Lara stepped out of his embrace andglared at him.“More afraid you’ll smash your thick skull againstsome big-chested Saxon’s axe.”
***
Talon
Talon lay with Lara, her head nestledinto his shoulder as he watched the inexorable gray of dawn creepits way into their chamber.He heard movement in the hall below andclosed his eyes with a heavy sigh.Their time together was comingto an end.
He buried his nose into herchin-length curls and breathed in the spicy sweet scent of her rosesoap.She stirred, and Talon slipped his arm from under her headand kissed her cheek, as cool and soft as a petal.His smile wasbittersweet as she burrowed her nose into his pillow and then heslowly slipped out of the bed she’d been openly sharing with himsince they’d returned from the Hollow.
Her nightshift lay at the foot of thebed where he’d tossed it after stripping it off her and making loveto her last night.They’d been saying their long good-byes everytime they made love, every time they kissed or held hands or evenmet each other’s gazes across the yard or the hall, but last nighthad been different.Last night their lovemaking had been almostdesperate, as hard and hot and fast at first as it had been slowand soft and tender before they’d drifted off to sleep in eachother’s embrace in the dark before dawn.A desperate tendernessthat swelled in his chest and constricted his throatnow.
He sat on the bed beside her andbrushed a lock of hair from her cheek, memorizing the line of herchin, the fullness of her lips, her pert nose, sooty lashes, andthe high arc of her auburn brows.He swiped at the hot tearswelling in his eyes and grit his jaw.Riding away from Lara wouldbe the hardest thing he’d ever done, next to burying his mother,but he was damned if he was going to cry, even if it felt as if hisheart was being ripped from his chest.Besides, Lara had made himpromise not to shed a single tear as they said their farewells infront of his men, or she would cry too.
She’d cried lying in his arms severalnights ago when she’d thought him asleep, softly, silently, hershaking shoulders and smothered sniffles giving her away.And he’dnoticed her red-rimmed eyes and peaked cheeks more than once whenhe’d shown up at her property unexpectedly.The open, carefreelover he’d known at the Hollow had disappeared, and his old friend,the wary wildcat, had returned.Still, he’d take his wary wildcatover the hole in his chest that’d grown every day, every moment hisdeparture neared.
A departure he could no longerdelay.
“Lara, my love,” hewhispered into her ear.“Time to wake up.”
Hazel eyes blinked open and met his.She smiled up at him, as bright and warm as the summer sun shiningdown on him, then her eyes clouded over, and her smiledimmed.
“Time to say good-bye,”she whispered hoarsely.
“Aye, love.”
She tilted her head at his endearmentand wrapped her hands around his neck, pulling him down and kissinghim with such sweet passion that Talon was hard-pressed to keep hispromise not to cry.He scooped her up in his arms and reveled inthe sensuous warmth of her body as she slid her bare legs down thelength of his and stood skin to skin in his embrace.
“God’s blood, Lara,” herasped.“How am I to let you go?”
“It’s you who are going,”she said, her voice as strained as his.
He tucked her head beneath his chinand nodded.“So it is.”He held her close, her full breasts pressedagainst his chest, his ever-eager cock growing hard against thesoft swell of her belly.“So I must,” he rumbled, and stepped awayfrom her.Away from the greatest pleasure he’d ever known.Hecoughed and cleared his throat, his mind.“We should get dressedand go down to breakfast.”
“As you say, m’lord,” shesaid with a dainty dip of her knee.
“Ha,” Talon barked withlaughter.“It’s a little late to be playing the goodlidi, mylady.”
She gave him a saucy shrug, and Talongrinned as she turned her shapely backside to him, greedilywatching as she donned her under shift and long tunic of mossygreen.He dressed himself by rote, never taking his eyes from heras she splashed water on her face and combed out her wild mass ofcurls.Talon sat on the edge of their bed and pulled his boots onas Lara opened the chest by her cot and reached in forsomething.
She walked over to him and held outher hand.A braid of auburn hair tied off with green ribbons atboth ends dangled between her fingers.“I want you to have this.Tokeep it, and me, close to your heart.”
Talon took the braid and tucked itinto the inside pocket of his jerkin.He coughed to clear the lumpfrom his throat.“Neither it nor you shall ever be far from myheart, lady.”He patted his jerkin over the pocket.“It will nowand forever be my talisman.”
Long, doleful faces met them as theytook their seats at the table, and poor Berta was red-eyed andsniffing as she and Enid and Marta served the company their lastmeal at the keep for what would likely be a very long time.Forsome of them, forever.
Lara picked at her feastof eggs, sausage, and flat cakes with cream and the last of theautumn’s blackberries, pushing more food around her trencher thanshe actually ate, reminding Talon of their supper at CountNithard’s house the night of Mallus.The night he’d been saddledwith a troublesomelidi, who’d turned out to be the best thing that had everhappened to him.
He forced himself to eat the entiretyof the overflowing trencher Berta set down in front of him, notbecause he had any real appetite, but because he didn’t want toinsult Berta, and he knew he’d need a full belly for the roadahead.
When they were finished and the entiretroop had thanked Berta and the others for the months of deliciousmeals, Anglbert disappeared into the kitchens with Berta.Talon ledLara back to their chamber, where they gathered her sack ofbelongings.His had already been taken down and packed onto theroan and the sorrel.
He carried her belongings to where thetroop’s mounts and pack horses stood at the ready outside thestables, tied the sack to Shadow’s saddle, and helped Lara up ontothe gelding’s back.He gave her booted ankle a gentle squeeze, muchas he’d done the day she’d raced off to help birth Wilric, then heswung up onto the Black’s saddle, took one last, long look aroundthe keep’s courtyard, and gave the order to ride out.
Lara rode beside him as they madetheir way east, her jaw tight, her gaze fixed forward.Too soon,they were at the cart path to her property, where they stopped andshe sat astride Shadow as his men rode past, each of them sayingtheir good-byes to her.Phillipe was the last to say his farewells,and the only one forward enough to brave Talon’s scowl as he leanedover and gave Lara a long hug, whispering into her ear.Talonshifted on his saddle as Lara teared up and nodded.He knew how shefelt about him, she’d shown him with her words and actions daily,and that she considered Phillipe a good friend.She’d neverpurposely done anything to rile his jealousy, other than let himthink Ranulf had been her lover, and yet…
“Leave off, Lieutenant.”His grumble grew to a low growl as Phillipe let go only to plant akiss on Lara’s cheek and grin at Talon.“I’ll catch up with thecompany after I’ve said my good-byes.”
“Aye, Captain.”Phillipegave Talon a cocky salute, Lara one last, serious look, then heturned his mount’s head east and rode off with the rest of thetroop.
