The Brat Page 0,15

the heap on the floor.

Glancing down, he scowled at Malculinus for interrupting his pleasure. He then dropped to his knees to find the man's head, and to plow a fist into the side of to ensure he didn't make any more noise. At least, that was the plan. Unfortunately, the moment he caught him by the head to lift it, Malculinus squealed like a pig at the slaughter.

Cursing under his breath, Balan gave him a knockout blow, then glanced worriedly toward the bed, freezing when he saw that the man's scream must have woken Murie. She was leaning over the side, blinking sleepily as she peered at him where he knelt in the darkness.

"Who are you?" she asked with confusion, and it was obvious by the way she could barely keep her eyes open that she wasn't fully awake. "Are you my husband?"

Balan hesitated, surprisingly tempted to take advantage of the situation and say yes. Should he do so, however, he'd be no better than the man lying in the shadows at his knees. Cursing his conscience, he reluctantly growled, "Nay."

"Who are you then?" Murie asked with bewilderment.

"No one," he assured her. "I am not here."

"Are you not?" Murie asked.

"Nay. You are asleep. Lie down," Balan ordered. She pondered that briefly, and a thought seemed to occur to her. "Oh, aye, of course. You are not my husband yet. You are the man I am fated to marry."

Balan's eyes widened with alarm as she lay back down. Oh, this was so wrong. She now thought he ... She... Hell!

He bit his lip, uncertain how to rectify matters but knowing he had to. After a hesitation, he shifted closer to the bed on his knees and then half stood to peer down at her. Murie had followed his instructions, lying back and apparently promptly going to sleep. His gaze slid to her gown to see that her brief spate of activity had disrupted the cloth further, and her nipple was now in plain view. Balan sucked in a breath and squeezed his fists tight to keep from reaching out to touch her.

God, he wondered; what had he ever done to deserve this kind of torture? First, the plague had decimated his people - though that had wiped out half of England, so Balan supposed he shouldn't count that as a personal assault by the Fates. But, thanks to circumstances he could blame on the Fates, Gaynor had not rebounded as well as some others estates. Then his father had died, leaving the burden of Gaynor and its people in his hands. And now this temptation.

A small sigh slid from Murie's lips and she shifted, disrupting her gown further until a whole breast popped out, round and firm and very inviting.

"Damn," Balan breathed. It was impossible to think of how to rectify the situation with that staring him in the eye. After another moment wasted debating the wisdom of the action, Balan reached out to try to slip the breast back into her gown. It was a two-handed job, one hand needed to shift her breast and the other to tug at the cloth, but both hands froze as Murie moaned and arched into his touch.

His gaze shot to her face, and Balan saw that her eyes were starting to blink open. He did the only thing he could think to do he kissed her. His reasoning was, it would both keep her from screaming at the realization that someone was pawing her, as well as give him time to think of some way to fix the mess.

It was flawed reasoning, he now realized. If just having her naked breast inches away had been distracting to his thinking processes, actually kissing her completely stole his ability to think. The woman was a warm and sleepy bundle, her mouth soft and accepting, and she tasted of honeyed mead. He was lost. Balan had started out with a rather chaste kiss, just covering her mouth with his own, but when she sighed against his lips and stretched before him, he was helpless to stop from deepening the kiss, slipping his tongue out to urge her lips apart and then thrusting it forward to claim her.

This had a most gratifying effect. Murie groaned deep in her throat, and he felt her small hands clutch weakly at his arms as she rose up in bed, pressing her breasts against him. His hands immediately accepted the invitation, quickly returning to her chest, though this time he was