Kes wasn’t just falling in love with Nicholas, she was also beginning to love Elia and Walter. Everyone here. Claire wasn’t even angry with her for taking Nicholas off the market, so to speak. They were becoming close friends.
She wouldn’t give up hope of seeing her father again but until she did see him, she liked building up a new family here.
As promised, Nicholas returned to her for an afternoon at the waterfalls. They rode together on his horse. The beast was a huge warhorse and handled her weight without a problem. Besides, they traveled at a lazy pace under the blessed canopy that shielded them from the hot sun.
“Would you have gone off to fight?” she asked him, sitting on his lap, leaning against his chest.
“Aye. I felt it was the safest thing to do.”
She laughed, but there was little mirth it. “Oh, great. Going off to battle is safer than staying here with me.”
“No, ’twas not great,” he corrected, confusing her a little and making her conceal a soft smile. “But ’tis safer,” he continued. “You have the power to make me ache in my guts, my chest, my head. I have never felt the pain of being empty until you left. One day felt like a thousand. Two days, ten thousand. I felt I had to go back to the field, or I would go mad. But then I saw you.” He closed his arms around her and spoke into her hair. “I saw you and I knew I would die without you in my arms.”
Kes covered his forearms with hers and sighed with delight. When had any guy ever spoken to her like this? Nicholas proved over and over again that he wasn’t like the men she knew. He’d been angry that she lied to him. But it also made him realize how he really felt about her.
“You are enough for me to be happy here,” she told him, turning to look at him. “Never to forget the people I’ve loved, like my father, but able to live without them. You saved me from going nuts.”
“I’m glad to hear that. Going nuts sounds painful.” He smiled. He often did. She was glad he found her amusing. She loved being the one who made him smile.
“I’m sorry for not telling you the truth, Nicholas. I didn’t want to be someone you hated.”
“I did not want that either. But I cannot hate you.”
Now that he knew and had accepted the fact that she was a Lancaster, it felt as if a giant weight had been removed from her shoulders.
She heard the waterfalls before they reached them. The flow was harder, and the basin was full thanks to the last storm. They set out a wool blanket on a large flat rock partially shaded by the trees. Nicholas had been thoughtful enough to bring wine and black bread and sweet butter. Walter packed some fresh fruit and cheese for them. Kes set out the food, but she wasn’t hungry. She was nervous about being with him alone, with him probably naked again. She didn’t trust herself.
“Let’s swim first,” he said as if reading her mind.
She nodded and straightened so she could begin undressing. Her bra and panties were clean and still holding up.
Once again, he stripped first. This time, he wore thin breeches. She had but a moment before he took off running and jumped into the water with a loud shout. But it was enough time to view him in his somewhat loose fitting, knee-high breeches. The waistline fell to below his hips, showing off his tight abs. The sensual flare of his back muscles into his pecs and deltoids made her want to climb him.
She blushed and followed him in. The water was surprisingly frigid for the early days of August. When she came up, out of breath, he gathered her in his arms and instantly warmed her. She didn’t fight him or make him suffer for how he’d treated her when he’d found out that she was a Lancaster. She understood they killed his family and it had been something he’d been dealing with for years. She was happy to be with him. She loved being held in his embrace. It was where she’d woken up when she arrived here.
He kissed her with a mouth that tasted of passion and desire. His arms closed around her, one around her shoulders and the other to the slope of her behind. His tongue flicked and stroked around the inside of her mouth.
A thought occurred to her. Did he think she was a virgin? Most unmarried women in this era were, weren’t they? Should she tell him she wasn’t? That she was sorry she’d done it with the guy she’d done it with? He was selfish and therefore terrible in bed and out of it. He didn’t deserve her.
Did Nicholas?
He released her and turned his scarred back on her. “Climb on.”
Don’t tempt me, she wanted to tell him. She looped her arms around his neck on held on when he dipped and swam with her on his back through the waterfall.
She wanted to laugh but water went into her mouth. He swam a little farther, behind one of the falls. “What is this?” she faintly heard his voice through the roar of the water. He turned a bend and swam into cave.
“Oh, Nicholas, it’s huge!” Her voice echoed beneath the high rock ceiling. Sunshine coming through from the vaulted entrance faded to a golden incandescence. He stopped swimming and stood up, bringing the water with him. Kes let him go and watched the liquid flow down his body in rivulets, over hills and valleys. She stood with him on flat rocks, much like the ones outside.
“Have you been here before?” she asked him, wondering how many women had been here with him.
“No.” He shook his head and looked around. “I do not swim often and when I came here with Edward and his family, we did not venture
