Loving a Prince Charming
Page 10
Nissa stood. “I should be getting back. I told Joseph I would work at the tavern tonight.”
Benton frowned, finally looking at her again. “It’s rowdy.”
“Sometimes,” she agreed, keeping her face and tone light and agreeable. “I know you worry about me, but I owe Joseph and Marie more than I could ever repay, and with Marie only six weeks away from delivering the baby Joseph needs my help. Which reminds me, he needs you to start stockpiling his woodshed for winter. Will you start tomorrow?”
“Tell him this season is free if he stops relying on you.”
Her hands came to her hips then, and light and agreeable were abandoned in favor of determined and don’t even try that. “I will do no such thing. I am helping Joseph, and you are going to be paid for the hard work you do. And you don’t even want to know the consequences if you try to talk to Joseph behind my back.”
He held up his hands as if in agreement, but his jaw hadn’t relaxed, which meant Nissa would have to have her own talk with Joseph to not let Benton intimidate him.
Stubborn man – can’t talk sense into him, and can’t kiss him senseless.
“I’m going in with you.” Nissa’s eyes narrowed the moment the words passed his lips, and Benton could almost see her mind rewind to their earlier conversation.
They stood outside the tavern Nissa had been working evenings at for the last few months. As soon as Marie had announced her pregnancy, Nissa had banded with Marie’s husband Joseph in waging a campaign where Marie would work no more than the average toddler. Marie had been Nissa’s first friend when she arrived at the village over three years ago, and there was nothing Nissa would not do for the diminutive tavern keeper.
A year ago it would have been a non-issue, but over these last months the village had become popular, both as a destination on its own and as a traveling stopover. This brought money into the town, and wherever money landed, trouble followed. Bandits and pickpockets were becoming common, and a lone woman working the only tavern in the area would be easy pickings.
Nissa clucked her tongue at him, a sure sign of her annoyance. “You are only going in if you are ordering a pint.”
“You know I don’t drink.”
Her lips tightened in a small grin that told him she thought she had just won this argument. “That’s why you are not going in.”
Further words on his part were left unspoken when Nissa looked past him, smiled wider, and called out “Marco!” She waved to the young man sweeping outside the tavern, and then turned her gaze back to Benton. “There, no more worries. Marco is here.”
And that fact did not make the situation better. Marco was a young man angry at the world and at a crossroads in his life. Nissa only saw him as the sweet orphan boy she taught to read and count, and those blinders kept her from seeing the avarice on his face when confronted by money or the hatred when the village’s “sterling” citizens shunned Marco over his lack of family or connections.
Young men in Marco’s situation were easily swayed to the seedy side of life. Benton could see Marco becoming an accomplice to a gang, perhaps clearing the way for them to get money or valuables from the tavern.
No, the fact Marco was there did not ease Benton’s mind in the least.
Nissa would be protected, her own stubbornness be damned. He would talk to Joseph. No matter the incentive or the threat he had to use, at the end of the conversation Nissa would not be working at the tavern anymore.
She reached up and placed her hand on his scarred cheek, the only human being who ever voluntarily touched his scars. “I’m going to be with Madam Pierce tomorrow to finalize this year’s curriculum, but I’ll visit the day after next. Does that suit?”
He nodded, but he knew she was coming over tomorrow. She’d be pounding at his door right after Joseph told her she couldn’t work at the tavern anymore.
Benton was a sick, sick man, because the image of an angry Nissa made his temperature soar in a way that had nothing to do with the mild warmth of the day.
Without Nissa, he had no need to slow his pace, so the trip back to his cabin was quick and uneventful. It was growing close to twilight, the time where the sun still shone and the air still held warmth, but both were fading fast. He shrugged out of his clothes and waded into the lake to take advantage of these last few moments. Winter was not long away, and this would soon be impossible to do until next year.
The water soothed and relaxed him in a way nothing other than Nissa could.
Nissa. She would be an amazing sight, naked and glistening in the lake water, her playful smile taking on a seductive cast as she splashed water at him before she jumped into his arms and wrapped her legs around his waist. There would be no place on her body wetter than the damp heat she’d push against him, grinding into him, making him hard for her…
Benton groaned before he pulled himself tight and dove deep into the lake, where the water was only steps above freezing.
Only when his lungs were fit to burst and threatened to start breathing again – air availability be damned – did he surge to the surface with strong, sure strokes.
“Yoo-hoo!”
Shock cut through him, making him pause as he pushed his hair back from his face as his gaze took in the surrounding area in quick sweeps. What in the nine hells was that?
“I’m up here, dear.”
His eyes went up to the trees. Sitting amid the branches of Nissa’s oak was an old woman, cherub-cheeked and gray hair, smiling beatifically at him. “So tell me, dear, did the cold water help?”
About the Author
Born to the pothole-ridden streets of Pittsburgh, PA, Danielle Monsch started writing in a time long ago, a time when there were not enough vampire stories to read and she had to write her own to fill the void. Yes, such a time of darkness did indeed exist.
Danielle writes stories full of fantastical goodness and plenty of action, but always with lots of romance (and a bit of woo-hoo!) mixed in. Vampires and Werewolves and Demons and Angels, Sword & Sorcery, Fairy Tales, Updated Mythologies and the like – if it's out of the ordinary, it's fair game for her stories.
When not writing, Danielle reads comic books and watches cartoons (though she says she reads manga and watches anime, because saying it in another language makes all the difference). She listens to music, plays D&D, follows XKCD, watches movies with the Rifftrax on, and is mom to two amazing little girls and wife to her favorite guy in the world.
Contact Danielle by emailing her at Dani@DanielleMonsch.com, see her tweets on twitter at www.twitter.com/Danielle_Monsch, and like her on Facebook at www.facebook.com/DanielleMonsch .
Also, feel free to check out her various websites: www.DanielleMonsch.com (with all info about current and upcoming books), www.SeleneDaniels.com (for books written by Danielle’s erotic-yet-still-nerdy alter-ego, Selene Daniels) and her blog for fun and not profit www.RomanticGeekGirl.com (Geekiness & Romance! Two great tastes that taste great together.)
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Also Available from Danielle Monsch
About the Author