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He didn’t know how to answer that. It was true, he’d been grieving. Not only for Henry, but for so many of his brothers in arms. But it wasn’t something he knew how to talk about. And he could scarcely complain to Mary about it. She’d lost her only brother. With both her parents gone, Henry had been her only family remaining. She was alone.
Or rather, she’dbeenalone. Now she was with him.
“Go to sleep,” he told her. “At first light, I’m taking you away from this miserable place.”
She tilted her head to look up at him. “Kiss me goodnight?”
He hesitated.
“It’s our wedding night. It seems we should at least have that. For tradition’s sake, if nothing else.”
Very well. He touched his lips to hers, giving her a chaste, sweet kiss.
And then, Devil take him, the kiss became more.
His first taste of her was a rich, buttery sweetness. Like cake. That cursed wedding cake that was meant for her to share with another man. He wanted to steal that taste from her mouth and burn it to ash.
He swept his tongue between her lips. Exploring, claiming. He slid his hand to the back of her head and wove his fingers into her hair, tilting her face to his to deepen the kiss. She pressed closer, and the exquisite softness of her body made his skin tighten and his blood pound.
Within him, desire sparked and spread like a blaze.
Natural. Wild. Uncontrolled.
This was meant to be a goodnight kiss. A sweet brush of lips against lips before drifting off to sleep. Instead, his long-buried desires were waking and stretching. Roaring to life with a ferocity that startled even him.
He yearned to explore every part of her with his hands. Cup her breasts in his palms, run his fingers along her sweet, hot cleft. He wanted her beneath him. Astride him. Pressed against the wall. Bent over the table, with all that frothy lace pushed up to her waist.
He wanted her calling his name, holding him tight. He wanted to fall asleep tangled with her, and wake up with her in his arms.
He wanted all she had to give him, and more.
Mary, Mary.
A crash of timber and iron jolted them both. The kiss came apart, but he kept Mary close.
Two human silhouettes filled the doorway between the bedchamber and the kitchen.
“Whoever ye are,” came a menacing voice, “ye’d best prepare to die.”
Chapter 4
In the chilling darkness, Mary clutched Sebastian tight. Her heart trilled like a rabbit’s in her chest.
Pushing the quilt aside, Sebastian let her slip from his arms and quietly swung his legs to the side of the bed. She sensed his muscles coiling with tension.
He was preparing to fight.
“Don’t be frightened,” he murmured. “I’ll keep you safe.”
She exhaled shakily. Of course he would fight to keep her safe—he was so damnably selfless that way—but she neededhimto be safe, too.
As she blinked, her eyes adjusted to the dim, flickering firelight. The two silhouettes in the door belonged to a man and a woman. The man brandished a long, round-barreled weapon. A rifle.
Be careful, Sebastian.
The man leveled his weapon.
Sebastian rose to his full, imposing height, moving between Mary and the door. Into the line of fire.
