“Do you smell that?” he asked.
“Yes,” Elise said. It was the smell of smoke, of burning wood. Julian looked around, but neither of them could see the source of the smoking until a loud crack shattered the quiet, the sound of wood splitting. Elise looked behind them to see that the wood was on fire and crumbling, quickly climbing up the beams of the stable to the loft. Julian grabbed Elise’s hand, pulling her away, but she froze where she was and turned back to Lovely.
“We have to save the horses,” she said, going over to Lovely’s stall and trying to tug it open. Her heart was pounding in her chest as the room started to heat up, filling with smoke as the fire ate through everything around them.
“Elise,” Julian said urgently, taking her by the arm. “This place is going to fall at any moment. We don’t have time—“
“We have to save the horses,” Elise said adamantly, shooting him a look through the smoke. Julian gave her an exasperated look and hurried to open the stable doors. It was hard—they were tied together with some sort of rope and they had to work on the knots before the doors open.
Elise had pulled three horses to the front, including Lovely, hearing another crack as the roof caved in, blocking her exit. She could no longer see Julian, only the red of the flames and the black of the smoke. The horses whinnied and neighed, their eyes wide with panic.
“Julian!” Elise cried. He rushed at her then, undressing himself as he came. She didn’t know what he was doing until he wrapped the shirt around her body, trying to cover her skin.
“We have to move through this fire, baby,” he said to her in a gentle voice. Before she had time to protest or feel real fear or protest, he lifted her into his arms and rushed through the fire headfirst, barreling toward the door. Elise clutched the shirt around her body, feeling the heat whipping at her skin. Julian cradled her tighter, trying to cover her as he shoved his body against the door, breaking the weak wood open. Elise choked then, gasping for air, and he held her as he did the same. It was then that the entire roof caved in, taking with it the horses that hadn’t followed them out of the stable. Lovely was there, her eyes wide and scared, though two of the others had run off, including King.
Julian knelt down and put her down in the grass, looking down over her body, searching for burns. Elise felt her leg stinging just on the outside of her thigh. She looked down to see that part of her dress had been burnt at the hem and that there was a patch of raw, red skin on her thigh. Julian found it, biting his lip as he pulled her dress back. The burn extended halfway up her thigh and was growing more painful by the second.
“It doesn’t look bad,” he said, looking at her face. “I think—Potts will know how to take care of it.”
“What about you?” Elise asked, her brow furrowed in concern. There was the distinct look of pain on his face that made her heart drop. She sat up, looked him over, and when she didn’t see anything, she looked over his shoulder. Elise gasped when she saw the marks there—angry burns that started at the small of his back and rose had risen all the way up. She pulled back, putting her hand on his face, but there was nothing on his mind but blinding pain.
Elise stood up, helping him to his feet. He looked almost dazed, but his eyes were on her as he walked.
“What happened?” she asked.
“I don’t know,” he said, his voice tense. He was walking slowly, as if it hurt him, and gritting his teeth with pain. They got into the mansion and Julian sank down on a chair, careful not to lean back against it.
“Potts!” Elise yelled, her voice high-pitched and frantic. The man appeared from Nikola’s doorway and looked down at us.
“There’s been a fire. I need you to go get the doctor immediately,” Elise said, her voice urgent. Potts flew down the stairs as quickly as he could, his eyes fixing on Julian.
“My lord,” Potts said, rushing over to where Julian sat perched at the edge of the chair with his eyes closed. He didn’t open them when Potts approached him. “What happened?”
“We were in the stables and there was a fire. Julian was burnt. His back—“ Elise said, almost sobbing. “We need a doctor. Please.”
Potts nodded, not even taking the time to gather his coat before he went outside. Elise watched as he mounted King and kicked his side, taking off in a full gallop down the road. She turned to Julian, kneeling down beside him and looking into his eyes. They looked dazed and glazed over until they locked on hers.
“How are you?” he asked softly. “Your leg—"“
“It’s fine,” Elise said. “I’ll have the doctor look at it.”
He stood up. “You should sit down.”
“No, my lord,” Elise said gently. She took his hand and led him into the sitting room, lowering him onto the divan. “Lay on your stomach.”
He did as she said without question, turning his face to look at her. She held her breath as she looked over his back, which looked even worse than before.
“You saved me,” Elise said.
“I would have died there if I hadn’t been able to get you out,” he said. “I would have rather died, Elise.”
She felt her breath catch in her throat, wondering exactly what that meant, if he was just being chivalrous and prideful. His face didn’t look that way, though, but earnest as he stared at her. He closed his eyes after a few minutes and Elise thought he might be asleep, but he reached for her hand and she took it, holding it tightly between her own. Again, the pain was the only thing on his mind, and it made Elise shudder as the feeling ran through her whole body.
It seemed like forever before the doctor arrived, and Elise spent the hold time sitting next to Julian. The doctor took one look at Julian’s back and hurried over, concern all over his features.
“What happened?” he asked sharply.
“We got stuck in the barn while it was on fire,” Elise said, the words bringing tears to her eyes. “He—he saved me.”
“How does it feel, Julian?”
“How the fuck do you think it feels, doctor?” Julian hissed. Elise squeezed his hand.
“The good news is that it’s not as bad as it looks. I’ve seen burns like this before—you’re young and healthy. But you’re going to have to deal with the pain and leave your back bare while it heals.”
“Just clean it up,” Julian said, and Elise was shocked by the image that went through his mind. It made her shudder as she experienced it—the brief image of Julian with his fist colliding with the doctor’s face. She dropped his hand as if it was burning her, looking at him with wide eyes. His eyes were closed tight as the doctor began to clean his back, then spread a salve all over the whole thing with his fingertips. Despite the shock and discomfort Elise was feeling with what she had seen on Julian’s mind, it still made her ache to hear him groan in pain when he couldn’t stop himself.
When the doctor was done, Julian’s body seemed to relax and sink into the divan.
“That salve should help with the pain,” the doctor said, and then handed Elise a large glass jar filled with a pale green paste. “After I bandage him up, you’re going to have to rub that on his back every couple of hours. He should heal quickly—a few days off of his feet. Make sure he rests on his stomach and not his back.”
“Okay,” Elise said. The doctor stood up then, and Elise glanced at Julian to see that he’d fallen asleep, his breathing deep and slow. Elise watched him, listening to the doctor as she left. She found herself reaching out to run her hand through Julian’s hair, bringing her hand to his face. Elise had never been able to read dreams before, but she was caught off -guard then by the image that was in his mind, one that made her heart race. They weren’t making love this time, not really touching each other’s bodies besides to being pressed close together, their bodies swaying in a dance. Elise kept her hands on her cheek and she saw Julian lean down to kiss her in the dream, wrapping his arms around her body to hold her close.
“Elise,”
he said to her, and his voice came out distant, almost like an echo. “I didn’t mean to do it. I swear it wasn’t my fault.”
Elise wanted to ask him what he was talking about, but she wasn’t able to control herself in his dream. She watched as stared at him, then turned around, walking in the direction of a burning barn. Elise watched in horror as her dream -self walked right into the flames, and in that moment, the real Julian’s eyes jolted open and he scrambled off of the divan, his eyes wide with panic.
“It’s okay, my lord,” Elise said, going to him. “It’s okay. It was just a dream. It wasn’t real.”
Julian stared at her, searching her face. Then he pulled her mouth to his and kissed her once, then twice. Elise allowed it to go deeper, lingering for a moment against his lips before she pulled away and stood up. She took his hand and helped him to his feet, then tried to help lead him up the stairs to his room. It was hard to do so without touching his back, but she managed to wrap his arm around her shoulders and lean against her for support, and she made it up to his room with not much effort. She opened the door with her own key and let him in, helping him get to the bed.
“I can walk, you know,” he said, but there was a smile on his lips as he stared up at her.
“No, you can’t. You’re completely useless.”
He laughed. “Rude girl. You won’t even be nice to me when I’m injured.”
“I don’t want you to think that I like you,” Elise said.
He bit his lip, a warm look in his eyes.
“Will you sleep with me tonight, Elise?” he asked softly.
“That’s not a good idea, my lord,” Elise said, though there was hesitation in her voice. She would have loved just to lay in bed with Julian, even if they couldn’t touch. She had to admit that there was a twinge of fear in her after she had seen what he’d been thinking about the doctor, and the thought of it made the rational part of her mind take over.
“I’ll come back to changes your bandages in two hours,” she said. She needed to get away from him for a moment, from the look in his eyes. He studied her face before nodding, turning his head away as she got up and left. She glanced back over her shoulder and he was watching her go, a look of longing on his face. Elise turned and hurried to her room, trying to erase the look from her mind. There was something wrong with Lord Ashton, no matter how he made her feel, something dangerous that she knew she shouldn’t touch.
Chapter 17
It had been hard for Julian to stay in bed for the past few days while his back healed, having to spend most of the time sitting stiff and straight, making sure that his back didn’t touch the pillows behind him. By the next week, he felt a little bit better. The salve seemed almost like a miracle with how quickly it worked, and he was determined that once his bandages had been changed today, he was going to get out of bed and get work done. Julian hated being idle—it drove him crazy, made him think about things that he didn’t want to. Usually, it was Elise, who for some reason had been distant since the fire. Julian had tried to engage her in conversation multiple times as she came in to put the salve on, but each time she had answered with short words, working quickly to finish bandaging him so that she could leave. Julian didn’t understand what he had done to upset her, and it frustrated him beyond even the mystery behind what had happened at the stables.
Julian hadn’t called the inspector about the stables, though Potts had urged him to do so. Julian resisted inviting the inspector out at any turn no matter what happened, and it wasn’t as if the man would be able to find anything now—the stables were nothing but a pile of ashes and horse bones, no sign that anything had deliberately happened. Julian knew in his gut that the fire had been deliberate, but there was nothing he could do about it now but to keep an eye out for danger, especially when it came to Elise.
Julian’s eyes went to the door as there was a soft knock. He called out, inviting her in, and Elise appeared in the doorway carrying the salve and freshly -washed bandages. She met his eye as she crossed the room, something she couldn’t help but to do at times. And each time he caught her gaze, he held it, hoping that somehow her eyes would answer all of the questions he was desperate to know.
“Hi,” he said to her as he moved to the edge of the bed, sitting up while she climbed on and sat down behind him.
“Hi,” she said back shortly, beginning to strip the bandages gently off of his back. At first, that had been one of the worst parts of getting his bandage changed, but now that his skin wasn’t as raw, it was a relief to feel air on his back.
“How are you, Elise?” Julian asked. He saw her dip her fingers into the salve, and again he nearly groaned when she put her hands on him. Julian couldn’t help but to imagine what her hands would feel like over the rest of his body, and he pictured that as she rubbed the salve over his back in gentle strokes of her hand. Despite himself, Julian felt his cock begin to rise, and tried to fight the feeling back before it was obvious.
“I’m okay,” she breathed. She sounded like she was having trouble speaking, and he felt her hands tremble as she touched him. She had both of her hands on his back and was touching him gently, running her hands down his spine in a way that made him desperate and hungry. He turned to look at her, his eyes gliding over her legs in the process, and he noticed then the large burn on her thigh. Julian took her leg and pulled her closer, examining the burn. He twisted around and look at her.
“You didn’t tell the doctor about this. Why?” he asked.
“It’s fine,” she insisted. “I’ve been putting a poultice on it—“
“You haven’t been using the salve?” Julian asked her.
“No, you need it more than I do,” she said.
Julian looked at her leg again and frowned, then got off the bed and knelt down. He pulled her to the edge of the bed so that she was sitting where he had been and he was crouching in front of her. She stared at him with her lips slightly parted, looking mesmerized as he picked up the salve.
“You really shouldn’t use that on me,” she protested, but Julian gave her a stern look.
“You’re being ridiculous, Elise,” he said, then put his hands on her knees, only stroking the soft skin on the inside of her knee with his thumb. It made her tremble, made her legs part slightly so that he could see the white cotton of her underclothing. Julian ran his hands along the top of her thighs, gently and slowly, and he could tell that she was holding her breath. Her eyes were half -lidded with lust and she was biting her lip as he pushed her skirts up over her hips, touching them with his hands, squeezing into them with his fingers. He pulled her closer to the edge of the bed and dipped his fingers into the salve, looking at the burn on her thigh. It didn’t look like it had healed anywhere close to the way his had managed to, and he felt guilt stab at him that he hadn’t done something for her sooner.
“It’ll feel strange,” Julian told her. “It’ll be cool on your skin.”
“Okay,” she said, looking down at his face as he started to rub the salve over her thigh. Her breathing was coming out shallow as she sat there and sand he was squirming on the edge of the bed. He could feel the desperation radiating off of her and found that he couldn’t pull away. He rubbed the salve gently into her leg before his hands traveled over the insides of her thighs. He lowered his face to nuzzle the soft skin there and she moaned softly.
Julian chuckled, looking up at her face.
“I haven’t even touched you yet,” he said. It drove him crazy how responsive she was, how little it took to get her hot and wet. Even just looking her in the eye had that effect on her. He could tell by the way she looked at him. Julian found himself spreading her legs and his breath caught in his throat when he saw that there was moisture between her legs, that the fabric was clinging to her folds. The fabric was almost translucent there and Julian could see how pink and perfect she was, how ready for him. He gave a soft growl, unable to control himself, put his hands on her hips and pul
led her forward so that his face was between her legs. She looked down at him with wide eyes when he planted a kiss on the inside of her thigh, brushing his lips over the wet spot between her legs in order to kiss the other one.
“Can I taste you, Elise?” he asked, looking up at her face. “Are you going to let me make you come again ?”
“I don’t know,” she said, blushing deeply. “I’ve never—it’s never happened before.”
Just thinking about being her first in this made his cock ache. He planted a kiss on her lower lips, making her tremble and soak her underclothes even further.
“Let me taste you, Elise,” Julian said in a gruff voice. When she only looked at him, he hooked his fingers over her underclothes and started to pull them down and off of her legs. Her folds were soaking wet and swollen, and he could see her sensitive bud. He was bringing his mouth to her, about to taste her, when there was a hard knock at the door. Julian ignored it, unable to stop now, sliding his tongue up and down her slit. Elise moaned and squirmed until the knock on the door came again.
“My lord,” came the voice on the other side. “Are you decent?”
“No,” Julian called out as Elise scrambled back into her underclothes, blushing as she pulled her skirts down and stood up. Julian opened the door then, glancing back at her.
“What is it?” Julian asked, trying to keep the annoyance out of his voice. He wished that he had continued to ignore it, but knew that it was probably for the best.
“Nikola is awake and talking. She would like to speak to you.”
Julian face broke into a smile. “Really?”
“Yes,” said Potts, a look of relief on his face. “She’s weak, though. I tried to tell her to rest and that I would bring you later, but she insists upon talking to you now.”
Julian’s brow furrowed. “Is she okay?”
Potts glanced over Julian’s shoulder at Elise, then met Julian’s eye.
“Better leave her behind,” he said seriously. She looked confused, still flustered when Julian looked back at her. He left the room then, eager to get to Nikola. He had missed her every day since she’d been attacked, missed the comforting presence she always brought to his life.
The Touch of the Outcast_A Gothic Mystery Romance Page 14