didn’t want him getting up before the crack of dawn or working until he could barely see straight. She wanted to wake up in his arms, already crying out his name as he made love to her and she wanted to fall asleep in his arms every night like she used to, before he started accepting every job and order that came his way. She wanted her husband back and if was determined to make this up to her, it would probably be a long time before that happened.
“No,” she mumbled, putting her arms around him and held him tight, “I just want you.”
“You already have me,” he said with a chuckle as he rewarded her with another kiss.
She closed her eyes as she pressed her forehead against his chest and held onto him, letting go and just relaxing in his arms as he held her tighter.
“I love you, minx,” he said, kissing the top of her head, “so damn much.”
“I love you, too,” she said, well, more like mumbled since she was in the process of falling asleep.
He chuckled as he kissed her again. “Go to sleep, minx.”
She wanted to argue with him, open her eyes, get off his lap and walk the final ten miles home, but opening her eyes or moving for that matter seemed impossible. Well, if she was going to be completely honest she’d admit that after several days without sleep and months surviving on just a few hours a night, she was exhausted. Plus being in his arms like this felt so good that she couldn’t make herself get up even if she’d been able to.
There really was no better way to fall asleep than in the arms of the man that she loved.
*-*-*-*
He’d seriously fucked up and now his wife was paying the price.
He never should have been so stubborn.
He never should have brought her on this trip.
He never should have turned down his brother’s generous offer to pay for a proper honeymoon.
He should have known better than to eat anything Mrs. Kinnley cooked.
He should have…
Christ, there were just too many “should haves.”
He’d made too many mistakes, made too many bad decisions and now he just wanted this nightmare to end. Unfortunately he had to wait to end this until nightfall, because he refused to allow his wife to walk on the side of the road in broad daylight wearing only his shirt and coat.
It just wasn’t happening.
So, that left him with no other choice but to stay here with her and wait until the sun to set. That of course meant that he needed to at least get a fire going and see if he could find some food for-
“Oh, hell,” he muttered when he should have jumped to his feet and ran as fast as he could, getting Elizabeth away from this spot before the little bastard had a chance to raise that goddamn tail and spray them.
Unfortunately by the time that he thought about getting the hell out of there, it was too late. The skunk, who’d stumbled upon them had turned, raised its tail and sprayed them. Even though it was too late, he tried to stand up and get Elizabeth away from the stench, but unfortunately he could barely see. His eyes stung and his lungs protested the stench that now surrounded them. As much as he would love to pick his wife up and get her out of there, he couldn’t.
Thankfully, he didn’t have to worry about waking her up and carrying her to safety, because within seconds of being sprayed, she woke up coughing and gasping, jumped to her feet and stumbled her way towards fresh air. Then again, he mused as he watched his wife running to a different spot, trying desperately to get away from the stench that now clung to her skin and clothes, it was probably pointless at this point to try and run away at this point.
He considered telling her that it was pointless to try to run away, but he just didn’t have the heart to tell her. So, instead he glared at the little bastard as he walked away with his tail still sticking up in the air as Robert leaned back against the tree, trying to ignore the stench surrounding him. When the skunk stopped just before ducking beneath a hedge to make his escape and turned his head and glare at Robert, he considered killing the little bastard and roasting his ass over a fire, but that damn tail twitching in anticipation, ready to spray him again was the only thing that kept him from killing the little son of a bitch.
“Oh my God,” Elizabeth said, coughing as she turned around and ran the other way, clearly not accepting the fact that there was outrunning this thing.
He shot one last glare at the hedge where the skunk had made its escape before he got to his feet as he tried to rub his eyes without pushing the smelly spray clinging to his skin into his eyes and failed.
“Son of a bitch!” he growled as his eyes stung and began to water.
He stumbled back as he tried to rub the oil out of his eyes, tripped over a root and fell on his ass, his bare back slamming into the tree behind him as he fell, scraping his back to shreds in the process. He ground his teeth and closed his eyes as he tried to breathe through the pain, but it only made it worse.
“Robert?” Elizabeth said, sounding concerned as he struggled not to lose it and say something that he was going to regret later.
“I’m fine,” he bit out, cursing softly as the stinging got worse and the uncontrollable coughing began again.
“Oh, Robert,” she said, sighing softly as came closer and unfortunately for him, doubled the stench that was currently choking the life out of him.
“I’m,” hoarse cough, “fine,” he managed to get out as Elizabeth cupped his face in her small, warm hands.
“We need to wash your face,” she decided as he continued to cough so hard that his chest was actually beginning to hurt from the strain.
Wash his face? In the leach infested muddy water? He’d rather go blind, but he couldn’t say that to his wife since he knew that it wouldn’t end well for him.
“I’m fine,” he said tightly through clench teeth as pain shot up and down his back.
A heavy sigh followed, the very one that she used when one of their sons did something to vex her, like tearing off their nappies so that they could pee in a corner, distracting her while the other one snuck into the kitchen and helped himself to whatever treat she’d cooked for that day or simply argued with her, refusing to do what they’re told as they glared at her. He really didn’t appreciate the fact that she used that sigh on him.
Not. At. All.
He would have glared at her, given her the same glare that the boys gave her, but unfortunately at the moment he couldn’t open his eyes so he settled for a small disapproving grunt that she simply ignored.
“We need to find some fresh water,” she announced as she took his hand into her much smaller one and gave it a slight tug that forced him to get up and stumble forward.
“Just give me a minute, minx,” he said, using his free hand to try to rub his eyes clean, but it was only making it worse.
“We don’t have a minute,” she said with that damn sigh again as she continued dragging him through the woods, giving him no choice but to give up on trying to rub the spray from his eyes and forcing him to try to keep up with the woman determined to drag him to his death.
She really was a bossy little thing, he thought as he was forced to bite back a grunt of pain as he was forced to walk on sticks, stones and briars. As he bit back another pained grunt he considered asking her to stop, but he knew his wife well enough to know that there was no point in arguing with her. It didn’t matter that they weren’t sure where they were or that she was only wearing his shirt and jacket, if his wife was determined to do something, and apparently she was, then there was nothing that he could say or do to stop-
“Oh, no,” Elizabeth said on a gasp.
“What?” he asked as she practically dragged through the woods.
“He’s back.”
“Who’s-oh, shit,” he said just as they were hit a second time by that little bastard that he should have killed.
Chapter 10
Oh, thank God it was all over, she thought, struggling not to give into the need to run to the house, throw open the doo
r, run upstairs and dive under her covers and stay there until this whole trip became nothing more than a distant memory. But, she couldn’t that, not without hurting Robert’s feelings. There was also the small problem of Robert’s death grip on her hand that was stopping her from achieving her dreams and the fact that he was dragging her towards the woods and away from the one thing that promised to end this nightmare.
“Where are we going?” she asked, even though she had a pretty good idea.
“To the lake,” was all he said as he continued to lead her across the backyard, confirming her worst fears.
It really wasn’t over yet.
Then there was also the fact that it was well after midnight, it was dark out, cold and she really wasn’t looking forward to a dip in the lake, knowing that it was ice cold and would probably kill her or at the very least, lead to more misery. She thought about arguing with him, but she knew that it was pointless. First off, he was determined to do this so that meant more arguing and possibly resorting to kicking him in the shin, which of course would lead to him throwing her over his shoulder, marching down to the lake and throwing her in the lake. Then there was the fact that they both reeked of skunk and that Mrs. Brown would probably throw them out of the house and ban them from entering the house until the last lingering scent of skunk was long gone.
She really wished that they’d never gone on this trip, she thought, biting back a sigh that promised to start another argument and right now, she really didn’t think that she couldn’t handle an argument. She was terrified that she would say something that would make him hate her. She was also afraid that she would come off sounding like a spoiled brat, something that most of the people in town thought she was simply because her father was a member of the Peer. She loved their new home and even the town, but she hated the fact that they thought so poorly of her simply because she spoke with British accent and had been fortunate enough to have been born into a wealthy family.
Not that she’d told anyone about her family, because she hadn’t. No, that information had been shared thanks to James and his good intentions. A few weeks after she’d given birth to the boys, James had dragged Robert down to one of the local taverns and had argued and begged Robert to return to England, because James had assumed that she couldn’t handle living in New England, dealing with the harsh weather and running a household without a decent staff to help her.
She knew that he’d only been concerned about her wellbeing, but that knowledge hadn’t saved him when she found out that he’d had a little too much to drink and had shared his concerns loud enough for half the men in town to hear, who of course felt it was necessary to share this information with their wives, families and friends. She knew that most of the people didn’t care and hadn’t let James rantings affect their opinion of her, but the ones who had seemed to go out of their way to remind her that she didn’t belong did.
“Stay here,” Robert said, letting go of her hand, leaving her standing near the barn as he quickly made his way inside.
Before she could ask him what he was doing, he was back with several blankets and a lantern. He took her hand, continuing to lead her towards the woods that she had to admit that she wasn’t looking forward to taking a stroll through in the middle of the night.
“We need to get this scent off us before we go in the house,” he said as he lead her through the woods on the familiar path that they’d taken so many times before.
“I know,” she said, not sounding too happy about it even to her own ears, which of course made Robert’s jaw clench.
At least, she was pretty sure that his jaw clenched, but it was a little hard to see with only the light from the lantern casting shadows on his face. She considered asking him if he was angry, but quickly dismissed the idea since she knew damn well that he was angry.
He’d worked hard to bring her on this trip and it had been a disaster from the start. It was without question the worst trip that either one of them had ever been on, and it wasn’t over yet. As soon as she got to bed she was planning on staying there for a week or two. She really couldn’t remember ever being this exhausted before.
All too soon they’d arrived at the lake. Without a word, Robert placed the blankets and lantern carefully on the ground and removed his pants. He tossed them aside. Before she could stop him, not that she really thought that she could stop him, he was pulling off her coat and shirt, tossing them aside and leading her towards the water. Too exhausted to argue and wanting to just get this over with, she went with him, deciding that it was best to get this over with so that she could put this trip behind her and finally get some sleep.
*-*-*-*
He was so fucking tired.
All he wanted to do was climb into bed and hold his wife, but unfortunately the dip in the cold lake and the bar of soap that they’d scrubbed their skin raw with hadn’t completely killed the odor. So, now they were stuck climbing up the ladder to the hayloft above in the hopes that the scent of hay would help cover the disgusting odor clinging to their skin.
He followed his wife up the ladder, careful not to drop the lantern or lose the blanket wrapped around his waist. When she quietly unwrapped her blanket from around her and placed it on the ground so that she could curl up on her side, he knew that he was in deep shit. He’d brought her on this horrible trip that didn’t seem to want to end and not once had she complained, yelled at him or even bitched about it.
She just simply took it in stride as it came, acting act like she was used to this kind of bullshit and that seriously pissed him off. Had she’d expected such a horrible trip from him? Was that how she saw him? Since the day that he’d married her, well after he’d fucked up, he’d busted his ass to make sure that she had everything that she needed and now he had to wonder if it hadn’t been enough for her.
Glaring at her back, because he was too exhausted and too pissed to say anything without starting a fight, he pulled the blanket off, laid down on her blanket, well away from his wife, and threw his blanket over them. Still glaring at her back, he narrowed his eyes on her, ground his jaw so that he wouldn’t say anything that he was going to regret and rolled over onto his side, facing away from her.
It was the first time since they’d made a truce that he hadn’t curled his body around hers and held her. Hell, it was the first time that she was in bed naked with him and he wasn’t trying to get between her legs. As much as he wanted her, and God did he fucking want her, he was too pissed to try anything tonight.
His plan was to lie here, glaring into the darkness as he allowed his anger to fester. He wasn’t going to say anything now, not when he was this angry, but tomorrow morning he was going to-
Groan very loudly as he suddenly found himself pushed onto his back and his wife’s very talented mouth wrapping around his cock. They shouldn’t be doing this, he told himself as he reached down to pull her off his cock, but instead found himself cradling the back of her head, enjoying the sensation of her tongue gliding down the underside of his cock.
Christ, he’d never met a woman that loved sucking on his cock as much as his wife did. She seemed to crave it, needing it more than him. A few times he’d actually thought she was going to come from sucking on his cock. It made her so fucking wet and tight, nearly making him lose it on the first thrust.
She was angry at him, he tried to remind himself, but at that moment he could honestly say that he didn’t give a damn. It felt too good to think about anything else.
“Mmmmm,” she moaned softly as she suckled on the tip of his cock.
“Oh, hell,” he groaned loudly as her mouth slid down his cock. which earned him another moan that vibrated through his cock and down to his balls.
“I thought you were mad at me?” he suddenly, and very stupidly, found himself asking. He silently cursed himself for ruining everything when her mouth slowly slid off his cock, releasing it with a small moan that the tip of his cock really appreciated.
“Why would I be mad at you?” sh
e asked with a coy little smile as she shifted so that she was straddling his waist.
“The trip,” he said almost in a daze as he found himself staring at the thatch of hair between her legs. God, she was already so fucking wet, he thought as he hungrily licked his lips and reached for her.
She came willingly, casting him a coy smile as she shifted until she was straddling his mouth, already knowing exactly what he wanted. He didn’t make her wait, simply because he felt like he was going to die soon if he didn’t get a taste of her sweet pussy.
Groaning, he cupped her bottom and pulled her closer as he leaned up and licked her slit. She tasted amazing, he thought as his cock jerked in approval and his tongue went in for another taste, greedy for more. As he ran his tongue through her slit, she rewarded him with another one of those moans that he liked so much.
“Oh, God,” she moaned, panting slightly as she shifted on top of him, desperate to feel his tongue slide inside her, but he refused to rush this.
“Are you mad at me, minx?” he asked casually between licks.
“For what?” she asked, sounding a little distracted and confused as she reached up and cupped her breasts for his enjoyment.
“The trip.”
“Why would I be mad at you for the trip?” she asked, panting loudly as she continued to shift on top of him, desperately seeking his tongue.
“Because it was a nightmare,” he admitted, rewarding her with a swipe of his tongue over her core.