Rule (Roam Series, Book Five) (21 page)

Will has a last name?
I nearly laughed when I realized I’d never asked him.

“You are well come, Lord William. Please accept our hospitality.”

“Many thanks,” he responded, following after them.

The farmhouse was small but warm, and the woman within ushered us inside, hastily moving into the kitchen.  The man on the horse introduced himself as John, and in the dim candlelight I could see that the other man was actually a boy- his son, Robert. “Mary, please see to our guest,” he ordered a young girl in a tattered, worn gown.

“Yes, father.” Will allowed me to follow the girl to a ladder, and I climbed after her to a loft. She eyed my sundress in confusion. “From where do you travel?”

“Carolina. In the north.” I shifted nervously as the sleeve of my cardigan started to come loose and fall between my legs.

“Ah,” she nodded, pulling a gown from a trunk. The thin, brown dress smelled like cedar, and I inhaled deeply.

“Thank you,” I searched for some kind of partition, realizing there was a makeshift curtain in the corner of the loft. “Behind there?”

She nodded. I hurriedly changed, readjusting the cardigan to appear as a pregnant belly. The gown was far too small, and my breasts pushed the ties at my chest to their limits.
I have to get back to Will.
Mary had already climbed down the ladder, and I stared at the thin wood in fear.
Why is it so much easier going up rather than down? Shit.

“Come.” Will appeared at the top of the ladder, and I hurried to him, thankful he was right below me as I nervously placed both feet on each rung.

Dinner was served- I think. The mug of cloudy water was surely pumped straight from the pond a few miles back. The stew, made from the same water but boiling hot and salted, was polluted with floating cabbage and onions. The piece of bread accompanying the meal, hardened beyond stale, crumbled in my fingers. I turned to Will, watching him eat graciously. He spoke to John about the thieves. “These are lawless times,” John lamented with a disgusted shake of the head.

I reached for my ankle, scratching at the sudden sting. Another quickly followed, and I nearly shrieked as I looked down; fleas jumped from the floor to my foot, dotting my skin like ink drops. “Ew…,”

“Wife?” Will turned to me quickly, delivering a solid kick to my foot. “Does the child pain you?”

“No,” I glowered and rubbed my ankle against the chair leg, lowering my eyes to my soup. Picking up the damp, wooden spoon, I cringed.
Germfest
.

“John and his family have kindly offered the loft in the barn this night.”

“Many thanks,” I recited. Mary and Robert stared at me as though I was brain damaged, and Mrs. John (I hadn’t caught her name yet) looked to her husband coolly. Only then did I realize that John’s eyes were locked at my cleavage as he ripped at his large piece of rock-bread.

Somehow I made it though the dinner despite John’s vulgar ogling. Once we were safely in the barn loft, I watched Will draw the ladder up behind us.

“That was the most disgusting thing I’ve ever eaten.”

“It was difficult,” Will admitted, chambering a bullet in the Beretta. “But we are clothed, and fed, and have shelter. And you still possess your diamond.”

“My skin is crawling- that guy wouldn’t stop staring.” I tugged the cardigan out from the dress, relieved as the material fell softly against my skin. “And the fleas were eating me alive.”

He knelt in front of me, sliding my gown up and over my knee. I sucked in my breath as his hands ran over my bare leg and ankle. “You’ve healed already. I fear that I shall be scratching for days.”

Curling my fingers over fistfuls of hay, I pulled my leg away from his hands. “Let’s get some sleep, okay?”

He watched me carefully, nodding. We were given two blankets, and though the air inside the barn was not as cold with the absence of wind, I was shivering within minutes. A low bray of a mule startled me, and I giggled. “Oh, yeah, we’re in a barn.”

He smiled, spreading one blanket over the hay-covered floor and reserving one to cover us with.  I squirmed uncomfortably as I sat on the ground, waiting for him to prepare our bed. “Do you need to relieve yourself?”

“Yes. How rude do you think it’d be to pee over there behind that hay?”

“Very. However, I am not lowering the ladder again this night, so do as you must. I’ll follow you when you’re through.”

“I can tear up my sundress and use it,” I pulled at the material, yanking with all of my strength. “Really? Wow. Ralph Lauren makes strong clothing.”

Will took the dress from my hands, tearing strips as though the dress was made from paper. “There now. No more than that, or you may clog the loft.”

I looked at him quickly, watching the smile dancing on his lips. “Did you just make a joke? Holy shit.”

“Language, Eva,” he called as I hurried to the far corner of the loft.

“We’re
alone!
” I called, moving behind the stacked bales of hay. I screamed as a hen flew out from nowhere, clucking and flapping her wings maniacally.

“Be gone,” Will waved and kicked at air by the hen, shaking his head at me. “Eva the Assassin. Weaknesses- heights and hens.”

“Shut up,” I called playfully, hurrying to finish before returning to him. He took a turn, and then eagerly crawled under the blanket next to me.

“Closer,” he murmured, drawing my entire body against him. He
shivered, and I realized that he was just as cold as I was.

“We’ll be warmer if we’re skin to skin. But if you start touching me, I can’t guarantee I won’t burst into flames.”

He sat up and pulled his shirt over his head, and I slowly began unlacing my gown.
I really didn’t expect him to take me up on the offer…

“Eva, when I do touch you, I will set you on fire. Magic or no magic,” he promised, balling his shirt under his neck.

My fingers froze on the laces, and I swallowed hard.

He caught my fumbling hands, expertly unthreading the laces of my gown. His eyes, in the moonlit loft, glowed to a silver blue.

“You do that too easily,” I raise an eyebrow, brushing my curls away from my face. “Like you’ve had tons of practice.”

“Do you speak of your laces? Or my ability set you aflame?”

“Haha. Pretty confident there,” I gave a wispy laugh, nervously focusing on his bare chest.

“
Raise your arms.
”

I lifted both of my arms in the air, my eyes locked with his. He moved to his knees, slowly lifting the gown, his eyes never leaving mine.

The wind gusted against the siding, whistling through knots in the wood. He dropped my dress to the blanket, catching my arms as I tried to fold them over my tan, laced bra.

“Think about what I am doing,” he murmured, pressing his fingertips to my shoulder and dragging them over the length of my arm. “Think about how I am touching you.”

His fingers dove into the cup of my bra, lifting my breasts above the material. Widening my eyes, I watched his mouth lower to my right nipple, and then my left. I felt absurdly pleased at his pleasured sigh. “
You are flawless.
”

“
Will
,” I shivered, swallowing and clenching my thighs together impatiently. He urged me back over the blanket, his fingertips moving on to my stomach.

“My hand on your skin.”

As his palm flattened over my hip, I closed my eyes tightly. He pulled away, and I uttered a tiny, disappointed cry.

“Keep your eyes open, Eva.”

I nodded once, exhaling sharply as his hand returned to my hip, moving down. His thumb brushed against my thigh, and I felt my eyes well at the force of my immobile lids.
Don’t blink… don’t stop…

When his mouth touched my throat,
his palm flattened over the apex of my thighs. I arched against his gentle pressure, wrapping my arms around his shoulders for an anchor. I was sure that my rapid heartbeat would be felt beneath his lips as he continued over my chest. When his finger moved beneath the lacy material of my panties and slid into my moistened body, I inhaled sharply, closing my eyes and crying out at the rhythm of his deepened touch.

“
Look at me,
” he ordered roughly, lifting his face from my skin. I did as he asked.

My mind raced one thousand miles an hour, trying to decide what I was doing, what he was doing, and if this meant something.

I want him… every part of my body wants him…

He wants me, too… but he doesn’t love me.
That never mattered with Liam.

But it matters with Will.

As I threw my hand back over my head, the Shirelles’
Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow
began in the barn. With a mortified gasp, I quickly closed my fist to turn the music off.

Groaning, he captured my lips in his, and then pulled away too quickly.

“Wait… don’t
stop
, Will, I want you,” I begged, watching him lay back and sling his hand over his forehead.

“Your eyes.
They’ve changed.
We cannot risk a fire in this barn.”

“I can control it,” I promised, my fingers moving to his waist. Tugging at the button on his pants, I went for the zipper. “I can-…,”

“Eva- the dangers.”

“Now, Will,” I moved to his feet and pulled at his pants, watching him lift his hips with amusement.

“You will require my cooperation, love. You cannot do this on your own.”

“You’ll cooperate.” I straddled him,
pressing my readied body against him. He grabbed either side of my waist, turning quickly, so that I lay beneath him.

“We will not risk a fire, Eva. Nor a pregnancy.”

I felt the blood rush from my head, letting him cover us with the blanket. He turned me so that I lay tucked against him, my back to his chest, and he pressed his face into my hair.

“I can’t believe… that didn’t cross my mind.”

“Rarely does the future- or the consequences of your actions- cross your mind, Eva. You are barely eighteen. You have much to learn.”

“Wow. Make out with me, and then put me down. Are you sure you didn’t go to my high school?”

“I am not putting you down. I am giving you honesty. Expect nothing less from me in our marriage.”

I sighed, backing against him until I was impossibly close.

“Be still. By God, you frustrate me.”

Smirking, I closed my eyes.

For the first time, I woke up in Will’s arms.

His bare chest rose and fell beneath my cheek, and the light sprinkling of dark hair tickled against my mouth. I turned to look up at him.

“Good morning,” he stretched, his h
and flattened on my bare back. Suddenly, he froze, sliding his hand up and down my shoulder blades. “Where are your undergarments?”

“I told you. I don’t like to sleep in anything.”

“For God’s sake.”

He tried to sit up, but I kept him pinned, letting my hair fall over his face in a wild array of fiery curls. The early morning sun lightened his dark hair and illuminated the need in his eyes.

“I have no resolve left. Get off of me.”

“I was thinking, last night, that a baby wouldn’t be the worst thing,” I cocked my head to the side, dragging my lips over his throat. My teeth nipped at his collar bone, and he stopped breathing. “If it happened.”

He gripped my hips, dragging me over him more fully. “
Eva,
” he murmured, rocking to sit up and meet my lips. As his mouth grabbed for mine, his hands slid from my back to my chest, touching, stoking the fires already raging inside.

“I trust there be only two of you up there, this morn?”

John’s voice from below the loft shook a muffled scream from my throat as Will shoved his hand over my mouth. “Aye, no baby has come this night.”

“Join us to break your fast, William Reed.”

“Our thanks,” Will called, grinning when I wrapped my legs around his waist. “Get off of me, you little harlot. Immediately.”

“Whatever.” I reached for my bra and panties, snatching my gown from the pile of hay. “You ar
e impossible to seduce, big gay brother.”

He laughed, pressing me tighter to his waist. Completely naked, so close to him this way, rational thoughts escaped me. I knew of at least seven different ways to pin him down, contemplating which hold to begin with.

He threaded both of his hands through my hair, pulling lightly. “I
am
going to make love to you, Eva, and you have no idea what I will do to you. I will see to it that you are safe…
to lose control.”

For the first time in my entire life, I couldn’t speak.

We hurriedly dressed and had breakfast with the family. Will spoke to John, inquiring about the town and asking if he knew of a man named Henry Asher. I watched the farmer think for a moment, screwing his face up into a grimace.