Honeymoon from Hell IV (9 page)

“Yes?” he answered hesitantly, sounding
more like a question and not really reassuring her all that much
while she laid there, face down in the mud in the middle of the
woods where anyone could stumble across them.

There was also the fact that
she could feel his trembling hands moving over her skin, plucking
here and there and making her wince and squeeze her eyes shut as
she desperately tried to think about something else, anything else,
but with every
pluck
and brush of his fingers against her goose-bumped skin, she
was reminded of what he was doing.

She slowly licked her lips, trying to
find the courage that she needed to ask if he was lying to her, but
before she could manage to ask, she felt his two strong hands
gently grab hold of her hip and shoulder and slowly roll her over
onto her back.

“Oh…fuck…me…no
,” he said
hoarsely.

She knew that she shouldn’t have opened
her eyes. She did. She wasn’t stupid. She knew what she was going
to see, but more importantly she knew from Robert’s tone that it
was definitely something that she didn’t want to see. Yet, knowing
all of that didn’t stop her from foolishly opening her eyes,
raising her head high enough so that she could look down at her
body and-

Scream.

*-*-*-*

Oh, God…

Oh, God…

Oh, God…

Oh, God…

“Oh…fuck…me…no
,” he said before he
could stop himself and God, how he wished he’d stopped himself,
because he knew exactly what would happen once the words slipped
out of his mouth, but he couldn’t help it.

He really couldn’t.

He’d known what to expect after seeing
her back, but nothing could have prepared him for this. Absolutely
nothing, he thought numbly as he stared down at the beautiful body
that he loved holding at night, the one that brought him joy and
pleasure as well as the one that created his children, the only
people on this earth could rival Elizabeth for his
heart.

Swallowing hard, he reached out with a
trembling hand, prepared to remove the first one marring her skin
when he realized that she was screaming. It took him a few more
seconds to realize that his still-screaming wife was now sitting up
and slapping somewhat hysterically at the black blobs covering her
body, but it was useless.

The little bastards refused to give up
their treat quite so easily.

“Get them off!” Elizabeth screamed,
startling him enough to move his ass and grab her hands before she
could make it worse.

“Stop!” he snapped, pressing her hands
down by her sides and holding them there when all he wanted to do
was to tear the little bloodsucking bastards marring her skin off
and throw them as far away from her as possible, but he couldn’t do
that. One of them needed to remain calm and unfortunately for her,
it had to be him.

“Minx!” he snapped, giving her a little
shake, just enough to get her to stop screaming and trying to fight
him. “You’re okay!”

Her scream ended on a gasp as she
forced herself to stop fighting him. It was probably one of the
hardest things that she’d done in her life, besides taking a chance
on him that is, and he was proud of her. He leaned in and pressed
his lips against her forehead as he kept his hold on her arms,
terrified that she would try to remove one of the leeches and end
up tearing her skin open and exposing her to an infection that
could take her away from him.

“I’m going to get them off, sweetheart,
but I need you to stay still,” he whispered, praying that she
wouldn’t argue with him for once and thanking God when she actually
listened to him.

With a little nod and a little sob that
nearly killed him, his brave minx closed her eyes and lay back down
on the cold, muddy ground, completely trusting him to take care of
her, to do his job. Closing his eyes, he slowly exhaled, praying
that he could do this without losing his fucking mind. Knowing that
he couldn’t put it off any longer, he opened his eyes, picked up
the small twig that he’d sharpened and set to work, using the trick
that his brother had taught him when he was a child and had made
the mistake of trying to use a leech as bait, thinking that it was
easier to use than a worm.

It hadn’t been.

If it hadn’t been for his brother he’d
probably still be running towards Scotland, screaming and trying
his best to tear the large black leech off before it could devour
his arm. Before he could make it fifty feet, James had him pinned
to the ground and was calmly using the tip of a small stick to
remove the leech. He never thought that trick would come in handy
and he sure as hell hadn’t thought that he would need to use it on
his wife one day.

Then again, he never thought he’d be
married and hopelessly in love with the little girl that had once
dubbed him Robert Lemonade, he mused with a sigh as he set to work
on removing the large leach attached to Elizabeth’s hip.

Chapter 9

“Elizabeth-”

“Don’t,” she said, pausing
to lick her lips as she tightened her arms around herself, taking a
slow steadying breath as she turned her head away, not caring that
her eyes were already closed and that she couldn’t see him, she
just needed to look away, “
just
don’t
.”

“Sweetheart, they’re gone,” he said
softly as she felt his hand touch her arm, making her flinch as the
memory of what had covered that arm only moments ago flashed
through her mind.

They weren’t gone.

They would never be gone, but she
couldn’t say that because he didn’t understand and hopefully, he
never would. She just needed a moment to forget that she’d just
spent the last three days scrubbing floors in a cockroach infested
inn to make sure that her husband, who really should have known
better than to eat anything that Mrs. Kinnley cooked, recovered,
that everything they owned was either stolen or destroyed, that she
was starving, exhausted, had just taken a bath with leeches, was
now sitting on the cold wet ground, covered in mud, naked and that
her dress was now a mud-soaked pile of shredded rags, or that this
was easily the worst trip that she’d ever been on. She just wanted
to go home, scrub every inch of her body, pull on one of Robert’s
shirts, snuggle with her baby boys and pretend that this trip had
never happened.

“I’m sorry,” Robert said softly as he
carefully took her hand into his.

“It’s fine,” she lied, deciding that
this trip had been bad enough and that they didn’t need a fight on
top of everything to make it worse.

She just wanted to go home and pretend
that this had just been a horrible dream.

“I’ll make this up to you, minx,”
Robert said, for the first time in their marriage making her a
promise that she knew that he would never be able to keep, but she
didn’t say anything, mostly because she was struggling not to
cry.

She was exhausted, hungry, cold, wet,
covered in mud, her skin stung and itched from where the leeches
had attached themselves and she was miserable, absolutely
miserable. All she wanted to do was to crawl on Robert’s lap, bury
her face against his chest and cry, but she would never do that to
him, because she knew how hard he’d worked so that he could take
her on this trip.

“
I’m fine,” she mumbled,
refusing to give in to the tears and make a bigger fool out of
herself. She just wanted…she just wanted…

“Oh, minx,” Robert said hoarsely as she
suddenly found herself exactly where she wanted to be.

“I’m fine,” she mumbled with a sniffle
as she wrapped her arms around him and held him tightly.

He sighed heavily as he wrapped his
arms around her and stood up. “Sure you are,” he said, gently
placing her on her feet and stepped back away from her, but before
she could register the loss, he’d pulled his shirt and coat off and
quickly wrapped her in it before he leaned over and swept her off
her feet and sat down. “I will make this up to you,” he said as he
leaned down pressed his lips against her forehead, “I swear to God
that I will make this up to you.”

Knowing just how hard he’d worked to
save for this trip and what saving up for another one would mean,
she shook her head. She didn’t want him getting up before the crack
of dawn or working until he could barely see straight. She wanted
to wake up in his arms, already crying out his name as he made love
to her and she wanted to fall asleep in his arms every night like
she used to, before he started accepting every job and order that
came his way. She wanted her husband back and if was determined to
make this up to her, it would probably be a long time before that
happened.

“No,” she mumbled, putting her arms
around him and held him tight, “I just want you.”

“You already have me,” he said with a
chuckle as he rewarded her with another kiss.

She closed her eyes as she pressed her
forehead against his chest and held onto him, letting go and just
relaxing in his arms as he held her tighter.

“I love you, minx,” he said, kissing
the top of her head, “so damn much.”

“I love you, too,” she said, well, more
like mumbled since she was in the process of falling
asleep.

He chuckled as he kissed her again. “Go
to sleep, minx.”

She wanted to argue with him, open her
eyes, get off his lap and walk the final ten miles home, but
opening her eyes or moving for that matter seemed impossible. Well,
if she was going to be completely honest she’d admit that after
several days without sleep and months surviving on just a few hours
a night, she was exhausted. Plus being in his arms like this felt
so good that she couldn’t make herself get up even if she’d been
able to.

There really was no better way to fall
asleep than in the arms of the man that she loved.

*-*-*-*

He’d seriously fucked up and now his
wife was paying the price.

He never should have been so
stubborn.

He never should have brought her on
this trip.

He never should have turned down his
brother’s generous offer to pay for a proper honeymoon.

He should have known better than to eat
anything Mrs. Kinnley cooked.

He should have…

Christ, there were just too many
“should haves.”

He’d made too many mistakes, made too
many bad decisions and now he just wanted this nightmare to end.
Unfortunately he had to wait to end this until nightfall, because
he refused to allow his wife to walk on the side of the road in
broad daylight wearing only his shirt and coat.

It just wasn’t happening.

So, that left him with no other choice
but to stay here with her and wait until the sun to set. That of
course meant that he needed to at least get a fire going and see if
he could find some food for-

“Oh, hell,” he muttered when he should
have jumped to his feet and ran as fast as he could, getting
Elizabeth away from this spot before the little bastard had a
chance to raise that goddamn tail and spray them.

Unfortunately by the time that he
thought about getting the hell out of there, it was too late. The
skunk, who’d stumbled upon them had turned, raised its tail and
sprayed them. Even though it was too late, he tried to stand up and
get Elizabeth away from the stench, but unfortunately he could
barely see. His eyes stung and his lungs protested the stench that
now surrounded them. As much as he would love to pick his wife up
and get her out of there, he couldn’t.

Thankfully, he didn’t have to worry
about waking her up and carrying her to safety, because within
seconds of being sprayed, she woke up coughing and gasping, jumped
to her feet and stumbled her way towards fresh air. Then again, he
mused as he watched his wife running to a different spot, trying
desperately to get away from the stench that now clung to her skin
and clothes, it was probably pointless at this point to try and run
away at this point.

He considered telling her that it was
pointless to try to run away, but he just didn’t have the heart to
tell her. So, instead he glared at the little bastard as he walked
away with his tail still sticking up in the air as Robert leaned
back against the tree, trying to ignore the stench surrounding him.
When the skunk stopped just before ducking beneath a hedge to make
his escape and turned his head and glare at Robert, he considered
killing the little bastard and roasting his ass over a fire, but
that damn tail twitching in anticipation, ready to spray him again
was the only thing that kept him from killing the little son of a
bitch.

“Oh my God,” Elizabeth said, coughing
as she turned around and ran the other way, clearly not accepting
the fact that there was outrunning this thing.

He shot one last glare at the hedge
where the skunk had made its escape before he got to his feet as he
tried to rub his eyes without pushing the smelly spray clinging to
his skin into his eyes and failed.

“Son of a bitch!” he growled as his
eyes stung and began to water.