“Can we…?” Her voice was surprised and unsure but also breathy with desire.
“I promised we’d do some exploring, didn’t I? Now, where were we?”
He brought his mouth back to her neck and nibbled his way up to her ear, which earned him another moan from her. He loosened the laces at the back of her dress just enough to pull the woolen garment down her shoulders and past her breasts. Then he moved his mouth lower to capture one of her nipples, which were rosy underneath the material of her chemise.
As he sucked and laved her nipple through her chemise, she intuitively ground her pelvis against his cock. Holy hell, he would spill his seed inside his kilt if this went on much longer.
With a growl of impatience, he yanked up her skirts, chemise and all, and quickly pushed his pleated kilt out of the way.
She inhaled with surprise at the sudden contact of their lower bodies. The head of his cock brushed against her damp curls, and he nearly cursed in pleasurable agony.
Forcing himself to go slowly, he raised her hips slightly and pressed the tip of his cock against her opening. Resisting the urge to thrust up into her roughly, he lowered her gradually so that he inched inside one ragged breath at a time.
She threw her head back as he filled her, thrusting her breasts toward his face. He couldn’t resist. He took her other nipple into his mouth, and he could feel her quake with pleasure.
He was finally inside her to the hilt, and he willed himself to stay still and allow her body to adjust to his size. Even though he remained motionless, she was breathing heavily, and her hands were like talons on his shoulders.
She moaned in delicious frustration as he continued to work his mouth over her breasts. Then she rocked her hips slightly and he thought he would come completely undone.
“That’s it, lass,” he groaned. “Take what you like. Take your pleasure.”
Even though his body screamed to lay her back on his desk and thrust into her hard and fast, he wanted even more from her. He wanted to give her control, to show her that he trusted her.
She rolled her hips again, then again, finding the motion and rhythm she liked. He clenched his jaw, fighting to hold himself at bay for as long as he could.
Her breaths were coming faster now as she rose up and sank down onto his shaft, riding him. Unable to resist, his hips began moving in time with hers, driving even deeper into her.
That sent her over the edge. Her head fell back and her fiery hair spilled over her bare shoulders as she cried out, pleasure claiming her.
As the tidal wave of release ebbed within her, it fully crashed over him. He gripped her hips, pulling her down hard into his lap as his body was racked with his release.
Their breaths mingled as they both slowly came back down from the heights of pleasure.
“That was…unexpected,” she said with an airy chuckle.
“Aye, we managed to negotiate a compromise rather than simply fighting,” he said, giving her a teasing grin.
“That’s not what I meant,” she replied with an arched eyebrow. “But I suppose you’re right. We did talk through an issue and solve a problem.”
“And all it took was for both of us to be half naked.”
That earned him a swat on the shoulder.
He sobered suddenly. “I’m serious, Rona. I know we got off on the wrong foot—”
“—Wrong feet.”
“Aye,” he said, capturing her gaze. “But I want things to be better between us. To be like this.”
He brushed a stray strand of red hair out of her face tenderly.
“So do I,” she said quietly. “We’re learning.”
He intentionally glanced down at their still-entwined bodies and then shot her a wolfish grin.
“If this is learning, I’ll gladly be a student for life.”
HIGHLANDER’S RECKONING
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Though March had arrived a few days ago, spring still seemed ages away as Rona settled her warmest cloak, the one with rabbit-fur lining around the neck and hood, onto her shoulders. She was only going down into the yard, but a biting wind racked the castle and churned the loch into an angry froth. She pulled a rabbit muff out from Daniel’s armoire just for good measure.
Their armoire, she reminded herself. After that passionate afternoon in the study, Daniel had insisted that she fully move into his chamber. Though it was strange to share such an intimate space with the man, she was more than happy to endeavor to become used to it.
Besides, they had engaged in far greater intimacies than simply sharing an armoire, she thought with a heated flush. Most nights—and sometimes mornings—they explored and tasted, touched and teased each other, learning the other’s body and the depth and breadth of their shared pleasure.
She tossed a glance over her shoulder at the now-quiet chamber, the memories of their lovemaking sending shivers down her spine. As she made her way down the spiral staircase and through the great hall, she let the pulsing memories warm her.
In the nearly two weeks since their heated encounter in the study, another kind of intimacy grew between them. He’d shown her not only with his body but also with his words and actions that he was placing his trust in her.
Though he always insisted that he accompany her to Mairi and Ian’s cottage, he never tried to forbid her from going again. When they were out with Bhreaca, he would often quietly ask her about how she’d trained the falcon, or why the bird meant so much to her. And with each passing day, she opened up more to him, like a flower coaxed by the sun. Her fear of him betraying her or unleashing her secret seemed like a distant memory.
And he’d opened up to her more, too. He’d told her about his beloved uncle William, his late mother’s brother, and how he’d taken a terrible fall from a horse several years back that left him nearly invalid. He spoke fondly of his young cousin Will, whom he’d practically raised after William’s accident. And he’d even told her about his family’s close relationship with Robert the Bruce.
Well, some of it, anyway. He explained what had happened to his clan and their lands in the Battle of Roslin—with Raef Warren leading the destruction and death—and the Sinclairs’ loyal service to the Bruce throughout his campaign to free Scotland from English rule.
She sensed that there was more, that the ties ran deeper, but she was determined not to push him. He’d tell her in time, she reassured herself.
Though the vivid images of their lovemaking still warmed her cheeks, that last thought cooled them somewhat. They had nothing but time ahead of them to deepen their trust, learn more about each other, and perhaps even come to love one another.
And yet…and yet…
It irked her that he still hadn’t completely opened up to her. He now knew all her secrets. But why did she get the sense that there was more he wasn’t sharing with her?
She pushed through the large wooden doors leading from the great hall into the yard. Despite the biting wind and the three inches of snow covering the yard, the castle’s men were lined in rows, swords in hand.
“Block low!”
Daniel had his back to her, his concentration locked on the rows of men facing him.
In perfect unison, the men dipped the tips of their swords and swiped their blades to the right, blocking an imaginary blow.
“Spin right!”
The men stepped through their block and swiveled around so that they had their backs to Daniel.
“Thrust!”
With a synchronized, wordless shout, all the men lunged forward at their invisible opponents.
“Hold!”
The men froze as Daniel slowly walked through their ranks. He occasionally adjusted one of the men’s stance or repositioned the tip of a sword.
Rona couldn’t help but follow his every move with her eyes. Despite the cold, he wore his normal garb—high boots and wool stockings, his red kilt, and a plain linen shirt, which the man had audaciously rolled up at the sleeves. His sheathed sword bobbed at his hip
as he moved lithely and smoothly among the men.
“You’re aiming for the gap between your opponent’s mail and his helm, Patrick,” Daniel said as he approached one of the younger men-at-arms. “Not his heart.” Daniel gripped the lad’s wrist and raised it a few inches.
A foreboding shiver slid over Rona that had nothing to do with the chill in the air. The memory of Daniel standing over those English scouts in the Galloway woods and slitting first one’s throat and then the other’s flitted back to her.
Despite their increasingly candid conversations, Daniel hadn’t spoken to her again about either killing those men or the potential repercussions of his actions. Yet in the last two weeks, he’d been training the castle’s men harder than ever. Surely Raef Warren, the man she now knew was a monster, had noticed that two of his scouts had gone missing. Did Daniel suspect that Loch Doon would come under Warren’s attack? Or was something else driving these grueling training sessions?
Her longing to know everything, to have the whole truth from him, gnawed at her once more. They still had a way to go before they were completely open and honest with each other.
Just then, Daniel turned to resume his position in front of the men and caught sight of her. Even from several yards away, his eyes scorched her. He let his gaze travel up and down her length, and despite her thick winter cloak, she felt naked and exposed. An increasingly familiar heat began to simmer low in her belly as he strode toward her.
“Continue in pairs. Each of you take turns attacking and blocking,” he ordered over his shoulder to the men without taking his eyes off her.
“You come like a thief in the night, wife,” he said with a suggestively raised eyebrow as he halted in front of her. Luckily, the clanging of swords rising from the men behind him kept his tease private.
She blushed at his double entendre.
“And you will catch your death dressed like that out here,” she responded haughtily.
“Is that an offer to warm me?”
She tried and failed to suppress a coy smile. “Perhaps. But you appear occupied.”
His face fell into wry regret. “Unfortunately, you’re right. I really shouldn’t neglect the men’s training.”
Her curiosity tugged at her again. Before she could stop herself, it got the better of her. “What is so urgent about their training?”
Apparently her question also revealed a hint of her annoyance, for he frowned slightly. She cursed herself. Hadn’t she just been reveling in their budding trust and openness? And hadn’t she just firmly told herself that she would wait for him to choose to open up to her? She shouldn’t pry, but it pricked her pride that he was still keeping things from her. Perhaps she hadn’t been completely honest with herself when she’d thought earlier that she could be patient and wait for him to confide in her.
“The men must always be ready for anything,” he said vaguely, and she sensed that he was assuming that air of removed command he sometimes used to keep her at bay.
She should let it go. She should drop it. She should trust that he would open up to her when he was ready.
“What aren’t you telling me?” she blurted out instead, her frustration turning to indignation.
He considered her silently for a moment, his face a mask of stiff detachment.
“It’s none of your concern,” he said coldly.
His iciness only made her temper flare hotter. She opened her mouth to shoot him a biting retort, but before she could, he spoke again.
“I don’t want to involve you in this, Rona,” he said quietly, his voice losing its hard edge. “It’s too dangerous.”
His words doused the flames of her anger. Instead, she suddenly felt sad.
“Perhaps one day you will see that I am capable of handling the truth from you.”
He raked a few loose strands of dark hair back from his forehead. She looked down at her feet, no longer wanting to face his searching blue-gray gaze.
“My family will arrive in a few days’ time,” he said suddenly, changing the subject.
That brought her head snapping up. “What?”
“They are coming to…help us celebrate our wedding,” he said carefully, and again she got the impression that he wasn’t telling her the whole story.
“But we were married almost four weeks ago,” she said in confusion.
“They would have come sooner, but the storms have been fierce in the Highlands.”
She blinked, trying to register what their visit could mean.
“Who exactly is coming?”
“My brother Garrick and his wife Jossalyn are traveling from Inverness, probably alone knowing Garrick.” He smiled a little to himself for a brief moment. “And my eldest brother Robert and his wife Alwin will travel from Roslin with my cousin Burke and his wife Meredith. Oh, and my niece, Jane.”
This was too much information to take in all at once.
“You have a niece? What of your cousin Will? And what are we going to feed all these guests? Why didn’t you tell me we’d be hosting?”
He held up a hand to stay her, though his eyes were soft. “I should have told you sooner that they would be arriving shortly. The timing has been uncertain due to the condition of the roads, but I believe they are nearby, if their travels have gone smoothly.”
“You mentioned weeks ago that we’d have a larger celebration for our wedding, but I assumed you meant when spring was fully upon us.”
His face was unreadable. “I thought it would be better to celebrate as soon as possible,” he said cryptically. “Now, to answer your questions. I have a niece—she is Robert and Alwin’s child, born only this past December.”
“And the babe and mother are fit to travel all the way down from the Highlands?”
Another shadow crossed his face, but he kept his voice light. “Aye, they are eager to meet you.”
She suddenly felt shy and off-balance at the prospect of meeting so many new people—people so close and dear to Daniel.
“What are they like?”
“In truth, I haven’t met Alwin and Jane yet, nor have I been introduced to Jossalyn or Meredith. That’s why everyone is so keen to come down despite this lingering winter weather,” he said smoothly. “It will be the first time my family and I will all be together in more than a year. It’s a chance for us to meet and celebrate all these Sinclair weddings.”
“And your uncle William and young Will?”
“Unfortunately, William is not well enough to travel, and Will has his hands full with his new responsibilities.”
She nodded distractedly, her mind racing at the thought of all the preparations that would be needed in the coming days.
“I’ll have Agnes make up my old chamber, along with two others in the tower keep,” she said absently. “It will be tight, but I think we’ll all fit.”
“And I’ll assemble a hunting party later today,” he offered. “The castle stores are well-stocked, and with some fresh meat, we’ll have more than enough for a proper wedding feast.”
She brought her attention from thoughts of preparation back to him for a moment. “Is this why you’re training the men so hard? You want to impress your family and show them how skilled Loch Doon’s men are?”
His face relaxed slightly, but she didn’t miss the barest flicker in his eyes. “Aye, that’s it. As the youngest, I’ve always felt I had something to prove, as I’m sure you understand.”
But that wasn’t it. Or at least it wasn’t all of it. Uneasiness settled in her stomach, but she tried to mask her thoughts. What else was he keeping from her?
“Very well,” she said levelly. “I’d best go see to the preparations for our guests.”
He nodded, but his gaze searched her. She spun back toward the great hall quickly, hoping not to give away her doubts under his scrutiny.
As she slipped inside the doors to the great hall, she heard him barking orders once again to his men. Though she walked calmly across the hall in search of Agnes, her mind was i
n turmoil. Daniel wasn’t telling her something. Though it made sense that his family would want to gather for a wedding celebration, why would they come down during this hard, lingering winter rather than wait for spring?
Suddenly she realized that in a matter of days, she’d be meeting her new brothers and sisters by marriage. That thought sent her careening into panic. Would Daniel’s brothers and cousin be just as difficult and stubborn as he was? And what would the women be like? Would they embrace her, or would they think her odd and unladylike, as she often felt in the presence of other women?
Her mind swirled.
“Agnes!” she shouted up the spiraling stairs in hopes that her maid would hear her. “We have much to do!”
HIGHLANDER’S RECKONING
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Daniel eased his aching, exhausted body into the wooden chair behind his desk. After a grueling training session with the men all morning, he’d selected a few of the sturdier lads to help him finish the repairs to the curtain wall.
Though his body screamed, he enjoyed the feeling of pushing his physical limits. And even though part of him longed to trudge downstairs and fall into his bed, he knew he could muster enough energy to savor every inch of Rona.
If she’d have him tonight.
The dark thought cooled his blood somewhat. He’d lied poorly to her earlier today, and he knew she was suspicious. Hopefully the rushed preparations for his family’s arrival would keep her occupied enough for the time being.
He hated himself for such a thought, and for lying to her again—or rather, omitting some of the truth. But he wasn’t ready to tell her everything—that he hadn’t just been sent to Loch Doon by the Bruce to marry her and bring the castle firmly under his control.
Sieging Dunbraes would be time-consuming and difficult. But for all that, it would represent a major strike by the Bruce and the Scots against the English. Warren had held Dunbraes for so long and withstood so many attacks that to take the castle from him and the English would be a major coup. And to defeat the bastard Warren in the process—Daniel’s fists clenched in anticipation.
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