Chapter 17

CHAPTER17

Daniel was striding across the battlefield, his uniform stained with blood. He kept wiping at the stains with the palms of his hands, trying to remove them, but the blood simply spread further.

“Out, out,” he muttered at the blood as he tried to wipe it off his white breeches. It spread further but still didn’t leave his palm.

A great boom sounded ahead. Daniel froze in the dirt trenches and raised his chin, surveying his surroundings.

Dusk had fallen, and the last streaks of the sunlight that had turned purple were marred with cannon fire. Great plumes of smoke shot into the air, disguising the view of the enemy. Daniel saw them once, faces at a distance, wearing much darker uniforms than his own, then he lost sight of them.

Daniel was not alone. Around him, many other soldiers gathered.

“Stand ready!” the order bellowed out of Daniel as he raised his musket. He no longer thought of the bloodstains on his clothes, though as he gripped the musket, he saw that the blood was spreading across the barrel. “Get ready to fire!”

The men alongside him did the same, matching his position. Some hid behind great boulders in the landscape, and others hid behind what was left of trees that had been shattered by the last round of cannon fire.

“Wait for it,” Daniel called. He wished to see their enemies’ faces first, or they could be wasting gunfire, shooting into the smoke and mist. “You see your enemy, you fire, but not before. Don’t waste your bullets if you want to live, men. You understand?”

“Yes, Sir!” the soldiers chorused, their voices echoing across the landscape.

Daniel’s mouth was dry as he tried to swallow and looked ahead again.

This was not as he wanted things to go. He’d urged the General that morning not to order the attack on this enemy battalion. Daniel had seen at once they were at a disadvantage, on lower ground, and he feared the intelligence they had received about the enemy being twice the size in number was right. The General had denied it, certain that the intelligence was wrong.

Daniel feared they shouldn’t have attacked but retreated. So many men’s lives could be lost if they faced a battalion that was, indeed, twice the size of their own.

He waited for faces to appear through the smoke, but none did. Then, booms echoed across the land, and cannonballs escaped the smoke. They shot straight at Daniel’s men. One took a ball straight in the stomach. Three more were taken out by a cannonball landing on the ground beside them, pelting them with debris.

At once, faces moved forward from the smoke. There were so many, Daniel’s men would be overrun. It was plain the battalion wasn’t just twice the size of their own, but even bigger still. It would be fortunate for any of Daniel’s men to survive.

“Retreat!” Daniel gave the order he’d longed to make, hardly caring if he defied the General’s orders now.

The men turned and fled, but they were not fast enough. As Daniel ran, he heard men being taken down. He turned back, grabbing one of his men who was injured, having taken a bullet in the shoulder, then he tossed him over his shoulder.

“I’ll get you out, I promise.”

He ran with the man over his shoulder, sprinting across the battle-ravaged land with pockmarks in the earth and burnt grass.

“Just hold on.”

The man on his shoulder spluttered, clearly struggling.

Then, another boom followed, one so loud that it shook the ground beneath Daniel’s boots. He froze and turned back. The sight before him of so many dead soldiers was enough to make him cry out to God in the heavens.

“What have you done? What was all this for?”

“Daniel!” a voice tried to break through the dream.

Daniel couldn’t escape it. He thrashed on the bed, trying to get away from the sound, then it came again. It was Rachel’s voice.

“Wake up, Daniel.”

He tried to open his eyes, but his body felt paralyzed, trapped in the nightmare. A splash of cold water hit his face, and his eyes abruptly opened. He gulped in air, blinking madly as he realized just where he was.

He was no longer on the bed. He’d half fallen off, with his back on the bed sheets on the floor and one heel still resting on the side of the bed. He was not alone, for Rachel was hovering above him with an empty glass in her hands.

Daniel couldn’t summon words. He merely stared at her, seeing her outline in what little light there was.

She hastened away, put the glass down, lit a candle from a tinder box so the softest of orange light filled the room, then moved back toward him and knelt beside him.

“Well, that was one bellowing scream. You practically shook the whole chamber with it.” She trembled in emphasis. “I thought there was an earthquake.”

He thrust a hand into his hair, pulling sharply as he tried to organize his thoughts. He was glad of her jests. They helped, though he could not yet laugh.

Raising his palms, he looked at them, half expecting to see blood on them, but they were completely clean.

“Daniel?” Rachel whispered and leaned down over him. “You’re not there. You’re here. You’re home, in your chamber.”

“I know,” he murmured softly, lowering his hands and shifting his gaze toward her. “It’s just when I’m in the nightmare, I can’t escape it. I become convinced that I am still there. The darkness, the blood… it’s all back.”

“It’s not here.”

She bent down, placing her forehead on his. Her proximity had him reaching up, tangling his hand in her honey-brown hair and holding her to him. He needed Rachel there. It wasn’t just that she was a distraction, but a pure need, a desire, and an attachment.

“You’re safe,” she whispered.

“It’s not my safety that worries me in these nightmares, Rachel.”

It was the greatest confession he’d ever made. Closing his eyes, he saw his men’s faces again. Some he saw moments before their death, some with glazed looks as they stared blindly toward the sky.

“It’s my men. The ones I lost. I can’t let go of it. I just can’t.”

“Shh,” Rachel said softly, calming him when his voice grew a little louder. She raised her head and planted her hands on either side of him on the floorboards.

Gazing up at her, he became distracted, admiring her in the candlelight. The orange flame cast an amber tinge across her, making her seem more golden than ever before.

“No one’s hurting now, Daniel. You must remember that.” She smiled softly. “All is well at this moment.”

He inhaled deeply, trying to acknowledge she was right.

“Now, are we going to get you off this floor? I must admit, it doesn’t look the most comfortable of positions.”

Her jest brought the smallest of smiles to his face. The lightness she had carried to the room made that darkness lift. He breathed deeply, no longer aware of the shadows around him.

“I don’t know. I rather like seeing you above me like this,” he whispered softly.

“Ahah! A jest. That is what I’ve been waiting for.” She tapped him on his bare chest, in playful reprimand. “You can have me above you whenever you want, but perhaps you’d prefer somewhere more comfortable than the floor.”

Her flirtatious words made him chuckle. Suddenly, the battlefield was a great distance away, far from his mind. Here, with Rachel, there were only smiles and excitement.

“Rachel?” he whispered as she stood and offered her hand to help him up.

“Yes?”

He stood, his height towering over her as he turned to face her completely. He didn’t release her hand but held it between them, toying with her fingers.

“Stay with me again tonight?”

“Of course,” she said without hesitation. “There is one problem, though.” She chewed on her lip. “I have been struggling to sleep. I’m not sure I’m that tired.”

“Fortunate indeed, because I have no desire to sleep right now.” He smiled at her, sensing that she felt the same pull he did. “Luckily, we do not have to sleep.” He pulled her back toward the bed, his hand loose in hers, waiting to see if she would follow.

She did.

* * *

Rachel felt jittery, her body light as a feather as she moved toward Daniel, following him to the bed. It was strange to her how fast things had shifted between them. He was no longer afraid and haunted, but his eyes were hooded in the candlelight, and his gaze repeatedly darted over her as he admired her body.

“No one to interrupt us this time?” she asked playfully.

“No one.”

She fell on top of him as he pulled her down onto the bed, then he kissed her.

Rachel thought only of that kiss for a long time, loving the way Daniel’s hands came up and splayed across her waist, holding her to him so their bodies were pressed together. When she shifted her legs to straddle him, he growled into their kiss. The animalistic sound made a surprising shock of pleasure ripple through her.

Taking a firmer hold of her waist, he flipped her over, so she was beneath him. Tangling her hands into his hair, she held him to her, continuing to kiss him, their tongues dancing together.

“The first time,” Daniel murmured as he lifted himself enough to start peppering kisses down her neck. “It will hurt, but it will pass.”

“I know,” she breathed, but still wanting to know what it would feel like.

She ran her hands down his chest, her fingers carving a path down his lean muscles. The way her fingers brushed the center of his chest, then down to his taut abdomen, had him gasping, then teasing her by nipping her throat. She smiled, arching her neck to give him better access.

When her hands reached his breeches, she tried to release him, her fingers fumbling eagerly. He chuckled in her ear.

“Eager, love?” he whispered.

She held her breath, startled when she realized just what Daniel had called her.

Love… Is that what this means to him too?

“Perhaps a little,” she said playfully, choosing not to draw attention to it.

When she finally unfastened his breeches, he planted his palms on either side of her head, lifting his body enough to allow her to push the breeches down his hips and legs. As his length sprang out, Rachel paused, her lips parting in wonder.

It was not what she had expected, his size daunting. He stood to attention for her, ready to make love to her.

He kicked away his breeches, then reached for her nightgown and lifted it over her head. She giggled when he covered her face with it and surprised her with kisses all over her body. Her stomach, the curve of her waist, the valley between her breasts, then the inside of her thighs.

“You’re teasing me,” she said from beneath the nightgown.

“Only a little.”

He lifted the nightgown again, and she raised her head to allow him to slide it off her. He tossed it to the foot of the bed, but she didn’t look where it landed and just watched his face as her naked body was revealed to him. Seeing the desire that darkened his eyes surprised her.

For so long, she had felt inadequate in her looks, and a shock of embarrassment tore through her when she finally realized how completely exposed she was to Daniel, a man who was so classically handsome. Yet, the awe on his face made her feel beautiful for the first time in her life.

He kissed her lips, moving his body over hers, then his hand went wandering. It paused on her breast first, toying with her nipple, eliciting great tingles that shot through her body, then he lowered that hand down to her hip and parted her legs, creating a space for him to rest. He nestled his hips between her thighs and nudged her entrance with his length.

The feeling of pressure gave her pause, and she gazed up at him.

“Hold onto me,” Daniel whispered, pressing their foreheads together.

She gazed into his eyes as she gripped his biceps, doing as he asked. Her core was wet for him, excited and trembling with the want of knowing what it would feel like.

He entered her suddenly, holding her gaze the whole time. Rachel froze at the sudden pain, startled that it was so deep in her core. Her fingers gripped his biceps harder as she clung to him.

Daniel moved softly, hardly at all at first. It was just the gentle rocking of their hips together. The movement helped, for where Rachel had felt pain before, a tingling sensation began to build.

“Oh, Daniel…”

Her moan must have been enough to tell him that the pain had shifted, for he lifted his head off hers and gripped the headboard with one hand, with sudden passion, then he thrust sharply in and out of her.

The pleasure overtook her body. With one hand, Rachel braced herself against Daniel’s muscled abdomen, feeling him thrusting inside her. Her other hand bunched the bed sheets as she was assaulted by pleasure.

It was more intense than she had imagined it to be. The feeling was somehow deeper, the pleasure more overwhelming, reaching into every part of her body until her toes curled.

One of Daniel’s hands moved to her knee, raising and wrapping her leg around his hip, opening her body completely to him.

The sensation and watching him as he pleasured her, with his cheeks flushing red and a bead of sweat rolling down the center of his chest, drove her over her edge.

Just like the tingling pleasure he had shown her before, she reached a pinnacle, yet this time, it was stronger. Her body ascended to some great height, and she closed her eyes, certain she saw the stars above as she climaxed. Her body tightened around his as he rode out her wave.

She was frantic, her head moving from side to side. Uncertain of what sounds she made, she did not know if she moaned his name or just made random sounds.

Daniel’s moans grew more guttural as she came down from her peak. His hands gripped the bed sheets on either side of her as he bucked a few more times, then he suddenly left her. She felt cold without his touch and sat up, watching what he did next.

Daniel reached his peak too, but he spilled in her nightgown, which had been dropped at the foot of the bed. He groaned out her name as he finished, his head tipping forward.

Rachel reached toward him, her body tingling and weak. He tossed her nightgown to the side and went to her too, gathering her in his arms before she fell back on the bed with him above her. He kissed her deeply, molding their bodies together, though his length did not enter her again.

When they parted, they both panted, struggling to catch their breaths.

“Rachel,” he whispered, “that was everything.”

“It was,” she agreed, wrapping her arms around his neck. “Well, we truly are man and wife now, are we not?” she teased him, remembering the words of the vicar at their wedding when he had talked of the pair becoming one.

Daniel chuckled softly. With their bodies so pressed together, the sound reverberated through her.

“Indeed, we are, wife,” he murmured, his voice deep. “I’m beginning to wonder why we haven’t done it before.”

She laughed too, wondering why. Though, she wouldn’t take back the last couple of weeks they had spent getting to know one another, for they meant a lot to her.

As he bent forward, resting his head in the crook of her neck as his breathing evened out, she raised a hand over the back of his neck and toyed with the hairs at the nape, thinking not only of how sated she felt but the words they’d uttered.

It was everything.

He’d called her love and wife. Those words coupled with the passion of his lovemaking gave Rachel hope that she was not alone in what she was feeling. It was just possible that as she had lost her heart to Daniel, maybe he was losing his to her as well.

Good God, I love him.

She raised her arms over his neck, holding tightly onto him as she realized that she was too afraid to tell him.