“Sleep, Lillian.” Kragorn’s eyelids had closed again, and I was free to allow my gaze to caress his face. “Ye’ve been sleeping by the hearth, aye?”
“Aye,” I whispered. “’Tis warm there.”
“’Tis stone. Ye’ll sleep beside me from now on, and I’ll keep ye warm.”
Half-naked? I could see now he only appeared that way because of the blanket—Kragorn wasall-naked, save for the bandages, and the knowledge made me warm. I pressed my thighs together, remembered what he’d said about orc senses, and uncertain if I wanted him to realize what the knowledge of his body did to mine.
From the flaring of his nostrils and the twitch of his lips, he already knew.
When his hand settled on my hip, nudging me closer, I gave into the inevitable. I belonged to him, did I not? And he hadn’t treated me poorly—in fact, he’d only made this demand because he was concerned about my comfort, wasn’t he?
So, as I felt his body relax into sleep, I carefully turned, not wanting to disturb him, until I was facing him. My cheek rested on his shoulder, and once I was certain hewasasleep, I allowed my palm to press against his bare chest.
Right above his heart.
I closed my eyes, feeling that strong heartbeat throughout my entire body. And despite the awkwardness, despite the uncertainty…I allowed myself to relax.
You are not afraid.
The knowledge was a freedom of sorts. Even though I was trapped here in this strange world, I could understand how wonderful ‘twas, in so many regards. Women werehonored here, even broken captives like me. I could be safe here.
With Kragon.
His.
Mayhap I too was smiling as I fell asleep.
CHAPTER NINE
Lillian
He was healed.
Kragorn was healed, and yet naught had changed between us. I’d become used to baking for him—the sweets my mother had taught me to make so many years ago—and fetching the tea when the clan council met in his cottage and he held court from the large chair by the fire.
I’d become used to the borrowed finery the women—my new friends—brought me. ‘Twas not really finery, not compared to the gowns some of the women wore at Tarbert Keep, but more comfortable than anything I’d worn before, and an abundance I couldn’t believe.
I’d become used to helping to bathe him because he couldn’t reach far with his arm in the sling.
I’d even become used—although ‘twas more difficult for me—to sleeping curled at his side. I was self-consciousabout it at first, afraid I would toss and turn or drool on him, until the day he’d grinned down at me and put a stop to that foolishness.
“Love, I’m half again yer size. There’s naught ye can do to make me uncomfortable, so just go to sleep.”
It made sense.
But it turned out that there was plentyIcould do to makemyselfuncomfortable. Including the way I rubbed up against Kragorn. The morning I woke with one leg thrown over his thigh, grinding against his hardness in an attempt to chase the wanton dream I’d been having, I fled outside and grabbed a handful of snow to cool my flaming cheeks.
And the morning I woke withhishand between my thighs?
Good Lord.
I’d been dreaming of such a thing, and I didn’t even think he was awake. He murmured something and shifted, pressing the heel of his palm against my clitoris, assuaging my ache as he curled his fingers. I was wearing a borrowed chemise to replace my oft-patched one, and the linen made my skin prickle with awareness as my core throbbed with need.
“Lillian,” he’d rasped, the pads of his fingers pressing the linen into my wetness, and I spread my thighs further, wordlessly offering him the access I craved.
One of my hands went to my breast to knead it through the light material, while the other pressed against my mouth, holding in my moans, desperately afraid he would wake before I finished.
Was it wrong? To find pleasure from a sleeping man like this? But my bodyachedfor this touch, which I’d dreamed of every night since that horrible attack.
