Lords of Honor (20 page)

“Whatever letter Percy found, or
by whatever means
he came to know about the tunnel
on the abbey grounds
and the Scroll; I think we can assume
the information
was passed along to a
higher up
,
”
Micah reasoned
.

A
loud knock sounded
at the door.

“Who is it?” Micah asked.

“Mr. Banfield, my Lord
.
We’ve brought up your dinner
.”

Micah opened the door
.
He a
llowed Mr. Banfield and his two helpers to
bring
in their meal.

“I have brought in two
extra
men to stay near the staircases
during the
night, my Lords
.
T
o
prevent
you
from
hav
ing
any
unwelcome visitors.”

Micah nodded to
the innkeep
er
.
“Thank you, Mr. Banfield
.
We appreciate that.”

Micah stepped out into the hallway to speak to Mr. Banfield
.

“As we are being detained to wait upon the rest of our fellows, my Lady could use some new cloth
ing
, g
own
s
, petticoats, chemise
s
, stockings and the like
.
Could you send someone out to fetch a modiste
or a merchant who might sell ladies clothing
tomorrow
morning
?
Also, Lord Elves
ton and I
could use some things
.
We will provide you with a list in the
morning
.”

“Certainly, my Lord
.
There is a
modiste very near, a
Mrs. Bingington
.
She’s a widow
.
I’ve heard she does an excellent job at pleasing certain ladies
of prominence
in
Salisbury
.”

“Excellent
.
Thank you
.”

“Will your Lady require a bath tonight?”

“Yes
.
You may bring it in two hours.”

“Very good, my Lord.”

None of their fellows turned up that evening
.
Jack
stayed for awhile after d
inner
.
H
e returned to his room
when the Innkeeper’s servants arrived with Libby’s tub
.

Once again, Micah rinsed Libby’s hair for her
.
It
proved
even more difficult to ignore her lovely naked body
tonight
as she sat in the tub
.
Micah ached to
lift
her out and carry her to their bed
; t
o m
ake love to her as he wished to do
.

As
he
did
the night
before, he dried and combed her hair before the fire
.
Once again, she
wore
only his shirt
.
The sight of her long, bare legs tempted him sorely.

“You seem to feel much better to
night
, Libby
.
You have your balance back
.
You’ve walked around
today
.
And you ate more tonight
.
I’m
happy
to see your appetite improving.”

“I do feel much better, Micah, thank you
.
I’m a
lmost back to normal.
”

“Good
.”
Micah smiled
to himself as he s
at behind her, combing her hair
.

“You must be tired of combing my hair dry, Micah
.
Would you like me to do it?” Libby asked.

“No, Libby
.
I love your hair
.
It’s beautiful
and s
oft as silk
.
You will let me brush your hair every night when we are married, won’t you?”

“If you like,
”
Libby said softly
.
Micah
was
married before
.
She worried that he might be disappointed at her lack of knowledge regarding the marriage bed
.
Libby realized
at that moment
she knew very little about
what to expect on her wedding night
.

“I will
love
brushing your hair every night
, Libby.”

When he finished, he moved his chair around to face Libby’s
.
He saw her frowning
.
“What is wrong, Libby,
has something I said made you
unhappy.”

“No,
I’m not
unhappy
.
I – I don’t know anything about marriage, er, about the wedding night
.
And you were married before, I am afraid you might be disappointed
.”
She captured her bottom lip with her pearly white teeth
.
She b
lushed.

“No, sweetheart,
I could never be disappointed
where you are concerned
.”
Micah took her hand in his. “May I remind you, y
ou are not supposed to know anything
about
the marriage
bed
.
Y
ou had never been kissed before
I kissed you
and now you are a very fine kisser.”

“Truly
?
You think so?
” Libby’s eyes lit up
.
She smiled
shyly
.

“Oh yes, Libby
.
On our wedding night I shall tell you what your kisses do to me, Libby
.
And I shall show you all the rest, sweetheart
.
Don’t worry
.
You and I, we will do fine in the marri
age bed
.”
Micah
reached out
to
caress her cheek
.

He should have been content with that
, but his gaze fell to her full red lips and he realized he wanted to kiss h
er
.
Actually, he felt an
overwhelming
need
to kiss Libby
.
His hand
slid
from her cheek to her nape
.
He urged her
toward him as he leaned into her
.
Her
lips parted as he kissed her.
He needed
her closer
.
He
reached out to her,
grabbed her by the waist and effortlessly
moved her from her chair to his lap
.

His cock was already hard
.
I
t
stiffened up
when
he
first
saw her naked in the tub, then
grew harder still
while
comb
ing
her hair
.
Talk
of their wedding night
and the mental pictures
that event
conjured
in his mind
hardened him further
.
Painfully so.

Libby moved suddenly
.
“Micah what is that
?
Something’s poking me.”

“You do know that men and women have different, um, parts, don’t you
?”
He did not smile, but
he found himself highly amused
.

“Yes
.
But, oh is that your…
?”
Her eyes grew wide
.
“Oh
!”
Her cheeks flamed again
.

Micah
bent his head close to hers
.
His lips pressed against her ear before he
explained
in a
whisper why he was hard
.
He tried not to smile
as he caressed her delicate, long-fingered hand in his own
.

“And is it always hard like that?” she asked
quite seriously
.

“No.” He bent to whisper more to her
, he smiled
down at her after
.

“What pleasure did
you receive from me to make it
...that way, um
,
hard?
”

“Well, I did see you naked except where your arms were crossed
over your bosom
.”

Libby inhaled sharply
.
“You said you would not look!
”

“Most of the time I didn’t
, I looked away
.
B
ut
I can’t
truly
pour a pail of water over your head with my eyes closed, now can I, Libby?”
Amusement tugged at the corners of his mouth
.

She giggled
.
She t
hought a moment
and
then asked, “And seeing me naked makes you hard?”

“Yes
.
That’s where it started
.
I combed your hair
.
Remember, I told you I loved your hair
.
I truly do.”

“Combing my hair made you hard?
”

Strangely, Micah
found himself
enjoying the odd turn in conversation.

“When you told me you were worried about our wedding night, and I told you not to
worry
, I imagined all the things we would do
on our wedding night
.
T
hat’s when I
positively
got hard
.
I
then
brought you to my lap
.
And you keep wiggling around
and rubbing
my,
well -
I’m still hard.
”

Libby purposely wiggled
her bottom over him
.
She
regarded
him
with a mischievous smile on her face
.
Seeing his
poor
attempt at a
scowl,
she could not help
it, she
laughed
.

“Libby!”
he
joined in her laughter
.

“Does it hurt?”
she asked, obviously curious.

“No
!
It feels good
.”
Too Good
.
“
It feels v
ery good
, sweetheart
.”

“What things will we do?”

“What
?
Do what?”
Micah asked.

“You said you were imagining all the things we would do on our wedding night
.
There is more than one
?
Thing to do?”

“Oh, yes
, m
ore than one
, Libby
.
”
He gave her an emphatic nod
.

Libby
was
uncertain
what he meant
.
More than one
?
Confused, she asked him,
“What kinds of things
?
I have heard of
only
one…
”