There was a residual feeling of warmth lingering in his bedchamber as he slipped inside and quietly closed the door—almost as if a fire had been lit inside not long ago.

Raudrich walked over to the fireplace and hovered his hands over the ashes. They were still warm.

Paton. It had to be Paton. He was the only one with reason to want to steal his bed. He couldn’t even bring himself to blame him. The poor lad’s own room was barely larger than a cupboard.

He held his breath and listened carefully. Within seconds, the soft rise and fall of someone breathing from under the covers reached his ears.

If he woke him, Paton would wake the rest of the men and the night of precious sleep he’d spent weeks longing for would be ruined. He’d be damned if he would be denied his own bed the first night after returning home in years.

Groaning, Raudrich walked over to the bed. Placing his hands on top of the blankets, he pushed the lad from the center of the bed over to one side so there would be room for him, as well.

The lad felt lighter than he expected. Perhaps, the pudgy adolescent he’d known before he left had grown more slender in the past two years.

Paton let out a soft whimper as Raudrich moved him, and Raudrich couldn’t suppress a laugh at the unusually high pitch of the sound.

Kicking off his shoes, Raudrich removed his riding shirt. With his riding breeches still on, he crawled inside and fell quickly to sleep.

---

I dreamt I was sleeping. The dream was spotty, and dark, and sexy as hell. I was in the arms of a man with my head snuggled against his broad, firm chest. He was warm and I was more comfortable in his hold than I could remember ever being in another’s. I loved the way the stranger’s hand—which came protectively around my back—cupped at my breast as we slept.

My head lifted and lowered with his chest as he breathed and his breath would lightly tickle my nose as he exhaled. Smiling, I slowly wound my right leg in between his broad thighs, pulling us even closer together.

My hand lay gently below his chest, and I allowed my thumb to swirl small circles on the tender side of his stomach.

His muscles tightened as he groaned.

It was a deep, sexy noise and my knee seemed to slide gently up and down the space between his legs on its own.

The slow rise and fall of his breath quickened as I felt him harden beneath the light touch of my knee.

My own breath came more quickly. As I breathed in, the smell of him—sweat and earth—reached my nostrils, and something at the edge of my mind began to tickle uncomfortably.

A thought was trying to break through, to break into my dream, but I fought against it. It was one of those dreams you never wanted to end, and as you feel morning coming, your conscious mind quietly urges your unconscious mind to just stay sleeping a little bit longer.

The man shifted beneath me, as his left hand came around and began to roam over my body. I moaned in response to his touch, and then the thought I’d been trying so desperately to ignore came soaring into my blissful dream.

This was too real—the warmth, the rise and fall of my head with his breath, the smell of him. It all slowly fell into place in my mind as I woke. I had no choice but to open my eyes.

It was still completely dark in the room and it took a long moment for me to wake enough for panic and terror to set in.

There was a man in my bed, and I was naked.

Shrieking, I raised and scooted to the edge of the bed, bringing my knees back until I kicked him in the side with so much force that he landed on the floor with a loud thud.

I continued to scream, then remembering that Marcus was only a room away, I began to call for him as I scuttled off the bed and pulled the mound of blankets onto the floor with me to cover myself.

The man I’d pushed to the floor began to scream, too. Not the same loud, panicked scream I was emitting, but a deep cry of pain and confusion.

The door to the bedchamber burst open. As I heard Marcus call out to me, I stopped screaming. If he was here, I was safe. I trusted Marcus with my life.

“Laurel! What’s happening? Are you okay?”

Shaking, I stood and wrapped the blankets around me and held them tight with my arms.

“I woke to find one of them,” I paused and pointed to the stranger who was now lifting himself off the floor, “in my bed.”

In between groans, my assailant spoke.

“Paton, ye sound like a lassie. Why in God’s name did ye kick me? Ye’ve broken at least one rib, I’m sure of it. And ye woke me from the bonniest dream.”

Completely baffled, I walked around the edge of the bed to look down at him. His voice didn’t match that of any of the men we’d met at dinner, and I couldn’t deny that he sounded genuinely confused.

Just as he tried to stand, Marcus moved from the doorway and shoved him back to the ground.

“You stay right there, you son of a bitch, or I’ll kill you.”

I’d never heard Marcus so angry.

“Broken rib or not, I’d like to see ye try, lad.” Pushing Marcus back with surprisingly little effort, the man did manage to stand. “Who the hell are ye, and what in the name of God is going on?”

Marcus held a lantern in his left hand and shoved it toward me just as he threw his right fist into the man’s nose. The crack of it made my own nose hurt. There was no way it wasn’t broken.

The impact sent the man tumbling backwards as the back of his head cracked against the stone wall a few feet behind him.

Just as the man crumpled to the ground, Harry, Ludo, and Quinn appeared in the doorway, each with a candle in hand.

Harry took one look at me and then at the man lying unconscious on the floor and quickly turned toward Marcus.

“Lad, I doona know what happened here, but I’m certain ’tis not how it appears. Take Laurel to yer room and tend to her. My men and I will tend to Raudrich, and I assure ye we will get to the truth of what happened here. If I am wrong about his character—if he did intend the lassie harm—ye can rest assured that we will see him duly punished for his crime.”

Marcus was trembling with rage.

“Of course he meant her harm. He crawled into bed with her while she was sleeping. What else could he have meant?”

Harry’s tone was sympathetic but he remained calm as he pointed to the unconscious man Quinn and Ludo were now lifting off the floor.

“He dinna know the two of ye were here, and ’tis his room that Laurel was sleeping in. Perhaps, he dinna know she was inside when he crawled in bed.”

With the adrenaline slowing wearing off, I was able to think more clearly. I wasn’t all that hard of a sleeper. If he’d tried to hurt me, I would’ve woken much sooner. And as loathe as I was to admit it, I could recall the beginning of my “dream,” where I’d rolled toward him and slipped into the space between his arm and chest.

Gently, I stepped between Marcus and Harry and placed a light hand on Marcus’ arm.

“I think he’s right, Marcus. He didn’t hurt me. It just scared me to death when I woke up and saw him. I thought…I thought I was dreaming. I truly do think this was just all a big mistake.”

Marcus let out a breath that made me throw my arms around him in comfort. I knew what it felt like to be so worried for someone that when you learn they’re okay, breath that you didn’t even know you were holding comes out so quickly that it’s hard to stay standing. It was the same way I’d felt when Mom had told me that Kate had woken from her coma.

His arms came around me quickly, holding the blankets up around me.

“Are you certain, Laurel? He didn’t touch you? Didn’t put his hands on you?”

There was no need for anyone else save me and this stranger to know the truth about just exactly how much touching had gone on.

“No. When I woke, I was on one side of the bed. He was on the other. It just scared me is all. I’m so sorry for causing this whole mess.”

Harry placed a light hand on my back.

“This is my doing, lass. Calder was right when he said I shouldna have put ye in his room. I shall pay for it when Raudrich wakes. This is hardly the welcome he expected.”

Marcus’ voice was shaky but I knew he was satisfied that I was okay. He took one look at the blood pouring out of Raudrich’s nose as Ludo and Quinn struggled to get him situated on the bed and winced.

“I’m sorry for hitting him.”

Harry laughed and slowly ushered us out into the hallway.

“Doona be sorry, lad. Ye did what any good brother would do. Ye both need to rest after such a scare. We will see all of this settled come morning.”

Marcus nodded and turned to lead me away.

We both knew we were done sleeping for the night.