She can't

"Master Werner, I'm sorry." Christine's whisper just barely filled the small room, as good and kind as this man had been to her and Erik and she repaid him with nothing but lies and evasions. "I will not share more than my name, but I will lie to you no more."

"OK." The Verderer seemed to accept this compromise. "Do you and the lad intend to steal from me or cause my family harm?"

"No!" How could the man even think that? "I swear by the Blessed Mother herself; we would never betray your trust." She placed her small hand on his arm hoping that even if he could not see her in the dark, he could at least sense the sincerity in her words.

"And you will go see this Merthin tomorrow, and he will protect you?" This was a little harder to answer, but Christine did her best.

"I will go to Merthin in the morning, as for whether or not he will protect us, that is in God's hands." For some reason this did not make the Verderer feel any better. As an officer of the court her knew too well what happened to young women who threw themselves on the mercy of powerful men. This sweet young woman could very easily find herself paying for the notary's protection with her body. The memory of the stolen kiss in the tack-room would not leave him. As long as she was answering his questions, there was something else he had to know.

"When I kissed you before ... did you like it?" He could sense her confusion as she looked away clearly not expecting this new line of questioning. The only light in this small room came in through the cracks in the wall and it was hard to gauge her reaction.

After a brief hesitation he felt her fingers tighten slightly on his arm.

"Yes, Master Werner. It was the finest kiss I've ever had." Werner covered her small hand in his that was half a gesture of reassurance and half one of possession.

"Do you have a lot of experience kissing men?" Perhaps this woman knew exactly what she was getting herself into, for all he knew she deliberately placed herself where he would kiss her himself.

"No, Master Werner. I've only kissed one other, and it was not like our kiss at all." She leaned forward even more until her hair was only inches from his chin. "I've never been alone like this with a man ..." In spite of his attempt to remain cool and controlled, her admission that she was still pure made his cock swell in his leggings. More than ever, he envied Merthin who would surely pluck this tightly sealed rose bud. Unless ... Werner's fingers tightened around Christine's fingers ... unless he beat the wealthy bastard to it.

"Do you want me to kiss you again?" The question came out as a coarse grunt, but Christine didn't seem to fear him.

"Yes." The muffled sound of laughter came up through the floorboards and as if to make sure he heard her, Christine repeated herself even louder. "Yes, Werner I'd like that very much." But then she added sadly, "but your wife might not approve."