Rhonwyn sighed and stretched lazily. The lips on hers were warm, and they grew more demanding with each passing moment. She faintly protested this intrusion into her sleep, but then she felt his lingers seeking between her nether lips. Two of the fingers pushed easily into her love channel while the ball of his thumb began to tease at the badge of her sex. His kisses were bruising her lips, but she didn't want him to stop. Her arms slipped up to embrace him. His thumb played with her until the tension was almost painful. She shuddered as it broke, but rather than stopping he began anew, arousing her again and this time to a greater height than before. Rhonwyn was now fully awake.

"Look at me, you adorable little bitch," he growled against her kiss-swollen mouth.

Rhonwyn's emerald green eyes opened and looked directly into those of Rashid al Ahmet. "As my lord wills," she said softly.

The two fingers thrust deep, and she cried out with undisguised pleasure. His white teeth flashed a smile against his sun-darkened skin. "Are you beginning to know passion?" he said provocatively. His thumb worried at her throbbing jewel.

"Yesss," she hissed, panting. "Oh, please!"

"Please what?" His tongue licked at her nipples.

"Please!" she repeated.

"Tell me what you want, my beauteous Noor," he replied.

"You!" she half sobbed.

He laughed low, and then rolling onto his back, he lifted her up, lowering her slowly on his raging manhood. When she was settled he reached up and began to fondle her breasts.

Rhonwyn was astounded. His manhood was deep inside her. She felt its length, hot and throbbing, yet it was she who would appear to be the dominant. Her eyes widened.

"Ride me, my adorable Noor. I am your stallion," Rashid al Ahmet told her. "Surely you are not afraid?"

She moved hesitantly at first, and then at his smile of open encouragement she began to move more surely upon him as he gently drew her forward, his hands slipping about to cup her buttocks.

"That's it, my beauty," he said. "Brace your hands, Noor. That's right, my precious. Ah! What pleasure you give me!"

Rhonwyn had found the proper rhythm now, and she rode the caliph enthusiastically for some minutes until he gently turned her onto her back, delving deeper into her softness, watching the change in expression on her lovely face, amazed when they attained nirvana together, crying out with utter satisfaction.

After some minutes Rashid al Ahmet laughed aloud. "What a woman you are becoming, my lovely Noor," he said.

Rhonwyn could feel that her cheeks were hot. She had been so wickedly bold, and she had liked it. "I never knew you could…"

"You are going to be astounded at what we can and will do together, my adorable one," he said, his deep laughter rumbling up again from his chest. "You are, I am pleased to note, an eager pupil." Leaning over, he kissed her again, running a finger along her bruised lips. "Do you like your apartments?"

"Aye, I do. Especially the garden with its sweeping views of the mountains, my lord."

"Good!" he said. "Are you hungry? I am. I have not eaten since morning."

"I shall have my servants bring you food, my lord Rashid," Rhonwyn said, arising from her bed. "And while we eat, will you tell me of your day?"


His dark blue eyes grew warm with approval. The whole palace was gossiping that he intended to make Noor his wife, but until this moment he had not decided the matter. It was a foolish man who thought only with his cock. Her newly unleashed passion was commendable, but it was her care for his welfare and her interest in his doings that brought about his final decision. He would indeed make Noor his wife. Like Alia, she was a nurturing creature, quite unlike the two who had been disposed of this day. And two wives, he thought, was more than enough for any man, even a caliph of Cinnebar. Tomorrow he would speak with the imam. "Aye, Noor," he said to her. "I will indeed share my day with you as we eat."

Chapter 11

“Well, Edward de Beaulieu," Prince Edward said, "do you think you are strong enough to continue on, or will you return to England? You have been very ill, and I will not count it against you, particularly under the circumstances."

"I will go on with you, my liege" came the answer, "but first I must seek my wife and Sir Fulk. They are surely being held captive nearby and can be ransomed."

"Perhaps," the prince responded, "but I wonder if that is so, for we have received no ransom demand, nor have we been attacked since that day when your wife so bravely led our men. What a woman! I should like to see her and her companion, Sir Fulk, safely returned."

"I will follow you in seven days' time, my lord, if I cannot find Rhonwyn. But I know that 1 will," de Beaulieu said tersely. The prince's remarks about his wife's courage were somehow irritating.

"I will pray God that you do, my friend, but if in seven days' time you have found no trace of her, then you must give up your search. She will have been either sold into slavery in some nameless place or ravaged and killed. I am very concerned that a week has gone by and we have had no word, but you must search, else you and your honor not be satisfied, I know. I surely would not be. You know the road to Acre." The prince patted Edward de Beau-lieu's shoulder.

"I have one favor to ask of you, my liege. Will your good wife take Rhonwyn's maidservant into her train until I find Rhonwyn? I cannot keep Enit safe among all these men, and she is a good lass, betrothed to one of my own people."

"Of course," Prince Edward said. "Have her gather her possessions, and I will escort her to Eleanor myself."

Enit began to weep when she was told of her fate. "Please, my lord, let me stay with you and wait for my mistress to return."

"Nay, Enit, it is not safe," de Beaulieu told her. "You will be reunited with your mistress in Acre, but in the meanwhile I know you will be secure with the princess's train. My search may be dangerous, and 1 cannot have you about to worry over. Now fetch your things and go with Prince Edward."

"Yes, my lord." Enit sniffled, but she did his bidding, gathering up her lew possessions and following forlornly after Prince Edward as be departed de Beaulieu's tent.

"There is one less worry,” Edward muttered almost to himself. He was still feeling weak, but at least he was on his feet again. In the morning he would take his two knights, and they would seek Rhonwyn and Sir Fulk. Rhonwyn. His wild Welsh wife. He didn't know whether he would kill her or kiss her when he found her. And Fulk! Where was his common sense that he allowed his lord's wife to run off into battle and then get them captured? To his credit Fulk had at least followed after Rhonwyn.

De Beaulieu understood that Rhonwyn was different from other women by virtue of her upbringing, but he had never liked it. He could even understand her desire to bloody her sword for the first time in a real combat, although most women he had known would have fainted at the mere thought of such a thing. Her mistake had been in becoming overconfident. Her passion for the battle should not have outweighed her caution, but it had, allowing her to be surrounded and then captured. But why had they taken her off and not simply killed her? He needed to know more than he already did. He called Sir Hugo into his presence and asked him to seek out someone who had been in the heat of the battle. Sir Hugo returned with a rather grizzled and gruff knight, Sir Arthur Sackville.

"I had heard it was a woman," Sir Arthur said, shaking his head with disbelief. "But I could not quite fathom such a thing. Your wife, you say?"

"Aye," Edward answered. "She is the daughter of ap Gruffydd, the prince of the Welsh."

"Magnificent creature!" Sir Arthur enthused admiringly. "She raced into the very center of it all, rallying us furiously! For the first time I felt our crusade was a truly holy and blessed thing, my lord. It was as if the angels were on her side."

"Did you see her capture? Why did they take her instead of simply killing her?" de Beaulieu pressed.

"They didn't really. She had just killed the nobleman who led the infidels. I think it was in coming to his defense they found themselves surrounding your wife, although they certainly did not realize they had a woman. But they raced off with her in their midst. A single knight galloped after them, but I do not know his name."

"Sir Fulk," Edward said. "He was my man and should not have allowed Rhonwyn into battle, although even I know it would have been difficult to stop her once her mind was set on it. Who was the man she killed?"

"I have no idea, my lord de Beaulieu. One of their nobles by his garb. I am sorry I can help you no further," Sir Arthur said.

"Can you tell me in which direction they went?" Edward asked.

"Toward the mountains," the knight said. "Of that I am absolutely certain. They rode to the mountains, although why I do not understand. There is nothing out there, you know."

"There must be something, else why would they have gone that way?" Edward replied.

"Nomads and their flocks, perhaps, but nothing else." Sir Arthur paused as if considering his next words. Then he said, "My lord de Beaulieu, while the infidels could not have known at first that the knight who battled them so fiercely was a woman, they would have eventually found her out. They have surely ravaged her and killed her by now. Yours is a tragic loss, I realize, but you will have to accept it sooner or later, I fear. And if by some miracle your lady survived, would you want her back after other men had used her? Forgive me, de Beaulieu, for saying it, but she is lost to you. God help her, she is gone." He bowed to Edward. "I am sorry I could be of no real help to you." Then he exited the tent.