Honeymoon from Hell IV (10 page)

He stumbled back as he tried to rub the
oil out of his eyes, tripped over a root and fell on his ass, his
bare back slamming into the tree behind him as he fell, scraping
his back to shreds in the process. He ground his teeth and closed
his eyes as he tried to breathe through the pain, but it only made
it worse.

“Robert?” Elizabeth said, sounding
concerned as he struggled not to lose it and say something that he
was going to regret later.

“I’m fine,” he bit out, cursing softly
as the stinging got worse and the uncontrollable coughing began
again.

“Oh, Robert,” she said, sighing softly
as came closer and unfortunately for him, doubled the stench that
was currently choking the life out of him.

“I’m,” hoarse cough,
“
fine
,” he managed
to get out as Elizabeth cupped his face in her small, warm
hands.

“We need to wash your face,” she
decided as he continued to cough so hard that his chest was
actually beginning to hurt from the strain.

Wash his face? In the leach infested
muddy water? He’d rather go blind, but he couldn’t say that to his
wife since he knew that it wouldn’t end well for him.

“I’m fine,”
he said tightly through clench teeth as pain shot
up and down his back.

A heavy sigh followed, the very one
that she used when one of their sons did something to vex her, like
tearing off their nappies so that they could pee in a corner,
distracting her while the other one snuck into the kitchen and
helped himself to whatever treat she’d cooked for that day or
simply argued with her, refusing to do what they’re told as they
glared at her. He really didn’t appreciate the fact that she used
that sigh on him.

Not. At. All.

He would have glared at her, given her
the same glare that the boys gave her, but unfortunately at the
moment he couldn’t open his eyes so he settled for a small
disapproving grunt that she simply ignored.

“We need to find some fresh water,” she
announced as she took his hand into her much smaller one and gave
it a slight tug that forced him to get up and stumble
forward.

“Just give me a minute, minx,” he said,
using his free hand to try to rub his eyes clean, but it was only
making it worse.

“We don’t have a minute,” she said with
that damn sigh again as she continued dragging him through the
woods, giving him no choice but to give up on trying to rub the
spray from his eyes and forcing him to try to keep up with the
woman determined to drag him to his death.

She really was a bossy little thing, he
thought as he was forced to bite back a grunt of pain as he was
forced to walk on sticks, stones and briars. As he bit back another
pained grunt he considered asking her to stop, but he knew his wife
well enough to know that there was no point in arguing with her. It
didn’t matter that they weren’t sure where they were or that she
was only wearing his shirt and jacket, if his wife was determined
to do something, and apparently she was, then there was nothing
that he could say or do to stop-

“Oh, no,” Elizabeth said on a
gasp.

“What?” he asked as she practically
dragged through the woods.

“He’s back.”

“Who’s-
oh, shit
,” he said just as they were
hit a second time by that little bastard that he should have
killed.

Chapter 10

Oh, thank God it was all over, she
thought, struggling not to give into the need to run to the house,
throw open the door, run upstairs and dive under her covers and
stay there until this whole trip became nothing more than a distant
memory. But, she couldn’t that, not without hurting Robert’s
feelings. There was also the small problem of Robert’s death grip
on her hand that was stopping her from achieving her dreams and the
fact that he was dragging her towards the woods and away from the
one thing that promised to end this nightmare.

“Where are we going?” she asked, even
though she had a pretty good idea.

“To the lake,” was all he said as he
continued to lead her across the backyard, confirming her worst
fears.

It really wasn’t over yet.

Then there was also the fact that it
was well after midnight, it was dark out, cold and she really
wasn’t looking forward to a dip in the lake, knowing that it was
ice cold and would probably kill her or at the very least, lead to
more misery. She thought about arguing with him, but she knew that
it was pointless. First off, he was determined to do this so that
meant more arguing and possibly resorting to kicking him in the
shin, which of course would lead to him throwing her over his
shoulder, marching down to the lake and throwing her in the lake.
Then there was the fact that they both reeked of skunk and that
Mrs. Brown would probably throw them out of the house and ban them
from entering the house until the last lingering scent of skunk was
long gone.

She really wished that they’d never
gone on this trip, she thought, biting back a sigh that promised to
start another argument and right now, she really didn’t think that
she couldn’t handle an argument. She was terrified that she would
say something that would make him hate her. She was also afraid
that she would come off sounding like a spoiled brat, something
that most of the people in town thought she was simply because her
father was a member of the Peer. She loved their new home and even
the town, but she hated the fact that they thought so poorly of her
simply because she spoke with British accent and had been fortunate
enough to have been born into a wealthy family.

Not that she’d told anyone about her
family, because she hadn’t. No, that information had been shared
thanks to James and his good intentions. A few weeks after she’d
given birth to the boys, James had dragged Robert down to one of
the local taverns and had argued and begged Robert to return to
England, because James had assumed that she couldn’t handle living
in New England, dealing with the harsh weather and running a
household without a decent staff to help her.

She knew that he’d only been concerned
about her wellbeing, but that knowledge hadn’t saved him when she
found out that he’d had a little too much to drink and had shared
his concerns loud enough for half the men in town to hear, who of
course felt it was necessary to share this information with their
wives, families and friends. She knew that most of the people
didn’t care and hadn’t let James rantings affect their opinion of
her, but the ones who had seemed to go out of their way to remind
her that she didn’t belong did.

“Stay here,” Robert said, letting go of
her hand, leaving her standing near the barn as he quickly made his
way inside.

Before she could ask him what he was
doing, he was back with several blankets and a lantern. He took her
hand, continuing to lead her towards the woods that she had to
admit that she wasn’t looking forward to taking a stroll through in
the middle of the night.

“We need to get this scent off us
before we go in the house,” he said as he lead her through the
woods on the familiar path that they’d taken so many times
before.

“I know,” she said, not sounding too
happy about it even to her own ears, which of course made Robert’s
jaw clench.

At least, she was pretty sure that his
jaw clenched, but it was a little hard to see with only the light
from the lantern casting shadows on his face. She considered asking
him if he was angry, but quickly dismissed the idea since she knew
damn well that he was angry.

He’d worked hard to bring her on this
trip and it had been a disaster from the start. It was without
question the worst trip that either one of them had ever been on,
and it wasn’t over yet. As soon as she got to bed she was planning
on staying there for a week or two. She really couldn’t remember
ever being this exhausted before.

All too soon they’d arrived at the
lake. Without a word, Robert placed the blankets and lantern
carefully on the ground and removed his pants. He tossed them
aside. Before she could stop him, not that she really thought that
she could stop him, he was pulling off her coat and shirt, tossing
them aside and leading her towards the water. Too exhausted to
argue and wanting to just get this over with, she went with him,
deciding that it was best to get this over with so that she could
put this trip behind her and finally get some sleep.

*-*-*-*

He was so fucking tired.

All he wanted to do was climb into bed
and hold his wife, but unfortunately the dip in the cold lake and
the bar of soap that they’d scrubbed their skin raw with hadn’t
completely killed the odor. So, now they were stuck climbing up the
ladder to the hayloft above in the hopes that the scent of hay
would help cover the disgusting odor clinging to their
skin.

He followed his wife up the ladder,
careful not to drop the lantern or lose the blanket wrapped around
his waist. When she quietly unwrapped her blanket from around her
and placed it on the ground so that she could curl up on her side,
he knew that he was in deep shit. He’d brought her on this horrible
trip that didn’t seem to want to end and not once had she
complained, yelled at him or even bitched about it.

She just simply took it in stride as it
came, acting act like she was used to this kind of bullshit and
that seriously pissed him off. Had she’d expected such a horrible
trip from him? Was that how she saw him? Since the day that he’d
married her, well after he’d fucked up, he’d busted his ass to make
sure that she had everything that she needed and now he had to
wonder if it hadn’t been enough for her.

Glaring at her back, because he was too
exhausted and too pissed to say anything without starting a fight,
he pulled the blanket off, laid down on her blanket, well away from
his wife, and threw his blanket over them. Still glaring at her
back, he narrowed his eyes on her, ground his jaw so that he
wouldn’t say anything that he was going to regret and rolled over
onto his side, facing away from her.

It was the first time since they’d made
a truce that he hadn’t curled his body around hers and held her.
Hell, it was the first time that she was in bed naked with him and
he wasn’t trying to get between her legs. As much as he wanted her,
and God did he fucking want her, he was too pissed to try anything
tonight.

His plan was to lie here, glaring into
the darkness as he allowed his anger to fester. He wasn’t going to
say anything now, not when he was this angry, but tomorrow morning
he was going to-

Groan very loudly as he suddenly found
himself pushed onto his back and his wife’s very talented mouth
wrapping around his cock. They shouldn’t be doing this, he told
himself as he reached down to pull her off his cock, but instead
found himself cradling the back of her head, enjoying the sensation
of her tongue gliding down the underside of his cock.

Christ, he’d never met a woman that
loved sucking on his cock as much as his wife did. She seemed to
crave it, needing it more than him. A few times he’d actually
thought she was going to come from sucking on his cock. It made her
so fucking wet and tight, nearly making him lose it on the first
thrust.

She was angry at him, he tried to
remind himself, but at that moment he could honestly say that he
didn’t give a damn. It felt too good to think about anything
else.

“Mmmmm,” she moaned softly as she
suckled on the tip of his cock.

“Oh, hell,” he groaned loudly as her
mouth slid down his cock. which earned him another moan that
vibrated through his cock and down to his balls.

“I thought you were mad at me?” he
suddenly, and very stupidly, found himself asking. He silently
cursed himself for ruining everything when her mouth slowly slid
off his cock, releasing it with a small moan that the tip of his
cock really appreciated.

“Why would I be mad at you?” she asked
with a coy little smile as she shifted so that she was straddling
his waist.

“The trip,” he said almost in a daze as
he found himself staring at the thatch of hair between her legs.
God, she was already so fucking wet, he thought as he hungrily
licked his lips and reached for her.

She came willingly, casting him a coy
smile as she shifted until she was straddling his mouth, already
knowing exactly what he wanted. He didn’t make her wait, simply
because he felt like he was going to die soon if he didn’t get a
taste of her sweet pussy.

Groaning, he cupped her bottom and
pulled her closer as he leaned up and licked her slit. She tasted
amazing, he thought as his cock jerked in approval and his tongue
went in for another taste, greedy for more. As he ran his tongue
through her slit, she rewarded him with another one of those moans
that he liked so much.

“Oh, God,” she moaned, panting slightly
as she shifted on top of him, desperate to feel his tongue slide
inside her, but he refused to rush this.

“Are you mad at me, minx?” he asked
casually between licks.

“For what?” she asked, sounding a
little distracted and confused as she reached up and cupped her
breasts for his enjoyment.