Shauna looked up at him. “What do ye mean?”
Robert told her all of the circumstances surrounding him and Alasdair’s advice to remain in Scotland and learn to know his clan. “I don’t know if Jane’s disappearance will ever be resolved. I may have to answer to that at some point, but I wrote my brother to explain I was breaking the betrothal. I enclosed a letter for Jane’s guardian in the States as well.”
Shauna studied him with a solemn look. “So ye are nae betrothed? And ye do nae want to be?”
“I am not betrothed.” Robert smiled. “I didn’t say I didn’t want to be.”
She knit her brows together. “Do ye or do ye nae want to be with this Jane?”
“I want nothing to do with Jane.” Robert’s smile broadened. “But I would very much like to be betrothed to you. That is, even knowing what you know now, if you will have me.”
Shauna’s eyes turned owlish and she opened her mouth, but no sound came out. She closed it and then tried again. This time, Robert thought he heard a small squeak, but her face had gone pale.
“Are you all right? I know this is sudden and not the right place. If you need some time to think—”
“Nae!”
His smile faded. “Nae? You don’t want to marry me?”
“Nae! I mean, aye! I want to—”
“Captain!” Peter’s voice came floating down the stairwell. “We’ve spotted a ship behind us.”
Robert groaned. Of all the damn times… “Be right there!” he called up and then bent to give Shauna a quick kiss. “That will have to do for now. I need to tend to matters on deck. Would you wait in my cabin?”
Shauna smiled. “I’ll wait.”
The bath felt heavenly. Shauna sank underwater to rinse her hair in the heated water and resurfaced, reveling in feeling clean. Two of the crew had arrived with buckets shortly after she’d returned to the cabin, saying the captain would be delayed because he wanted to make sure the ship was not the Dragon pursuing them, but in the meantime, he thought she might like a bath. Would she? She could hardly wait to start undressing after the sailors brought the final bucket. To her delight, she found a bar of heather soap in the wall cabinet above the sitz-bath—probably a gift from his stepmother, Joanna MacDonald—along with a washing cloth and a thick, thirsty towel.
Shauna lifted her hair over the edge of the bath so it could dry as she leaned her head back. Robert was not betrothed. Well, he was, but not to that woman named Jane. Robert was betrothed to her. Her. Shauna MacLeod. She didn’t think she’d ever felt so happy or content. She would be spending the rest of her life with the man she loved. The man she wanted. The man who had chased pirates down the Channel and around the coast of France and Spain to get her back.
She closed her eyes, feeling her muscles relaxing, the tension she had felt for over a week being released. She was finally where she should be.
Shauna must have dozed, because she suddenly felt a cool draft as the door opened. Popping her eyes open, she saw Robert standing in the doorway.
Instinctively, Shauna raised her arms to cover her breasts. “I dinnae expect ye.”
“I thought you would be finished,” he answered and then stepped inside to close the door quickly as footsteps could be heard on the hatchway ladder. “I can leave as soon as whoever that is goes back on deck.” His eyes strayed to her hands. “I would rather not though.”
Shauna felt her whole body warm and then realized how cold the water had gotten. She must have been soaking for an hour. Instead of being dressed and waiting for him, she was stark naked. “This is your cabin. I wouldnae chase ye from it.” She eyed the towel, wondering how to get to it.
As if sensing her dilemma, Robert moved to pick up the towel and stepped closer, holding it out for her. Shauna looked at it and then up at him. His green eyes held her gaze. She swallowed hard. “Will ye close your eyes?”
Robert grinned. “I would much rather look at you.” Then he sobered. “I will close my eyes if you want me to. You decide.”
Heat spread through her veins. God in heaven. Robert wanted her to stand up naked in front of him? Her insides turned soft and mushy. The saints help her. She wanted to stand up for him. To let him see her. Something contracted deep in her belly. Worse, she wanted to see him naked. Shauna doubted the saints were helping here. It felt more like the devil himself had taken charge of her.
Robert tilted his head to one side and a corner of his mouth turned up. “Well?”
Shauna took a deep breath, put her hands on the rim of the bath and slowly stood, keeping her eyes cast down. A good thing she was dripping in water, because her body felt as though it were on fire. Her face blazed hot and she thought she heard Robert make a choking sound. Then he wrapped the thick towel around her, lifted her from the tub and carried her to the bunk. He laid her down and sat beside her.
“You are absolutely beautiful, Shauna.”
She looked at him, startled. “No man has ever called me beautiful.”
“Then the rest of the men in this world are fools,” Robert replied and reached for edge of the towel. “Will you let me look at you again?”
Like dry tinder touched by a match, flames seared through her. Every nerve ending ignited. She could no more deny him than stop breathing, although her breath seemed to be rather short and shallow. She nodded.
He smiled and slowly pushed back both sides of the towel, leaving her completely exposed to his sight. She started to raise her hands to cover herself, but Robert took hold and gently pressed them to her sides.
“Don’t hide from me, sweetheart.”
Robert stroked her arms, allowing his thumbs to graze the sides of her breasts. Just that slight touch made her nipples bead. His gaze sharpened.
“You know what I want to do, Shauna?”
She felt herself grow warm again and her nipples tightened even more. “Aye.”
He took a deep breath. “I will give you a chance to say no if you want to wait for our wedding night. But say it now.”
Shauna looked at him. “I doona want to wait.”
Robert’s eyes darkened and he stood and divested himself of his clothes so quickly she scarcely had time to think on it before he was naked before her. She gulped, trying to swallow around a sudden lump in her throat. She’d seen him bare-chested before, but not…the rest of him. Shauna stared at his manhood. God in heaven. She had no idea that male part could be so big. It was thick and looked hard as granite. She remained riveted and, to her surprise, it grew even larger.
“You are going to make me spill my seed like a green cabin boy if you keep looking at me like that,” Robert said, his voice husky and low.
Shauna managed to tear her gaze away and look at him. “Can I touch it?”
He made a guttural sound that was close to a growl and stepped closer. “You can touch it all you want to.”
She put out a tentative hand. The hardened shaft felt warm and satiny, like a dagger encased in smooth leather. Shauna traced the protruding vein and Robert groaned, but he moved closer. She lightly stroked the rounded, darkened head. Its texture was soft as silk and she watched as a drop of liquid appeared at the very tip. Before she could swipe a finger over it, Robert groaned again and snatched her hand away. Shauna frowned. “Did I hurt ye?”
“No,” he rasped and sank on the bunk. “It felt good. Too good.” He leaned over her, kissing her forehead and then raining kisses over her eyelids and down her cheek before he took her mouth.
Shauna opened to him immediately. Robert’s tongue swept in, but this kiss was deeper and more demanding than the one on deck had been. His hand cupped a breast, kneading softly. Both of her breasts felt heavy and full and she arched her back, wanting more. Robert obliged, flicking his thumb across the hardened nipple until she began to whimper. He rolled it between his fingers as his mouth drifted down to nibble a trail down her t
hroat. Shauna tilted her head sideways to give him better access and then she gasped as he moved his mouth over her shoulder and down to settle over her other breast. His tongue laved the pebbled peak, circling the areola, and then he began to suckle.
Shauna nearly lifted herself off the bed. The sensation was exquisite. Her body tingled everywhere as though bolts of lightning were shooting through her. When Robert switched to lavish the same attention on the first breast, liquid began to pool between her legs, along with a slow pulsation.
He moved his mouth back to hers as his hand drifted lower, sliding over her hip and across her belly. He cupped her mound and slid a finger between her slick folds. “You are so wet already,” he whispered.
“That is good, aye?”
He smiled against her mouth. “Yes, love. Very, very good.”
Robert rubbed his thumb across her nub, causing her to thrust her hips upward as that highly sensitized part began to throb. He raised his head. “If you like that, I can make it better.”
Shauna blinked at him. Nothing could feel better than this. “How?”
He laughed and shifted his weight suddenly. Before her dazed mind could follow his actions, her thighs were over his shoulders and he was lapping the juices between her legs with long, slow strokes of his tongue.
“Oh, my God…” Shauna moaned as he nibbled her hard, little nub. She trembled, her body began to shake and then, as Robert sucked the thrumming bud into his mouth, she shattered.
She’d hardly caught her breath when she felt the tip of his manhood pressing against her soft, open core. Somehow, it felt so right that she didn’t think, but wrapped her thighs around his. His big shaft began to fill her, stretching her. Her core began to vibrate. Shauna wanted more…
And then she went rigid with sudden, stinging pain. She would have screamed, except Robert’s mouth was covering hers. His hand stroked through her hair. “It will be all right, love. It only hurts for a little while and just this one time.”
Shauna nodded, unable to speak. Robert held himself still, and the pain began to subside. Replacing it was a gentle pulsing that grew in intensity and she felt her body relaxing once more, opening to him.
He began thrusting, slowly at first, then faster and deeper as she picked up his rhythm and began to match it. The throbbing, aching need Robert had fulfilled just a short time ago rose again, this time increasing even more. Shauna felt the tension building, this time more like an ocean swell gathering power as it rose in strength. Her release hovered like a white-foamed wave, building to its full height before it crested and spilled over, gushing into nothingness as her world went still.
Eventually, Shauna opened her eyes to find Robert raised on his elbows over her. “What happened?”
He smiled. “You experienced the petite mort,” he said. “The little death.”
“Does it happen every time?”
He shook his head. “Only when it’s very special.” He rolled over and pulled her against him. “And this was very, very, very special.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
“I am fine. I truly am,” Shauna said again, even though she’d already assured everyone at the London townhouse at least a dozen times. The New Orleans had sailed down the Thames just past dawn and Robert had brought her to Jamie’s home over an hour ago. Her brothers and Shane had gathered around, firing questions like archer’s arrows until Mari had finally ordered all of them to go have a dram of whisky and put some thought to their questions. They’d promptly brought the bottle back where it now sat on the tea table in the parlor.
“Ye are sure the bas—Richard—is dead?” Jamie asked.
“Aye,” Shauna answered. “One of my guards broke his neck, saving me from having to use the sgian dubh they didn’t ken I had.”
Mari’s eyes widened. “I did not know you carried one.”
Ian nodded. “Good lass.”
“Remind me not to make your sister angry,” Robert said.
Shauna glanced sideways at him seated beside her on the sofa. It was hard to think she would ever be angry with him, especially since they’d spent every night of the passage back in passionate love making, exploring each other’s bodies and learning—she really liked the learning—what each of them liked. Robert had taught her some things—done some things—that she had never even imagined could be done. He’d aroused feelings and emotions in her she didn’t know existed, and not one of them had to do with anger. Shauna felt her face grow warm as she remembered and tried not to smile.
Jamie gave her a sharp glance and then looked at Robert. “About the trip back—”
“I am so glad Robert found you, Shauna,” Mari interjected and then looked at her husband. “That makes him a true hero, does it not?”
Jamie frowned at her.
“It does,” Ian said before Jamie could answer. “I’m glad Robert had the good sense to go back to the charitable home once more and talk to Mr. James.”
“That part was luck,” Robert replied. “I tripped over his feet.”
“Being a seaman used to an unsteady ship, tripping over the man’s feet might have been the faeries working,” Shane said. “Ye were carrying the stone the wood sprite gave ye.”
Shauna put her hand over the small leather pouch she wore suspended from a silver chain around her neck. Robert had put the streaked stone in it the day they made their escape and told her to not to take the pouch off. Shauna had never been given to fanciful notions of the Fae, although Fiona insisted they were real. Shane and Ian both claimed the background in a painting of their ancestor Leod, son of Olaf the Black, changed at times, although Shauna had never seen it do so. However, when Robert told her the story of finding the crone’s cottage empty, but a girl and her otherworldly beast appearing, with the stone and prediction, Shauna began to wonder if she’d ignored the truth because she couldn’t see it.
“I can’t argue with that,” Robert said. “Ever since I arrived back in January, I had a feeling the Fates were involved and that it had something to do with Shauna.”
Jamie’s brow rose. “What kind of something do ye speak of?”
“I can’t quite explain—”
A muscle in Jamie’s jaw twitched. “Ye dinnae take advantage of my sister whilst she was shaken and frightened, did ye?”
“Robert dinnae do anything I dinnae agree to,” Shauna said.
Jamie frowned. “What do ye mean by that?”
Oh, Lord, that had come out wrong. “Doona even think about hitting him, Jamie,” Shauna warned. “I—”
“We are betrothed,” Robert said. “I probably should have spoken to both you and Ian, but the circumstances did not lend themselves.”
“Betrothed?” Mari all but squealed. “Do you know when you will get married? Where? How much time do we have to prepare?”
Shauna shook her head. “Nothing has been decided yet.”
Ian gave Robert a thoughtful look. “Perhaps it should be soon?”
Shauna felt the blood drain from her face as the implication set in. Bairns. She had not given any thought to their nightly activities resulting in pregnancy. Had Robert? She knew he would continue sailing. They hadn’t talked about children. Did he want them? Had she trapped him unwittingly? She forced herself to look at him.
His smile reassured her. He took her hand and turned back to Ian. “I agree, but I will leave the time to Shauna.”
She smiled back at him. “I doona need or want a big wedding. I would wed ye right now.”
“Well, it will take a day or two to get the special license,” Ian said.
Jamie nodded. “The day after tomorrow then.”
“Two days.” Mari jumped up. “Even if Shauna does not want a large reception, do you have any idea of how much needs to be done before then? I do not know—”
“Everything will be fine, Mari.” Shauna smiled at her friend.
“She is right,” Robert said and brought her hand to his mouth. “Let me assure all of you I intend to love and honor Shauna for as long as I live.”
Those words would be repeated the following Saturday at the marriage ceremony that took place in the old Temple Church not far from St. Paul’s Cathedral.
She knew from her reading that the round part of the church had been built by the Templars in the 12th century to replicate the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem and the Chancel built nearly fifty years later. With her Scottish love of history—and clan memories going back a few centuries as well—Shauna was impressed with those facts as they entered the inner courtyard and looked up at the pale yellow stone and approached an ancient wooden door on the western side.
“This is the same door through which initiates entered in medieval times to take the Templar vows of piety, chastity, poverty and obedience,” Shane said.
Robert grinned. “Would you take those vows as well, Shauna?”
She gave him an arched look. “Ye want me to be pious and chaste?”
His grin broadened. “I was thinking of the vow of obedience.”
“Doona expect it,” she said but softened the words with a smile.
“Perhaps we should go in before the priest comes out and asks if ye have changed ye minds?’ Jamie asked.
“Nae chance of that,” Shauna replied.
Robert reached for her hand. “Agreed.”
But she almost forgot why she was here when she first stepped inside the round nave. The outside, impressive as it was, did not do the inner sanctum justice. Rays of blue, green and red-tinted light played through the stained-glass windows, giving the circular room a surreal atmosphere. Marble columns formed an inner circle. In the center on the floor, lay stone effigies of William Marshall, who fought alongside Richard the Lionheart, and William’s sons.
“All are knights who just rest until they rise to fight again,” Shane said and looked around with a contented smile.
Shauna knew he felt an affinity and wondered again how he had managed to keep his allegiance to the secret order that still existed from their family for so many years. She didn’t have time to ask though, for the priest came to greet them.
Rogue of the High Seas Page 25