What the Earl Desires by Aliyah Burke

his dislike for London with each word he uttered. His other hand trailed down her arm and began touching her hand. Almost like he was memorizing the shape and feel of it. His fingers stroked her knuckles then dipped between each finger and back again. Over and over while his breath continued to fan along her neck and shoulder. The cold floor she sat upon, not important. The chill in the air didn’t matter. All that did was his touch.
    “I have not spoken to my family since I left the service. They live their lives and I live mine.”
    “Sounds like your life is perfect.”
    Back and forth between her middle and third finger he rubbed. “I used to think so.”
    Her stomach fluttered at the simple yet erotic touch. She had no idea of what to say. However, she knew what she longed to do. To him. With him. For him. It didn’t matter. Closing her eyes she gulped some stale air, which seemed to hum with sexual tension, and prayed for the strength to get through this.
    His tongue snaked out and tracked the outer shell of her ear. She jumped. There was no way around it. He made her feel things she couldn’t understand.
    “Najja,” he said on a deep throated purr.
    “I…I…hear nothing.” Well, if one didn’t count the thunderous pounding of her heart.
    “And?” He nipped the lobe, tugging lightly on the silver which hung there.
    Forcing steel into her limbs she got up. “So we can leave.”
    He rose beside her and backed her into the corner. “You can only run for so long, luv.”
    Oh, she could run for a very long time. No point in giving him a head’s up on that though. “Come on, we should go.”
    They walked in silence up toward where the voices had streamed from. All the while she mulled over what he had told her and what his friend Wilkes had said. Colin was having problems with hijackers. She offered to help him. It is his decision to take me up on it.
    The room splintered with light from the outside and she saw three bodies lying there, unconscious. Pausing, she scanned for any sign there were some awake. Seeing nothing, they progressed further into the room and she moved to one man while Colin headed to another.
    “Do you know them?” she asked, committing the man to memory.
    He crouched beside her. “No.” Colin moved and she turned her head to track him toward the final slumped man. “None of them.”
    She made certain to catalog the stats of the other two men before she headed for the door. Instinct told her to kill them but she doubted Colin would approve. But at least she could take their descriptions back to Lord Adrys and see if he recognized them. If he did, she could easily slip back through the passageway and eliminate them. From the looks of things, these men used this place often.
    With a groan, she headed back to the other room, and made sure there were no distinct footprints in the dirt covered floor. Colin waited for her by the door, keeping an eye on the men.
    Outside she breathed the fresh air with gratitude. She saw their horses but even they didn’t ring familiar to her from the night of the attack. Shite. She hated to be at a disadvantage. Head up, she stared at the tall thick trees around and back to the run down cottage.
    “It looks like a crofters hut,” Colin said.
    “Any idea how far from the main house?”
    “None. Sorry.”
    Swallowing her disappointment, she headed back to the entrance. “Come on.”
    “Why back inside?”
    “I have to get back to the house and fast. I know this route.” She stopped by a man and grabbed part of his dirty shirt before winding it around a stick she’d grabbed outside.
    They searched and found a way to open the passageway. Once inside, Colin lit the cloth and the flame illuminated the area. She took the lead and set off at a good pace. At the place they entered she felt for a release catch and then rolled the torch on the dirty floor, submerging them into coal-black darkness one more time.
    Activating the catch, she peered through the