Her nails duginto his backtourge him on as her tongue wrestledwithhis.

When he tore hismouth from hers, Avelyn pressed herface against his shoulder andalternatelysucked andnipped attheflesh there as the tensionescalated through her whole body. It felt as if something hadbeen drawn as tight as a bow insideher andshe waspositive that if itwerepulled any tighter itwouldsurely break. Andthen suddenly it did, and she bucked beneath him, screaming as her body squeezed around him with each pulseof pleasure. Avelyn was hardlyaware of it when Paen thrust intoheronelast time and criedout his ownpleasure.

Chapter Eighteen

Avelyn openedher eyesand staredwith confusion at theman's chest she lay on... untilshe recalled how their picnic had turned out. Theyhadn't touched the food, she remembered, and asmile curved her lips. Thensherealized she hadn't a clue astohow she'd ended up on Paen'schest. The lastthing she recalledwas Paen resting half on topof her asthey both waited torecover theirbreath. She must have fallenasleep. And Paen had obviously shifted off of her, then draped her over himself, allwithoutwaking her.

"Wife?"

Avelyn raised her head and peered shyly at her husband. As amazing as it seemed,shealways felt a little self-conscious after what theydid. She hadstood there completely nakedbefore him not long ago,but now wassuddenlyshy.

He smiledsleepilyat her expression. "Areyou hungry?"

Avelyn blinked,surprised both by the question and by the fact that she was indeedhungry. Nodding,sheslid off tosit onthe fur and reachedfor her gown, eagertocover up nowthatshe wasnolonger distracted by passion ordesire.

Paen sat up beside her and began to dressas well, thenmoved tothe foodhe'd removed from the sack. Miraculously, they had managed not to crush any of it, which Avelyn wasgratefulfor. She really was terriblyhungry.

Theyate insilence at first;thenAvelyn asked how the wall was coming. Sheknew Paen had workedthe men hard on the wall untilhefelt it was safe to bring herto Rumsfeld, but he'd taken many of themen off theproject once they'd arrivedhere sothey could work on other tasks. Only himselfand a handful of menwere leftto continueworking on theremainingsmall holes and unstable bits of the wall.

Paen told her it was coming along well,which really said nothing at all, she thought. What she really wanted to know was if it was possible thatthe boulder couldhavefallen on its own. She really didn't wishto believeDiamanda was trying toharm her.

After another silence, duringwhich Avelynwonderedhow toget the information she wantedwithoutgiving anythingaway,she finally simply asked.

"The section of walltothe right of the front gates?"

"Aye?"

"Isit safe?" she asked,then said, "I mean,arethere any parts there you stillneed towork on?"

"The innerparapet needs to be replaced in places, but the outer parapet is sound. "

"There arenoloose stones that mightfall outor anything?"Avelyn asked.

Something abouther tone madehim pause and peer at her. "There should not be,"he said slowly. "Whyare youasking, wife?"

She dropped her gaze and shrugged, turningher attention to Samson as the piglet returnedto the blanket and dropped to sit beside her now thatthey had stopped movingabout and had brought out the food. Avelyn set several slices ofapple and a plum ontheground bySamson, but hewasn't interested and merely nosed the fruit before taking himselfoff to explore somemore.

"Why are you asking, wife?"

She lifted her gaze, but hesitated. Avelyn wasn't concernedthat he would blame David and refuse to allow him to spend time with her and Samson. Shejust didn't want to bringup Diamanda until she herself knew ifthe girl had been involved.

Avelyn supposed she couldtell him about the stone block falling without mentioning Diamanda.

"Wife, what happened?"he asked. "Ihad noticed that the sleeve ofyourgown is torn and your shoulder bruised beneath. "

She glanced towardher arm andsighed. Avelyn hadn't noticed eitherthe tear or the bruise after the incident,she'd beentoostunned anddistracted at thesight of Diamanda. Though shehad been aware of a vaguetwinge ofpain if she movedher arm a certainway.

"One ofthestones fellout of the wall and nearlyhit Davidand me on our way back from the village," she finallyadmitted.

"Another accident,"Paenmuttered andsat back, his face pale and his mouth tight.

Avelyn shifted, feeling suddenly guilty. She wassurePaen must thinkher a plague of accidents.

"When wereturn, Iwantyou to show me where you were when the stone fell. "

Avelynnodded. The pleasantfeel to the outing had suddenly disappeared,and she was sorryto see it go. Paen must have felt it too, for after a fewmoments of silence,he sighed and begantopack things away.

"Get yourpigandwe shallheadback. "

Avelyn rose silently and went tocollect Samson from where hewas nosing in the bushes. When sheturned back,Paen was standing staringat her. He started across the fur, thensomething went wrong. Avelyn squeezed Samson in surpriseas Paen suddenlyseemed to stumble; then his foot slid out from beneathhim and he crashed forward, hitting his head on a log.

"Husband?" Avelyn rushed forward, anxiety clawingather stomach. Hewasn't moving.

"Paen?" Dropping Samsonas she reachedher husband'sside, Avelyn managed withsome effort to turn Paen onto his back. She peered athis pale face. Hewas out cold,and there was acut on his foreheadwhere he'd hit it on the log. Alarge lump was alreadyforming beneath it.

A little frantic now, Avelyn bent her head and pressed her ear to his chest, relaxing only alittle when she heard the steady beat ofhis heart.

Sighing, she sat back andglanced around the clearing,unsurewhat todo. Head woundswerea trickything, and there was no telling how long herhusband would be out. Hisheadwould be terribly sore when he woke up... but whenhe woke up was the issue. Paen could be out for moments or hours or... Avelyn peered around the clearing and the trees that enclosed it. She had no desireto stay the night there alone with herhusband unconscious and unable to defendhimself. While he'd had his men riding patrolto make theirpresenceknown, and seemed tothink thatwould scare offthe reavers, she wasn'twilling torisk his life on it.

Unfortunately, Avelyn also wasn't willingto leavehim while she went for help.

They hadn't walked that far,but a lot could happenin the shorttimeit took her to get tothe castle and backwith help. That was one lessonAvelyn had learned well since her marriage. Ithad only takena momentforher to be knockedinto the hole in the floor, and ithadtakenless than that for the stone toplunge from the wallabove her.

Anythingcould happen to Paen while shesoughthelp. No,she would not leavehim alone while she went to fetch help... which meant, she supposed, thatshe would have to take him to help.

Avelyn's brother had alwaysaccused herofbeingoveroptimistic, but optimist though shewas,evenshe hadto admitthat it was unlikely that she'd be able to get herhusbandto the castle - orevenfar enough outof the woods for the menon the wall to noticethem. She could not possibly carry him, anddragging him byhis arms or legs through thedirt and grass wasn'tlikelyto do himmuch good. Then her gaze dropped to thefur helay on, and Avelynhadan idea.

Calling Samson over, she gottoherfeetandconsidered the furandherhusband's position on it and decided it might work. Sherolledhim into the fur. Pickingup the bagof leftovers he'd collected, sheset them on the fur beside herhusband, pausing when shesaw the squashed bitsofappleand plumon the fur. Avelyndistinctly recalled setting itout for Samson. She also recalled the piglet'slackof interest. She should have thrown the bits of foodinto thewoods or returned themto the bag, but she'd thoughtlesslyleft them lyingthere. Apparently, theywere whathad sent Paen crashing to the ground.

This was all her fault,Avelyn realized guiltrly, then pushed the guilt aside and bent to pick up the endsof thefur. Taking one cornerineach hand, she stepped back andtugged experimentally, releasinga sign ofrelief when the fur slid alongthegrass carpet with abitof effort.

Aye, she could do this,Avelyn told herself. She turnedher backto the fur,then switched her hold and began topull. The spot Paen had found for them hadn't seemed far into thewoods on theway out. It seemed much furtheraway on the return journey. Avelyn didn't give up, however, and eventually managed to get them out of the woods.

Avelyn pausedonce past the trees andwaved towardthegate, but hadno idea if themen could see her. She couldn't make out any figures on the wall. Sighing, she turned toglance at Paen, a faintsmile curving her lips whenshesawthat Samson haddecidedtohitch a ride on Paen'schest.

Shaking her headat the picture, Avelyn took upthecorners of the fur againand continued forward. Shehadn'tgone much further when several horses rodeout of the castle gates, hurryingtoward them.

Exhaustedby her efforts, Avelynkept her explanations to aminimum assheand Paen were both takenup on horseback to rideback to the keep. David metthem in thebailey. The boyhad run halfway to the gates,but turned andbegan torun back tothe keep steps when he saw the party ride in. The squirewas smart enough notto ask questions, but simply hurriedalong at Avelyn's side as she directed the mento take her husband up to theirroom.

DiamandaandLady Helen rosefrom wherethey satby the coldhearth in the hall and hurried forward as theyentered. Waving their questionsaway, Avelyn led the menupstairs,openingthe chamberdoor forthem to carryhiminside.

"My lady!" Runilda rushed acrossthe roomas they entered, concern on her face.

"What happened?"

"Hefelland hit hishead, Runilda. Fetch my medicinals,"sheordered brusquely, then added,"And my needle and thread. His head has yet tostopbleeding, and I fear he may need stitches. "

"How did he fall?" Diamanda asked with a frown, having heard Avelyn's explanation to Runilda asshe'dfollowed the men into the room.

"He set his foot downon a plum, itslipped out from underhim and senthim crashing to the groundwhere he hit hishead on alog," she said as the menset Paen on the bed of furs she and Paen wereusing until the new bed was made. Avelyn could not even look at the girl as she explained. In her mind, she kept seeing Diamanda's blonde head disappearing back over thewall.

"Here you are, my lady. " Runilda handed her the small bag that held her medicaments, needle and thread.

"Thank you," Avelynmurmured and moved to kneel on the furs beside her husband.

Paen was still pale, still unconscious and still bleeding from the cut to his forehead. The only change was that thebumponhis foreheadhadalmost doubled in size. Themanhadhit the log hard.

Avelyn managed to find her needle and thread, but only after dumping the contents ofher bagonto the furs. When she wentto thread theneedle, she found thatherhands were shaking so hard she couldn't seem to do it.

"My maidis a healer," Lady Helen saidgently when Avelyn triedforthethirdtime andfailed. "Perhaps I should send forher, child. "

Avelyn sagged with defeat and nodded,thenremainedsilent astheywaited for the woman to be brought to the room. Avelyn's mind was whirling. She had been beratingherself for beinga failure as a wife... but not now. She wasn't useless. She was proving herself a good wife. Her hands wereshakingbecause she cared so much and feared forPaen's well-being. That wasn't failure. Nor was it failureforone toaccept aid when it was needed.

When the door opened and Lady Helen's maid, Joan, entered,Avelyn at firstfelt relief. Joan was atall, thin,quiet woman, andone could forget herpresencemost of the time,but when she walkedinto theroom to tend to Paen,she movedwith a quiet confidence that suggested sheknewwhatshe wasabout.

Avelynwasrelievedto hand the burden ofher husband'scare tothe woman... untilJoan straightened from examining him and said, "Ishall need my leeches. "

"What?"Avelyn gaped at her, appalled. Her mother had trainedher in careand medicinalsand held no respect forthe practice of usingleeches to bleed a patient.

She saidit wasa nonsensicalthing to do, bleeding a body that was already bleeding.

"Nay. " Avelyn rose up on her knees. "There will benoleeches. "

"He must be bled," the woman said reassuringly. "We must remove the bad humors. Iwill return directly. "

"No,you will not return, youare notlooking afterhim,"Avelynsnapped,then glanced at the men hovering around thefurs. "That woman is not to come back in here. Keep her out. "

"Avelyn, dear," Lady Helen saidsoothingly. "Do calm down. Joanknowswhat she is doing. Her mother was the finest healer I know, and she taught her everything. "

Avelynturned flashing eyes onDiamanda's aunt. "Well, my mother is the finest healerI know, and shealways despised the use ofleeches asa fool'stool. Iwill tend himmyself. "

"As youwish,"Lady Helen said stiffly, and moved to usher Joan out of the room.

Avelyn felt a moment'sregret for snapping at Diamanda's aunt when she had only been trying tohelp,butit was only a moment's regret. She had more important things to worryabout. Takinga deep breath,shepicked up theneedle and thread again and concentrated onthreadingthe needle. Much toher relief, this timeher hands were steady enough that she managed the task. It was asiftherelease ofher fear and angerinher outburst over Joan'sleeches had removed whatevernervous energy had setherhands shaking inthe first place.

Avelyn quickly cleaned the wound, then bent tostitch it. It was a small cutand neededonlythreestitches, but she tooktime and care withthe chore, hopingto reduce the scar her husband would carry. Of course, sheloved the man and no scar, small orhuge,was going to change that. She took care forhis sake, though she doubted he wouldcaremuch either.

Paen remainedunconscious throughout,and Avelyn satback with a little sigh whenshe finished. She was half relieved that he'd not woken while she'd been pokingthe needle through his skin, and half wishinghe had so that she would at least knowhewasgoingto be all right. Avelyn hadseenmen live through much worse head wounds than Paen had, but shehad also seen men dieafterlesser wounds. It was whythose wounds were tricky. One never knewwhich waythe patient would go.