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“I also brought something to eat,” he added as he slid a heavily laden plate of pie, bread, and cheese, he had filched out of the kitchen onto the bed beside her. “I am starving.”
He didn’t think twice about perching on the edge of the bed and balancing the plate on his knee. Together, they tucked into the delicious repast hungrily.
“I wonder if Cecily and Oscar are hungry,” she murmured as she savoured the delicious pie that exploded wonderfully on her tongue.
“I have left enough for them, and Isaac. I am sure they will eat when they are ready. Oscar is already up. He is going to keep watch while we rest,” Connor advised her.
Silence settled between them while they finished eating. By the time she was full, and had quenched her thirst, Tahlia struggled to smother her jaw-popping yawn.
“Come on. We need to get some sleep,” Connor urged her.
He was fighting exhaustion himself. He placed the plate onto the floor while Tahlia settled beneath the sheets. Connor removed his boots and lay back on the covers whereupon he gathered her unprotestingly into his arms.
For the first time in an age, Connor felt completely at peace. There was, temporarily, for a few hours at least, nobody to fight, nobody to go out in the dead of night to investigate, no war to rage, and no criminal to catch. It was blissful to simply lie in the silence of the morning, and savour holding the woman in his arms. He closed his eyes and prayed that this would be the first day of many. Within seconds he was fast asleep.
When he began to snore, Tahlia tipped her head back to look at him. She always struggled to go to sleep. He was out cold within seconds. She had no idea how he managed it, but he was literally snoring as soon as his head hit the pillow.
Shaking her head in disbelief she settled down beside him and sighed in delight. She had never been held like this by a man – ever. It was better than any of her girlish dreams. Connor exuded heat. She snuggling closer to his warmth gladly and relaxed completely. Her smile of contentment widened when his arm instinctively tightened around her even in his slumber. Safe and secure in the arms of the man she had never forgotten, or really ever stopped loving, Tahlia fell asleep.
At noon, Connor was woken to the sound of someone knocking on the bedroom door. His eyes shot wide open and he stared blankly at the ceiling for a moment while he tried to figure out where he was.
The first realisation that hit him was that he had been sleeping so soundly that it took a while for his mind to function again. He realised then why he had slept so well. A small bundle of femininity was draped over him, effectively pinning him to the bed. They were so close that it was difficult to know where he ended and she began but he didn’t care, and didn’t try to move her.
“In,” Connor grunted quietly wondering if whoever was knocking would hear.
He watched Isaac poke his head around the door.
“Barnaby is here with reinforcements,” Isaac announced softly.
Connor nodded. “We will be down in a minute.”
Once the door had closed, Connor pressed a loving kiss onto the top of Tahlia’s head and slid down in the bed until he could see her face.
“Sweetheart? Time for us to go,” he murmured gently.
She yawned and blinked sleepily at him. A soft smile curved her lips.
“Morning,” she whispered.
“It’s noon,” Connor said wryly. “We both slept longer than anticipated.”
At some point during his sleep, Connor had found his way beneath the sheets and was now wrapped up tight against her. There wasn’t an inch of space between them. Every breath she took pressed her chest against his and heightened the desire that shivered between them.
“Penny for them,” he whispered and watched her turn wide, startled eyes up to him.
She hoped he couldn’t read her mind. There were rather risqué thoughts going through there at the moment. Connor seemed to be able to read her well enough, though, because his smile grew until her cheeks had turned a fiery red. Unsure how she should get out of the bed without embarrassing herself further, Tahlia tried to find a way to escape with her dignity intact.
“What do you think today is going to bring?” She asked.
“News,” Connor whispered.
He didn’t want to talk about the investigation, Sayers, her uncle, or London. He wanted to just, well, be, with her.
“In this kind of situation, it is better not to bother to plan your day. You need to react to whatever life throws at you,” he informed her wisely.
She nodded. It was difficult for her. She lived her life around Joseph’s routines. To not have anything in particular to do left her feeling at a loose end.
“What is it? What troubles you?”
