«Rapunzel & The Handsome Stranger» by Veronica Sloan

For eighteen years Rapunzel
has been a captive in the witch's tower. Desperate to know the world beyond her narrow window, the girl prays for sweet release. It is not only the witch and the tower she seeks to escape but the nameless ache inside her restless body.
When a handsome thief charms his way into her bedroom, she knows salvation is at hand. This erotic tale is 16,000 words and for readers 18 and up.


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Excerpt ~~~~~


Laertes warred within his
soul. He craved this maiden with a passion indescribable, the peerless beauty
whose very lust blossomed from a font of sweetest purity. She begged to know
the ways of men and women and he was fain to indulge her. But what great sin would it be to profane a heart so true? He touched the hand upon his trousers and whispered, “With all that I am, dearest Rapunzel, know that I love thee.
But I cannot grant this wish. In the world you know not, disgrace follows women
who are loved by men such as I.”


“Men such as you?”
she asked. “A prince?”


“A lie,” he said.
“I am a prince of thieves, no more. I scaled this tower in the hopes of plundering its vaunted treasures. Instead I have found the greatest treasure in the five kingdoms…and she has unmanned me with her goodness.”


Rapunzel's fingers touched
Laertes' trousers. “That is another lie. You are not unmanned, sir.”


“Any wretched criminal
would ravish you in a heartbeat,” he said. “I shall not. I swear
it.” He dared not look at her again.


Rapunzel gasped to see the
tears well in his sapphire eyes. Tenderly, she held his cheek. “Look upon
me, Laertes. I bear the marks of your passion and know no shame. What you are a prince of makes no matter to me. I am a princess of despair! I would give you any treasure in this tower just to be rid of the smallest piece of my prison.
And I would not interrupt this joyous union for the sake of a world I've never
known. I promise you every treasure in this wretched tower if only you will
take me too.”


Laertes laced his fingers
through her own. “I will take you, Rapunzel, I swear it.”


“And will you show me your manhood?” she whispered.


“I wish to,” he groaned. “I want to! But I pledged to my lost mother's soul I'd never rob an unwed woman of her virtue.”


Rapunzel freed her hand from
Laertes' grasp. “My virtue! If my virtue prohibits you from bestowing the knowledge I have waited my whole life to know, I charge you to plunder it as
you would plunder my tower!” With haste, her nimble fingers began to unlace his trousers. “My virtue has gained me naught but sleepless nights,”
she scoffed. “I long to be rid of virtue!”


Laertes seized her hand.
“Rapunzel, I made a vow! As God as my witness, or even your precious moon,
I shall not break it.”


Rapunzel wailed with fury.
She clutched the man by his thick shoulders and searched his sky blue eyes.
“Then do not break your vow!” she said. “Make me your
wife.”


Laertes gaped at the girl.
“What?”


Rapunzel pushed herself into
his lap and hung her arms about his tan neck. “Wed me, Laertes. Now! In this very moment.”


“I haven't the power to do that,” he whispered.


“Yes you do,” she whispered back. She tugged at her ruined neckline and pushed her naked chest
into his tunic. “Say I am your wife,” she said. “Marry me now
and we shall consummate it here in my bedroom.”


Laertes clasped Rapunzel's
cheeks between his callused palms. “As God as my witness, and your moon, I declare that we are man and wife.”


Their kiss made the constellations gallop in the
dimming sky.