Page 23 of Love Beyond Words
Raudrich mounted his horse with ease.
“Aye, and here is where I must bid ye farewell. I’ve been away too long, and I doona know whether or not ’tis safe for ye beyond these gates.” He reached for his bag of coins and tossed it toward Pinkie. “’Tis all that I owe ye, along with enough to see ye settled and fed in the village tonight.”
Raudrich extended his hand and waited for Pinkie to shake his hand in farewell.
“Thank ye for this. It has been my pleasure to ride with ye these last days. If ye ever need my assistance again, ye know where to find me.”
He waited until he could no longer hear the hooves of Pinkie’s horse retreating back down the hill before pushing his way through the gate. After making sure it was securely closed behind him, Raudrich rode the rest of the way up to the castle.
The others wouldn’t be expecting him for at least another three days, which was exactly as he preferred it. This way, he could slip quietly inside, retreat to his bedchamber, and get a thorough night’s sleep before having to face the endless questions he knew they would all have for him.
Raudrich sighed as he dismounted once more and guided his horse into the stables. This was the only place in the world where he felt truly like himself. There were many troubles ahead of him, he knew. With Timothy gone, they all faced the arduous task of finding another druid worthy of replacing him, and he could already feel the power of the fae they kept locked away rising again. But all of that could be dealt with in a few day’s time. For now, he had a long-awaited appointment with his sorely-missed bed.
He could feel the warmth of his blankets, could sense the sweet dreams he would have just thinking about it. He couldn’t wait to crawl inside.
Chapter 13
There was a residual feeling of warmth lingering in his bedchamber as he slipped inside and quietly closed the door—almost as if a fire had been lit inside not long ago.
Raudrich walked over to the fireplace and hovered his hands over the ashes. They were still warm.
Paton. It had to be Paton. He was the only one with reason to want to steal his bed. He couldn’t even bring himself to blame him. The poor lad’s own room was barely larger than a cupboard.
He held his breath and listened carefully. Within seconds, the soft rise and fall of someone breathing from under the covers reached his ears.
If he woke him, Paton would wake the rest of the men and the night of precious sleep he’d spent weeks longing for would be ruined. He’d be damned if he would be denied his own bed the first night after returning home in years.
Groaning, Raudrich walked over to the bed. Placing his hands on top of the blankets, he pushed the lad from the center of the bed over to one side so there would be room for him, as well.
The lad felt lighter than he expected. Perhaps, the pudgy adolescent he’d known before he left had grown more slender in the past two years.
Paton let out a soft whimper as Raudrich moved him, and Raudrich couldn’t suppress a laugh at the unusually high pitch of the sound.
Kicking off his shoes, Raudrich removed his riding shirt. With his riding breeches still on, he crawled inside and fell quickly to sleep.
* * *
I dreamt I was sleeping. The dream was spotty, and dark, and sexy as hell. I was in the arms of a man with my head snuggled against his broad, firm chest. He was warm and I was more comfortable in his hold than I could remember ever being in another’s. I loved the way the stranger’s hand—which came protectively around my back—cupped at my breast as we slept.
My head lifted and lowered with his chest as he breathed and his breath would lightly tickle my nose as he exhaled. Smiling, I slowly wound my right leg in between his broad thighs, pulling us even closer together.
My hand lay gently below his chest, and I allowed my thumb to swirl small circles on the tender side of his stomach.
His muscles tightened as he groaned.
It was a deep, sexy noise and my knee seemed to slide gently up and down the space between his legs on its own.
The slow rise and fall of his breath quickened as I felt him harden beneath the light touch of my knee.
My own breath came more quickly. As I breathed in, the smell of him—sweat and earth—reached my nostrils, and something at the edge of my mind began to tickle uncomfortably.
A thought was trying to break through, to break into my dream, but I fought against it. It was one of those dreams you never wanted to end, and as you feel morning coming, your conscious mind quietly urges your unconscious mind to just stay sleeping a little bit longer.
The man shifted beneath me, as his left hand came around and began to roam over my body. I moaned in response to his touch, and then the thought I’d been trying so desperately to ignore came soaring into my blissful dream.
This was too real—the warmth, the rise and fall of my head with his breath, the smell of him. It all slowly fell into place in my mind as I woke. I had no choice but to open my eyes.
It was still completely dark in the room and it took a long moment for me to wake enough for panic and terror to set in.
