by Pandora Pine
What would it hurt to stay until Carter fell asleep?
“This is nice,” Carter said, pillowing his arms behind his head.
Fionn hummed noncommittally. Never having been in bed with anyone else before, he had to admit being here with Carter was nice. As lord of the castle, he did not lack willing bodies to serve his needs. These encounters, usually taking place in the horse stable, were hard and fast with his partners almost never finding their own completion. Fionn had never brought any of his lovers to his bed, never wanting to be at his most vulnerable with anyone. Maybe in order for Carter to trust him, he would need to trust Carter.
“You live in a world lit by fire,” Carter whispered in awe, moving a bit closer to Fionn.
Fionn turned to look at Carter who was watching the light from the fireplace dance on the ceiling. Sure he had lost his mind, he tugged Carter to lie against his chest. He couldn’t help grinning when Carter sighed and snuggled closer against him. “If not by fire, what lights your world?” he asked, carding a hand through Carter’s silky, dark strands.
“Lightning,” Carter whispered and promptly fell asleep.
16
Fionn woke with a start, momentarily disoriented by his surroundings and the warm man he was spooned around from behind.
He had stayed awake long after Carter had fallen asleep, vacillating between mistrust and contentment. Everything Carter said about being unarmed was true. His clothes were made of materials he had never seen nor felt before.
Was he willing to believe Carter was from the future? When he questioned Islynn about her prophecy telling of the traveler, she refused to offer any information other than to tell him the traveler’s appearance was destined to change his fate.
Fionn was more confused now than ever, holding Carter in his arms. He was warm and solid, a perfect fit. It felt right holding him and protecting his back from harm.
Carter shifted and moved closer to Fionn in his sleep. Fionn grimaced when Carter wiggled back against his raging morning erection and wrapped his left arm more tightly around his foundling. He would guess he had been awake for several hours and no matter what he thought about, his cock stayed rock-hard.
His lips were a scant inch away from the nape of Carter’s neck. What would it hurt to press a kiss against his sleep-warmed skin? He tentatively brushed his lips against Carter who sighed loudly in his sleep and pushed himself further back against Fionn’s long-suffering cock.
As nice as it was to hold Carter, he didn’t think he could spend another restless night waking every time Carter shifted and sporting an erection he couldn’t make go down. Knowing it was time to get up and see to Brimstone, he carefully extricated himself from Carter, not wanting to disturb his last few minutes of rest. When had he become so thoughtful? He grimaced. Fionn was here to gather information on Carter, not play the role of lovesick fool.
“Good morning. Are you always so grumpy first thing in the morning?” Carter asked, his dark eyes smiling and his hair adorably sleep-tousled.
Fionn’s heart pounded, wondering how long Carter had been awake. Had he felt his feather-light kiss? He had much more important things to do out in the horse barn. “Get dressed. The horses must be seen to.” He slammed the door to his chamber behind him leaving Carter alone.
Carter crunched loudly on an apple as he followed Fionn to the horse barn. It was a massive, weathered timber structure. The sound of whinnying horses caught his attention and he could smell their pungent leavings and soiled hay.
“You agitate the animals by sleeping late like a spoiled princess,” Fionn grumbled, sinking his teeth into his own apple.
“Maybe you should spend less time kissing me and more time waking me up, my lord,” Carter said with a wink. He ignored his host’s grumpy mood. Nothing could spoil his day. Fionn had kissed him. It was a surprise to wake up to the feel of Fionn’s hot, hard body spooned around him. He never expected Fionn to spend the entire night in his bed. The soft kiss pressed to the back of his neck was icing on the cake.
Fionn growled and walked faster into the horse barn.
Carter bit his cheek to keep from laughing at him. Fionn was cute when he was embarrassed. Not that he had anything to be embarrassed about. Carter had spent most of his life dreaming about Fionn kissing him and now that dream was a reality. He would have loved to turn in Fionn’s arms and kiss him back, but his grumpy host had moved away quickly.
“Good morn,” Fionn called when they arrived at Brimstone’s stall.
The horse tossed his head and stomped the ground angrily with his massive front hooves, sending a spray of hay and dust into the air.
Fionn raised an eyebrow at Carter before turning back to the high-strung horse. “Blame the foundling. It is his fault I am late.”
Carter did laugh then. “Come here, handsome.” He held out his palm, face up, with the remains of his half-eaten apple. Brimstone stomped again for good measure before taking the apple from Carter’s hand. Carter rubbed his fingers against the horse’s silky right ear. “Now that all is forgiven, where do I start?”
“You believe a half-eaten apple earns forgiveness?” Fionn snorted, reaching inside the stall for a bin.
“The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach,” Carter drawled with a cheeky wink while Fionn filled the bin full of oats for Brimstone. “Why do you do this yourself? Aren’t there stable hands to do this for you?”
“Brimstone is my responsibility,” Fionn said, hanging the now full bin inside the horse’s stall. “I alone care for him, but for your assistance this morning. You will muck the stalls.” Fionn offered him a crude pitchfork with only two tines.
“Can you show me how?” Carter asked, wrinkling his nose.
“Show you how?” Fionn was dumbfounded. “What kind of princess are you?” he thundered, momentarily forgetting Donnall’s advice to be kinder to Carter. He took a deep breath to calm his anger. “How is it you do not know how to care for a horse?”
Carter shrugged, enjoying the way Fionn’s blue eyes glowed when he was angry.
“Use the pitchfork to remove the soiled hay and dump it into the barrow.” Fionn waved a hand at the wooden wheel barrow. “Everything you cannot remove with the fork, you will remove with the shovel. Wheel it out back to the compost pile when you are finished. Can you do this?”
Carter tried to keep the amused look off his face as Fionn spoke to him like he was a toddler. “Yes.” As far as jobs went, this was pretty simple, if backbreaking. He knew his muscles weren’t used to working this hard. They would bark later and he couldn’t run out to a convenience store for a bottle of Tylenol.
Fionn left him to it once Brimstone’s stall was cleaned to his exacting standards. He showed Carter how to feed and water the horse and told him to do the same thing with every stall down the line.
It was hard to concentrate when Fionn was around. Carter found himself staring at his sky-blue eyes and silky blond hair. As his eyes wandered south, his scattered thoughts heated up, imagining himself up against the wall of an empty stall, Fionn’s powerful body pounding into him from behind.
It wasn’t much easier to focus with Fionn off somewhere else. All Carter could think about was the way Fionn held him as they slept. It felt good being in his arms. Fionn was warm and strong making him feel safe. The gruff warrior’s lips had felt heavenly against the back of his neck. They were warm and full. His cock twitched as he remembered the way Fionn’s rough beard felt against his soft skin.
“Daydreaming about me, princess?” Fionn asked with a smile, propping his shoulder against the doorway of the stall Carter was mucking.
“Hardly,” Carter snorted, laughing at the surprised look on Fionn’s face.
“Why did you not introduce yourself with your father’s name? Are you bastard born?” Fionn crossed his arms over his broad chest and seemed to be inspecting the work Carter had done in the horse stall.
“Fathers mean a lot to your people, don’t they?” Carter noticed whenever
introductions were made men always included the name of their father.
“We are measured against our sire.” Fionn’s exacting eyes met and held Carter’s.
“I am not a bastard. I am Carter, son of Carlyle,” he said proudly.
“That is a good, strong name. What did he do in his village?”
Carter laughed. “He was a teacher.”
Fionn looked impressed. “Oh, he instructed men how to fight?”
“No, he taught Irish history.” After his parents wed, they settled into domestic life with Carlyle teaching Irish Studies at Boston College, while Brigid stayed home to raise their children.
“Did he teach you to ride and fight?”
Carter shook his head, a fresh wave of grief swapping over him. “He taught me to be a good and honest man.”
Carter’s sadness was obvious to Fionn. His stomach twisted around itself when Carter said the word honest. He wanted to trust him, but the safety of the castle rested squarely on his shoulders. He needed to gather more information about the foundling before he was ready to accept Carter’s honesty at face value. “He has passed?”
“Yes, both of my parents died when I was sixteen and my sister, Cadence, was fourteen. We lived with foster parents after that.” Carter slipped out of the stall, walking around Fionn to return his shovel and pitchfork to the tool room.
Fionn knew about fostering young boys with other families to gain experience, but he had never heard of that practice being done for girls. His oldest friend, Donnall, was sent to foster with his family when he was nine years old. In truth, they were more like brothers.
“What about your father, Fiannan, you said his name was?” Carter picked up the weathered handles of the barrow and pushed it toward the barn’s back door.
“Yes, he was a warrior and the greatest of all the lords of Moone Castle.” Fionn smiled proudly.
“What happened to him?”
“He died gloriously in battle. I was seventeen and had to assume the duties of lord in his place.” As much as it pained him to think it, he and Carter had something in common. Both men had known the pain of losing a father far too soon. “Come, I have a surprise for you.”
17
Carter followed him out of the barn and was shocked to see a second, larger barn behind it. “Boy you ARE serious about your horses.” Carter looked around in wonder at the enormous structure.
“They are our livelihood and our passion.” He led Carter to stand in front of a stall that housed a beautiful dark brown horse whose head was bent low over a bucket of oats. “This is Cerberus,” Fionn said by way of introduction, “son of Hellfire. He is three years old and battle tested.”
“Gorgeous,” Carter muttered as he studied the animal. Hearing Carter’s voice, the stallion turned his massive head. “You heard that, didn’t you?” Carter said to the horse. “You are truly magnificent.” He held his hand out, palm down, to the animal.
Cerberus snorted and pawed the ground before walking forward to greet Carter. He sniffed along his right hand. The horse’s lips ghosted over his hand but he held still, not wanting to startle him. He brought his other hand up to the side of the animal’s face. “Someone should tell you every day how magnificent you are.”
Fionn smiled as horse and man got to know each other. Cerberus had yet to find a master. He was so high-strung and bad-tempered none of his men wanted to work with him. He had a feeling Carter might be the one to turn that around. He seemed to have a sixth sense when it came to horses. “That will be your responsibility.”
“What?” Carter gasped, turning around to face Fionn.
“Cerberus is yours,” he said with a smile.
“Fionn!” Carter exclaimed, pulling him into a tight hug. “Thank you so much.” Carter pulled back, smiling brightly into his clear blue eyes. “I love him!” Carter hugged the stunned warrior again.
Fionn didn’t know what to make of Carter’s exuberant thanks. It was as if the man had never owned a horse before. If this was how he responded to gifts, Fionn would have to give them often. He could get used to Carter hugging him this way. “I am glad you are well pleased with him. He will serve you proudly.”
“There’s just one problem,” Carter said, nibbling his bottom lip.
Fionn raised an eyebrow in expectation of a complaint.
“I don’t know how to ride a horse.”
Fionn didn’t protest when Carter pulled away. He stood watching Carter coo at his stallion with a shocked look on his face.
Carter expected Fionn to react like this. He had no way of knowing how far technology had advanced in the intervening five hundred years, but Carter was still hurt by his shocked demeanor.
“I shall teach you to ride,” Fionn said grinning.
“You’re lord of the castle, don’t you have better things to do than teach me how to ride?”
“No, my schedule is surprisingly clear today,” he said easily, heading toward the stable’s tack room.
Carter stood by and watched as Fionn attempted to saddle Cerberus. The horse snorted and danced away from him.
“Tell me what to do,” Carter said, opening the stall door and stepping inside.
The horse calmed a bit when Carter entered. Fionn was apprehensive to leave him with the edgy animal, but did as Carter asked. “You need to put the saddle blanket on his back,” he said.
Carter nodded and picked it up from where the horse had shaken it off. “Okay, handsome, I’m gonna need you to hold still for me,” Carter whispered.
Fionn rolled his eyes as Carter continued to whisper to the horse. His eye roll turned into a surprised look when the horse allowed Carter to set the blanket on his back. “Next, set the saddle on top of the blanket.”
Carter grabbed the heavy saddle and lifted it up to rest on top of the blanket like Fionn instructed and was about to ask for the next step when he heard Fionn laughing. He peered around Cerberus to see Fionn doubled over, laughing so hard tears were running down his face.
“What?” Carter asked with a smile.
Fionn laughed harder before managing to say, “Backward.”
Backward? “The saddle is on backward?”
Fionn could only nod. He braced his hands against the stall door and tried to catch his breath.
Carter lifted the heavy leather saddle off the horse, turned it around, and set it on his back correctly. “You hear him laughing at me, Cerberus? No wonder you don’t like him.”
Fionn liked that Carter was good-natured in defeat and could laugh at himself. He was going to have a serious talk with Carter later about his skills. If he didn’t know how to muck a stall, saddle or ride a horse, what else had his father not taught him?
“What’s next, giggles?” Carter asked cheekily.
Fionn sobered. “This is the most dangerous part. You must secure the strap around his belly. It works like a belt buckle. Do you have belt buckles in the future or do I have to show you how to work them?” Fionn’s light eyes darkened, as he lifted his shirt to get to his belt.
Carter hissed through his teeth at the sight Fionn’s bare skin revealed when he lifted his tunic. “Yes, I know how a belt works, cocky bastard.”
“Carter, my parents were properly wed ere I was conceived,” he said seriously.
Carter ignored him and instead turned to Cerberus. “I need to fasten the strap. Don’t trample me, hmm, handsome boy.” He stroked the horse’s left ear before he bent and slid the thick leather through the buckle.
“Make sure it is flush against his belly, but not too tight,” Fionn cautioned.
Carter nodded and secured the leather flat against the horse before climbing out from under him. “We did it, Cerberus.” Carter celebrated.
“Congratulations! However the bigger test is yet to come. You still need to mount the horse. Will you require instruction on which way you should be facing?” Fionn dissolved into laughter again.
“Everyone’s a comedian.”
18
Fionn est
imated they had been riding for almost an hour. So far Carter had managed to stay in the saddle although it was a near thing getting him onto the horse’s back. He lifted Carter on ten fingers three times before he was able to gain his seat. Even so, he had looked terrified. Once Carter found his balance, he had ridden them out through the castle gate toward the meadowland surrounding the castle to the south.
Carter was put through the paces of controlling the way the horse moved based on a series of tongue clicks and also by the way his legs gripped the horse’s sides. Carter picked up things quickly and seemed to be comfortable in the saddle.