The Black Knight of Ashfern

Chapter 28

Nan came awake with a long, languid stretch. A series of cracks, pops, and moans slipped from her body as she rolled from her side to her back. Every inch of her felt lovely and relaxed for it. Even when a large hand flashed out across her waist, pulling her to face its scarred owner and pressing her front flush to his, the peaceful state of her form did not change. If anything, it only added to her current contentment as she snuggled closer to William. And just like the first time she had woken up next to him, there was no awkwardness.

"Good morning," William purred, hugging her to him with the one arm he had pressed to her back, rubbing the tip of his nose against her forehead before kissing her there and leaving his lips as though he had no thought to put them elsewhere.

"Good morning," Nan replied with a long yawn, reaching up to cover her mouth with the back of her hand as she spoke. Her mind was still foggy from its sleep and wanted to stay that way, wanting to continue enjoying the warmth of William's body, especially the heat his bare chest provided. Until her head jerked back with a confused stare, her brow creased deeply with her puzzlement, and for several seconds, she stared at William's chest, trying to piece together why its nakedness struck her as strange. There were scars on his right shoulder, pink and wrinkled. Making his skin look like a badly wadded-up piece of paper that had been flattened back out unsuccessfully as he lay on his right side facing her. But that was not the oddity that bothered her.

Trying to understand what her mind was unsuccessfully attempting to tell her, she endeavored to recall the last time she had seen William dressed. She remembered seeing William still clad in his dressing robe while they had been talking before the fire last night, but now they were in bed together, and he was not wearing his dressing robe, which begged the question of when she had turned into such a heavy sleeper. When she shared a bed with Jamie, his slightest wiggle in their creaky little bed often woke her. Yet she was alone in William's presence for the space of a few hours, and it seemed she could sleep through him moving her to the bed, ridding himself of his clothing, and joining her there.

Wrinkling her brow further, Nan slid her hand under the covers, following its movements as the fabric rose to her hand, and she found his bare side. Wanting to see just how undressed he was since the last time they had slept together, he had retained his breeches. The action of her bare hand against William's unprotected side caused him to jump as her fingers fell against his heated skin, and he glowered down at her halfheartedly.

"By God, your hand's cold." William breathed in surprise, glaring down at her. She received a pleased little smirk in return for the comment. She briefly looked up at him, then back to where the fabric moved with her hand, watching as she slid her hand further along his side.

"And you, Sir, have no clothes on." She replied when her hand sat squarely on his bare hip. Finding that the breeches that had clad him last time were not in place this time, a fact that brought her eyes to his with a light question.

"I am a man, Nan." He smirked. "And I do hope that you and I will share a bed in a manner that includes far more than sleeping."

"Only a bed?" Nan replied, gazing up at him with a quirked brow and grin.

"Ma'am, unless you have a mind to see your words through, you shouldn't tease me so cruelly," William warned with an amused grin as he leaned in to kiss her but missed. As Nan smiled further, rolling her eyes, she pulled her hand from under the blankets, sitting up without so much as a word or glance back to him as she sat with her arms wrapped about her knees and scanned the room before her. Trying to remember when or how she had ended up in bed with him, though trying to do so, proved as fruitful as trying to recall the face of a person she had never met.

"When did I fall asleep?" She asked, looking back to William a moment later, finding him staring at her, his right hand only inches from touching her.

"You're not going to question me on why I'm sharing your bed? In naught but my skin?" he queried instead, pushing himself up. His free hand toyed with a lock of her hair, hooking it about his finger as he spoke. "Not going to accuse me of taking advantage? Or accosting you with my vulgar behavior?" he grinned mischievously at her placid expression, her face giving away nothing, though her eyes gleamed with thoughtfulness.