Lords of Honor (9 page)

Libby nodded
.
“Very well
, Micah
.”
H
er cheeks flam
ed with embarrassment
.
She felt more than a little humiliated
.
Micah
had
to
care for her
as if she were a child
.
Libby thought Micah to be
very handsome man
, o
ne she
found herself
attracted to
.
A man
whose touch
did strange and wondrous things to her
.
She tingled every
time his fingers
or
hand
came into contact with
her
skin
.
Even the feel of his fingers through the fabric of her stays and chemise made her flutter inside.

Micah made fast work of unfastening her stays
.
He let them drop to the floor
when he finished
.
He smiled at her sigh of relief when she was free of them
.

“Petticoats too please
, Micah
.
They are so stiff and
I think
they
have been
chafing my waist
.
At least something has.
”

Again he made fast work of untying the two petticoats
.
They pooled at her feet
.

The sight of her
bare
upper back and shoulders
, now e
xposed to his gaze
almost took his breath away
.
She was slender
and
so gracefully formed
.
She was
muscular
, but
in a very feminine way
.
Willowy is the word that came to mind
.
He so wanted to run his hands up and down that beautiful back
.
Micah
swooped down and
picked up the stays and petticoats
with his free hand
and placed them on the chair
.
He
turned to
hand her his shirt
.
“Here
you are, Libby
.”

Her legs were
long and shapely
.
Of course
her
chemise came
to
her knees, so he could only truly see her slender calves
.
Still, the fine lawn of
her
chemise
border
ed
on
transparent
.
She wore s
tockings and half boots
.
T
here was
almost
nothing left to his imagination
.

She slid into his shirt
.

He p
ulled her tangled hair out of the
back of the shirt
for her
after she struggled to
do it
.
He helped her back to the bed.

“You wouldn’t happen to have a comb in that bag
o
f yours
, would you?”
She asked with a
weak, but
hopeful smile.

Micah smiled
.
“I do
.
I’ll get it
for you
.”

She ben
t
over
and tried
to
reach
the laces of her shoes when Micah came to her
.
The effects of the laudanum were still upon her
.
She was having a difficult
y
keeping her balance
.
He knelt before her,
placed one foot, then the other on his thigh,
unlaced her half boots
and slid them off
to reveal two
very
pretty
,
slender
feet
s
till encased in sheer
white
stockings.

“Do you wish to keep your stockings on?”
He tried to sound nonchalant though he noted his voice
sounded
a bit husky
.
In the past, when he
viewed
a woman’s
unshod f
eet
encased in
stockings it was because he was about to bed her.

She shook her head
.

“Untie the ribbons
for me
if you can
.
I’ll turn my head
when
I roll them down
.”

Libby
fumbled with the ribbons
.
Her fingers would not cooperate
“I can’t get them
untied
.
I think the ribbons are knotted.
”

“I’ll do it
.”
Micah reached
his hands beneath the hem of her chemise
.
He untied and unrolled one stocking
.
The
other
followed
.
Her s
kin
felt
soft and
smooth
as his fingers glided down her calves, pushing the silk to the floor
.

The
re were
only
two thin blankets
upon the bed;
one covering the lumpy mattress, the other folded at the foot
.

“
Let me help you l
ie down, Libby.”

“Before I do, I suppose one must go outside to
, u
m
,
to do the necessary.”

Micah
surveyed
the small room
.
He spied
a
pottery jar that might serve as a
chamber pot, but he felt that would be far too humiliating for her
.
And it
seemed to be
rather
small
to be used
as such
.
“It would seem so
.
Allow
me
to
put my cape around you
.
It sounds as if
the rain has lessened a bit
.
I
’ll carry you
out
side
and stand near
enough to assist you
as you are still
a bit
unsteady
.
Perhaps we should get your shoes back on?
”

Libby shook her head
, she was too weary
.
“No, I’ll just do it barefoot
.
It will be
quicker that way
.”

“The ground is wet, Libby.”

“I’m fine barefooted, Micah,” she assured him.

Libby
glanced at
him, her cheeks
glow
ing
pink
with emba
rrassment
.
“
Thank you for helping me
, Micah
.
I wish I
could
do things
for myself
right now
.
I feel so
terrible
that you have to care
for
me…
”

“
Think nothing of it, Libby
.
It’s the
effects of the laudanum, I am certain
.
I
believe
they overdosed you severely
.
It will be like this
for
a few days, I’m afraid
.
We’ll get you
to Horethorne Hall
.
You’ll
be much more comfortable and feel
much better
, I am certain
.
I do not mind helping you
.
I am happy to make you more comfortable
.
You’ve been through a harrowing ordeal
.”
He wished to set her mind at ease
.
He would help her
feel as comfortable as she could in such a situation.

He lifted her into his arms
.
With less clothing on, he could feel more of her lovely body as he held her
this time
.
He liked what he felt
.
She was soft
as a woman should be yet
her muscles were firm
.
H
e knew
her to be physically active
.
He
walked with her and r
ode along the quay
with her at Roseland Abbey many times
on his trips to Devon
.

Micah turned his back while Libby took care of her necessities
.
He
stood
close enough to reach out and catch her
arm
if she should start to fall
.
When she
finished, he
once again
lifted her into his arms and carried her back
toward
the dimly lit cottage
.
“I s
aw
a well over there
.
Let me take you in and get you
in
to the bed
first
.
I’m certain you must be thirsty.”

“Yes
,
I’m quite thirsty
.
Thank you
, Micah
.”

Micah sat her on the bed and wiped any dirt or moisture from the bottoms of her pretty, slender feet with his hands.

He took a much needed deep breath when he went outside
with a bucket
to go to the well
.
He was
completely
alone
w
ith a beautiful woman, w
hom he desired
.
Greatly
.
He
was determined to
remain a gentleman.
He exhaled heavily and set about getting them some water
.

Micah
returned
with a bucket
full
of water
.
He ru
mmaged in the only
cupboard
in the small cottage
and found one cup
.
He
dipped it into the bucket and brou
g
h
t
it
about three-quarters full
to Libby, who sat on the bed trying to comb the snarls out of her hair
.

Micah knew her sable hair to be
thick and heavy
.
It was
incredibly
long, reaching to
below
her waist
.
He found it
to be
quite
magnificent
.
He gue
ss
ed it would fall from its pins easily
.
He seemed to remember it doing just that on a few of the rides he accompanied her on
in Devon
.

She set his comb down on the bedside table
and a
ccepted the cup with a bright smile
.
“Thank you
.”
She drained the cup
, handed it back to him
.
“I was so thirsty.”

Her smile dazzl
ed him
.
“We only have one cup,
I hope you don’t mind,
we’ll have to share
.”
Micah drank a cup of water
after her
.
“
I know you are
very
thirsty, but let’s see how that settles on your stomach before you have more
.
”
He smiled and winked at her.