A short time later, he maneuvered them through the tree-dappled landscape, looking for the entrance to a hidden glen. Brambles tore at his cloak and burrs stuck to his pants, but he pressed on, squeezing his muscled thighs together and pulling back on the reins to slow his horse enough to maneuver them through the thicket that blocked the glen from sight. He had stumbled upon this magical place some time ago. Darias went here whenever he needed time away from his men, to be alone with his thoughts. He was always on display, and people watched him constantly. It was tolerable most of the time, but sometimes he wanted to be alone, with no one watching. Lifting his arm he wiped the wetness from his eyes. The force of the wind had taken its toll. Still, the beauty of the glen brought forth a smile to his face.
This day was not turning out to be a typical day in his very controlled life and he was surprised to find he wasn’t too upset. Dismounting, he reached up, dragged his burden off his horse, carried her limp body over to the base of a tree, and laid her upon the mossy ground. She was a small, little thing he noted, leaning down and placing his hand on her chest. Her heartbeat seemed slow and steady. Straightening, he walked back over to his horse. “Good boy,” he said, patting his neck, and rubbing his hand down the horse’s sleek coat. Reaching out, he grabbed the reins and led his horse over to the water’s edge.
Crisp waters splashed down from the mountains above into a pool at the base. His horse lowered his massive head, drinking his fill. He pulled the saddle from his back and wiped him down, removing any brambles attached to his sleek coat. Once finished with his horse he removed his own cloak and did the same, pulling burrs and brambles off that clung to the heavy fabric.
Tossing his cloak onto the saddle, he glanced briefly over to where the girl lay. At least she was breathing. He looked about the glen. Night would be fully upon them soon and he needed to make a fire and catch a meal. Setting off, he quickly gathered a few sticks to set a trap to snare a rabbit and tossed a few pieces of wood together for a fire. Once he finished he swiped his sweating hair from his face and inhaled deeply letting the chilling air fill his lungs, taking several cleansing breaths. For the first time, in a long time, Darias felt he was getting a taste of what it might have been like if he had not been born first.
Shaking off his gloves, he lifted his hand to his face and dragged it across his brow. Sweat covered his fingers. He was sweating even though it was cool out. His tunic clung uncomfortably to his skin. He plucked at the fabric. It felt like a second skin, sticking to him. After he set the fire to blaze, he walked back to check on the girl. She was still out cold. Her face was filthy and her long hair may have been pretty but it was snarled in clumps around her head. She looked like a heathen or a vagabond. Shaking his head, he knelt down and lowered his head to her chest to check on her breathing. It was still steady.
The glistening waters, poured down the side of the cliff, splashing invitingly down into the pool the base.
Well, there was nothing more he could do about her condition now, she would wake up, or she wouldn’t. He could only make sure she was as comfortable as possible. She looked comfortable.
Shrugging, he turned on his heel and headed toward the embankment, making quick work of removing his sodden clothing, discarding them by the edge of the water. He would bathe, then check on her again once he finished. She wasn’t going anywhere. Lifting his muscled arms above his head, he dove into the cold shimmering waters, submerging himself completely. He swam under the water for a while and then surfaced, expelling his breath. It turned white from the chill in the air. He turned and floated on his back, looking up into the sky. It was beginning to turn a purplish hue, twilight. Closing his eyes, he enjoyed his moment of solitude.
***
The curtain of darkness lifted from Marguerite’s mind, tucking itself neatly back into the farthest corners as she slowly opened her eyes. Shades of green filled her vision as a heavy canopy of trees slowly came into focus. She rubbed her hand over her butt and back. Her entire body hurt like hell, but at least, she was still alive. A gleeful laugh escaped her mouth. Somehow, someway she had survived her encounter with the beast.
A gentle breeze blew blades of green grass back and forth, while faint streams of light darted through the thick leafy canopy overhead. Water splashed loudly. Turning toward the sound, her breath caught. A man was emerging from the water, not any man either, it was him—her dark knight.
All thoughts of the ruffians and every other rotten thing that happened to her up until this moment faded quickly away as he began to wade slowly out of the water towards the embankment, his muscled chest fully exposed. The water lowered bit by bit, revealing more of his incredible body as he walked closer to the water’s edge. Expectantly, she watched but he stopped just before she got a really good eyeful. He lifted his muscled arms up, grabbed his long hair over one shoulder, and twisted it, releasing the water from its darkened tendrils. She sighed dreamily. He tilted his head, turning towards her.
Bloody hell!
Quickly, she flung herself back behind the covering of the tree trunk, her heart thumping wildly. That was him for sure, her dark knight. Right there in front of her, well kind of in front of her and he was… naked. Excitement spread throughout her body, making her gooseflesh rise all over her skin.
How did this even happen? She wasn’t one to question her good fortune too much. The only thing that mattered was the end result, and what a magnificent result. She pressed her body against the rough bark of the tree, listening. The sound of water sloshing loudly let her know when he was climbing out. Then another thought occurred to her. What if he knew she was spying on him trying to look her fill at his most private parts? Well, she almost saw his most private parts. Damn shame he stopped. Her face flushed with heat. But what would he think of her then? Oh no! She looked around the clearing. What was she to do? If she was standing behind the tree he would know she was looking at him, so she did the only thing she could think of. The rough barked scratched her back as she slid down to the ground. It hurt like hell, but she endured the pain, biting her lip to keep from crying out. Readjusting herself on the ground she covered her face with her hair, threw out an arm, and bent her leg to the side. She slanted an eye open. Her leg looked stupid. She tried again, shifting her butt back and forth but this time a stick was poking her in the back. She tried to reach under her body, wedging her hand under her back and tried to pull out the stick but it was stuck under her bottom. Huffing loudly, she tried again and that is when she felt the earth begin to shake. That couldn’t be him. It was too heavy. Oh no! Had the beast from earlier returned to finish her off and what of her dark knight, naked and defenseless, in the water. He would be unable to defend himself against a beast such as this. Instead of calling out for help she took matters into her own hands and gripped hold of the stick underneath her body, and slid to the side of the tree….waiting for her opportunity to strike.
The cool evening air sent shivers across Darias’s skin as he slowly emerged from the water. Rivulets streamed down the length of his body as his muscles bunched reflexively. He stopped mid-stride. Water sloshed upward against his thighs. He stood there, absorbing the sounds around him, watching his horse amble by the tree he placed the girl under. At least no enemy was approaching, or else his horse would have made it known to him by now. He was sure that whoever the ruffians were, they had long since given up and set about making their own camp for the coming night.
Darias dressed quickly and made short work of gathering wood for the fire he had already set to blaze. Later he would get more wood for the fire to keep any other predators away. The rabbit he caught earlier made the fire hiss as its juices ran down on top of the hot coals. He glanced in the direction of the girl, noting his horse had taken up residence right beside where he placed her, so close in fact; he was almost stepping on her. Darias sprinted across the clearing, his feet barely touching the ground and shoved his horses arse before he crushed the girl under his massive hooves. Once he finished he tu
rned but the girl was no longer on the ground. “What the…” A sharp pain sliced through his head, while a flash of white stole his sight. Then everything turned black before his eyes and he collapsed to the ground making a heavy thud that vibrated the earth underfoot.
“Ahh Ha! Take that you…..oooooohnooooo!” Marguerite dropped the stick she was holding and fell down to her knees. “What have I done?” she cried, lifting the knight’s bloodied head in her hands, cradling him against her, smoothing his long hair away from his face. Lifting her fingers up, she gaped in horror at the bloodied tips.
“Oh bloody hell!” Her heart sank, filling with dread. Dark red lines of blood trickled freely down the side of his head. “Please don’t be dead,” she prayed, leaning forward to see if he was still breathing. Knowing her horrible luck, she probably killed her one and only chance at happiness. Dread fueled her every move. She put her shaking hands on his chest, feeling nothing but the bulging tautness of his muscles. She still couldn’t tell if he was breathing, so she leaned down and placed her ear to his chest.
The constant thrum of his heart, thumped against her ear. She breathed out a sigh of relief. At least he was still breathing. That was something. Pushing her tangled mess of hair away from her face, she reached forward and patted his chest. “You are going to be fine,” she assured his still form. Even though deep down, she really wasn’t so sure.
A loud crack sounded behind her.
She jumped up, lunging for her discarded stick, dropping his head in the process. It made a terrible thud when it hit the ground. She cringed. Spinning around she was about to beat whatever it was to a bloody pulp to save them both from an untimely demise…
“Ohbloooodyhell!” she groaned, stomping her foot and balling her hands into fists while his giant horse ambled by, searching for more grass to eat. He stopped and gave her an accusing stare.
“What?” She gaped at the horse. “Oh, don’t you look at me like that. How was I to know it was only you and not some beast?” she protested.
The horse merely gave her a disinterested stare and swung his head back around to munch on some more grass.
She turned away from the horse and ran back to his side, dropping back to her knees and gently picked up his head, cringing from the memory of dropping it carelessly to the ground only moments before.
Carefully she ran her fingers through his thick hair to the back of his head, checking for more blood. There wasn’t any.
A gust of air blew through the clearing, shaking the leaves overhead.
“Water, I need to get water.” Gently placing his head back on the ground this time, she stood and then ran over to the embankment. Of course she didn’t have anything to put water in so she lifted her skirts, ripped off a piece of her chemise, and then knelt down to dip it in the water. “Ahh,” she screamed when she saw her distorted reflection. Ugh, she looked horrible. Her hair was snarled all over her head. Well there was nothing to be done about it now. Quickly she dipped the cloth into the water and then ran as fast as she could back to his side. Once again she lowered to her knees and lifted the dripping cloth, to clean the wound. Gently she began to wash the blood away. The cut was not too deep and only a slight trickle of blood was coming out now. “There, there, you are going to be just fine.”
She stared at his face…she couldn’t help it. It was a sin; he was gorgeous, his face more handsome than she even remembered. His long dark hair twisted into curls past his shoulders. He had long thick lashes that feathered out across his high cheekbones and full lips. Lifting the cloth she dragged the clean edge over his lips, remembering how they felt against her own.
Then she moved down, swiping it across his jaw, to the cleft in his chin and over his slight growth of beard that left shadows, scratching her fingers, tickling them. She leaned even closer and smoothed the cloth across the arch of his brow, then down the length of his nose. She made it back to his lips and again briefly touched them as well. Leaning closer she pressed her body against his for a moment. She felt small and insignificant in comparison.
Breathing deeply, she inhaled his scent. He smelled clean and fresh, just like the great outdoors. She wanted to kiss him suddenly and wished he would wake so he could kiss her. Unfortunately, if he were awake she was sure the last thing he would want to do especially since she hit him with a stick. Bloody hell!
She stood up, before she did something foolish, like try to lie on top of him. Lifting her skirts, she shook them out to give occupy her hands. Stains were on the front of her gown. Wiggling her shoulders, she felt something slide down her back.
“Ewwbuuug!” she screeched, reaching around and jumping, trying to dislodge it from her gown. Something black raced out from under her skirts. She tried to smash it with her foot but missed. “Yooooou better run…” She cringed completely grossed out. Who knew what else was trapped in her gown.. Lifting her hand she tried to run it through her hair but it stuck in the snarls. She yanked it back out. She felt disgusting
The sound of splashing of water beckoned her as she wondered if she could get away with bathing before he woke… “If he woke,” she amended.
The horse snorted behind her. She turned. “What?” She made a face at the horse. He didn’t seem to care and in moments had returned to eating grass. With one last glace at her dark knight she walked over to the water’s edge. Should she just dive in? Wash the filth from her body? Guiltily she looked back towards his unmoving body. “He will be fine,” she told herself, even though she really wasn’t so sure. And the water did look refreshing. She lifted her arm and inhaled deeply. “Gah….” She turned her head away from her stench.
The days she spent wandering across the countryside had made her stink. She looked back at her reflection in the water and even without the distortion, she was sure she looked bad. She never let herself look this bad, ever. Oh, she knew there were plenty of women and men who just did not care about their looks or cleanliness. Some did not even wash at all. Much of the aristocracy wore wigs and such to cover up hair loss, or to fit into the latest style. Some even had eyebrows made of rodent fur. Thank goodness, they stopped putting balls in their cheeks to cover the loss of their teeth from never caring for them properly.
Again, she glanced back at him, hesitating on the water’s edge. “Well there is nothing to be done about his predicament now and he would probably be passed out from quite some time, thanks to her handiwork. A hysterical laugh bubbled out of her mouth. She slapped her hand over it, appalled. Well hell.
Lifting her gown, she yanked it up and over her head and tossed it to the ground. She stomped on it a few times to be sure nothing else was crawling around in the folds and then removed her stockings and boots. Then with one hand covering her naked breasts, she reached up with the other and pinched her nose. Holding her breath she jumped in, the cold water sloshed over her, stealing her breath as she slipped under completely. Gasping for breath she resurfaced.
“Cold, cold, cold,” she chattered, wading forward and then reached up on the embankment, grabbing out a bar of soap from the folds of her cloak. She had put many such items in the lining of her cloak to hide them away so she would have them for her many journeys through time. After the last debacle, she wanted to be prepared for whatever was thrown in her direction.
It took less than ten minutes to scrub her body and wash her hair, her teeth chattering the entire time. Ducking under she rinsed off the rest of the remaining soap and then climbed from the water. She may have caught her death, but at least she was clean.
First Impressions
PRESENT DAY * RAVENHURST
IF embarrassment could kill you, Raven would be laid out flat as a fritter. She had just finished a nice cool shower in her new digs and felt her body temperature finally returning to normal. She dressed carefully in a long flowing tiered printed skirt and her favorite white, hug-your-boobs, button-up blouse, un-tucked. Opting not to wear her new Christian Louboutin pumps, her feet were killing her and instead she slipped her recentl
y- manicured feet into a pair of Chanel ballerina flats she scored on eBay.
Raven studied her reflection in the mirror, flattening the last piece of her hair with her straightening iron. It fell to the middle of her back in nice long choppy layers. She pulled a long strand of pearls out of her jewelry bag and wound them around her neck a few times. Then she put on a pair of matching pearl studs and a vintage cha-cha bracelet. She wasn’t sure if she should put on her sterling, Tiffany square thumb ring, thinking it may look a bit too… something… rock and roll, maybe.
Cecily gave it to her as a Christmas present. Oh, how she missed Cecily. She let out a breathy sigh as she spun the ring around, wondering if she attained the look she was going for: casual, “I swear I am not trying too hard” elegance.” Her stomach growled, reminding her that it was time to go to dinner. Good Lord, she did not want to go downstairs at all. Visions of the hot dude lifting her cut-up pantyhose flitted through her mind and made her cringe once again. She wondered if he would be at dinner and laughed aloud uneasily. She bet he would be wondering if she were wearing her cut-offs under her skirt the entire time. Maybe she should just say, “In case you’re wondering, HD (Hot Dude), I am wearing those cut-off, belly busters under this skirt and yeah, I am wearing those big cotton fatty underpants, too. A girl’s coochie needs to breathe you know”… or not. It would probably gross him out for all eternity. Besides, Raven was too chicken to do that anyway, even though that’s exactly what Cecily would do…
TIME TO REMEMBER: A NEW ADULT TIME TRAVELING ROMANCE (RAVENHURST SERIES) Page 4