He walked into his bedchamber, walked up to his bed and, smiling at her, tossed her down onto it. While she was still held silent by shock, he settled his body over hers. He kissed her and began to undo her gown, kissing every patch of skin that appeared. He sat up when the gown was completely undone and tugged it off, pausing to tug off her shoes and toss them aside as well.
Sliding his hands under her petticoats, he untied her garters and rolled down each stocking, settling them more carefully on the floor. He dealt with her petticoats even quicker, leaving her in only her shift and her pantalets as he began to shed his own clothes. The way she stared at him, the blush on her cheeks deepening, made him smile. He kissed her, and she quickly wrapped her limbs around him.
They both struggled to shed the last of their clothing as quickly as possible. When their skin finally touched, Geordie sighed with pleasure and held her body close to his. He enjoyed her soft sigh of enjoyment as he stroked her.
Belle slid her hand down his belly and tentatively grasped his erection. When his body jerked she stroked him and he made no complaint. She decided she had just startled him with her boldness and grew more daring in her touch.
Geordie enjoyed her touch and the way his body hardened and grew needy. Then he decided he was getting too close to the edge and moved her hand, then slowly began to join their bodies. For a short while he moved slowly and gently but soon began to move with all the hunger and need of an untried boy. When her body tightened on his in release, it was all it took to take him over the edge.
He rolled onto his side and lightly petted her as he thought over what they had yet to talk about. At some point they needed to have a serious discussion about where this affair should go. It was going to be a difficult thing to sort out as they both had close-knit families they would be loath to leave. But now there were trains, he thought, as she turned on her side and snuggled up against him.
“It was probably good that ye didnae let your auntie stay the night. Ye screamed.”
“I did no such thing, and I don’t know how you could have heard my ladylike cry over your roaring.” She patted his hip. “Like a lion on the hunt.”
He just grinned as he felt her relax in sleep. Kissing the back of her neck, he decided to go to sleep as well. They would face that difficult talk tomorrow, he decided.
Chapter Fifteen
Geordie was bringing coffee to Robbie and Will while he struggled to think of how to describe Robbie’s injuries in a letter to his family. He wanted to explain the possibility of his leg improving as a result of Belle’s treatment, but he did not want to give his family too much hope, nor did he want to be too pessimistic and make them worry.
He walked in and served Robbie and Will their coffee, then sat on the edge of Robbie’s bed. Taking a drink of coffee, he pulled the letter he had been writing out of his pocket. His brother sat up straighter, looked over what he had written, then frowned at him.
“Why are ye showing me this?”
“I am stuck. I dinnae want to sound too hopeful, raise their hopes and all, but I dinnae want to be all dark and gloomy, either.”
“Just say exactly what is happening. After all, I havenae really tested it out yet. Still too weak to try walking around on it. It doesnae sit there aching like it used to, and thank God for that, but who can say what it will do if I start walking on it regularly? Just say that. My leg is fixed, because it is straight again, but not really tested.”
Geordie laughed. “Aye, I suppose that will do. Do ye ken when we might have a better idea?”
“In a few days,” said Belle as she walked up to stand at the foot of Robbie’s bed.
“Hey! What about my leg?” said Will. “I didn’t even break mine, but I am still stuck here.”
Belle sighed. “Such whining. No, you didn’t, but you did get a great big bullet hole in your thigh and that needs to close up nice and tight. I also didn’t want you going back to work until it is completely healed. I have the feeling Bennet would be putting you right back to work if I sent you back.”
Will sighed and nodded. “Yup, he would do that. Been surprised he hasn’t come round to yell at me for malingering or something like that.”
“Oh, he has. Says how I need to hurry up and fix what I did to you because he has some cows nearing their time to calf.”
“Damn. I wish he had never found out Uncle Ben was an animal doc.”
“Has you taking care of them all the time, does he?” she asked as she began to carefully remove the stitching in his leg, pleased to see that his short time in the water had not damaged it badly.
“He does, but he doesn’t pay me like I really am the animal doctor. Sometimes he says things that make me think he has been watching me for a while. He knew exactly what he was hiring.”
Belle murmured in agreement as she worked out a particularly difficult stitch. “I suspect he did, maybe even got your uncle to talk about your work so he would get an even better idea of how good you are. Him using you as his assistant so much only confirmed all Bennet had seen you do. Why didn’t you become a horse doctor?”
“I don’t like cutting into living flesh, or the smells, or the cries of pain one too often hears.”
“That is a problem. Pretty much covers the whole business.”
“I don’t know how you can abide doctoring people.”
“Mustn’t saydoctoring, Will. Upsets the ones who have their papers from some school.Nursingis a better word. Doesn’t sting their overweening pride so badly.” Once the last stitch was out, she wiped the area down and studied the wound. “This has healed well and sealed nice and tight. We’ll take you down to the water again today. It is time to get some strength back into that scrawny limb.”
“Hey! That is a manly leg,” Will protested as she pulled him up until he could put his feet on the floor. “Now what?”
