She wiggled her naked bottom back and forth at him. “Promises. Promises.”
He slapped her backside playfully. “Careful, wife, or you’ll get more than you bargained for.”
Or would she? she thought playfully.
She gasped again when his hands grabbed her backside firmly and she gasped again when he entered her with one swift plunge. After that she did nothing but moan and probably far too loudly, but she didn’t care. It felt far too good for her to care about anything but the way her husband pounded away as he had promised he would.
“You’ll wake the dead with those moans,” he cautioned with a laugh, loving that he was bringing her that much pleasure not to mention how much he was enjoying it.
“It’s all your doing,” she cried out, “and I can’t wait much longer.”
He felt the same. He was surprised he had lasted for the short time he did, that’s how much his passion had flared watching her.
He gripped her backside harder and drove into her in rapid succession and that was it… they both climaxed together. Slatter did his best not to roar the roof off the keep, Willow not so much.
She let out a scream that Slatter was sure would tremble the dead.
And knowing his wife, he didn’t stop pounding her until he felt her release again and shudder with a final moan.
He dropped on the bed beside her and she rolled over to lie against him, his arm going around her. They lay in silence, wrapped in the pleasure and satisfaction of the moment.
Willow was always amazed how making love with her husband grew more and more enjoyable. And how she simply could not get enough of him.
“You please me beyond pleasure, husband,” she said when her breathing had calmed.
“And I will please you like that for the rest of our days.”
“Then life will be far better than I ever imagined.”
“Aye, that it will be,” he agreed, having never imagined himself that life could be so good. “Now rest. We must leave in a few hours and return before dawn.”
“But we must make a plan. We failed to make a plan to catch Sterling and now look at the problem he’s caused.”
“That was before we knew it was Sterling and we had much going on with Rhodes chasing after us, and my grandmother’s attack.”
“Even more reason to form a plan,” Willow urged.
“I’ve escaped more difficult places before.”
“You, on your own escaped. There are several people needing rescuing, that makes escape more difficult.”
“I’ll find a way,” he said with a yawn and was asleep in no time.
Willow laid there unable to stop thinking. She pictured the area where she was pretty sure the prisoners were being held and the surrounding area. Sterling no doubt would place his camp in front of the penned prisoners and with the keep behind them that left only two areas of escape. One lay open to a field and the other the woods, the preferable way to go.
The dense forest would offer a safer avenue of escape, the thick trees and bushes allowing for good places to hide and making it more difficult for Sterling’s warriors to follow. But there was another way, through the small MacFiere village and out to a part of the forest where there was a glen. If the prisoners could make it to the glen, they wouldn’t be spotted. Besides no one would expect them to go that way.
She strategized the plan, thought of different possibilities if something unexpected should happen, said silent prayers for a safe and victorious rescue, and only then did sleep come to her.
She woke with a start and didn’t need to look to see the spot beside her and the room itself was empty.
He had lied to her and gone and left without her.
Chapter 26
Slatter waited in the woods. In the end, he couldn’t let Willow go with him. He couldn’t risk it. He’d go mad with worry that something would happen to her. She always slept heavy after making love and with the pounding he had given her, she would probably sleep until sunrise. So when he had looked upon her, sleeping soundly, safe in bed, ready to wake her to accompany him, he changed his mind.
What he would face when he returned he didn’t know, but it didn’t matter to him since she was there safely tucked in bed.
A bird shrilled and he returned the call. A few minutes later Devin emerged from the darkness.
“Tell me again why we’re rescuing the likes of Beck’s crew?” Devin asked.
“From what Maddie said most of Beck’s crew are dead, only the innocent ones are left. The people who owed Beck. The ones he wouldn’t free until they worked off what they owed or paid him, neither a likely prospect,” Slatter said.
“He was a lying, thieving, bas—”