Claimed by a Laird

by Glenn, Laura

  As the voices around them died down, he lifted her chin with his thumb. His gray eyes darkened briefly as a hard seriousness set into his jaw. Holding her face between his hands, he took a deep breath. “I did not want to force you, but now I must insist you marry me.”

  Her stomach dropped. The man was certainly persistent, she would give him that, but the last thing she wanted was an audience for a discussion of their relationship. Still not convinced the right thing for her heart was to marry a man who wasn’t in love with her, she replied, “Galen—”

  “I do not know what exactly you fear or what else you need from me, but surely you see now there is no other real choice. Not when you are carrying my child,” he stated with an intensity that pulled on her heart strings.

  “Wait. I am confused,” Lachlan said to no one in particular. “I thought they were already married.”

  Anna attempted to turn her head toward Lachlan, but Galen held her steady. “Give me your oath right here, right now, in front of my men.”

  “I don’t know,” she whispered as a panic settled into her. “I need more time to think this through.”

  Galen shook his head. “This is no longer about you. This is about our child. Give me the authority in the eyes of the law and the Church to protect you and the babe. Give me your oath.”

  Her heart was heavy as she peered into the gray depths of the eyes she had come to adore. Torn between what she wanted and her fears, her decision-making abilities seemed completely incapacitated.

  “I take you, Anna Campbell, as my wife,” Galen stated, his face full of strength and determination.

  He squeezed her jaw with his hand when she tried to look away. But, try as she might, she did not find herself reflected in them. Nothing but irritation, duty and authority stared back at her.

  “Galen, please,” she whispered. “I’m not ready.”

  “I take you, Anna Campbell, as my wife,” he repeated. “I will never hurt you. I will never abandon you. You have my word.”

  The earnestness in his voice nearly stopped her heart and severed the last strings of her resolve. Who was she kidding anyway? She loved him. Did it matter he didn’t say those same words to her? He was a thirteenth-century man, after all. He might never feel or say what she wanted him to. James had once spoken all the sentiments she wished and look where that got her.

  The words didn’t matter anymore. She was safe with Galen. She was wanted and that was good enough for now. Maybe it would be good enough period.

  She bit her lower lip and then placed her hand over his where it held her jaw. His fingers melted beneath hers and she turned her head, pressing her lips against his palm.

  “Annie.” His voice was tired and ragged.

  She lifted her eyes to his once again and something snapped inside her. Pulling his hand down to her chest, she flattened his palm over her heart and covered his hand with both of hers. “I take you, Galen MacAirth, as my husband.”

  The tension drained from Galen’s face. He paused and then leaned toward her, tenderly capturing her lips with his.

  Cheers went up around them. He wrapped his arms around her, clasping her to his chest, and she was almost knocked off her feet by the additional congratulatory slaps on Galen’s back from his friends.

  “Wait a minute.” Owen waved his hand in the air as he limped toward the center of the fray. “Our lass is a Campbell? The Gowrie’s henchmen? Did I hear that right?”

  Anna took pity on the old man and lifted her face from Galen’s chest, offering Owen an apologetic smile. “I am afraid so. But I promise not to kill you in your sleep.”

  Owen nodded, grunting under his breath.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Anna couldn’t help but laugh as Galen held her against his chest and kicked the door of their chamber closed behind them. He set her feet on the floor and pulled her up against him as he lowered his face toward hers.

  “It is safe for us to do this, is it not?” he murmured against her lips as he caressed her backside with his palms.

  “What?” She crinkled her brow in amused confusion. “Do you really expect us to be interrupted after you told everyone within earshot you’d bash their heads into the wall if they so much as knocked on the door?”

  A low, throaty chuckle escaped his lips, followed by the glow of a boyish grin. “No, I mean about the babe. Is it safe?”

  She choked a laugh as Galen’s eyes faded from mirth to concern. She nodded and caressed his cheek with her palm. “It’s fine, I promise.”

  He inhaled audibly and crushed his lips against hers, pressing his growing erection against the softness of her belly.

  She sighed and slipped her arms around his waist, allowing all the fears and worries of the past several weeks to fall from her shoulders. The last two had been especially difficult as her emotions raced from dreading what James might do when he didn’t hear from her, to what life would be like for her—alone and pregnant in the twenty-first century—to what might happen to Galen if the pendant didn’t work and he found out about James.

  Galen dragged his lips to her cheek and she closed her eyes, leaning against him.

  “The nights are very cold and lonely in the wilds of Orkney,” he rumbled in her ear. “I could have used your softness to warm me.”

  She smiled against his cheek and skipped her lips along the length of his scar. “You poor, poor man. How did you ever survive?”

  His teeth nipped her earlobe. “My hand is a poor substitute for yours.”

  Anna did laugh then. “Hmmm…that is a shame.” She dragged her palm from his back and around his waist. Pressing it against his cock, she slowly caressed him through his breeches, her entire body heating as his shaft strained against her palm.

  He growled and backed her up to the stone wall next to the fireplace. She exhaled contentedly as he cupped her breast, massaging it through the fabric of her clothing, and brushed her curly hair over her shoulder with his other hand to gain access to her neck.

  His lips seared a path down her neck and a soft hum of dizzying pleasure escaped her parted lips. She had almost forgotten about the soothing warmth of this man’s touch and she hoped they would never be parted again.

  He flicked his moist tongue across her skin and slid it down to the base of her neck, leaving her shivering for more. He tensed for a brief moment before pulling back and regarding her with a look of utter betrayal.

  Anna’s stomach flipped in nervous confusion, uncertain at first what had set him off. She followed his eyes to her chest and her heart sank. She had forgotten to remove the damned quartz pendant.

  Before she had the chance to step away from the rage building in his features, he reached into the neckline of her leine and grabbed the pendant. Holding it in his fist, he yanked her toward him and glared down at her, his nostrils flaring as he breathed.

  “I thought I told you that you were to never wear this again,” he stated in a bare whisper, his eyes nearly blackening before her. “You were trying to leave me, weren’t you?”

  Anna’s heart ached at the raw pain in his voice. Breathing deeply in a desperate attempt to remain rational so she could calm him down, she wrapped her hand around his large fist, squeezing it to stop him from pulling any harder on the necklace. “You don’t understand, I—”

  The scar on his cheek twitched and he ripped his hand from her grasp. Stepping backward, he held his palms in the air to either side of his head as if he were holding himself back from throttling her. Shaking his head, he turned away from her and dropped his arms to his sides.

  A stab of guilt tore through her chest as she stared with trepidation at Galen’s rigid stance. She gripped the pendant in her palm, praying he would calm down enough to listen to her explanation.

  After several, long, painful moments, he whirled to face her. “I gave you everything. Why would you do this?”

  The accusatory edge in his voice sliced through her like a knife. For a brief moment, the urge to apologize and soothe his
pricked pride engulfed her. But then exasperation simmered within her. This was not the first time he had jumped to conclusions and assumed the worst. It was, however, high time he started trusting her. She straightened her shoulders and met his stare.

  A flash of irritation sailed across Galen’s face and he took a menacing step toward her, glaring down at her so she had to tilt her head back to meet his stare.

  Her stomach clenched as a flicker of apprehension flowed through her. Taking a deep breath, she reconnected with her courage and propped her fists on her hips. He’d promised to never hurt her. She would trust him just as she hoped he’d trust her.

  “You have absolutely no idea what I have been through,” she spat in a low voice so as not to attract unwanted attention from outside the room. “Here I am, carrying your child while you’re gallivanting around in Orkney, and I get a letter from my former husband who had beaten me and who just happens to be your sworn enemy. And you have the audacity—”

  “Woman,” he began, crossing his arms and glaring down his nose at her as though getting ready to read her the riot act for not following some sort of thirteenth-century code of conduct.

  “You will let me finish!” she demanded. She wasn’t certain where her sudden surge of courage came from, but she gladly embraced it. It was time for her to start taking charge of her own life and stop sitting back, allowing things to happen to her. “For your information, I was not trying to leave you because I didn’t want to be with you, you big jerk. I was afraid of what James might do while you were away and I was terrified of what you might do if you found out about him. I could not bear the thought of you getting yourself killed because of me. I thought if I left, then there was at least a chance you would be safe.”

  The hard lines of his angered expression softened as Galen stared at her for several long moments. “Annie, it is not your duty to protect me,” he replied, his tone soft yet still edged with irritation. “It is, however, my duty to protect you.”

  She shook her head in disbelief and poked him in the chest. “You think you’re immune to a blade or an arrow? Well, that’s just too damn bad, Galen MacAirth, because you’ve knocked up the wrong woman. It seems to me you do need protecting—especially from your pigheaded, arrogant self. Don’t forget who got you out of that damn dungeon. If it weren’t for me, your sorry ass would be a pile of bones by now.”

  One corner of his mouth turned up in an amused smile as he grabbed her finger to stop her from jabbing him. Filled with relief at his surrender to her argument, she relaxed her stance, but kept her stern facial expression just in case he decided to change tactics.

  “What is this ‘knocked up’?” He stroked her arm with his free hand.

  Anna couldn’t help but give him a small smile as she rolled her eyes heavenward. “Got pregnant. Got with child. You know.”

  He nodded. “You know I cannot allow the Gowrie to get away with this.”

  She ripped her finger out of his grasp. “You aren’t listening to me, Galen!”

  “I am, lass.” He grabbed her by the arms. “But you have been with us long enough now to know how we do things. It is one of the highest insults to threaten to take another man’s woman.”

  Anna chewed her bottom lip for a moment until an idea came upon her. Having her feet in two different worlds was too exhausting. She was tired of the constant struggle and war within herself—it was time for her to make a choice. In that moment, as Galen’s puzzled eyes bore into hers, her decision became easy.

  She reached behind her neck to unhook the pendant’s chain. She pulled his hand toward her and pried open his fingers, dropping the pendant into his palm. “Here, take it. Do whatever you want with it. I don’t care because I am not ever going home. But just promise me you will not go after James.”

  “Lass,” he chided.

  “Please,” Anna whispered as tears welled in her eyes again, hating exposing her heart to the one person who could do the most damage to it. “I have never asked you for anything. Please just promise me this one thing.”

  Galen shook his head in exasperation and stared down at the necklace. “Woman, what am I to do with you?”

  She stared at him, twisting her skirt around and around her index finger.

  “You no longer wish to go back to your own home?”

  “No,” she whispered with determination.

  His gray eyes became piercing as though he was attempting to read her mind. “What has changed, Anna? Is it the babe that has altered your thoughts on the matter?”

  She hesitated, blinking in confusion. “What do you mean?”

  “Do you think I have not seen your glances toward the box where this damned pendant lay?” A strange desperation filled his eyes. “You refused to marry me yet you shared my bed without the least concern for your reputation. It was almost as though you knew your time with me would be short-lived.”

  Anna threw her hands in the air in exasperation. She married him and gave him the quartz pendant. And now she even carried his heir. What more could he want from her?

  A curious mask snapped into place over his concerned features. “Will you allow me to destroy it?” He pointedly looked her in the eye as if to test her resolve.

  She nodded and relaxed her shoulders. A smile tugged at her lips. She did not care any longer.

  Galen lifted it before his eyes, the chain draped through his fingers and the pendant twisting in the air. His expression changed from determination to concern.

  He shook his head. “No. You may need this one day.”

  She tilted her head in confusion at the strange turn of the conversation. “What? I want to be here with you. I don’t need it anymore.”

  “You were right, Annie.” He flipped the pendant into the air and caught it in his palm with a snap. “The day may come when you might need whatever powers this thing has to get you and our child to safety.”

  Anna rushed toward him, grasping his biceps while trying to ignore the awful ache in the pit of her stomach. “Galen, no, don’t say that.”

  He brushed her hair away from her face and kissed her forehead. “I will honor your request to not go after the Gowrie at this time. But this does not change the fact that he knows you are here. It is only a matter of time before the Gowrie and I will have to settle this.”

  She shook her head frantically as shivers over a shadowy future coursed down her spine. She racked her brain, searching for alternatives to waiting for James to make his move. One thought stood out to her and she never in a million years considered she could ever be a party to such a ghastly plan, but she was desperate to keep her new marriage and unborn child safe. “No, no, no, Galen. There has to be something we can do. Can’t we hire a hitman or something?”

  “A ‘hitman’?”

  She went from shaking her head to nodding, pushing away her conscience’s warning of the amorality of such a thing. “It’s someone who will, you know, kill someone for you.”

  “Absolutely not, woman,” Galen replied with a firm shake of his head. “What you are suggesting is dishonorable.”

  Her eyes widened in disbelief. “How is it any more dishonorable than starting a war with the entire Gowrie clan?”

  “I do not hire men to hide in the shadows and fall upon my enemies in secret. I do my own killing out in the open without guise or subterfuge.”

  Galen’s statement, uttered so matter-of-factly, stumped her. Her shoulders slumped as worry for their safety crashed over her.

  He wrapped his arms around her, stroking her back as he kissed the top of her head. “Do you trust me?”

  She nodded against his chest, inhaling the scent of him that had long since faded from the bed that she slept in every night. Though she was terrified of what may happen in the future, at that moment, she gladly handed the burden of their safety over to her new husband.

  “Now that you are my wife,” Galen released her from his embrace, “there are certain duties to which you must attend.”

  As he tur
ned his back on her, Anna questioned how sane she could be to want to be married to a thirteenth-century warlord.

  He laid the pendant in the box on the mantle. “You will not touch the pendant again unless instructed by me to do so,” he arrogantly commanded as he swaggered toward the bed. Bracing his feet apart, he crossed his arms as he faced her.

  She arched one brow and mimicked his stance, attempting to ignore the heat coursing through her as his arm muscles flexed and bulged against his massive chest. She resisted the urge to lick her lips and instead reminded herself of the conceitedness and dictatorial attitudes housed within his sexy-as-hell body.

  “Now, as for your duties—”

  “You mean obeying you isn’t all?” she quipped.

  Galen shook his head as a smoldering flame alighted in his eyes. “A wife always disrobes her husband before bed.”

  A playful smile touched her lips. “I’ve read enough books to know lords and ladies have servants to do that. Not to mention I’ve heard they never really even share a bedroom with their husbands or wives.”

  The corners of his eyes crinkled as he matched her smirk. “Perhaps this is true for the king and his earls, but I am a mere laird. I choose to do things differently.”

  “I don’t believe you’re a mere anything,” Anna whispered as she approached him with a soft sway in her step.

  His breathing quickened as he dropped his attention to her hips, watching her movements. As she stopped before him, he dropped his hands to his sides and lifted his eyes back to hers.

  She shuddered, his raking stare caressing her. Her nipples peaked beneath her leine in anticipation.

  “May I remind you,” she murmured as his eyes met hers once again, “you are married to a twenty-first century woman. You’re going to have to do more than command me in order to get me to attend to such duties.”

  Thoughtfulness touched Galen’s brow for just a moment before he languidly licked his lower lip and tilted his head to the side. “And what is it you suggest, lass?”