Page 67 of Historical Hotties
He said it so dramatically that she knew he was jesting, but she still wasn’t over his request. It was titillating, wildly exciting, and wildly intimidating all at the same time. Fighting off a smile, she started to look around.
“That can be arranged,” she said. “Argos has been under your bed nearly the entire time. I will happily put him next to you so he can kiss you to your heart’s content.”
“It’s not the same.”
Their eyes met and Dacia knew she was going to honor his request no matter how much she was pretending to debate it. He smiled at her, lifting a weak finger to teasingly poke her nose. That freckled nose she’d always been so ashamed of, but something he found beautiful. The next thing she realized, she was kissing his bearded cheek.
But that wasn’t enough for Cassius.
He turned his head, his lips latching on to hers, and that weak hand holding her head had surprising strength. His hand was so big that it encompassed more than half her head, holding her fast to him. It was a sweet, delicious, and alluring kiss, and just when he shifted himself so he could embrace her with his good arm, he torqued his torso and the wound in his gut pained him greatly. He grunted and the momentum of their kiss was shattered.
“Did you hurt yourself?” Dacia asked, leaping off the bed to get a look at the bandages around his midsection. “This is my fault. I should have let the dog kiss you.”
Cassius had been wincing from the pain, but he suddenly started laughing. Dacia was trying not to laugh as she checked the bandages, making sure he hadn’t torn anything. She was bent over, peering at the edges of the bandage, when there was a soft knock on the door and Rhori entered.
“Cass,” he said with surprise. “You’re awake!”
Cassius nodded faintly, his good arm up over his eyes and somewhat thankful for his knight’s sense of timing. Any earlier, and there would have been some explaining to do.
“Aye,” he said. “For a short time, anyway.”
Rhori came over to stand next to the bed. “How are you feeling?”
Cassius grunted. “Well enough until I moved too much and strained my wound,” he said. “Lady Dacia is making sure I did not ruin her good work.”
Rhori stood back as Dacia evidently felt the need to rebandage the wound on the torso. He watched her for a moment as she moved around.
“Her work is excellent,” he said, returning his attention to Cassius. “She has hardly left your side the entire time. We have tried to force her to sleep, but she has been reluctant to leave you at all. I have never seen such a devoted nurse.”
Cassius’ eyes opened and he looked at Dacia, bent over his belly. He could tell that she had heard Rhori’s words because her cheeks were flushing red. Before he could reply, Dacia spoke up.
“It is because it is my grandfather’s fault that Cassius was wounded at all,” she said. “Had my grandfather not been so demanding to insist that the king’s knights fight Doncaster’s war, none of this would have happened. I have much to atone for.”
Rhori seemed pleased with her answer, but Cassius wasn’t. There was something cold and unemotional about a woman tending a wounded man purely out of guilt. In fact, he didn’t even reply to it. His attention moved to Rhori.
“What happened after I left?” he asked.
Rhori cocked his head thoughtfully. “We killed many of them,” he said. “Call it what you will, but your injury spurred the men into a sort of revenge. Clabecq’s mercenary force is in ruins. I would say no more than thirty or forty escaped with their lives.”
“What about the wounded?”
“We left no wounded.”
Cassius was rather pleased to hear that. “Good,” he said. “And Marcil himself?”
“Dead,” Rhori said. “I saw the body myself, dragged into the field next to the church.”
“Did the church hold?”
“Aye. De Lohr did an excellent job of it.”
Cassius sighed, relieved. “That is good to hear,” he said. “So the mercenaries ended up buried at the very church they tried to raid, did they?”
Rhori nodded. “In a sense,” he said. “Doncaster went to the church himself to speak to the priests about the burial, in fact, but the priests do not wish to bury them in the churchyard, so they are burying them in the field next to it.”
“I see,” Cassius said, rubbing his eyes wearily. “What about Hagg? Has there been any word from him?”
Rhori shook his head. “Nay,” he said. “De Lohr sent a scouting party to Hagg’s property yesterday and they returned to tell us that everything was burned to the ground. There is nothing, and no one, left.”
