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"Husband, I--" Merry began uncertainly, for some reason feeling suddenly vulnerable. It was as far as she got, however. In the next moment, she was sucking in a startled gasp as his mouth dipped between her legs to trail up her thigh. Merry was too shocked to speak at that point, and then he reached and pressed a kiss to the very core of her, and she completely lost the ability of speech. Merry was suddenly torn between the urge to catch him by the hair and tug his head away, and the equally strong urge to catch him by the hair and urge him on. This was like nothing she'd ever experienced, and certainly nothing she'd ever imagined might happen between a man and woman, but it was also...
"Dear God," she gasped, dropping back on the rock and grabbing for something, anything to hold on to as he began to lave and nibble at the very core of her. He was eating her alive and she liked it.
Oh, this had to be a sin, she thought a bit hysterically, and then gave up thinking altogether as he caught her by the hips and drew her closer to the edge of the boulder so that he could bury his face between her legs and do unspeakable things to her. Truly, they were unspeakable. She had no idea what he was doing, but it had just raised her temperature almost unbearably high and left her mind a mass of feverish mush in her head.
Merry found herself shaking her head madly from side to side on the hard boulder, her nails scraping over the stone she was trying to hold on to, and legs shifting almost violently in his hold as she tried to escape the caress and grind herself into it at the same time.
It was more than a relief when the tension he was stoking inside her suddenly snapped. Merry screamed out as it poured over her, white lights exploding behind her eyes as her mind took a brief hiatus and her body shuddered and pulsed with the sensations coursing through her. When she came back from her pleasure trip it was to find Alex standing between her legs and using his hold on her hips to drag her across the boulder's surface until she reached the edge. Her eyes dropped to half mast as she spread her legs wider for him, and then he was thrusting himself into her and stirring her tender passions all over again.
Merry immediately sat up and wrapped herself around him. Still panting and gasping breathlessly from the first round, she clutched at him desperately as he drove her back into that land of pleasure again. This time, however, he joined her there himself.
chapter Seven
We should rejoin the others." Alex spoke the words reluctantly as he watched Merry emerge from the river. She'd barely rested a moment after their lovemaking before scampering back into the water. He'd been more reluctant to move himself, and had simply sat on the boulder and watched her splash about in the chill water. Now his eyes swam over her body as she hurried back to shore, noting how the cold made her nipples erect and how the water shimmered like diamonds on her skin under the last rays of the dying sun.
It soon became obvious that, despite what they'd done last night and just now, his wife was still shy before him. Merry didn't actually raise her hands to cover herself, but did move quickly and then positioned herself so her back was to him as she swiftly used her shift to dry herself. Deprived of the vision of her generous breasts, Alex found his eyes dropping to her behind as she ran the cloth over her body in a cursory effort. His gaze slid over the rounded cheeks, remembering how they had felt in his hands, until she suddenly tossed the shift aside and tugged her gown on over her head.
Alex sighed with disappointment as the pale blue cloth dropped like a curtain, ending his view, but knew it was probably a good thing. Just those few moments of watching her naked had made interest slide through him again, stirring his shaft to half mast, and he knew that much more and he would have propelled himself off the boulder, strode over, and given her reason to clean up yet again.
Not that that was a bad thing, Alex thought, but it was growing dark and he was hungry for food, and they should really get back to the others before they sent out a search party. By now camp should be set up and a meal would be being prepared. Besides, he could always have her again later, in the comfort and privacy of their tent. Out here in the open, privacy was something of an uncertainty. Any of the men could have stumbled on them in their search for game to cook for the sup, or a private spot of their own to tend to personal matters.
A murmur from Merry drew Alex's gaze her way, and he frowned as he saw her moving off into the trees. He was about to call her back when he realized that she'd said something about tending to personal matters. Realizing she was looking for a private spot to relieve herself, he merely called out to her not to go far and then forced himself to get off the boulder and get moving himself. A quick dip in the river took care of the fledgling erection watching his wife had brought about, and then Alex, too, dried off and began to dress. He'd just donned his braies when he realized he, too, had some relieving to do.
Alex paused and glanced around. He was less concerned about privacy than embarrassing his new bride by accidentally stumbling onto her spot in the woods, so shrugged and moved to a small copse of bushes growing at the base of the small cliff that backed the clearing. He'd just finished tending to business and begun to tuck himself back in his braies when he heard a slight grinding sound from above. Pausing, Alex raised his head. He couldn't see anything but the face of the cliff from this angle, however, so started to step back, and then sucked in an alarmed breath and turned to run as a boulder suddenly rolled off the cliff and plummeted toward him.
He wasn't quick enough. While Alex managed to save himself from having the boulder slam down directly on his head, it still caught him on the edge of the shoulder. He grunted in pain as it struck and then grunted again as he fell under the weight and slammed his head on something hard.
Anxious at the idea of anyone stumbling upon her in such a private, undignified moment, Merry took her time about choosing her spot. She also went a little farther into the woods than she normally might have. But it wasn't a worry since she knew she merely had to follow the sound of the waterfalls to find her way back to her husband, so she wouldn't get lost. However, by the time Merry finished and headed back, she was sure Alex was probably dressed and waiting impatiently for her return. An apology was trembling on the tip of her tongue as she stepped back into the clearing, but it died unspoken as she heard a grinding sound and saw her husband peering up at the cliff he stood facing. She followed his gaze, eyes widening in alarm as she saw the boulder plunging down at him.
Merry thought she caught a glimpse of a figure disappearing into the trees on the cliff above, but paid it little attention, her concern with her husband as she saw the boulder crash down, hitting his shoulder in a punishing blow and knocking him to the ground.
Crying out, she rushed forward at once, flying across the clearing to kneel at his side and eye his still body where he'd sprawled. He lay on his stomach in only his braies, and the first wound she saw was the one to his shoulder and upper arm. The boulder had scraped away a layer of flesh and she knew it would be sore, stiff, and bruised by morning, but was more concerned by the blood just visible on the side of his forehead. She could see a good-sized rock sticking out from under his head and cursed as she realized his head had crashed into it as he fell, just worsening matters.
Merry turned Alex onto his back, the chore taking enough effort that she was a bit breathless by the time she finished. Truly, her husband was a large man, and limp as he was, turning him was difficult. But she managed the task and then leaned forward to peer at his head wound. It didn't look terribly bad. However, head wounds were tricky, and the fact that all her pushing and prodding to turn him hadn't woken him up was troubling.
Worry knitting her brow, Merry sat back and glanced around the clearing. She then got back to her feet and rushed over to grab her shift from where it lay across her mare's saddle. Alex must have put it there. She'd left it lying on the ground where she'd dropped it earlier, intending to pick it up when she returned. Now she carried the cloth to the water's edge and quickly wet it in the river before hurrying back to her husband.
Merry cleaned the blood away, her eyes narrowing on the wound left behind. It wasn't really very deep and looked much less nasty once the blood was gone, but that didn't make her worry lessen. Head wounds were a serious business and he was still showing no sign of waking. She held the cold damp cloth to his forehead and spoke his name, but he didn't even stir. After repeating both actions several times, she finally sat back and peered around the clearing again.
The sun was setting, the day darkening, and the clearing that had been so bright and sunny when they'd entered was growing chill and taking on shadows that were making her anxious. It would soon be full dark. While Merry was relatively sure that so long as there was light she could find her way back to the clearing where she thought Alex had intended to camp, she was less certain of being able to do so in the dark. It was so easy to get yourself turned around in the woods at night.
On top of that, she wasn't positive the camp would be where she thought. She hadn't asked at the time, but had just assumed. What if it wasn't there and she had to hunt up the camp? Would she find it in the dark? And even if she did, could she find her way back here to bring help to her husband?
Merry had barely had the thought when she recalled the grinding sound she'd heard as she'd entered the clearing and the quick flash she'd had of someone disappearing into the trees on the cliff above. Biting her lip, she lifted her head to peer up. The grinding suggested the boulder had been shifted deliberately, and she had caught a glimpse of someone hurrying away. Unfortunately, she hadn't seen the person clearly enough to even say if it had been a man or a woman. Whatever the case, it suggested this hadn't been an accident, which meant leaving Alex here alone while she went for help wasn't a good idea.
Merry fretted over the worries as she peered back at Alex. He looked so helpless lying there half clothed and unconscious. If she couldn't leave him here while she went for help, she would either have to stay here with him or find a way to take him with her.
Her gaze slid around the clearing again. It was probably her imagination, but it seemed to her to be even darker than it had been moments ago. She was also suddenly aware of a rustling in the woods. Her sensible self told her it was probably small animals moving about and foraging for a last bit of food before the day ended, but a less sensible part was imagining villains and wood sprites sneaking about, ready to pounce on her the moment the last light of day died.
A cool breeze brushed across her skin and hair, lifting several strands in what seemed to her to be an almost taunting manner, and Merry felt her lips compress. She had no desire to stay out here alone with her unconscious husband waiting either for him to wake, or for daylight to dawn. She had to somehow get him on his horse and go find the camp. But how was she to manage that?
Merry's gaze slid around the clearing again, looking for inspiration. There was no way she was going to be able to lift the man onto his mount using her own muscle. Just turning him over had proven to be an effort. Lifting him up and tossing him over his saddle...Well, she just couldn't do it.
A soft snicker drew her attention to the other side of the clearing where her mare, Beauty, and her husband's mount both waited patiently for their owners to reclaim them. Merry's eyes narrowed on the animals as she considered her options, and then she was suddenly on her feet and crossing the clearing once more.
Merry murmured soothing words and offered each horse a pat as she quickly untied their reins from the tree Alex had fastened them to. It was enough to soothe Beauty, but Alex's mount kept tossing its head and taking nervous sideways steps as she worked, and she wished she knew the animal's name. Unfortunately, if her husband had used it in her presence she hadn't been paying attention and caught it, so she had to waste a moment trying to soothe the beast before leading both horses back to her husband. Merry then tied the reins of Alex's mount to a nearby tree before leading her mare to stand on the far side of the stallion so that the larger horse stood between Alex and the mare.
The bit of rope Alex had attached to the end of her mare's reins earlier in the day was still fastened. Merry now passed the undone end of it over the stallion's back and then rushed around the animal to see that it was long enough to reach all the way to the ground where her husband lay. Relieved, she caught the end of the rope and then considered her husband.
Her thought was that if she tied the rope to Alex and then had her mare back away it should drag him up off the ground and across his saddle. That was if his stallion stood still and her mare cooperated and backed away when she ordered and then stopped when she ordered it as well. Otherwise, this could be something of a debacle.
Pushing away such negative thoughts, Merry began to tie the rope around his wrists, but then paused and undid that to wrap her shift around his wrists first as she realized that the rope might burn him and injure him further. Once satisfied that she'd done all she could to keep from further harming her husband, Merry straightened and moved around to her mare to begin urging her away from the stallion. She tried to watch what was happening to her husband as she worked the mare, but the stallion was in the way, and after only a couple of steps, she made the mare halt and then ran back around the stallion to look. Alex's arms were now raised, but that was about it.
Grimacing, she ran back to her mare and urged her forward half a dozen steps this time before running back to check. Merry was glad she had when she saw the peril her husband was in. While her trick seemed to be working and Alex was half off the ground with his wrists almost to the top of the saddle, his head was hanging down and forward just below his mount's belly. Another step or two and the back of his head would have caught on his horse's stomach, and if she'd continued to move the mare forward, forcing him upward...well, it was just a good thing she'd stopped to check.
Merry gave his stallion a pat for standing so perfectly still during the operation, and then moved to Alex's side to bring his head up and back a bit so that it wouldn't catch on the horse. However, the moment she released it, it fell forward again.
Cursing, she glanced around, her eyes falling on a branch that lay a few feet away. It was a good three feet long and about an inch thick and should do the trick. Letting Alex's head fall forward once more, she rushed over to grab the item. Returning to his side, Merry then lifted his head again, muttered an apology to her unconscious husband, and held his head in place by catching a handful of his hair while she placed the stick across his upper arms. She then eased her hold on his hair. A slow breath of relief slipped from her lips when his head moved forward, only to be stopped by the branch.
Satisfied that she'd taken care of the problem, Merry then ran around the stallion to urge Beauty forward another few steps and kept doing so, urging the mare forward a step or two and then rushing back to check on Alex before urging her forward again. The exercise took much longer than she'd expected and the sun was gone from the sky, its last dying rays casting a shadowy light by the time she had her husband lying across his mount's saddle.
Eager to get moving before that last bit of light was gone, Merry quickly untied the rope from her mare's reins and then bent to reach under her husband's stallion to fasten the other end to his ankles so that she needn't fear his falling off the beast and having to go through all this again on the way back. Once she had him trussed up to her satisfaction, she then caught his stallion's reins and mounted her mare.
While the sun was now gone, the moon was up and the clearing was still light enough to see in when she finally put her heels to her mare's side and urged her to move slowly out of it. However, the path along the river had thick woods on one side and a light scattering of trees along the water's edge on the other. It was enough to make it quite dark and a bit scary as she urged her mare forward at little more than a walk. Merry wanted to go faster but worried that doing so might jostle her husband enough that he might slide off the saddle. Tied as he was, he would merely hang under his horse's belly, but then there was a risk of his being unintentionally kicked by one of his horse's hooves as the animal walked, and she didn't wish that.
Still, Merry would have liked to go faster and found her gaze sliding nervously over the dark shapes surrounding them as they moved. She'd had the uncomfortable feeling that she was being watched as she'd worked to get Alex on his horse, and recalling the figure on the cliff, had kept glancing warily to the trees. But it had slowed her down, and she'd finally forced herself to ignore it and concentrate on what she was doing. Now, however, she eyed the darkness crouching all around her with more than a little anxiety.
She couldn't get the memory of the grinding sound out of her mind. If it weren't for that, she could have convinced herself the whole thing had been an accident, but the grinding suggested moving the boulder had been difficult, not a result of someone leaning against it and accidentally sending it plummeting off the cliff. Someone had deliberately pushed it down on Alex. She had no idea why anyone would want to do that, but it seemed to her to be the most logical deduction and raised a wagonload of anxieties and worries in her mind. Why would someone wish to kill Alex? And more importantly, might they still attack now despite her presence? Were she and Alex in danger?
Merry forced herself to take a few deep breaths to steady her nerves, telling herself that if they'd intended to strike with her there they would have done so back in the clearing while she was distracted with trying to get Alex onto his mount. She then concentrated on the dark landscape around her. Merry hadn't been paying much attention to where Alex had left the woods for the path along the river's edge, but it didn't seem to her that they'd ridden along the river for this long on the way to the clearing. She reminded herself that she was moving much more slowly now than they'd been riding on the way out, but was still starting to worry that she'd ridden right by the path without seeing it.
