“Come, Blaire. I want to hold me new bride in my arms, satisfied that I know she doesna find me as abhorrent as she tried to make it seem.”
He crawled into bed beneath the covers, and I looked down at him as he smiled. That smile has probably found dozens of other women exactly where I am right now. It both surprised and displeased me, so that the thought sent an unpleasant surge into my stomach. This man didn’t actually exist, after all.
He gestured for me to join him, and I slowly crawled on top of the bed. I glanced down to see my breasts swaying to and fro and scrambled to cover myself.
“I . . . I forgot I was naked,” I stuttered as I flailed my arms around wildly, trying to cover the most intimate parts of myself.
Eoin’s hands caught mine, and I could hear him chuckling as he struggled to tug the blankets away from me.
“I’ve already seen ye, Blaire. Ye have the most beautiful breasts I’ve ever seen, and ye have no reason to worry. I’ll no be touchin’ ye again tonight. We’ve no rush, lass, and I’ll see that I woo ye properly.
I stopped my senseless struggle as his words sank in. The time to be embarrassed had long since passed. I laughed at myself as I joined him beneath the covers and rolled into his arms.
*
Moments later, a fierce knock at the door caused us both to jerk upward in the bed. Just on the cusp of sleep, I found myself disoriented as I looked around the room to take in my surroundings, trying to remember where I was and what I was doing.
A hand on my naked back caused me to turn to my left, and the sight of Eoin beside me reminded me that I was still in a coma. I couldn’t quite make sense of why I seemed to fall asleep while sleeping; the only answer that came to mind was different medications must be causing a different reaction. At least my dream seems to be the same.
Eoin’s voice yelling toward the door caused me to jump, and he gently rubbed my back in response. “Who’s there? Ye better have a damned good reason for waking my wife.”
“Me lord! Ye must come quickly. There has been a fire set outside. It’s small, but we must contain it before it reaches the stables.”
“What? I’m coming Kip. Get on with ye, and help the efforts.”
I watched as Eoin, cursing, quickly dressed and headed for the door.
“I’m sorry to leave ye, lass, but I must go. Just go back to sleep, and I’ll be back soon. I’m sure tis nothing to worry yerself over.”
With that, he was gone. I stood and made my way to the window to watch the scene below. The fire was small, surely there’d been no injuries, but it would take the men awhile to properly put it out and clean up the mess. It seemed silly that I should stay and not offer help, but something told me that the offer wouldn’t be appreciated. I didn’t worry about Eoin. It was my dream. Surely, I wouldn’t let anything like a fire take my Coma Husband from me.
Instead, I pulled one of the blankets from the top of the bed and wrapped it around my naked body as I curled up into the stone window seat that looked out over the back greens of the castle and out onto the sea.
Chapter 13
I’d just begun to drift, and I could feel my eyelids dropping further with each passing second when the door handle to my right started moving clumsily. Startled, I jerked upward and wrapped the blanket around my shoulders more tightly.
I glanced toward the bolt, which rattled noisily as the person opposite the door struggled to get into the room. At first I assumed it must be Eoin, but a quick glance out the window showed him still working away at the small remains of the fire. I scanned the room for my dress and spotted it still lying crumpled in front of the door where it had been so expertly removed.
I slipped myself off of the window seat and, leaving the blanket behind, watched my skin turn to goose flesh as my toes touched the cold stone below. I tip-toed as quickly as I could over to my dress and slipped it on as best I could. I didn’t even attempt to tie up the back; the intricacy of the laces was impossible for me to maneuver on my own.
Twisting and turning, I worked the gown into place so that it fit snugly across the front. Perhaps now at least it wouldn’t be quite so obvious that it was completely open in the back if I opened the door. As long as I kept my arms to my sides, I thought it would stay in place while I saw to whoever needed my attention.
The noise at the door had stopped by the time I went to open it, but I still made an effort to smush my hair into some semblance of order before I reached for the handle and opened it.
In a series of movements that came too quickly for me to process, I found myself knocked onto my bottom with a man lying in between my legs.
“Ooomph!” I shoved a foot into the ribs of my lap partner and pushed him away as I struggled to stand and keep my dress in place. “And you are?”