‘He probably has but I’m not sure he’d be too happy to be woken in the middle of the night. And repairing a hole by candlelight could be quite a challenge.’
‘Not helping, Leo,’ she said, tossing again.
‘Sorry.’
Her response was yet another huff.
After a minute’s silence, he said, aware of his heart banging in his chest, ‘Do you want to come in here?’
It took her a moment to reply. ‘No, I’m fine. I’ve arranged my duvet so I can lie on some of it.’
There was more rustling as she tried to get comfortable. He turned over, sleep not so much evading him as getting up and leaving the country. His inward curses each time she tossed and turned brought him to a fever pitch of irritation, as much with himself as with her. After ten interminable minutes, he spoke through gritted teeth.
‘Just get in here, for God’s sake.’
‘I’m fine.’
‘You’re not fine and you’re keeping me awake.’
‘Well, I’m sorry about that.’ Her sarcastic voice rang out. ‘I do apologise for disturbing your beauty sleep but I’m basically sleeping on a wooden floor, your highness.’
‘For fuck’s sake, Anna. We’ve shared a bed before. One more time is not going to kill you. You can thank me in the morning when you’re feeling rested.’
‘Hmph,’ said Anna ungraciously but he heard her kicking off her covers. He moved to the far side of the mattress and turned down the duvet to accommodate her. ‘You need to talk to me, I can’t see.’
Suddenly there was a whompf as Anna tripped on the edge of the mattress and fell on top of him, her head narrowly missing his crown jewels.
‘Steady on,’ he grunted, startled by the narrow miss. She lay there with her head burrowed between his legs, her soft breath whistling along the hairs on his thighs. Suddenly he wasn’t feeling quite so alarmed, something altogether different.
‘Er, Anna. Do you think you could er … erm, move.’
She lifted her head, her hair brushing his skin. He had to clench his fists to stop himself reaching to stroke her head.
‘Yes. Sorry.’ She moved again, trying to gain purchase on the mattress, and one hand grazed his stomach. He sucked in a quick breath.
‘Anna get into bed, will you.’
‘Sorry, did I hurt you?’
‘No,’ he said tersely, horribly conscious of the sudden rush of blood down below.
‘I didn’t mean to headbutt your nuts. Are you okay?’
‘I’m fine,’ he said through gritted teeth. Surely she must know what she was doing to him. ‘You missed.’
‘Phew. I wouldn’t want to be responsible for damaging your manhood and depriving the world of future Knight babies.’
‘For which I’m very grateful.’ Every part of him was now on high alert. Shit, this had been a very bad idea. ‘Now get in and go to sleep.’ He hoped she would put the snap in his tone down to disturbed sleep and not to the chaos triggered in him by her closeness and the familiarity of her warm body.
Anna edged her way under the duvet and settled in on the far side of the mattress. The fire had died down and was nothing more than a dull glow in the stove. Cold air seeped in where the duvet stretched across the divide between them. He lay on his back, staring out of the curtainless window at the myriad stars spread like fine lace across the sky, millions of incalculably huge numbers of years away, but much as he focused on them, he was horribly aware of Anna. His mind crackled with memories: her skin, the scent of her hair, the way she slept, one leg crooked, the little noises she made in her sleep.
She fidgeted on her side of the bed, almost falling out, in what he assumed was her earnest desire to keep as much distance as possible between them. Every time she moved, it was a reminder of how close and yet how far from him she was. This was next to torture. He reached out and put a hand on her waist to roll her over. ‘Anna, you’re not going to spontaneously combust if we accidentally touch.’
‘I didn’t want to disturb you.’
‘You’re disturbing me more by treating me like I’m a wet squid that got in the bath with you.’ Exasperated, he slid an arm beneath her shoulder and pulled her to him, so her head rested on his shoulder. ‘Now go to sleep. It can’t get any worse than this, can it?’
She let out a snuffly laugh, her breath tickling his skin. ‘That’s your solution?’
