Chapter 12 #2
Neither had she. Emily’s throat was parched as she saw the deep, rippling muscles of his back. Tawny skin glistened with water and every part of him was well-muscled and strong. His broad shoulders tapered to a small waist.
And around his neck, he wore a small necklace that she couldn’t make out from her distance.
Water trailed over his flesh, pooling in the small hairs of his chest. Even from her distance, she could tell how solid his chest would be and too easily she remembered the feel of being held close to that rock-hard body of his. The feel of his lips on her own.
She bit her lip at the memory and wished she had the audacity to walk the short distance that separated them.
Draven bent down to wet his hair, giving her a peek of perfect buttocks. Emily’s entire body throbbed as she watched him reach up and lather his hair. His strong fingers stroked the sable locks, and the sight of him did the strangest things to her body.
“I could do me laundry on that stomach.” Alys nudged Emily with her elbow. “But you know what’s even better than laundry to rub on a man’s stomach?”
Before Emily could answer, she heard something rustling in the trees behind Alys.
Her eyes widened.
“I think we’ve been caught,” Emily whispered, indicating the direction of the sound with a tilt of her head.
Alys turned around to look at the same moment a wild boar broke through the hedge.
For an instant Emily couldn’t move.
Alys gave an ear-shattering scream as she bolted toward Draven. Emily didn’t realize she’d followed her maid into the stream until she felt the water splashing over her body.
Draven turned at the loud shrieks an instant before two women ran him over. He came up from the water, sputtering to find Emily and her maid jumping up and down, screaming at him, and gesturing wildly toward the bank.
“A boar, a boar, a boar!” the maid repeated.
“Women, please! Quiet! And for the sake of your lives, stop moving.”
To his amazement, they instantly obeyed him. Draven took a cautious step forward to place himself between the women and the boar. He slid his gaze over to where his sword lay useless a few feet from the panting boar. It pawed at the ground and eyed them fiercely.
“It’s going to charge us,” Emily said, her voice high-pitched.
“If you remain perfectly still it won’t charge.”
“I’m not moving,” Emily whispered. “I will stay here until Gabriel sounds his golden horn.”
“What are we to do, milord?” the maid asked.
Personally, Draven wanted his clothes. Especially since Emily had him by his left arm in a grip so tight his hand was starting to tingle from lack of blood flow. He started to shrug her hold away, but didn’t dare lest the movement entice the boar, or worse make her panic and run.
Emily bit her lip. “Can we outrun it?”
Draven didn’t take his eyes from the boar. “‘Tis not so much outrunning the boar, milady, as it is outrunning your maid and myself.”
“Now you find humor?” Her voice was aghast.
Moving his arm as slowly as possible, he shrugged off her grip. “‘Tis not humor. Just a practical fact.”
Slowly, carefully, he waded a little closer to his sword.
The boar snorted and shook its head.
Draven froze.
Emily swallowed in fear as she watched him near the boar. How could he remain so calm while her heart pounded so fiercely that she half expected it to leap from her chest.
“Draven?”
She held her breath at Simon’s shout.
The boar turned at the sound.
“Simon, fetch a crossbow,” Draven shouted.
The boar looked back at Draven and took two more steps nearer. Draven didn’t budge as he stared the animal dead in the eye.
Emily swallowed the lump in her throat.
“A crossbow? Why?” Simon asked as he came through the trees.
The boar snorted once and charged at Simon.
With a foul curse, Simon literally jumped up a tree. Draven ran for his sword and seized it while Simon pulled himself up and out of the boar’s reach.
“Keep it distracted,” Draven ordered.
“Oh, aye.” Simon groaned as he tucked his legs up beneath him. “Keep it distracted, he says. Kill the damned beast, would you?”
As Draven inched near it, the boar turned to face him. Draven froze.
Time seemed suspended as she waited for the boar to charge Draven.
“Here, piggy piggy,” Emily called before she could stop herself.
“Milady!” Alys screamed.
Ignoring her, Emily splashed at the water. “Here, piggy-piggy.”
The boar looked at her.
Her chest tight, Emily trusted that somehow, someway Draven would keep her safe as she continued to entice the boar away from him.
The boar came at her and Draven charged at it. The boar spun about in confusion as Draven raised his sword. As if realizing death was imminent, the boar squealed in terror, then bolted back into the forest.
Relief swept through her so quickly, her legs buckled. Emily knelt in the water, trembling and laughing hysterically.
The next thing she knew, Draven was by her side, helping her to her feet.
“Are you all right, Emily?”
She nodded, leaning on him for support. “I am merely thankful, milord, that even wild beasts are afraid of you.”
Emily heard Simon’s laughter as he descended his tree, and it was only then she realized Draven had taken a moment to pull on his breeches.
“What were you doing here?” His tone was sharp.
Heat crept over her face. She didn’t dare tell him the truth.
“Water,” Alys said before Emily could speak. “We came to fetch water for the camp, milord. Our bucket is beyond that bush where we dropped it.”
Draven let out a loud breath as he released her. “The two of you should be more careful.”
Then he looked at his brother. “And you... You were supposed to be watching them.”
“Why do you think I came when I did? I heard them scream.”
Draven glared at him. “Did you not think to fetch a weapon before you came in search of them lest they be screaming for a reason?” He shook his head. “By my troth, Simon, some things a man should do without thought and fetching a crossbow when women are screaming should be one of them.”
Simon looked sheepish. “Well, I shall try and keep that in mind the next time a boar attacks you.”
Emily exchanged a timid look with Alys as Draven went to fetch their bucket. He lingered over the spot and when he didn’t come right back, Emily moved to join him.
“Is something amiss, milord?”
Draven picked up the bucket and gave her a suspicious look. “You came to fetch water, you said?”
“Aye.”
“Then why were the two of you kneeling here so long that you made a deep indentation in the foliage?”
Emily forced herself not to groan out loud. They were caught.
“I...um...” She tried to think up a reasonable lie, but nothing would come to her mind. “Well, you see... We...”
Oh, why couldn’t she think up something?
“You?” Draven prompted. A devilish light burned in his eyes as he watched her closely. Oh, he was enjoying her discomfort. Too much.
Lifting her chin, she decided to rob him of his torment. “Very well, we came to see you bathe, if you must know the truth of it.”
“I suppose I should be flattered.”
Unable to meet his gaze any longer, she dropped her eyes to the necklace about his neck. It was a single golden rose blossom suspended on a leather cord. But what caught her notice most was the vein beneath the leather that beat in time to his heart.
Draven felt her breath fall against his naked chest. It raised chills the length of his body.
He waited for her to speak, but she seemed entranced by his heraldic emblem that Queen Eleanor had given him when he won his first tournament.
“Have words finally failed you?” he asked.
Before she could answer, Simon and her maid joined them.
Simon tossed his tunic to him. “We should set up a watch to keep an eye out for that boar.”
“Aye. As well as other things that might come upon a man when he least expects it.”
That got her to look at him again. Her cheeks rosy, she narrowed her dark green eyes on him.
An overwhelming urge to kiss her seized him and if they were alone, he doubted he would have had the strength to deny it. Instead, he focused his attention on Simon and not her moistened lips.
So, she had come to spy upon him.
In truth, he was flattered. And most dreadfully aroused by the knowledge that she had watched him. What he truly wanted to know was had she liked what she’d seen?
Never before had he cared what a woman thought of him. But for some reason, he wanted her to desire him.
Are you mad?
Aye, he must be. There was no other explanation. The last thing he needed was for her to desire him any more than she already did. Indeed, ‘twas all he could do to stay away from her as it was.
With that thought in mind, he grabbed his tunic, handed her the bucket and quickly dressed himself.
“We’d best get back to camp before the boar returns,” Draven said, then led the way.
Emily followed behind Draven with Simon by her side. As they walked back to camp, it dawned on her what she’d done while they faced the boar.
Without a moment’s hesitation, she had trusted Draven with her life. Never before had she done such a thing. She’d always been adventurous, but never to the point of such foolishness as she had shown with the boar.
But in her heart, she had known he wouldn’t allow her to be harmed. And he had proven her right.
“Thank you, Lord Draven.”
He looked back at her over his shoulder. “For what?”
“For saving me from the boar.”
His look softened. “I should say the same for you. Had you not splashed, I’m sure I’d be tending a severe wound right now.”
“Oh, Draven,” Simon said in a falsetto as he clasped his hands together and held them to his shoulder. He gave Draven a worshipful look. “You’re my hero, too!”
Simon sniffed as if he were holding back tears and threw his arms about Draven’s shoulders. “If not for you, that mean old boar would have eaten me alive.”
Draven pushed Simon away from him. “Get off me, you nimble-pated gelding.”
“But Draven,” Simon said again in his falsetto, “You’re my hero. Give me a kiss.”