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didn’t want him getting up before the crack of dawn or working until he could barely see straight. She wanted to wake up in his arms, already crying out his name as he made love to her and she wanted to fall asleep in his arms every night like she used to, before he started accepting every job and order that came his way. She wanted her husband back and if was determined to make this up to her, it would probably be a long time before that happened.
“No,” she mumbled, putting her arms around him and held him tight, “I just want you.”
“You already have me,” he said with a chuckle as he rewarded her with another kiss.
She closed her eyes as she pressed her forehead against his chest and held onto him, letting go and just relaxing in his arms as he held her tighter.
“I love you, minx,” he said, kissing the top of her head, “so damn much.”
“I love you, too,” she said, well, more like mumbled since she was in the process of falling asleep.
He chuckled as he kissed her again. “Go to sleep, minx.”
She wanted to argue with him, open her eyes, get off his lap and walk the final ten miles home, but opening her eyes or moving for that matter seemed impossible. Well, if she was going to be completely honest she’d admit that after several days without sleep and months surviving on just a few hours a night, she was exhausted. Plus being in his arms like this felt so good that she couldn’t make herself get up even if she’d been able to.
There really was no better way to fall asleep than in the arms of the man that she loved.
*-*-*-*
He’d seriously fucked up and now his wife was paying the price.
He never should have been so stubborn.
He never should have brought her on this trip.
He never should have turned down his brother’s generous offer to pay for a proper honeymoon.
He should have known better than to eat anything Mrs. Kinnley cooked.
He should have…
Christ, there were just too many “should haves.”
He’d made too many mistakes, made too many bad decisions and now he just wanted this nightmare to end. Unfortunately he had to wait to end this until nightfall, because he refused to allow his wife to walk on the side of the road in broad daylight wearing only his shirt and coat.
It just wasn’t happening.
So, that left him with no other choice but to stay here with her and wait until the sun to set. That of course meant that he needed to at least get a fire going and see if he could find some food for-
“Oh, hell,” he muttered when he should have jumped to his feet and ran as fast as he could, getting Elizabeth away from this spot before the little bastard had a chance to raise that goddamn tail and spray them.
Unfortunately by the time that he thought about getting the hell out of there, it was too late. The skunk, who’d stumbled upon them had turned, raised its tail and sprayed them. Even though it was too late, he tried to stand up and get Elizabeth away from the stench, but unfortunately he could barely see. His eyes stung and his lungs protested the stench that now surrounded them. As much as he would love to pick his wife up and get her out of there, he couldn’t.
Thankfully, he didn’t have to worry about waking her up and carrying her to safety, because within seconds of being sprayed, she woke up coughing and gasping, jumped to her feet and stumbled her way towards fresh air. Then again, he mused as he watched his wife running to a different spot, trying desperately to get away from the stench that now clung to her skin and clothes, it was probably pointless at this point to try and run away at this point.
He considered telling her that it was pointless to try to run away, but he just didn’t have the heart to tell her. So, instead he glared at the little bastard as he walked away with his tail still sticking up in the air as Robert leaned back against the tree, trying to ignore the stench surrounding him. When the skunk stopped just before ducking beneath a hedge to make his escape and turned his head and glare at Robert, he considered killing the little bastard and roasting his ass over a fire, but that damn tail twitching in anticipation, ready to spray him again was the only thing that kept him from killing the little son of a bitch.
“Oh my God,” Elizabeth said, coughing as she turned around and ran the other way, clearly not accepting the fact that there was outrunning this thing.
He shot one last glare at the hedge where the skunk had made its escape before he got to his feet as he tried to rub his eyes without pushing the smelly spray clinging to his skin into his eyes and failed.
“Son of a bitch!” he growled as his eyes stung and began to water.
He stumbled back as he tried to rub the oil out of his eyes, tripped over a root and fell on his ass, his bare back slamming into the tree behind him as he fell, scraping his back to shreds in the process. He ground his teeth and closed his eyes as he tried to breathe through the pain, but it only made it worse.
“Robert?” Elizabeth said, sounding concerned as he struggled not to lose it and say something that he was going to regret later.
“I’m fine,” he bit out, cursing softly as the stinging got worse and the uncontrollable coughing began again.
“Oh, Robert,” she said, sighing softly as came closer and unfortunately for him, doubled the stench that was currently choking the life out of him.
“I’m,” hoarse cough, “fine,” he managed to get out as Elizabeth cupped his face in her small, warm hands.
“We need to wash your face,” she decided as he continued to cough so hard that his chest was actually beginning to hurt from the strain.
Wash his face? In the leach infested muddy water? He’d rather go blind, but he couldn’t say that to his wife since he knew that it wouldn’t end well for him.
“I’m fine,” he said tightly through clench teeth as pain shot up and down his back.
A heavy sigh followed, the very one that she used when one of their sons did something to vex her, like tearing off their nappies so that they could pee in a corner, distracting her while the other one snuck into the kitchen and helped himself to whatever treat she’d cooked for that day or simply argued with her, refusing to do what they’re told as they glared at her. He really didn’t appreciate the fact that she used that sigh on him.
Not. At. All.
He would have glared at her, given her the same glare that the boys gave her, but unfortunately at the moment he couldn’t open his eyes so he settled for a small disapproving grunt that she simply ignored.
“We need to find some fresh water,” she announced as she took his hand into her much smaller one and gave it a slight tug that forced him to get up and stumble forward.
“Just give me a minute, minx,” he said, using his free hand to try to rub his eyes clean, but it was only making it worse.
“We don’t have a minute,” she said with that damn sigh again as she continued dragging him through the woods, giving him no choice but to give up on trying to rub the spray from his eyes and forcing him to try to keep up with the woman determined to drag him to his death.
She really was a bossy little thing, he thought as he was forced to bite back a grunt of pain as he was forced to walk on sticks, stones and briars. As he bit back another pained grunt he considered asking her to stop, but he knew his wife well enough to know that there was no point in arguing with her. It didn’t matter that they weren’t sure where they were or that she was only wearing his shirt and jacket, if his wife was determined to do something, and apparently she was, then there was nothing that he could say or do to stop-
“Oh, no,” Elizabeth said on a gasp.
“What?” he asked as she practically dragged through the woods.
“He’s back.”
“Who’s-oh, shit,” he said just as they were hit a second time by that little bastard that he should have killed.
Chapter 10
Oh, thank God it was all over, she thought, struggling not to give into the need to run to the house, throw open the door, run upstairs and dive under her covers and stay there until this whole trip became nothing more than a distant memory. But, she couldn’t that, not without hurting Robert’s feelings. There was also the small problem of Robert’s death grip on her hand that was stopping her from achieving her dreams and the fact that he was dragging her towards the woods and away from the one thing that promised to end this nightmare.
