared with his soldiers and murdered my beloved bride.”

  “You lie!”

  “I do many things, but lying is not one of them. He described you as a delightful woman with soft creamy flesh and subtle curves. A lady with golden hair, which brushed her hips, red lips that shamed a rose, warm brown eyes, which sparkled more than dew on morning grass and the enticing scent of lilacs and honeysuckle. Her bountiful breasts, strong bone and sturdy build promised healthy children. He called you a stunning beauty. The description was so like my beloved’s I failed to resist the impossible hope of replacing her.”

  Ilona shook her head. “You’re lying…”

  Mikeli raised his hand and invoked her silence. “Angered any man would trade such a creature so foolishly, I took his life as part of the deal, my lady. Your physical description paled until I realized you were a woman so cold and callous on the inside her outer beauty was marred by her inner ugliness. I saw it in your eyes the day we met. I hoped to change such, but you wanted none of my kindness from the beginning.”

  “Liar!”

  He pinned her with his gaze. “Was there ever any order or request from your lips I did not comply with or grant immediately? Even to the disgruntlement of my own men?” After a lengthy silence, he sighed. “No. I gave you everything you ever asked for.”

  Ilona despised the way his gaze pierced her soul. “You never released me.”

  “You didn’t ask and I won’t now.” His smile sad, Mikeli shook his head. “How did you manage to provide just female heirs, my lady?”

  Her heart hardened by the disclosed information, she raised her chin. “Perhaps it was not I who couldn’t give, but you who failed—”

  He backhanded her and sneered when her body hit the floor with a thud. His visceral growl followed by a hiss through his teeth closed her opening mouth. “Your treachery and deceit will be your downfall, wench.” Incensed, he pivoted and stormed for the door.

  Ilona wiped the corner of her mouth with the side of her forefinger, her glare on his departing back. “Your violence already led to your betrayal.”

  Chapter Five

  Eleven years passed.

  Golden sun crept into her room. Marija drew the pillow over her head until a loud whinny garnered her attention. The pillow flung aside, she threw off the blankets, dashed from the bed and yanked open window. “Father!”

  Mikeli waved. “What do you think, Marija?”

  She stared at the magnificent black stallion who pranced in the courtyard below. “He’s beautiful. Is he mine?”

  His bow graceful, yet swift, he proffered her the lead line. “Happy sixteenth birthday, sweetheart.”

  Excited, Marija clapped her hands and squealed. “I’ll be down in a minute.” She ducked inside, closed the window, snatched up her clothes and dressed in her typical mud brown doeskin boots, hunter green tights, white poet’s shirt with billowed sleeves and a stretchy black bodice, which hugged her waist. Her dash downstairs ended once her foot hit the kitchen floor.

  “Get some more venison on the pit or there won’t be enough for tonight.” Ilona grabbed her youngest daughter’s shoulder. “Marija, be wary of men and the gifts they bare. I’ve taught you all I know, but you never apply it.”

  “He’s my father.”

  “Yes, but I want you prepared when a man crosses your path. They use you, barter for you and love is only a fantasy.”

  “All men except my father.” Marija snatched her winter cloak from a hook and draped it around her shoulders. A guard opened the door. She ran toward her father and slowed when the stallion reared and pawed the air.

  His arms spread to divert the animal’s possible direction, Mikeli stepped between his daughter and the stallion. “Fricis, hold the beast.”

  She peered around her protective living shield. “He’s as handsome as you, Father.”

  His smile warm, he pivoted, swept her into his arms and kissed her cheek. “How I ever ended up with an angel for an heiress, I’ll never know.” When the horse dropped down on all four feet and calmed, he winked. “Step back.” At her compliance, he sprang onto the animal’s bare back, reached down and wiggled his fingers. “Ride with me.”

  Marija moved to her father’s leg and squealed as his arm swept around her waist and scooped her to sit in front of his body. “Can I hold the reins?”

  “Hold them tight.” Mikeli placed the leather straps in her hands, seized a handful of black mane and pressed his heels against the dark sides.

  The stallion’s forward leap surprised her, but the pressure of her father’s body and the security of his arms, guided her to lean forward against the sleek black neck. Her father trusted in all things, especially when it came to horses, she laughed. “Faster!” His legs tightened. Dark mane whipped back and mingled with her hair. Driven by the wind, droplets of moisture pelted her face.

  “Whoa. Easy, boy.” With the galloping beast reined in, he patted the animal’s neck and glanced toward the sky. “He awaits his name by your mouth, but I think getting back might be a good idea. Besides, you’ve a party tonight.” A sudden drop in temperature combined with the added humidity announced the inevitable coming of snow.

  Flurries faded into the animal’s mane. Marija turned the stallion for home. “Is there a special dress for tonight?”

  Amused by her candor, Mikeli chuckled. “Isn’t there always?”

  “Yes.” She soon halted the horse at the corral. The intensified snow built drifts with the help of the wind.

  He lowered her to stand on the ground and dismounted. “I’ll settle him in his stall and, after a month of training him with you, you may ride him alone, but…” His gaze settled on her face. “Not before then without me. As always, on your be
d.”

  Marija leaned up, pulled him down and kissed his cheek. “Thank you, Father.” She sprinted into the stronghold and hung her cloak by the door. The aroma of sweet breads and meat vied for her focus.

  Angese, the plump cook, winked. “Perhaps a sample of both, my young mistress.”

  “Thank you.” She snatched a piece of each then charged upstairs, flung open her bedroom door and stepped inside her room. The stunning sight stole her breath. “So beautiful.” Trimmed in the brightest gold, the elaborate floor-length gown on the bed shimmered in silver hues. Her smile thrilled, she brushed her hand across the silken material.

  Marija rushed over and stared out the window. Falling snow hindered her vision, but the shrill neigh echoed across the courtyard. Her father effortlessly led the prancing black stallion into the stable and her gaze followed him from the barn until his form disappeared under the canopy of the stronghold’s main door. A light knock on her door garnered her attention. She turned as it opened.

  Ilona smiled and shut the door for privacy. “Marija, we must talk. You are a very attractive young woman and it’s time you know the truth. Your father is powerful and wealthy. His holdings are massive and you are a pawn. When men seek alliances, they barter or steal what they desire. I fear your use in an alliance.”

  “By who?”

  “Your father murdered my first husband and my mother in the process of stealing me from—”

  “Father won’t trade me. He’s not like that!” Marija clamped her hands over her ears.

  Ilona sat on the bed, her hands folded in her lap. “It happened to the three oldest of your sisters the day they turned eighteen.”

  “My sisters seemed really happy with their husbands.”

  “They put on facades in order to keep their younger sisters from seeing the truth. You must obey your husband’s every wish as the day he becomes such, your life is no more.”