by Kris Tualla
“Aye.” He climbed into the water, careful not to spill it over the edges in his rush to be done.
Eryn pointed. “The soap is on the hearth.”
Drew grasped the smudged chunk and began to remove the traces of smoke from his skin. “Are ye naked under those blankets?” he asked.
She blushed again. “I am.”
“Good.” He finished quickly and stood to dry off. The hot bath had softened him, but he was hardening again and in short order.
Eryn hummed a sigh.
He glanced sideways at her. “Are ye lusting after me?”
“And if I am?” she asked in a smoky tone the fire could only envy.
He stepped from the water and dried his feet. Then he tossed the linen towels aside and walked to the bed. The heat of sunlight on his skin mixed with the chill of the room and gave him gooseflesh.
Eryn laid back against the pillows, still clutching the blanket to her bosom.
Drew lifted an edge of the coverings. “Are ye shy of a sudden?”
“We never—well we have only been together twice—and it was night,” she murmured.
“Ah, the sinful light of day.” He pulled back one side of the coverlet and sat on the mattress. “Would ye rather wait until dark?” Please say no.
“Oh, no!” she blurted. Her arms loosened their clasp and moved under the blankets. She shifted sideways to make more room for him.
Drew slid between the sheets. He felt the warm spot she abandoned. He pulled her back into it and rested himself on her belly. He settled his hips between her thighs. Then he nuzzled her neck, nibbled her earlobes and kissed her gently.
“I thought I lost ye,” he whispered.
“I feared the same,” she answered in kind.
“I do no’ ken what I would have done, had it been so.” His lips took hers again, softly and slowly. “I love ye so very much, Eryn.”
Her eyes sprang open. “You do?”
“Why would ye ask that?” he asked, surprised.
She looked at him oddly. “You never said it.”
“Did it require saying? I asked ye to marry me!”
“I couldn’t marry you then…”
“But did I no’ show ye how I felt?” he countered. “Ye seemed to enjoy it, and well.”
Her cheeks reddened. “And then you left.”
“Ye ordered me out! I only did what ye asked. Ye were rather furious with me at the time.”
She nodded and a tear rolled from the corner of one eye. “You should have stayed until I calmed down.”
“Ye still would have refused me. Ye ken it’s true.”
Her brow puckered. “If you loved me, as you now claim, then how could you let me marry Geoffrey?”
He shook his head. “I came back to stop ye. I was in the saddle for two days and no sleep.”
“You did?” Surprise became realization. “But I was gone!”
“Aye. And the constable was dead. And ye were the one accused.” Drew shifted a little, enjoying the warmth of her legs which were now wrapped around his arse. “But after a bit, the witness confessed what he had heard and seen.”
“Was it Jamie?” Eryn asked. By her tone she clearly expected him to say yes.
“No. It was Liam.”
“Liam!” she cried. “He heard what Geoff called me?”
Drew nodded. “It seems the man’s bellowing and pounding woke the lad. He worried for your safety, so he snuck to the door to listen.”
Eryn’s face paled. “Did he see Geoff fall?”
“Aye.”
“Oh the poor boy…” she moaned.
“He ran and hid in his bed after.” Drew kissed the dip between her collarbones. Her hands slid up his arms to his shoulders.
“His door was open,” Eryn said. “I looked in, but couldn’t see anything.”
“But he saw ye.” He kissed the side of her neck. Her fingers tightened. “He saw ye go down the servants’ steps. He said ye did no’ ken the man had fallen.”
She sucked a breath and closed her eyes. Her head wagged in agreed denial.
Drew’s kisses moved downward. “And Liam told me about the babe.”
“Oh!” She squirmed under him; was that a response to what he said—or to what he did? “Was he angry?” She didn’t look or sound like she cared.
His mouth landed on its peaked target. After paying decent attention, he said “no, he wished for us to marry” before moving to the other one.
“That’s good.” Again, he wondered to what she referred.
Then he realized he didn’t care.
I have the handsomest husband in the entire world. Eryn slid her fingers through Drew’s long black curls, holding his head in place and encouraging his attention with a soft moan.
When he stood up in the wooden bathing tub, water slicked the planes and bulges of his body. Reflected sunlight placed them in glorious relief. And, his thickening manhood as well.
Oh my!
Her legs were wrapped around his hips, but that part of him was out of reach. She tried to scoot further under him, disrupting his current attentions.
“Are ye so eager to be done?” he whispered, moving to the side.
“No. I’m eager to begin,” she answered. Her breath was coming in uneven bursts and the heat between her legs was unbearable.
“We have begun, my love.” He took her mouth teasingly while his palm slid past her waist, over her belly and plunged between her thighs.
Eryn gasped. Drew’s kiss deepened and claimed her while his fingers explored her depths. She gripped his hips and pressed the length of her body against his. She opened her legs to give him room.
Then in a burst of arousal-charged courage, she took him in her hand.
This time, he moaned.
His yard, that odd combination of silk and steel, was hot against her palm. She stroked him tentatively, wondering if her touch was as intoxicating to him as his was to her. Her answer came quickly.
With a growl that had nothing to do with anger, he rolled on top of her again. Her hand still held him, so she guided him to her. He buried himself to the root and she cried out her pleasure. It felt so different without the sheath; slicker and warmer. Even better than before, were such a thing believable.
He stilled for a moment, panting.
“I’m not hurt,” she rasped. “That’s not why…”
He shook his head and grunted, “Aye.”
Then he began to move, out and in again. Exquisite blessed torture. Eryn met his thrusts with her own. Her awareness condensed from the room to the bed, from the bed to Drew, from Drew to the point of their joining. From their intimate connection, exploding outward to the vast heavens. Stars shimmered, her body quaked. She floated on a tingling cloud.
Drew’s growl became a roar, fierce and powerful. Every muscle was hard, bunched in focused effort. He carried her on his pleasure and she held tight to him, as tremors of her release continued to ripple through her frame.
Finally he melted over her, warm and malleable like candle wax. Eryn heard his heart beating, or perhaps that was hers. His body twitched. His breathing slowed. He swallowed and his Adam’s apple bobbed in his neck.
They lay entwined under the blankets. Sunlight moved off the bed and reduced her claim on the room. Eryn could not have moved even if she wanted to. Which she did not.
“I love you, Lord Andrew Drummond,” she murmured.
His arms tightened around her. “And I love ye, Dame Eryndal Smythe Bell of Drummond.”
“Bell?” she queried.
“Aye. Ye fought for it; ye might as well keep it.” He slid his weight to the side and lay alongside her. The coarse hairs of his legs tickled as he draped his long thigh across her hip. “I do no’ believe Liam will object any longer.”
“He told me once that he wanted me to marry you,” she said softly.
“Aye. He told me the same thing.”
She leaned her head away from his. “Did h
e tell you why?”
He shifted his position a little. “Not that I recall.”
“He told me that he wanted you to be his Da.” Eryn looked into his eyes, now brownish in hue. His lids drooped sleepily; a very attractive affect. “What did you do to him?”
Drew tried unsuccessfully to stifle a yawn. “I told him I would make him a knight. But he had to start acting like one now, or I would no’ honor the promise later.”
Interesting. “And how does a knight act?”
Drew rubbed his eyes with a fist while he talked. “He protects woman. And property. No more tricks with the chickens.”
“Is that when you gave him the Roman coin?”
He dropped his arm and relaxed again. “Aye. So if I’m his new Da, that makes you his new mither.”
“I know.”
He peered intently into her eyes. “Are ye ready for that? For raising a boy who’s to be ten soon?”
“I’ve already been raising him for years, even before his father died.” Eryn gave him a shaky lopsided grin. “It’s the one coming in seven months that has me worried.”
His brow dipped. “Ye’ll do fine.”
She shook her head. “Childbirth is frightening. Women die.”
“Ye will no’—I will no’ allow it,” he declaimed.
“Well, then it’s done!” She dipped her chin. “My lord.”
Drew ran the back of one finger down her cheek and along her jaw. “To be serious, I’ll take ye to meet my sister Maggie. She seems to have luck with surviving the births, even when there were two at once.”
Eryn shuddered at that singularly horrid thought. “Thank you.”
“And ye could be confined there, should that help. The estate is mine and she can no’ deny me the favor,” he added.
“I will consider that,” she said.
“Then my child will be born on my estate.” Drew appeared to have made the decision for her.
“But Liam must come as well,” she pointed out.
“Are ye thinking he should attend the birth of his ‘brother’?” Drew asked with a twitch of his lips.
“No. The birth of his ‘sister’!” she countered, cocking her brow. “This child could very well be a girl.”
Drew pulled a deep breath and raised one open palm. The expression on his face was overly innocent. “And—ye ken—they could very well be twins.”
“Don’t say that!” She punched him in the chest.
He rubbed the spot, looking as if she really hurt him. “I’m only mentioning the possibility.”
“You’re an ass.”
He grabbed her shoulder, pulled her to him, and kissed her long and well, until she relaxed against him and forgot why she was ever irritated.
“I may be an ass at times,” he said, grinning broadly, “but I’ll never bore ye.”
Chapter Thirty-Seven
March 7, 1355
Castleton, Scotland
Kennan met them on the road to Castleton. “Yer late. I came to see that ye were well,” he explained. He looked askance at Drew’s dirty clothing. “Are ye well?”
Drew nodded. “We had weather that held us a day. And then a fire in Carlisle. This is all I’ve left to wear.”
“We barely escaped with our lives,” Eryn said behind him. “But I assured him we would see him clothed at the estate.”
“Aye, then.” Kennan turned his mount back toward Scotland.
“Ye did well with the arrangements. Thank ye,” Drew complimented. “My wife and I were well comforted.”
Kennan’s glance slid sideways to meet his.
Drew gave a brief nod. “Very well comforted.”
A grin lightened Kennan expression. “I am glad to hear that, my lord.”
Three hours later, the trio rode into the courtyard at the Bell estate. Drew held back and let Eryn ride through the gate first. He didn’t want her to appear his prisoner. Though the proclamation of her innocence was supposed to have circulated, he had not been around to assure it was so.
Jamie came out to greet them. Drew dismounted and then helped Eryn down from Rory. She grumbled that she didn’t require help, but he insisted.
“Ye are my wife and the mother of my babe. This choice is no longer yours, my lady,” he said sternly.
“So it’s true?” Jamie grinned. “Ye are married? And having a bairn?”
Eryn’s cheeks reddened. “Aye. Married ten days and expecting the babe in seven months. Please don’t make the accounting public, Jamie. But that is the way of it.”
“All is as it should be, my lady,” Jamie said with a courteous bow. “I, for one, could not be more pleased.”
“I’m afraid we met with some unfortunate circumstance on our travels, and this sorry apparel is all that I now own,” Drew said to the smiling steward. He pulled at the fabric. “I fear that even Ian might not be able to salvage these.”
“My lord, you do me a disservice,” Ian said.
Drew startled. He looked over his right shoulder. “How long have ye been standing there?”
The valet looked puzzled. “I only just arrived, sire.”
“Where is Liam?” Eryn asked Jamie.
“At his studies. I’ll call him down. Will ye meet him in the Hall?” he asked, expectantly.
Eryn looked at Drew.
Shocked that she deferred to him, he didn’t speak right away. “Yes, thank ye.”
“Could you bring us refreshment as well?” she added.
“Right away, my lady.” Jamie spun on his heel and hurried back into the house.
Drew offered Eryn his arm. “Shall we go tell our ‘son’ he will no longer be the only child?”
William ran to the doorway, paused, and then walked carefully into the Hall. His brown eyes hopped from Drew to Eryn and back again, as if trying to predetermine their moods. Eryn sat by the fire and her husband stood behind her. It was important for her to talk to Liam first. And the boy needed to see her act with the authority which, in truth, she still held.
Eryn reached out her hands and he slowly stepped close enough to take them. She gave him a small smile, hoping to reassure him; but the subject first at hand didn’t warrant joviality.
“Lord Andrew told me that you heard the argument between Geoffrey and myself,” she said.
Liam frowned a little and looked at Drew.
Eryn squeezed his hands to reclaim his attention. “That was the right thing to do, Liam, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart.”
He nodded, but said nothing.
“Are you sleeping well, since?” she asked.
He shrugged. “If I’m certain my door is latched.”
The poor boy. “I understand that,” she soothed.
“Why did ye go?” he blurted.
She should have anticipated the question and thought out her answer. But she hadn’t. “I—well there wasn’t to be a wedding. So I thought to go in search of my mother.”
Liam looked confused. “Where?”
“London.”
“Was she there?”
Eryn felt the loss anew, and that surprised her. I should be accustomed to being an orphan by now. “No. She died some time ago, it seems. But Lord Andrew found me and escorted me back here.”
Liam looked at Drew. “Why?”
“This is where the Lady Eryn lives, young William,” Drew stated.
“But there is another bit of news,” Eryn continued.
The lad’s somber gaze returned to hers.
“After we left London, we stopped at Elstow Abbey. That is where I lived before I came here. Did you know that?” she stalled.
He shrugged.
“That’s not important. What is important is that Lord Andrew and I were married there.” Eryn held her breath.
Liam’s eyes popped wide open. “Ye married him?” His gaze shot to Drew’s. “Ye married her?”
The knight chuckled. “Aye.”
Liam wiggled like he didn’t know what to do ne
xt, his feet stepping rapidly in place. He lifted Eryn’s hands and roughly kissed the back of each. Then he tossed them aside.
“DA!” he shouted and bolted toward Drew. He pitched himself at the man without any restraint.
Drew saw him coming in time to bend down and catch him under the arms. He straightened and held the squirming boy tightly against his chest.
“You’re my Da!” he squealed. He wrapped his arms around Drew’s neck and buried his face in Drew’s throat, not seeming to notice his scruffy travel beard. “You’re my Da…” he sighed.
Drew looked at Eryn. Shock and surprise widened his eyes and colored his cheeks. He blinked rapidly. He patted Liam’s back. He didn’t speak for several moments.
“Aye, then. I suppose I am,” he managed.
Liam twisted away from Drew and he set the lad on his feet. Liam whirled and ran from the room.
Eryn looked at Drew, mystified. “Has he done talking to us?”
Drew’s mouth worked wordlessly and he spread his hands wide. He was obviously as confounded as she.
“At least he called you Da,” she offered, feeling a little hurt.
“He’s young, yet. And he must remember his mither overly fondly,” Drew attempted to explain.
“And not his own father?”
Drew shook his head. “I can no’ judge how he felt about the man. I was no’ around. But ye were.”
True. And Henry was quite removed once his wife died. She had hoped Liam didn’t notice, but apparently he did.
Eryn gave a little nod. “Perhaps in time—”
She was cut off by Liam bounding back into the Hall. He held her crucifix in one fist.
“Here,” he said, thrusting it at her. “Ye can have it back now.”
Eryn accepted the prayer beads. “Have you done praying?”
Liam beamed. “Aye. And it worked.”
She leaned forward. “But Liam, you said you were praying for Geoffrey.”
“No, I did no’!” he exclaimed. He began to giggle. “I said I would pray for yer husband!”
Eryn fell back in her chair, astounded. “You did say that, didn’t you?”
The giddy boy pointed at Drew. “And he was who I was praying for!”
“Oh, Liam!” She didn’t know how to resolve the lad’s prayers with her friend’s death. But for now, she would not bring that subject to light. After all, marrying Drew was the best thing that ever happened to her. She still found it hard to believe she was so blessed.