“I’ll return shortly to tell ye what we learn and finish this,” he murmured in a husky voice, nipping at her ear.
“Finish what?” Saidh asked weakly as he nibbled at her neck. Her brain appeared to be having some difficulty processing what he was saying at that moment.
“This.” His hand slid under her skirt and along her thigh until he could lightly brush his fingers against the already dampening skin between her legs.
“Oh,” Saidh moaned, reaching to catch his hand as he started to withdraw it. “Can we no’ finish this first?”
Chuckling, Greer tugged his hand free of her hold and gave her another kiss, this one quick and hard. He then removed her clinging arms and said, “Yer brother’s waiting in the hall. But I’ll be back.”
Saidh let her hands drop to her sides and watched him walk to the door. Once he’d slipped out and pulled the door closed behind him, she lay back with a little sigh, then grimaced and quickly rolled to her side as pain shot through her back. She’d forgotten her wound.
The sudden opening of the door again when it had just closed startled her, and Saidh sat up with surprise, but relaxed when Greer merely stuck his head in to tell her, “Geordie and Dougall will be outside the door. Shout do ye need them.”
He didn’t wait for a response, but then pulled the door closed once more.
Saidh stared at the door for a minute, then lay down on her side again and closed her eyes. It had been after the nooning when she and Alpin had snuck out to the gardens, and while she’d lost consciousness, she didn’t think she’d been out for long. Rory hadn’t been far enough in cleaning Alpin’s wound on his back for much time to have passed. Of course, she had dallied with Greer in here briefly, and then sat below, so by her guess, the afternoon was somewhere between half and three quarters done. Time enough for her to enjoy a wee nap before the sup. Well, time enough for a very short nap and, hopefully, some houghmagandie with her husband.
The thought made her smile as she allowed her eyes to close, but the smile faded when a rustling sound reached her ears. Blinking her eyes open, she listened briefly. Were she asked to describe it, she would have said it sounded as if a great huge snake were slithering through the rushes on the floor. The problem was, she couldn’t tell where it was coming from. Sitting up, she peered around the room, but there was nothing and no one to see.
Frowning, she pushed her hair behind her ears and listened carefully, but couldn’t really tell where it was coming from. It almost seemed to be coming from all around her . . . or beneath her, she thought suddenly and quickly slid her feet off the bed intending to get up.
Saidh stopped short, however, when a startled gasp sounded as her feet landed on something much softer than the hard floor with its scattering of rushes. Leaning quickly forward, she peered down to see that she had her feet on Fenella’s gown-covered rump.
Chapter 16
“I’m sorry if I startled ye,” Fenella said quietly, glancing up at her. “Do ye think ye could lift yer feet so I can finish getting out from under the bed?”
Saidh briefly considered pushing down more firmly and holding her in place as she demanded an explanation, but this was a Fenella she had never met before. She appeared subdued and her expression was actually apologetic, something Saidh did not think she’d ever seen on the woman’s face. Relenting, she lifted her feet to sit cross-legged on the edge of the bed as she watched Fenella finish dragging herself out from under the bed.
Once out, her cousin got to her feet and began to brush at her gown and skirts, trying to remove the bits of debris stuck to her. Plucking irritably at the pieces that wouldn’t brush away, she muttered, “Yer maids ha’e been lax about their job. ’Tis filthy under that bed.”
“Hmm,” was all Saidh said, although she could have pointed out that she had only been lady here for a very short time and that Fenella herself had been lady before that.
“Ye should order them to clean out the rushes in the room, including those under the bed and lay fresh ones,” Fenella instructed, giving up on her gown with a grimace.
“I shall consider it,” Saidh murmured, and then raised an eyebrow. “Would ye care to explain what ye were doing under the bed?”
Fenella hesitated, her gaze moving reluctantly to Saidh and then sliding quickly to the door, almost with longing. Saidh supposed the girl would rather leave than give explanations, but much to her surprise, Fenella sighed, her shoulders slumping, and then asked politely, “Might I sit with ye?”
Saidh’s eyebrows both rose up almost into her hairline at this. She wasn’t used to Fenella requesting permission for anything. Actually, her cousin almost seemed a stranger in that moment; quiet, polite and with an air of resignation that didn’t really suit her.
“Sit,” Saidh said simply and shifted a bit away when Fenella perched on the edge of the bed beside her. She waited a moment, but when Fenella didn’t speak, asked, “What are ye doing in here?”
“I was in the hall when Greer picked ye up and started to carry ye upstairs. I ducked in here, thinking he’d take ye to the master chamber. I had the door cracked. I was going to slip back to me room as soon as he took ye in there, but instead he brought ye this way and—” She grimaced. “I jest panicked. First I ducked down on the other side o’ the bed, then I scooted under it just ere he brought ye in.”
Fenella shook her head and then peered down and laced her fingers together. She stared at them briefly before raising her head and saying, “I am sorry Alpin got hurt.” Her gaze flickered to Saidh’s forehead and she frowned and added, “And that ye did as well.”