Lords of Retribution (Lords of Avalon series) (51 page)

She reached out her hand
. Her fingers ached to feel the hard muscles of his chest. She stopped, curling her fingers back into a fist.

What was she doing
? She was a healer. She couldn’t do such a thing! He was her patient for goodness sake. Elowen should not be here lusting after his body. A body that she would compare to a finely sculpted Greek statue. She certainly should not be thinking about taking advantage of his unconscious state and exploring the muscles of his chest. What was the matter with her?

Minutes passed. The longing to touch him did not ebb. S
he reasoned she actually could just touch him. No one would ever know, certainly not him. He was unconscious after all.

She shook her head and decided
it was best to cover him fully and remove the temptation from view. The blanket was heavier than the sheet and would be more difficult for him to throw off.

She
moved to the foot of the bed, intending to unfold the blanket to cover him when he suddenly moaned again. Elowen set the still folded blanket back on the edge of the bed and turned her attention to him.

His eyes remained closed
. Elowen did remember they were a striking color of green. That was the first thing she noticed upon meeting him briefly for the first time upon her arrival at Menadue. She studied the man on the bed. His rich, brown hair was streaked with gold. Apparently, he spent a great deal of time in the sun. His skin was bronzed, everywhere that she could see. She surmised he must spend time without a shirt in the sun. Good heavens, what a sight that would be!

Again
, she reached out. Her hand hovered over his chest for a moment. Then she did touch him. Her fingertips feathered a trail across the sinew and hard muscles on his chest. Through the dusting of coarse hair. They skimmed lower, over the hard ridges of his abdomen. She noted the dark trail of hair below his navel that widened and disappeared beneath the sheet. She allowed her fingers to follow that trail until she could no longer see it. Her fingers stopped at the edge of the sheet.

Something stirred beneath the sheet.

Taken aback by the strange occurrence, it took a moment for her to realize what had caused the movement.

When the realization hit her, she felt a rush of heat burn her cheeks.
“Oh God in heaven what have I done?” Elowen emitted a panicked whisper. She jumped back slightly in alarm as Lord Alloway’s erection moved further and made a slight bulge beneath the sheet. She watched in horror, as it seemed to twitch and grow.

“Oh!”
She was certain her cheeks were flaming red. She stood, looking at the tented sheet wondering what she should do. His erection was much larger than she ever guessed a man’s aroused member could be.

She reached for the edge of the sheet
feeling the need to see his member first hand then stopped herself.

“No!”
a panicked whisper escaped her. Elowen shook her head. She tried to think of something, anything to make it go away. She paced for a moment then sat in the chair beside the bed and folded her hands in her lap. She tried to focus on her hands; something else – anything else except the site of Lord Alloway’s aroused member standing at full attention beneath the sheet.

Elowen
tried diligently to ignore the situation yet she could do naught but return her gaze to look upon it again and again. It seemed alive at times, the way it twitched and moved about.

He moaned again.

Elowen rose and moved to his side. He sounded as if he were in extreme pain this time. She placed her hand on his forehead. No fever. His eyes remained closed. He stirred. The movement of his legs pulled the sheet even lower. She looked down to see a great deal more dark hair now. Another half-inch and she would have been able to see the base of his, well, his arousal. Her hand reached out slowly toward the edge of the sheet. She intended to pull it back up to cover him better.

His member twitched suddenly. Alarmed, she pulled her hand back.

She kept her eye on his erection. Although it still stood erect, it stilled for a moment.

She reasoned she must pull the sheet up and cover him.
Carefully, she extended her fingers toward the sheet again. Perhaps if he were warmer, it would go down, or shrink or do whatever a man’s thing did when it wasn’t aroused.

Her c
uriosity got the better of her. Truly, no one would ever know. He was obviously quite unaware of the situation. She lifted the sheet carefully, just high enough to gaze upon his manhood in all its glory.

“Oh, my!” she whispered.
Lord Alloway was indeed well endowed in that area
. At least it seemed to her he was.

Though she was a healer and had brought many a
male babe into the world, she had never seen such a sight. She had never lain with a man nor had she seen a man in a state of arousal, until just this moment.

In
truth, she had never seen that area of anatomy on an adult male. Since her mother’s death, Granny Blee always made certain Elowen never had to tend to adult males if anything in that area of their anatomy was involved. Though she was aware of the mechanics involved in a man and woman’s coupling, she didn’t really know how to make the evidence of a man’s arousal go away, other than the obvious, which she had no intention of doing. Elowen had learned the gifts of healing from her mother and grandmother. They were both now deceased. They had never imparted this type of information to her. Nor had Granny Blee.

She took one more look at the large, thick member and
hastily pulled the sheet upward to cover him and let it drop. His member still stood at full attention beneath the sheet. She could do naught but stare at the problem she had created. Elowen was so preoccupied with her predicament she was taken completely by surprise when strong hands encircled her upper arms. She turned her face toward him.

Lord Alloway
pulled her torso downward. One hand moved to her nape and fisted in her hair. He brought her lower. Her lips were mere inches from his.

She gazed into his green eyes and watched as a slow grin spread across his face.

“Did you like what you saw, Witch?”

“I – I, didn’t know what happened, what it was… I am sorry
. What you must think of me….oh good heavens!” Elowen rolled her eyes. “I didn’t want, er, I didn’t mean to…oh,
bleddy hell
.”

“I think you want what I want, witch!” His hand brought her
head lower. Her lips were nearly touching his.

“I’ve a knife in my pocket, I can get to
it easily,” Elowen threatened.

“You won’t use it
. You want this as much as I do.” Newt pushed her head even closer so he could capture her lips. And capture them he did.

For the first few seconds she
tried to pull away then she relaxed in his embrace. She finally opened to him after his tongue persisted in its pleasurable assault against her closed lips.

He kissed her deeply
when she opened to him. She returned his kiss tentatively at first. Then her tongue grew bolder. It sought his. His hold in her hair loosened. Newt’s other hand moved to caress her breast. Even though she was fully clothed, he knew his touch gave her pleasure. The soft moan that escaped her proved that fact.

“It’s only fair that I touch you in return, Witch,” he whispered then covered her lips again.

A knock sounded on the door.

Newt loosened his hold
. Elowen pulled away as the door began to open.

“Elowen?
”

Damn
! It was Marrek! She grabbed for the square of folded blanket and tossed it over Lord Alloway’s groin area. She sighed in relief when it seemed the blanket was weighty enough to hold his erection down and conceal his arousal.

She dared to look at Newt out of the corner of her eye and saw him grinning.

She glared at him.

“Lord Alloway has woken up, brother!” Elowen turned to regard her brother
with a forced smile.

It was then she heard what
sounded like gunfire upon the grounds below. She looked to Marrek questioningly.

“Yes, St. Erth
, I am…
up
!” Newt displayed a particularly devilish and mischievous smile as he emphasized the last word.

Elow
en managed to give him a menacing look before turning her attention back to her brother.

“Glad to hear it
. We are under attack. I have your clothing, Newt. We put you in this room because you would be close to the ladies tending you. I never made it back with your change of clothes earlier in the day. I’ll help you dress while my sister waits outside,” Marrek looked to Elowen. “I need to get you both to the sitting room when Lord Alloway is dressed.”

Elowen turned to leave the room as Newt tried to sit up
. His groan of pain stopped her. He immediately brought a hand to his head.

“Stand outside Elowen, we
must hurry. A chaise is in the parlour for him. Wait outside the door. I may need your help to get him down the hall.”

Relieved to be away from Lord Alloway,
Elowen gave her brother a nod and did as he bid.

“You just woke up?” Marrek asked as he helped Newt
move to sit on the edge of the bed. “How do you feel?”

Newt kept the blanket over his groin as he slid his legs over the edge. “Just
came to.” He gingerly touched his temple. “And my head is pounding. Is it Brown Coats attacking?”

“Yes
. Keep my sister safe for me, will you? Can you see well enough to shoot? How is your vision?”

“I can see just fine
. Now that I am sitting up, my head is throbbing. It feels like I was walloped. Was I hit when the shooting started on the way back from Priory Place?” Newt asked as he felt of the bandage on the side of his head.

“Yes.
” Marrek assisted him into his shirt. “It’s just a crease, though we were worried because you had not fully roused.”

Well, thanks to St. Erth’s lovely sister, he was
fully roused
now. “How long was I out?” he asked.

“
Since this morning.” Marrek turned so Newt could stand and pull up his trousers with privacy. “I apologize that you had to wake in the company of my sister without clothing. With the wedding moved to this evening and the Brown Coat threat; I’m afraid both Gabriel and I forgot to bring your change of clothing from your original room.”

“It was no problem
. At first, I was not even aware of my state of undress. I came out of the fog rather slowly. I heard her voice. When I opened my eyes and saw your beautiful sister, my body reacted.”

“Do not say such things unless you’ve an interest in Elowen
as a wife.” Marrek warned. He turned and gave Newt a glare.

“As I was saying,
when my body reacted to the sight of her loveliness, I realized I was not dressed. Up until that point, I had no idea. Consider me interested, St. Erth.” Newt had lied for he had been awake when she caressed his chest, and her fingers trailed down across his abdomen. That was actually when his body reacted to her touch. It hadn’t helped that he had hoped she would do more than look.

Newt groaned again as
the movement from shrugging into his coat set his head to pounding once again. “Where are my boots?” He looked about.

“
You are interested in Elowen?” Marrek asked curiously, as he went to fetch Newt’s boots on the other side of the room.

“Yes, of course
I am interested in
Elowen
! Who else would I be talking about? Are you open to my suit?” Newt grumped.
Damn there was an infernal ache in his head.

“Of course
. The question shall be how
she
feels about it. My sister has shown no interest in marriage. She’s her own woman and quite headstrong. Elowen insists she does not wish to marry. She may not accept your attentions.”

“She will,
” Newt said confidently. “My rifle, ammunition and my pistol, I don’t know where they are.”

“Your pistol is in this drawer.” Marrek opened the dresser drawer and removed Newt’s pistol
. He opened the wardrobe and removed his rifle and bag of ammunition. “There is more ammunition in the parlour.”

Marrek chuckled.
“I wish you luck in your pursuit of my sister, Newt, for you will need it.” The corners of Marrek’s mouth turned up slightly as he handed Newt his weapons. He turned toward the door and called out, “Elowen!”

Newt
was slipping his remaining boot on when she came in.

Elowen
joined them. Marrek was helping Lord Alloway to stand. He was unsteady on his feet. She quickly moved to his other side. Lord Alloway wrapped an arm around her shoulder. His fingers brushed her upper arm in a teasing caress.

Elowen noted the tingles that traveled through her arm at his touch.

“Oh,” Newt said. “I think I will need that blanket.” A mischievous smile turned up the corners of his mouth and he arched an eyebrow as he looked down at Elowen.