Godiva: Unbridled (9 page)

“It appears that the animals have had enough of our indulging ourselves,” he said, unable to ignore the revolt that was building on the other side of the barn. “I’ve neglected my chores long enough.” He leaned over to kiss the Lady May, and she wrapped her arm around the back of his head, sliding herself beneath him. He groaned, pressed up against her supple, yielding warmth. “If you wait for me right here, I’ll come back and ravage you again in an hour’s time,” he growled, dipping his head to kiss her neck, her shoulder.

“No, I want to help,” she said. “Let me help with the chores, then they’ll be done all the sooner, and all the sooner you can ravage me again.” Her legs wrapped around him then as she giggled, squeezing him tightly, playfully. He cradled her back, holding her against him, inhaled her scent, aching with joy and affection. The cow mooed again and they both laughed, releasing each other reluctantly, and Thomas rolled out of bed, walked naked into the privy where she heard the water begin to pump.

The lady looked around the barn, morning sunlight filtering through the shuttered windows. The animals shuffled around in the shadows, alive with their morning routine, anxious for their breakfast and to be let out into the field. She slipped out of bed and pulled on the leg socks that Thomas had made for her—tubular lengths of knitted wool sewn together at the end with scraps of leather attached on the bottom. They made a sort of wooly moccasin that kept her legs and feet warm and dry inside the barn, much better than the thin, leather slippers she’d been wearing when he found her. She smiled at her silly looking, wooly legs, made comfortable because of a thoughtful, handmade gift. She pulled a blanket around her shoulders and padded across the barn to the lamb stall.

When she approached, both baby lambs looked up from where they stood next to their mother. Both strong and solid, they seemed to be growing already. She stood quietly for a long while and watched each baby as it ducked under the ewe’s belly to nurse. She felt Thomas approach but he didn’t speak, only watched.

“Both the babies nursing is a good thing indeed,” the Lady May whispered after a time. “Sometimes the ewe will reject one of them, and you’ll have to hand feed it with a bottle. But she’s the good mother, caring for them both.” The ewe walked to the other side of the enclosure, and both babies stumbled.

“Looks like she’s teaching them to be tough little lambies,” Thomas observed, since the ewe didn’t appear to notice that her babies were unsteady on their feet.

“All the better for when they’re out in the pasture, and might need to run from a fox. They’ll be strong and fast at a young age. Able to look out for themselves.”

“They might well all have to learn to run from that ram, being that they’re all females. He’ll be wanting them for his own private harem once they’re a little bit bigger, and I’ll be repairing the fence once again!”

“At some point perhaps you can just install a swinging door, for everyone’s convenience,” the Lady said, leaning back against Thomas.

“The animals are all tended to, bellies full and out in the pasture. Shall we go see how the garden looks today? Decide what’s for dinner?”

She nodded, looking over her shoulder and the two of them walked outside to the patch of vegetables. A blustery wind whipped the Lady’s blanket, and she clutched it to her neck while Thomas inspected the garden. The sun was out but clouds rolled around threateningly across the blue sky. She stared over the hills toward the fruit orchard, the same nagging curiosity gripping her, followed by apprehension and fear. After a long silence, Thomas noticed her staring into the distance.

“Is there something on your mind?” he asked, looking up from where he crouched among the plants. “Your face seems so solemn.”

“I think today I’d like to ride up there,” she said suddenly, before she even realized what it was that she was saying. Startled at her own words, she tore her gaze away from the hill and looked down at Thomas, whose expression she couldn’t read.

“Up to the orchard?” he asked. “It’s a bit early for the plums but most of the trees are apples, so they won’t be in fruit until late this year.” When her eyes didn’t leave his, he changed his tone. “Aye,” he said, nodding his head. “You want to go see the place where I found you. Ready for that now are you?”

“When I look up there, it makes me shudder in fear, and I don’t know why. I need to find out. So we can move on together. It’s all part of my discovery. Leaving the past behind, and looking toward the future.”

“Whatever you wish,” Thomas said. “You can ride Niklada up there. She may have something to tell you as well.”

“We can ride her together. It’s a far walk and I want you to come with me.”

“Of course. I can show you everything as it was that day.”

“Thomas… come here.”

She reached out toward him where he kneeled in the vegetable patch and he took her hand, which shook slightly. As he stood she opened her blanket and pressed herself against him, the cold of the wind combined with her nerves causing her to tremble. His arms encircled her, and she felt safe, she smelled his familiar, masculine scent and she felt driven to him. She kissed his chest between the untied lacing of his shirt, aware of her nakedness against him, of the one hand that slipped beneath the blanket to press her waist closer to him.

“I hunger for you, constantly,” he said, his head dipping to her neck to kiss her, and she felt him through his breeches, growing hard against her belly. “Just to see you, to smell you, and I want to devour you. I’ve become a deviant, a slave to my carnal needs.”

She pressed her hardened nipples against his chest and reached to the laces at his waist, laying her palm against the outline of him as he swelled. “I am the same way, in constant need of you, as soon as you leave my body, I crave to have you back, every time I get scared or unsure, I want you to cover me, fill me up.”

She wrapped her leg around his and he lifted her up, she wrapping her legs about him and crossing them at his back, anchored by her stocking-covered ankles. He kissed her mouth, drifting backward, until he stood with his back against the barn. For a moment he held her, the blanket loosely draped over her naked body, arms latched around his neck, kissing him hungrily as though they hadn’t made love only an hour beforehand, as though they were lovers long apart. Sliding down, Thomas eventually reached the grass with the barn still to his back, and the Lady May shrugged off the blanket, to the ground beside them. He dove to the swell of her bosom, sucking on one hardened nipple while gently pinching the other one between his fingers. Arching her back, she leaned into the sharpness of the sensation, the cold wind on her bare skin and the voyeuristic joy of being nude out in the open, a strange titillation. Fumbling with the laces on his breeches, she loosened them to the point that his hardness sprung free, and with no hesitation she seated him within her, the two of them groaning unabashedly to the open sky. His member throbbed within her, and she ran her hands over the taut muscles of his stomach as it flexed. Thomas twirled the length of her hair around his wrist, moving in time with her slow, rhythmic riding, watching the beauty of her quaking breasts, her impassioned face, the smooth, flawless slope of her belly and where her hairless sex met his to slide together so wetly and so freely. Thomas pressed his thumb against the spread of her against him and her breath caught, then she ground her hips against his steady pressure. Together, their pleasure climbed. Finally, she quickened her pace, lengthened her thrusts, and inside, Thomas could feel the tension of her body gripping him, warming around him. As she stilled atop him, crying out, inside her body squeezed, twitched, coaxed the sensitive length of him in a way that he couldn’t control. From deep within, he sprung, spilled, pulled her down as he gasped from the intensity of the sensation, the pleasure. She collapsed against him, whimpering softly, kissing his chest, her golden hair tumbling around him. He reached for the blanket to cover her, his cherished beauty, and squeezed her close against him, looking to the distant hill where he had not so long ago found her, and wondering if taking her back there today would change the way things were right now.

“Would you like to get to it then?” Thomas asked, gently kissing the space beneath her ear. “In case the weather decides to turn, it might be best if we go up the hill now rather than later. And you’ll want to put something on under that blanket. A good gust of wind could take it away.”

She pulled back, looked into the blue pools of his eyes, holding his face with both hands. She kissed him softly, with meaning, then nodded her head.

Chapter 13

Niklada came in from the field when she was called, obediently walking to her box stall, and patiently allowed the bridle to be pulled over her head. Thomas put a blanket over her and he and the Lady May climbed onto the horse’s back, she in front, holding the reins.

They made their way slowly up the hill, climbing in the direction of the trees and the low stone wall. As they came closer, Niklada started to fidget, tossed her head and whiffled anxiously. For all the horse’s fussing, the spot was pretty, many of the trees covered in white and pink blossoms, and the green countryside rolling all around them like a plush carpet, other farms dotting the distant landscape. The height gave them a view all around, and it was clear to see why it would have been difficult to find someone up here without something standing out like a horse. Thomas guided Niklada toward the stone wall, where there was a dip in the hill, and he surveyed the land.

“This is it,” he said. “I found you lying just over there, by the ivy. I only saw Niklada when she came to the top of the hill just over there.”

The Lady May looked around, images flooding her mind. Tiny fragments of memories, words, shouting, but nothing complete enough to grasp. As the horse walked casually through the trees, they had to duck down, since many had low hanging limbs. As she stared at the ground beneath her, a sudden branch caught the length of her hair, causing her to gasp loudly, and grasp back at the tree limb as a memory swept through her mind. She wouldn’t let go, and was losing her balance, threatening to unhorse Thomas with her.

“May!” he called, gathering the reins and halting the horse, then tearing her bleeding hands loose from the branch she grasped. He slid off the horse’s back and grabbed onto the swaying body of Lady May as she swooned.

“No, no…” she gasped. The sky spun above her as her head lolled back. The image pounded her mind, thundering loudly in her memory, the sound of Niklada’s hooves running. “My surcoat! Niklada, halt!”

The horse glanced up serenely from where she grazed, already standing as still as she could be. The lady looked at her, wheezing and gasping, clutching her chest. She looked up desperately at Thomas, who held her shoulders so she wouldn’t fall.

“My surcoat!”

“Surcoat? Milady, what surcoat do you speak of? You had nothing when I found you, just this simple shift.”

She gasped at every memory as they assaulted her mind. “No, no, no, no…”

She stumbled away, looking at her feet, remembering these silly blue house slippers that she had worn as she tried in vain to sneak down the stairs, thinking that she could change into the proper clothing she had hidden in the stable once she made it there. But Edwin had heard her, had found her missing, so she had to grab what she could, which was her red and golden surcoat that had been ripped off as she rode by a low hanging tree branch.

She ran from tree to tree, trying to find the one that had taken her garment, and finally, not far from the wall, she saw a patch of red in the grass. The rain had soaked it, covered it in mud and debris, but there it was. She collapsed in the grass, examining the filthy garment.

“I’d no idea,” Thomas said, lowering to the ground beside her. “This is quite a ways from where you fell. I had no idea you had anything else.” He looked to her face, saw the tears that slid down her cheeks. He hesitated before asking the next words. “Are you remembering other things as well?”

She nodded. “I remember everything,” she whispered, but she couldn’t look up at him. She could still feel the sweet memory of their lovemaking from this morning, saw his long blond bangs fall on his forehead, could smell his familiar scent, felt his comforting warmth next to her, right now. At the same time, the bitter memory of what her life had been until just three weeks ago, had come back to stay. And the promise she’d made, the bet she’d taken, would be taking place in just a few short days. She fingered the golden chain on the surcoat which attached at the neck with a clasp. She hadn’t bothered securing it, so the chain was unbroken. At the end of it was an ornate initial embossed onto a gold disc.

“What’s that?” Thomas asked. There was feigned gentleness in his voice, for she knew he was apprehensive to hear what she had to tell him.

“It’s a crest I had made for this neck chain.”

“It looks familiar,” Thomas said, his hand covering hers as he turned the golden disc over. “First name or family name?”

“First,” she replied, her breath hitching in her throat.

“Well there’s no need to cry over that,” there was genuine joy in his tone now. “This is a wonderful thing. You can tell me your name now. And it’ll be like we just met all over again, in this same spot, so close to where I met you before.”

When she looked up at him, his smile disarmed her. So pure of thought and deed, this man had rescued her, cared for her, now loved her. And what was she to do, bring him into the chaotic life she’d tried to escape from? Before she could say anything, he drew her into his arms.

“Tell me your name,” he whispered into her ear. “I’d like to properly introduce myself.”

She clutched at him, knowing that once she spoke, nothing would ever be the same.

“Forgive me, Thomas,” she stammered. “I promise, I didn’t remember any of this until just now. My name is Lady Godiva. I am the wife of the Earl of Mercia.”

Chapter 14

Thomas and Lady Godiva stood over the wooden wash barrel, she with a washing bat, moving the warm water around, and he with the bar of soap, scrubbing the stains ground into the fabric of the surcoat. Their ride back had been silent and once they’d arrived in the familiar warmth of the barn, Thomas had immediately gone into a routine of readying the tub for washing, making it a priority to clean the discovered garment while Godiva let the horse back out into the field. When she came inside she’d found him bent over the tub, alternating with swirling the water and rubbing the fabric between his palms, focusing entirely on his task. An uneasy tightness gripped her stomach to see him like this, so distant and quiet. Not knowing what to do, she’d simply included herself in the washing ritual, but no words had been exchanged on the topic she knew they were both thinking about.