A Royal Affair by John Wiltshire

Author:John Wiltshire [Wiltshire, John]
Language: eng
Format: epub

CHAPTER 17

A MAN cannot be a rational creature, a man of science and thought, all the time. He is still a man when all is said and done. I was a man, and I was being offered the one thing I had wanted since I was old enough to want such things and from the very person I had fixated on as the person I wanted it from. I turned into the kiss, my hands going to his hair, tugging him closer. He opened his lips. Our tongues met. The joining went like a spark to my groin, awakening the touch paper of my need. I could have swallowed him whole.

He pulled off, his face glowing and triumphant, sparking with that intense vitality I always associated with him. “There. I’ve done it. I said I would, and I have!”

I jerked back, shifting bodily away from him. “What do you mean?” I felt a terrible chill run though my body. “Was this a bet? Are you playing a game?”

His face was a mask of hurt and confusion. Poor Aleksey. He had made this incredible first move only to have it received so. But of course he could not know why this thought dismayed me. He knew nothing of my history. I seized his arms. “Who did you say it to? Have you discussed this with anyone?”

“I only—Johan said—”

“Johan!” This was what Johan had been discussing with Jules. Aleksey had proposed this dare; the bet had been accepted. Had they laughed as they’d planned it? Laughed about me? Probably whilst enjoying—I could not take that awful thought to its conclusion.

“Niko—” He stopped abruptly. I heard it too: a clip of horses’ hooves, a jingle of tack. We stood as one and held our horses’ heads, hands over their nostrils, stroking and speaking silent words of calm. The group of riders passed above our heads on the ridgeline. We could see them, clearly outlined against the sky. They were heavily armed and wore uniforms.

I think we would have remained undetected, except one of their horsemen let his horse slip and stumble, fragments of the sandy edge falling away and raining around us. He looked down, and we were seen. We were up on our mounts and away down the stream before he could shout alarm. They had the advantage of the higher ground, though, and could keep us in sight as we tried to find a route to outrun them. I had no doubt we could outpace them, for Xavier was a superb horse, and Aleksey always rode the best of horses. But we needed to get out of the valley of the stream and up into the open meadows. I heard something fly past my ear and saw a lance quiver in the soft sand ahead. I snatched it out of the ground as we passed. I intended to return it to them.

At last we could negotiate the bank, and we slid off the horses and yanked them up to the top, remounted, and took flight.

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