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“Hunting,” answered Devon. “Sorry. Boring answer. Did you never notice there’s always fresh meat and fish here? Where Martha and I come from, people hunt by night.”
“And where is that?”
Maybe that was a question he would have struggled to evade, but before he could make up some excuse not to tell me, Martha’s oldest son, Jem, came running up.
“Uncle Devon! Soldiers! Mother told me to let you know.”
Devon’s manner changed on the instant. “Where is Uther?”
“Mother’s hiding him.” With that, Jem turned on his heels and went running back the way he’d come, no doubt returning to his mother.
Devon turned to me, laying a comforting hand on my shoulder. “You can trust Martha. She knows these hills like no one else, she’ll put him someplace safe.” He grinned. “Now we need to hide.”
Devon led me to the little barn where the animal’s winter feed was stored, and up a ladder to the hayloft.
“They’re bound to look here.”
“We’re not hiding here.”
Reaching up above him, Devon pried away some planks from the apex of the roof to reveal a tight space between beams and thatch.
“Come on.”
I scrambled in and Devon followed me, pulling the boards into place after him. There was barely space for both of us and we took a few moments to adjust ourselves into the least uncomfortable position we could, our bodies crushed together in the darkness.
I felt Devon’s mouth close to my ear, and his breath hot on my skin as he whispered. “Keep as still and as quiet as you can.”
It seemed to me that my heart was loud enough to alert everyone for miles around, and Devon’s closeness probably wasn’t helping matters. Because of his loose clothes and casual manner, it was easy to forget that Devon was an impressive figure of a man, and I was now very aware of his hard body pressed to mine.
Awkwardly, I moved against him and had to swallow back a gasp, for fear of making too much noise. For the first time, I’d been presented with hard evidence that the attraction I felt for Devon was in some way reciprocated.Veryhard evidence, that was currently poking against my hip.
“Sorry,” Devon mouthed into my ear. “Mind of its own.”
I didn’t know what to say to that, and fortunately the circumstances allowed me a good excuse to say nothing. I adjusted my position slightly to give him the space he needed.
“Thank you.”
The surprise discovery added to the cocktail of emotions bubbling inside me. There was fear and anxiety for myself and for Uther, there was shock and a little nervousness at Devon’s arousal, but there was also sheer excitement and a roiling undercurrent of long-suppressed desire. This wasn’t like me; men were fun but I’d never wanted one the way I now realized I wanted Devon. At that moment, I would have given almost anything for him to throw caution to the wind and just take me, here in this narrow crawlspace. The need for his touch, for his kiss, and for so much more burnt inside me like an out of control fire.
But, obviously now was not the time. At the outside edge of hearing, we caught the sound of voices. The soldiers were conducting their search, probably against Martha’s objections, though she would be putting her childrens’ safety first.
Both Devon and I tensed at the sound of the barn door opening. The voices were louder now as the men searched. Then came footsteps on the creaking ladder up to the loft.
Suddenly, it all seemed more than I could take, I could hear my heart racing in my ears and I began to breathe faster, sucking in air yet there never seemed enough. I knew my breathing was becoming audible but I didn’t seem to have a choice.
Then, I felt Devon’s hands on me. One found my chest, pressing softly, as if he could slow my heart from the outside. The other caressed my cheek, stroking and calming, and at his touch the sudden rush of fear died away.
There was nothing to worry about because Devon was here, Devon would protect me, even if they found us, Devon wouldn’t let anything bad happen to me.
The search ended, and we listened to the soldiers leave.
Some little while after, the boards were pried away, letting in blinding light.
“You two alright?” asked Martha.
“Are they gone?” asked Devon.
“I’d hardly be opening this if they weren’t.”
