Lords of Honor (38 page)

When they woke and found
several hours
remained before the bath would be brought in, they put their time to good use and spent it exploring amorous pursuits
.
Libby proved to be an apt pupil in learning the ways of pleasure
.
Micah enjoyed teaching her
.

Micah
taught Libby numerous ways to increase her pleasure and his
.
He realized he might be dead in a week f
r
o
m
doing such a thing
.
Since she learned all the things she could do to make him come she was becoming quite adept
at her newly acquired skill.

As she proved not moments before as he
now
lay on his back,
gasping for breath
.

He
turned
to
regard
his beautiful wife,
“Sweetheart, are you certain you are not sore
?
Not even a little sore
?
I’m concerned, because we’ve made love so many times in the last twenty four hours, I’ve lost count.”

“I’m not sore
.”
She shook her head.

“I’m afraid you
won’t be able to walk tomorrow,
”
he laughed.

Libby giggled
.
“I will too.”

Micah hugged her tightly to him
.

“I will miss this time with j
ust us, alone
.”
Libby looked down
at him
as she
sat up and
rose over him
.
She
smiled and
placed a sweet kiss to his chin.

“Me too, sweetheart
.
But we’ll still have our nights, and mornings
.
When our company takes leave of us
we shall have more ah, free time
during the day
.
” Micah trailed his fingers down her naked torso
.
“W
hen it is
once again
safe
here at Horethorne Hall
, I’ll take you up Cadbury Hill to the hill fort
.
We’ll make love among the wildflowers
.
It’s beautiful up there, much like the Tor in that you can see for miles and miles in every direction
.”
He smiled at her
and gave her a noisy kiss
.

“I would like that, Micah.”
Libby grinned.

He
gently smacked her derrière
.
“
Our
bath will arrive shortly
.
I’ll find our clothing
.”
He reluctantly left his beautiful wife in the bed
.

Libby watched her naked husband walk about the room picking up his discarded wrapper on the floor beside the table where they ate, hers on the floor beside the
chaise
.
After minutes of searching they discovered her nightgown
tangled in the bed sheets
.

They waited on the chaise for the tub to be filled in the dressing room
.
Micah dismissed Martha, telling her she should come back in an hour to tend to her mistresses gown and hair
.

Micah divested himself and his lovely wife of their
already
scant clothing and got them both into the
very
large tub
, facing one another
.
They washed one another, p
layed and loved
some more
.

Libby
stood in only
her stockings and chemise when a knock sounded at
Micah’s
door.

“Micah, I need to talk to you
.”
It was Harry.

Micah, in his trousers and shirt, opened the door a crack.

“I am sorry to bother you, but wonder
ed
if you
could
come down soon
?
We’ve some new developments this afternoon.”

“We
are
dressing
.
Have Rowena send up Lib
by’s maid
for her
.
I’
m nearly finished
.
I’ll be down in a moment.”

“I wonder what
is happening
.
” Libby
commented
as she sat on the edge of
her
bed drying her hair with a towel
as Micah came back into her room
.

“Harry did not say
.”
Micah knew Harry wouldn’t have bothered them for something trivial
.
He
fastened
his
green
silk
waistcoat, and
sh
rugged into his coat
.
He
went into his bedchamb
er and came back with
his cravat simply tied and carrying
a shiny pair of boots
.
He sat next to his wife
on the bed
and put them on.

He stood up and began looking around.

“What are you
searching
for?” Libby asked him.

“My spectacles
.
I took them off when I came into this room yesterday and haven’t
seen
them since.”

Libby looked around
.
“Ah, there they are
, Micah, o
n the table where the pitcher and bowl are.”

He retrieved them, put them on, took his wife’s hands and pulled her up from the bed
.
He kissed her
then s
miled down at her
.
“
I’ll make certain your maid comes up
.
See you in what, a half hour
?
Find me when you come down
, sweetheart?
”

“Yes
, a
s soon as my hair is dry
.”
Libby
assured him
.
She
watched her
very handsome
husband leave the room
.
She smiled, humming to herself while she combed her
hair
and waited for her maid.

Micah could hear the rumble of male voices
coming from
the library
.
He entered to find all their party, including Rowena seated at the long table
.
He took an empty chair
at one of the tables
between Harry and Owen
.
“What are the new developments?”

“Horethorne Hall is
currently surrounded by Brown Coats
.
We’ve counted about fifteen
that we can see
.
There are probably more
.
I have your servants on watch while we meet
.
We received a letter from Trevan
in Cornwall,
about an hour ago
.
Menadue was attacked yesterday, but
there were a
bout thirty of his relatives in residence, so the
Brown Coats
retreated within fifteen minutes
.
Cleve and
Lachlan
are on their way to Templecombe
.
They are
bringing Lyon,
and
Miss Sophia Hart
,
who is now Lady Amesbury,
with them
for their situation is precarious
as well
.
Trevan dispatched his brother Tristan, his cousin Julyan and ten men to
Eveleigh
Park
in Devon
to guard my family
and Lyon’s family
there
.
As far as I know,
Eveleigh
Park is safe thus far.
”

“What of Abbey Grange and Stonedown?” Micah asked
with concern
.

“According to Woollard’s letter I received at noon, there has been no sign of anyone out of the ordinary
on either
of the
premises
.”

Micah nodded
.
“This cannot be Davitt
or Mr. Crow alone
orchestrating all of this
.
Three weeks ago
Davitt
was in Newcastle and barely able to sit up
acc
ording to the witnesses Jack
and I interviewed
.
I suspect this is the work of an organization
.
One
who wants our finds for th
emselves, or
feels they are
protecting the h
oly secrets
.
Or, they do not
want them exposed to the known world
, including us
.
Whether
this
Mr. Crow or someone else
is the leader
,
they are part of a larger group
.
W
e have to find out who they are and what their purpose is in
wanting to take
the scrolls
from us
.
W
ho are these Brown Coats
?
And why do they want what we have?
”

“We
’ve been
talk
ing
about that
.
What groups do you suspect it could be?” Harry asked
.

“I have no idea
.
I can think of groups
which
are similar to
ours
, but not any who
would be against
the knowledge we’ve found revealed or studied
.
The
Truth
,
shall we say
.
If
such a group
existed
,
one who doesn’t want the information we’ve found revealed,
my guess is
i
t
might
be a
religious
group
or order
who does not want it to be known that Jesus married,
fathered
children or that he studied in the Druidic colleges
, for we do have a scroll written by Jesus the younger, and another that proves Jesus studied in the Druid
ic
colleges
.
That knowledge would change the views of Jesus in many existing religions
.
The
Holy See
in Rome
?
Doubtful for
they have
no jurisdiction in this country
;
however,
the knowledge is pertinent and c
ould change
people’s
views
regarding
their
doctrine and
beliefs
.”

He continued, “
A secret agency of the British government
?
I don’t
think so
.
Noth
ing we found would harm England
.
The knowledge
would only make
England’s
history more holy and relevant
; r
aise her up as a New Jerusalem even.
”

Micah drummed his fingers on the table while he thought for a moment
.
“
Since the Unlawful Societies Act of 1799, any potentially dangerous or sinister group cannot legally exist
in Britain
.
If there is a group of such a nature in existence in England they would be completely underground
.
If you remember, gentlemen, the only reason the Avalon Society is legal is because we are listed as an historical society
.
Only the most tr
usted
senior
members of our society are aware of our auxiliary
activities and
additional
pursuits
.
Those members are here today, at Menadue
in Cornwall
and en route to one o
r
the other of our locations right now
.
They were in Glastonbury
.
The other hundred or so members believe we are
purely
an historical society.”