...Colette paused in the doorway of the dark hut. “Gaston, are you here?”

There was no reply. A bolt of fear shot through her. Had someone else come and taken him captive or frightened him into reckless flight without any provisions or funds for his journey to safety? She almost screamed aloud when a warm hand settled on her shoulder. The heat and strength of the touch seeped quickly through the fabric of her cloak and the thin shirt she wore beneath it.

She gasped, then whirled when she realized it was Gaston who had materialized at her side. Without thought, she leaped toward him, much as she had done as a young child, grasping his shoulders and raising herself to lock her legs around his body. Clearly taken by surprise, Gaston reacted by clasping his arms around her to support her body as he backed a step to lean against the solid stone wall of the hut.

Steadied by his strong arms, Colette loosed her grip on Gaston’s shoulders and clasped his head, turning his face into hers and pressing her lips to his.

“You are going away forever,” she whispered. “I know not how I can bear it, but I must. Still, tonight you must be my friend again and my love. It is the only chance we will have.”

For a moment, she feared he was going to refuse, but his hesitation lasted only a moment. With a ragged sigh, he crushed her close and returned her kisses with growing heat and ardor. She slid lower down his body and felt his cock harden, seeking her through the fabric of their breeches. Virgin she might be, but living among the animals as she had, her knowledge of the ways of males and females was limited only by lack of personal experience. Before the night ended, she vowed that would be remedied.

Gaston lowered her until her feet found the ground, but he kept her in his embrace. “I cannot,” he whispered. “It will ruin your chances for a good marriage.”

“I shall blame Charles for deflowering me, and no one will know otherwise. Since we were betrothed, it will be almost as if I were a widow. He is not going to be around to dispute it, and the servants have all seen him mauling me, heard his demands. Only Papa was never witness to it and thus did not seem to believe my complaints.” She shivered, recalling the resolution of the problem and why she was here now.

He steered her into the hut. “Come. There is a pallet inside. I will not tup you on the bare ground. A lady of your quality deserves better than that, and so does the only love of my life.”

The passion and tenderness in his tone sizzled through her, igniting fierce, itchy tingles in places she had all but ignored before. Her breasts ached, thrusting against the soft fabric of her shirt, with her nipples hard and eager. Pressing close to Gaston’s strong body, she lifted one leg and wrapped it around his, stretching to press her crotch against his heat.

Gaston unfastened her cloak. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness of the hut, she saw him spread her garment over a pile of straw and tanned hides in one corner. Then he swept her into his arms, holding her high for a moment. After a few breaths, he settled her on the pallet, pausing only an instant before he threw himself down beside her.

Colette felt so hot she almost worried the straw would combust from the heat radiating from her body. Even before Gaston had fully stretched out beside her, she wriggled closer, clutched at him, and pressed her body to his with such fierceness it was as if she tried to merge the two of them into a single form. In an instant, his arms were again around her, hugging her in a starving embrace, and then skimming his hands up and down her backside, shaping every curve and hollow. There was awe and wonder, near worship in his touch, but also an explosive surge of hunger and passion.