By the gods, why did she have to be so damned irresistible? That husky drop of her voice sent shivers of excitement down his spine. To let her go was difficult, but he had somehow managed. All the while, he kept glancing over at her, gauging her reactions to his words. Teu didn’t seem to like it, despite the logic behind it. At the mention of closing shop, his heart did a backflip. If the shop closed, she would have time to join him on his travels home. She could meet the parents, which was still super early in their relationship, but he didn’t care. Kieran was going to keep her as long as he could.

He had to take a calming breath himself to control his reaction to her question. The love struck noble tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear, trailing his fingertips along her jaw until his thumb could lightly trace her lips. Why could he not control himself? ”I would enjoy that very much, my dove.” The words were whispered, afraid of his excitement showing over her request. Kieran was so close to losing himself to her right then, and desperately grabbed at any memory to retain his self control. ”Sadly, I am promised to a play date. Excuse me to my previous engagements, Lady Teu.” There was a smirk as he excused himself, but he was sincere in the title.

Regretfully, he left without planting another kiss upon her beautiful face. If he had, there would have been no turning back. Before exiting the storage house, Kieran looked back at her. ”Many of the villagers are uninjured, most are healthy. As far as I’ve been able to gather, it was only Rena, Brandon’s mother, who was having difficulties. Everyone else was lucky enough to kick the sickness before supplies depleted. Also, they have offered us a room for the night.” That was the extent of his control. To keep himself from closing the distance between them, the door was opened and he slipped out.

Of course, his gaze lingered on the door before he went to seek out the children. If he was going to have any self control in the future, they were going to need to tame their impulses and urges. Kieran worried about how she would react if Teu found out about his inexperience. Maybe she already knew from his confession last night, about the lack of dates, courtships, and mates.

By the time Teu found Kieran, he was in the midst of a spar with one of the boys. Everyone had long sticks, and formed a ring around the pair. The noble let out an audible, over exaggerated “oof” as his opponent jabbed, poking the uninjured side. He had long since removed the shirt, and the children were taking care of the stitched wound. At the sign of weakness, two more charged forward with mighty battle cries, assisting their friend to take down the powerful knight. Kieran tried taking steps back, but was “overwhelmed” as he stage fell. All three boys held their stick swords at his throat. “Surrender now, and we may spare your life!” ”I yield,” he chuckled as the boys helped him up.

Despite he attempted to remain calm, she could see his pleasure at the mention of closing the shop. She was overly relieved that he was wanting her to go along with him. At least it appeared that he was not ashamed of her. Teu did not inherently believe that Kieran would ever be ashamed of her, but the elf did understand the politics and titles. They were important. If his father put as much faith in the noble son as Teu would expect…it was possible he could be the next in line for the title. The idea of meeting his parents was daunting though exciting at the same time.

There was little she could to as he gently tucked her brunette hair behind her ear. His touch was electrifying, but now she was getting better at holding herself at bay. If there had been time, she would have bolted the door shut in order to manage their urges. Subconsciously she tilted her cheek into his hand as he traced the lines of her face. ”I am glad to hear that,” was all she could respond. A short step was made to close the gap between them, but Kieran had was able to break off in a desperate move just like she was doing. They were now just barely hanging on by a thread. ”Try to not get beaten up too badly by the children. They look fairly tough. You are still injured.” She blushed at the title of Lady. When they eventually did get married, she would have a title by marriage through him. The concept felt like a fairy tale.

Her eyes watched intensely as he walked to the door. If he had kissed her then she would not have let him leave. It was good news to know that there was no desperation for medical treatment in the town. With the lack of need immediately helped her relax as her healer instincts had been agitated. Now, this gave her the time to get the proper herbs to the village. She froze when he mentioned a room offered to the pair. Her muscles seized up and she could only nod stiffly. The build up from their touches would not hold up against being alone in their own room. Quickly the heat of blush colored her face and pointed ears. She watched him slip out of the room, which led to her leaning up against the shelving unit and slipping down to the floor. Teu hugged her knees to her chest as she calmed herself down. There was no control left, and that night was not going to be able to handle herself.

”Okay. Get up and act like an adult like you supposedly are,” she lectured aloud. Teu took one last heavy breath before pushing off the ground. Dusting pants off, she finished getting an inventory of the medical supplies. Satisfied with the tally the elf moved to the door and opened it to see Kieran being the focus of many children. His shirt was removed to expose his muscles and the stitch work she had done. A light grin was on her face as she watched them attack the noble with their ‘swords.’ Teu circled the group to sit upon a few of the supply boxes that had been brought in to watch the spar match unfold.

The bag slung over her shoulder had been removed and placed on the ground. Next, she managed to remove the bindings that strapped the sheathed sais to her back. Legs tucked beneath crossed while she watched with great amusement. The healer tilted her head to the side to look at Kieran as he lay on the ground with the ‘swords’ at his throat. He had previously claimed to like children, and this was the evidence before her. ”You really do need some practice with sword work,” she teased. ”I thank you, kind knights, for sparing my mate’s life. I would be devastated to need to find a new fiancé so soon.” She had propped her elbow on her knee and then rested chin in the palm of her hand. ”It is good to know that he can be kept in line though.”

He looked at her with mock offense. ”They cheated! Bum-rushed me, they did!” “We beat you fair and square, Kieran!” ”I’ll show you fair and square!” Kieran gave a scary face as he went in for a tickle attack. The kids shrieked and darted away, leaving the noble chuckling as he walked over to Teu, all while watching their retreating backs. ”That ought to keep em for awhile. They’re a good bunch. Though, sword play is not what Jayla wanted. Kind of hard, being the only girl, isn’t it?” He turned his attention to Teu, to see the sun create the natural glow on her hair. ’Mother Angela, let this truly not be a dream.’

With a smile, he leaned in, tilting her chin up with just a finger and thumb, and stole a kiss. ”I’m going to go get cleaned up in the room. If you need anything, the villagers would be more than happy to assist. All you need to do is ask.” Kieran grabbed his shirt and walked off. It was still difficult, but easier since he wallowed in the dirt with the kids, and realized how long it had been since he actually had a bath. Funny how things as simple as bathing were forgotten in the heat of things.