"Robert E. Vardeman & Geo W. Proctor - The Swords of Raemllyn 1 - To Demons Bound" - читать интересную книгу автора (Vardeman Robert E)

In the next instant, Belatha broke off the deeply pas-sionate kiss and shoved him away with
surprisingly strong arms to demand loudly, "How dare you?"
Davin's questioning frown concealed a hasty glance about the courtyard. Those at the tables were
too en-grossed in their own pursuits, be they gold or stolen gazes at plump breasts, to notice Belatha and
him. His attention returned to the bountifully endowed blonde with the fiery eyes of emerald hue, although
he was uncertain whether that flame stemmed from desire.
With hands planted firmly on hips, Belatha stomped a sandaled foot to the flagstone. "You promised
to be here one grain of sand past sunset. Why, I've been wait-ing for.. .hours!"
Davin summoned up an expression of boyish inno-cence to mask a grin of amusement. The wickedly
de-licious smile on Belatha's full red lips told the true story. No matter when Davin had arrived, it wouldn't
have been soon enough for this daughter of Bistonia.
And I worried about losing her to some creaking, overage moneylender with bulging sacks of
gold and silver bists and eagles!
"You cannot know the half of it." To complement his pitiful expression, Davin solemnly lowered his
voice to a whisper. "I was set upon by a thiefтАФthieves! Fully a dozen! Armed with rapiers that sang in the
air like ven-omous metallic snakes."
Belatha's eyes widened to emerald orbs ignited by the excitement of danger and admiration for the
handsome young adventurer standing before her.
"I had but one thought as they backed me into an alley, intent on slicing my body into bloody ribbons."
Davin milked the moment for all it was worth.
"What?" Belatha's voice was throaty with excitement. "What was the thought? Your life being
relived? A mys-tical vision?"
"I thought only of you. I would be denied your pre-cious company." Davin mustered all the sincerity
he could to deliver that less than sincere line. "I yanked out my dagger and sword, slew the six on my right,
and by the time I'd swirled to assault the six on my left, why, they'd turned tail and run like cravens!"
Belatha snorted in mock disgust, then laughed, real-izing she was on the receiving end of a fully
embellished, impromptu tall tale.
"I knew you tarried with that red-haired, thick-hided lanka you call a friend far too long. This but
proves my case. You are beginning to lie as powerfully as he does!"
"I but told it the way it should have occurred, my lovely. NothingтАФnot even a full dozen
brigandsтАФcould keep me away this night." Davin hooked an arm about
Belatha's slender waist, escorting her to a rough-hewed oak table.
The bench that accommodated them was as hard as Davin's firm-muscled thigh, which suggestively
pressed against Belatha's softer, yielding one. Under the table came a feminine hand, moving slowly,
seeking, finding. Davin sucked in a lungful of air as the hand methodically sought to transform him into a
bull in rut.
He turned to the divine vision at his side. Belatha was no peasant, no tavern wench, no day worker.
Nor was the frosty-haired temptress a mere courtesan, of that he was positive. Her skin was of the finest
and smoothest. The hand on the tableтАФand the one so delightfully em-ployed beneathтАФhad never toiled.
They were untouched by blemish and work-hardening.
While she had never hinted that she was more than she appeared, Davin fantasized that she was a
highborn lady of some manor, her lord old and haggard, the am-orous fires long dead within his loins.
Belatha now sought adventure elsewhere. She required a man to fill her nights, to give her the pleasures
that had since fled the marital bed.
That was Davin's fantasy, a fantasy that only fanned his desire. The woman beside him was not
woven from his imagination. Nor were her sensuously half-hooded emerald eyes, the small smile crinkling
the corners of carmine-tinted lips, the soft flow of cheek and jawline, the delicately formed ear peeping out
from beneath a cascade of lustrous golden hair.
Davin's arm tightened about Belatha's waist, drawing her closer so that his lips might teasingly brush
that ear. He felt a shiver of excitement rush through his highborn lady disguised as a serving wench, a