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dwgm450 words today, theme: "Court". Many thanks to my dear ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
hereswith for beta reading, editing, and excellent suggestions.
Previous bits...
And here's today's...
36. Court
~ An Execrable Business, continued...
He kissed her again, a brief, sweet contact, but then he got up off the bed and said, rather ruefully, “I’d best swing that hammock.”
“Oh, no!” she exclaimed, and then blushed hotly.
He grinned and got down to rummage under the bed, replying, “Oh, yes! For one thing… I assured Bill I would… long as you’re here… and for another…” He brought out the roll of canvas and stood up. “I slept maybe an hour last night, if you’ll recall. I don’t need much, but I’m feeling the lack, which won’t do, not as things stand.”
Her disappointment was acute, but she felt that begging him to sleep with her might give him entirely the wrong impression. She was not a light woman, even if she did positively ache for him with every atom of her being. She said, firmly, getting up, “If you don’t wish to share, as we did these last two nights, I shall take the hammock! It would be beyond anything for me to appropriate your bed.”
He snorted. “Have you ever slept in one of these?” he asked, unrolling it.
“No.”
“Well, I reckon watching you try would afford me hours of amusement but, again, not much sleep.”
She sadly sat on the edge of the bed and watched him attach the hammock to its hooks, and when he was done arranging it and he turned to her, he laughed outright.
“Don’t look like that!” he said, coming over and taking up her hands, and kissing them, each in turn. “It’s just for tonight, love, my word on’t. If you’re amenable, we’ll share the bed, starting tomorrow.”
“I am infi… um… most amenable,” she said, somewhat relieved. “But what about Mr. Turner?”
“I said I’d swing the hammock every night, not that I’d sleep in it.” He winked at her and she started to smile, but then his fingers closed purposefully on hers. “Come, I’ll do up that cut for you. Shouldn’t take more'n half a dozen stitches.”
“What?” She pulled at her hand.
“It’s a joke, darlin’. Come!”
But the subsequent cleaning of the cut with spirits hurt dreadfully and though she managed not to screech, tears sprang to her eyes and, shamefully, a few escaped to slip down her cheeks before he was finished daubing with salve and tying it with a neat bandage.
“Poor brave Nell,” he murmured, wiping her tears away with his own fingers. Then he drew her close for more kisses, kisses that soothed yet thrilled so deliciously that after they'd retired to bed and hammock, the intimacy of them, and of his restrained yet eager touch, colored her dreams a rosy hue all rest of the night.
TBC...
hereswith for beta reading, editing, and excellent suggestions.Previous bits...
| 1. Tortuga 2. Happiness 3. Festive 4. Last Minute 5. Calm 6. Truth 7. Bargain 8. Spook 9. Down 10. Wounds 11. Moon 12. Monsters | 13. Beauty 14. Name 15. History 16. Service 17. Advice 18. Captain 19. Awe 20. Cross 21. "You've made a big mistake" 22. Heroism 23. Gold 24. Echo | 25. Greed 26. Advance 27. Challenge 28. Adventure 29. Sentence 30. Treasure 31. North 32. Coat 33. Good and Evil 34. Sickness and Health 35. Lost |
And here's today's...
36. Court
~ An Execrable Business, continued...
He kissed her again, a brief, sweet contact, but then he got up off the bed and said, rather ruefully, “I’d best swing that hammock.”
“Oh, no!” she exclaimed, and then blushed hotly.
He grinned and got down to rummage under the bed, replying, “Oh, yes! For one thing… I assured Bill I would… long as you’re here… and for another…” He brought out the roll of canvas and stood up. “I slept maybe an hour last night, if you’ll recall. I don’t need much, but I’m feeling the lack, which won’t do, not as things stand.”
Her disappointment was acute, but she felt that begging him to sleep with her might give him entirely the wrong impression. She was not a light woman, even if she did positively ache for him with every atom of her being. She said, firmly, getting up, “If you don’t wish to share, as we did these last two nights, I shall take the hammock! It would be beyond anything for me to appropriate your bed.”
He snorted. “Have you ever slept in one of these?” he asked, unrolling it.
“No.”
“Well, I reckon watching you try would afford me hours of amusement but, again, not much sleep.”
She sadly sat on the edge of the bed and watched him attach the hammock to its hooks, and when he was done arranging it and he turned to her, he laughed outright.
“Don’t look like that!” he said, coming over and taking up her hands, and kissing them, each in turn. “It’s just for tonight, love, my word on’t. If you’re amenable, we’ll share the bed, starting tomorrow.”
“I am infi… um… most amenable,” she said, somewhat relieved. “But what about Mr. Turner?”
“I said I’d swing the hammock every night, not that I’d sleep in it.” He winked at her and she started to smile, but then his fingers closed purposefully on hers. “Come, I’ll do up that cut for you. Shouldn’t take more'n half a dozen stitches.”
“What?” She pulled at her hand.
“It’s a joke, darlin’. Come!”
But the subsequent cleaning of the cut with spirits hurt dreadfully and though she managed not to screech, tears sprang to her eyes and, shamefully, a few escaped to slip down her cheeks before he was finished daubing with salve and tying it with a neat bandage.
“Poor brave Nell,” he murmured, wiping her tears away with his own fingers. Then he drew her close for more kisses, kisses that soothed yet thrilled so deliciously that after they'd retired to bed and hammock, the intimacy of them, and of his restrained yet eager touch, colored her dreams a rosy hue all rest of the night.
TBC...