7.
When the charge finally slowed, Tavington brought his mount around and demanded to know what the hell had just happened.
Bordon could only tell him what he had guessed; that a group of men who meant to do his wife some type of harm had chased her into their training exercise. He didn't know who or why but he knew his commander would find out. Even if it was simply to punish the idiots who had disrupted his training.
He was relieved when Tavington seemed to accept that explanation and even more so when his the colonel gave him leave to see Teddy home safely.
Bordon had slapped Teddy awake but she still seemed to be in some kind of shock. She was deathly pale, still trembling and would not speak to him when he asked her questions.
When he arrived at their tent he shouted to a passing sergeant for assistance. He handed her down, dismounted and took her back into his arms. Bordon then ordered the sergeant to take his horse back to the stables and fetch a doctor. Bordon carried Teddy into their tent and laid her down on the bed.
He sat next to her on the edge of the mattress and demanded, "What the hell were you doing out there alone?"
Tears welled up in her blue eyes and her chin quivered. Bordon instantly regretted his harshness. Teddy didn't speak, but she held up a trembling hand and slowly opened it. The crushed remains of some weedy looking vegetation had been clutched tightly in her hand the entire time. Pieces of stems were embedded in the palm of her hand.
He grimaced and gathered what was left, throwing it to the ground. As he inspected her hand he gingerly picked out the slivers that stuck to her skin.
"You went gathering flowers?" Bordon asked- a little more gently this time.
Teddy shook her head and then finally found her voice. "I…I…felt a cold coming on an…an..and I w-went to find rabbit tobacco. Th-those men chased me. I was just trying to get away."
Her tears ran down the sides of her pretty face. Bordon didn't know what to say. He was worried for her but he also wanted to throttle her. Not because she had done anything wrong. No, it wasn't that simple. He wasn't sure why he was angry but he was willing to bet it had something to do with the thought that he might have lost her. Or that whoever those men were, they might have done something vile to her. Both of which disturbed him greatly.
He sat with her until one of the doctors arrived and then stood by closely while she was examined and pronounced healthy. The doctor explained to Bordon that his wife was in fact in a bit of shock and that she should be kept comfortable, warm and rested until she recovered.
As soon as the doctor left, Bordon helped Teddy out of her gown and ordered her into bed for the day. For once, she didn't protest. She didn't protest when he ordered her to take some wine either and he watched her carefully sip at it until he was satisfied she had enough to calm her.
Teddy lounged around in bed for the rest of the afternoon while Bordon worked at his desk. She read for a while and worked on some mending she had been putting off. Every now and then Teddy would look up and find him watching her. It felt odd to her; he didn't normally pay her that much attention when he was busy at his desk. Maybe her little adventure had frightened him as much as it had her.
Colonel Tavington stopped by to see how she was doing and ask her a few questions about who and what she saw. She of course told him everything she knew and later was rewarded when he returned after searching for the villains with her basket; rabbit tobacco, knife and all.
After a supper of broth and toast-which for whatever reason Bordon decided was the only thing she could handle- Teddy went to sleep for the night.
Bordon knew she was asleep the instant he heard a feminine snore from her direction. Perhaps she was catching a cold just as she thought and he wondered how she would fare with it while he was away for a few days on his next patrol. Maybe he could say something to one of the doctors on his way out of camp. Then she would at least have someone to check on her.
He had never dreaded leaving her before. As a matter of fact, he usually looked forward to it. Before. Before what? Everything seemed to come down to before. Before he met Teddy. Before he married Teddy. Before he fell in love with Teddy.
Oh shit!
Bordon had certainly come to care for her but was he in love with her? Possibly. He wouldn't know. How does one know? It didn't matter, he knew he couldn't keep her. His parents would never approve of her. And although he was well old enough to make his own decisions, it never seemed to work out that way with his family. Love was never a consideration. His own opinions were rarely a consideration. His parents couldn't just respect his decisions, they had to be a part of them.
Teddy had no inheritance, no dowry. She was not only a Colonist- which they would not appreciate- she was also of Irish decent, which his parents would definitely not appreciate. On top of that she was common; her father was a minister, she had no connections and, she had been married before and had not produced any children. Not that Bordon wanted to raise Ramsey Edwards' children, but if Teddy couldn't have children, Bordon would have no heir.
To most second sons, that wouldn't matter so much. But to Bordon, it mattered a great deal. He stood to inherit about twenty-thousand pounds on top of a small estate in Scotland, none of which were entailed with his father's earldom for his brother, Richard to inherit. No, it would go to him from his mother's family. All that considered, he would still be expected to marry well.
Bordon stared at the paperwork on his desk as he heard a rumble of thunder in the distance. That too made him dread leaving again. More rain, more cold weather ahead made patrols muddy, nasty and miserable. For once he wished he could stay in a warm dry tent. Or even better yet, a house with four walls and a real roof over his head.
He heard Teddy stir and looked up. She was still sleeping, hugging her pillow like someone who enjoyed sleep. She hated storms. Bordon figured that out in the first few weeks that she stayed with him. He had the general idea that storms were the real reason she chose to sleep next to him instead of her cot. Granted, some nights were cold and it was nice to have the extra heat of her curled up next to him, but Teddy always seemed to huddle a little closer when a storm was blowing through.
Another rumble and a lightning flash and she sat bolt upward in bed. She looked around until she saw him and he noticed the look of uneasiness on her pale face.
"Go back to sleep, Teddy. Everything is all right."
Bordon watched as she closed her eyes and swayed. If he hadn't seen it himself he would have never believed a woman could sleep sitting up in bed. Sure, he had seen soldiers do it, but never a lady. He waited to see if she would lie down on her own and when she didn't, he picked up his candle and went to her.
He gently nudged her to lie down and when she did his hand passed over her ribs. A small cry escaped her lips as Teddy flinched and her eyes popped open. "I'm all right," she said a little too quickly.
"Teddy, what are you hiding?" Bordon asked. If one of those blackguards had harmed her….
"It's nothing," she said, her voice still thick from sleep. "I know you didn't mean to do it."
Now he was worried. "Mean to do what?"
She looked up at him and sighed, "Andrew it's nothing really. Just a little bit of bruising. My backside got the worst of it and yet I can still walk and sit. I'll be fine. Come to bed, I'm cold."
"Show me," he ordered.
"I'm fine," she insisted.
"Teddy," he warned.
"Oh for Heaven's sake, Andrew. You are more of a pain in my ass than your saddle," she complained. Shoving her covers down she flipped onto her belly and hiked her shift up, bearing her bottom and thighs. "There, are you happy? Have a good look!"
Sure enough her bottom had the perfect, darkened imprint of the pommel from his saddle. Bordon swore. He could just about make out the impressions of the leather stitching.
When he brushed his callused palm over her bottom to lift her shift higher, Teddy shivered and held her breath. She watched his face as Bordon examined the small fingerprint bruises on her ribs where he snatched her from the ground. She could still feel the soreness where his arm had nearly crushed her as well.
He sat there in silence and she knew what he was thinking. He had done this, he had caused her pain. But if he hadn't she could possibly be dead.
"Andrew, you didn't mean to…." Her words broke off as he leaned down and kissed the marks. All of them.
He turned from her and undressed- completely- and while he did so, Teddy reached up to unwrap his club and pull the braid from his hair as he sat to remove his boots. She moved over to give him room and he slipped into bed next to her, pulling her into his arms. The only thing that now separated them, was the thin fabric of her shift.
Whatever it was that came over him, Teddy was not about to deny. She had wanted this more than anything since Middleton Place, and now it seemed as though she would have it. Looking into the dark blue depths of Andrew's eyes she saw his lust and desire for her plainly. But there was something else there as well. It was as though they almost plead with her for understanding. So she gave it.
Bordon brought a hand to her face, smoothing back a strand of hair from her cheek. She was so damn pretty. He swore he would not do this, he knew it was wrong. Married or not they could not stay that way. Still, he wanted her so much and at the moment he could care less of the consequences.
He pressed his lips to hers as she held him, molding her body to his. His hands moved over her back, caressing, massaging, exploring, lowering to her bottom to press her more securely against him. Bordon wanted nothing more than to bury himself inside her, make her moan with pleasure just as he had done before. He broke their kiss just long enough to draw her shift up over her head and toss it aside. Teddy slipped her arms around his neck and said, "So help me God, Andrew, if you stop this, I swear I'll smother you with your pillow while you sleep."
Bordon's eyebrows raised at the threat and then he kissed her again, if only to shut her up. She needn't worry, he would not stop. He heard her gasp when his bare chest pressed intimately against hers. He knew what she felt, experienced the same sensation, felt her heart pounding against him in rhythm with his own.
Bordon wanted to know every inch of her. He lingered at her mouth for a while, then moved on, ravishing her neck with teeth and tongue. He lowered his head to caress and kiss her breast and the valley between, shivering slightly when her fingers curled in his hair.
He wished that time could stand still, that everything- the war, the world- would just go away and allow him this one moment with her. And for a few minutes it seemed to. All the stress, the tension and pressure he felt melted away with every stroke of her hand, every kiss that seared his skin until he felt like he could drown in her.
Bordon was just about to take her when Teddy surprised him by pushing his shoulders back to the bed, climbing astride him. She adjusted and a shudder of pleasure ripped through her as she sank down on him. She watched his face as she began to ride him. His eyes were dark and dilated, his gaze making her feel wanton and reckless. He felt perfect. Everything about him felt perfect. The tight muscles of his chest and belly, his hardened thighs, his battle scarred hands as they grazed over her from breasts to hips.
With a groan of deepest agony and pleasure, Bordon lost himself in her body. She shouted his name and he felt pressure gather in his loins at the sound of it just before she broke out into a string of the foulest curse words he had ever heard a woman utter. It was so like her and he actually laughed out loud.
Teddy looked down at him in shocked reverence and then she laughed too. The movement of their laughter caused a strange pang of pleasure for both of them and Andrew groaned again. He wound the ends of her hair around his fingers and drew her down to him, devouring her mouth with strokes of his tongue that matched the thrusts of his hips.
She was so close when Andrew turned her, sweeping her beneath him.
Bordon pounded into her with a raw surge of passion and male demand. He clutched her to him as he felt her fly apart with her release, and caught her lips again with primal growl and final shuddering thrust.
When they were both still, Bordon rolled them to their side and held Teddy against his chest. He pulled the covers up around them and closed his eyes, listening to her murmur something about hoping that he didn't catch her cold.
He felt ridiculously comfortable, not caring that the candle- what was left of it- was still burning. Bordon was too exhausted, too peaceful, too replete to care. He entwined Teddy within his arms and legs, exhaling a long sigh of satisfaction and slept to the sound of her breathing and the monotonous rain falling on the canvas tent.
Yeah...I know...