well and truly married now, and there was no doubting it. Perhaps Templetun would finally leave him alone.
His gaze slid up the linens to the mass of golden tangles poking out of the top. There was no sign of a face, just those curly tresses poking every which way. Hethe's smile softened. His wife was so adorable.
Sexy as hell, too, he added, his gaze sliding back along the curve of what he presumed to be her side and waist. Scooting forward in the bed, he pressed himself against her back, his hand resting on her hip and rubbing it through the linen.
She moaned and shifted against him sleepily, pressing herself against his erection which had suddenly sprung to life.
He knew the exact moment she woke up. Her body went quite as stiff as a board, then she flipped onto her back, tugging the linen down to stare at him. Hethe managed not to wince at the sight. Her face was streaked with dried ointment, and her hair, having dried while they slept, was a holy mess about her head.
She gaped at him briefly, then tugged the bedclothes back over her face.
"What are you doing here?" she asked. Her hair trembled in syncopation with that muffled hiss from under the linens.
"I am your husband, and this is my bed," Hethe answered with a laugh, then slid his hand up her leg a top the linen, then along the inside of her thigh. His voice was husky when he asked, "Surely you haven't forgotten already?"
For a moment, she was as still as death; then she released a breath she had been holding, the linen billowing a bit as she did. "I did."
She pulled the cover down to peer at him consideringly. He arched an eyebrow as her gaze slid over his shoulders and chest, then across the bed sheet that still covered him from the waist down.
Hethe fancied he spotted a spark of desire in those blue eyes of hers as she found the bulge in the linens that signaled his own. She had opened her mouth to speak when another knock sounded impatiently at the door.
"Come in," he called out cheerfully, chuckling when Helen ducked beneath the linens again with a squeal of dismay. Rolling onto his back as the door opened, he eyed a timid Templetun with amusement. The man was hesitating by the open door, sniffing the air cautiously.
"You needn't worry," Hethe told the king's chaplain dryly. "The healer, Mary" - he made himself recall and say the girl's name; it was time he started being a proper lord around here - "she used some herbs in the bath that stopped the itching and removed the smell." His gaze slid to the lumpy linen beside him and he added slyly, "The girl appears to be much better than the healer employed by Tiernay."
An outraged squawk sounded from beneath the sheet, which Helen pulled down far enough to glare at him. "My Joan is as fine a healer... better even than Mary. Although," she added quickly, "while Mary needs more training, I am sure she will be as fine as Joan someday."
"Then why was my Mary able to get rid of your scent, whereas your Joan could not?" Hethe taunted.
"Perhaps Joan thought I wished to keep it," Helen answered sweetly, and Hethe burst out laughing. A small, reluctant smile tugged at her lips, too, before she glanced past him. She promptly flushed bright pink at what she saw, then ducked beneath the linen again.
Hethe glanced toward Templetun, his eyebrows rising as he saw that William was with the man. He supposed his first had been stuck out in the hall when the king's man had hesitated at the door, but Templetun had made his way cautiously into the room once Hethe had assured him there was nothing to fear. His first had apparently followed.
Hethe started to sit up, pausing when Helen immediately began to squeal and claw for the linens he was dragging with him. Biting his lip to keep from laughing, he shook his head and pushed the covering away, then stood up and grabbed for his breeches. "What are you doing here, William? I told Edwin to tell you - "
"Leicester and his Flemish mercenaries are captured. The king released us," William explained.
Hethe grunted as he pulled his breeches on; then straightened, picked up his tunic and headed for the door. "I needs must speak to Stephen."
"He is not here," William said.
At the same time, Templetun protested; "Now,