by Stone, Jenna
“My Uncle?” Anna asked. It took her a moment to remember the lie that she had told. She had claimed Murdock as her uncle. Anna sighed deeply and drew away from the solace of Rowan’s neck so that she could look at him. “I’ve no family here,” she admitted, her eyes searching Rowan’s face for understanding. “I claimed the man that brokered my betrothal contract with Jonathan as an uncle because I was ashamed. I was ashamed that I was all alone and that I had sold myself into marriage.”
“Is that all, Anna? I need the whole truth if I’m to protect us,” Rowan said, his tone urgent.
Anna nodded. “That’s all. Forgive me for being untruthful,” she said regretfully.
“There can be no more lies between us,” Rowan said sternly. “I need the truth if I am to keep us safe.”
“Always,” Anna whispered. She brought her lips to Rowan’s, sealing the pact with a chaste kiss. His lips were cold from the water.
“We’ll be ready when they find us,” Rowan vowed, the hairs on the back of his neck standing at attention not from the chill in the night air, but from the uncertainty that had settled in his heart.
..ooOoo..
Rowan’s hands reached up and covered Anna’s eyes, catching her by surprise.
“Are ye ready?” he asked, his deep voice giddy with enthusiasm.
“Ready for what?” Anna laughed, enjoying the light, playful mood of her husband. She was so happy to see that he was no longer consumed with worry, worry that Jonathan would find them.
“Tae see yer new home. What else?” Rowan said, his hands still covering Anna’s eyes. “Ye ken that it’s too late tae turn and run. We’re marrit after all.”
Anna laughed and placed her hands over Rowan’s, trying to pry them from her eyes so that she could see.
“Alright, sae eager!” Rowan chastised playfully and removed his hands from Anna’s eyes. His heart was stuck in his throat as he anticipated her response.
Anna stood stock still and squinted into the valley below them, trying to get a good first glimpse of her new home. Her fingers were intertwined with Rowan’s. He stood still as a post behind her. She could make out two small cabins amidst a cluster of small patchwork fields. “I love it!” she exclaimed, turning in Rowan’s arms and reaching up on her tippy toes to kiss her husband.
Rowan let out the breath that he had been holding and smiled down at his wife. “How do ye ken that ye love it when ye can barely see it?” he asked, laughing softly as his fingers traced his wife’s lovely, full lower lip.
“I love it because it’s our home,” Anna said softly, gazing up at Rowan.
“We’ve plenty of work tae do,” Rowan warned as his mind flooded with all of the chores and projects that would need to be completed to get the place ready for winter. The small farm had been abandoned and the Murray brothers had purchased it at a fraction of what it was worth.
“Are Malcolm and Quinn there?” Anna asked hopefully, turning away from Rowan and squinting down into the valley again.
“Aye, they are. They willna expect tae be seeing ye,” Rowan revealed.
“You didn’t tell them why you were going to find me?” Anna asked, her eyebrows lifted with surprise.
“Nay, I didna tell them,” Rowan confessed.
“Why?”
“I just wanted tae see ye one more time. I never intended tae…I didna expect tae ask ye tae marry me.”
“You didn’t?” Anna asked eyes wide.
“No.”
“Then why…why did you?”
“Because it was what I had wanted…wanted more than anything in the world. I just hadn’t dared tae hope that ye might say yes. I was afraid that ye would say no,” Rowan revealed, his eyes downcast as he bared his heart to his wife.
“Rowan,” Anna whispered. “I’m so glad that you did. My heart died when I had to leave you, when I had to go with him.”
Rowan’s mood darkened at the mention of Arbor. He knew that the bastard would look for Anna and he hoped that his preparations would be enough to keep her hidden here. He swallowed hard, pushing the looming thought from his mind. “Malcolm will be beside himself when he sees ye. Let’s go surprise him,” Rowan said, seeking to lighten the mood of their homecoming. When Jonathan Arbor crept into his thoughts, he was consumed with worry for protecting his wife.
“Let’s go!” Anna said, dropping Rowan’s hand and running joyfully down the hill to meet the rest of the Murrays.
..ooOoo..
“Thank God ye marrit Rowan!” Malcolm exclaimed as he took another bite of the stew that Anna had prepared for dinner, chewing appreciatively. “We might have starved tae death if ye wouldna have had him.”
Anna smiled warmly. Her heart swelled with love as she looked around her kitchen table at her Murray boys, each happily stuffing his face with her cooking.
“This is why I marrit her,” Rowan said teasingly as he savored another bite of the delicious stew.
“I guess that this is the upside of my family falling into financial ruin. I had to learn how to cook,” Anna said, laughing softly. A feeling of melancholy washed over Anna, her mood suddenly dampening as she thought of her mother. She sent a silent prayer heavenward.
Forgive me for what I’ve done, Mother.
Forcing her regrets aside, Anna pushed away from the table and began to clear away the dishes, noticing that the Murray brothers had all but licked their bowls clean. The bachelor life had been hard on them. Anna was glad that she could show her love for these men by feeding them. It was the least that she could do when they worked so hard from sun up to sun down, struggling to get the farm in order before winter.
“Can ye help us get the tools intae the shed, Rowan?” Quinn asked, standing and pushing away from the table. “Looks like it might start tae rain.”
“Aye, I’ll be right out,” Rowan said.
“Thank ye for supper,” Malcolm smiled at Anna, his love for his sister-in-law playing easily across his face.
“My pleasure,” Anna winked at Malcolm and handed him a small paper wrapped parcel filled with leftovers. She knew that Malcolm was still growing and now that she was able, she intended to keep his bottomless appetite at bay. Malcolm would not ask for more food, so Anna made an extra effort to send him back to the cabin that he shared with Quinn with leftovers.
Quinn and Malcolm headed out into the dark night, leaving Rowan alone with his wife.
“I’ll be back before ye miss me,” Rowan said, smiling Anna’s favorite lop-sided grin and sauntering over to place a slow, tender kiss on his wife’s lips.
“Not true,” Anna whispered against his cheek, inhaling the sweet masculine scent that was so distinctly Rowan. He smelled of evergreen trees and leather, the scents of the forest. “I’ll miss you as soon as you step out the door.”
“I’ll hurry then. Promise,” Rowan said, smiling and kissing his wife’s hair.
..ooOoo..
Rowan returned after dark, his shirt plastered to his chest from the downpour of late summer rain. His chestnut hair hung loose about his shoulders and curled at the ends.
Anna smiled as Rowan walked into the small cabin. Her hands stalled in the cold dishwater as her eyes roamed desirously over her husband. Rowan had pulled off his sodden shirt and laid it carefully over the back of a chair. He was now stooped by the doorway removing his boots and socks. Anna watched as his work-hardened muscles rippled as he moved. She swallowed hard as she took in the raw masculine beauty that was her husband. Her eyes followed Rowan across the room as he padded barefoot and shirtless towards the fire to warm himself.
Rowan’s eyes flashed to meet Anna’s. He arched his eyebrows mischievously, catching her in the act of coveting him. “Ye are a naughty wee thing,” he teased, reading her mind. “I think that I’ve created a monster,” he joked, easily reading the lustful expression on his wife’s lovely face.
“I’m just doing the dishes,” Anna feigned innocence, remembering the task at hand and pretending that she was actually washin
g dishes. She bit her lower lip in an effort to conceal her smile.
“Are ye now?” Rowan asked, stalking from the fireplace towards his wife. “Then ye won’t mind if I help ye a bit so that ye can finish sooner?”
“No, I wouldn’t mind at all,” Anna said breathily as her husband fitted his arms around her and trailed his warm hands down her arms and atop hers in the dishwater.
Anna forgot all about the dishes. Rowan’s naked chest was warm against her back. His hands stroked hers beneath the surface of the dishwater, intertwining his fingers with hers. Rowan pressed the evidence of his desire into her back and Anna leaned back him.
The dishes would have to wait.
Rowan nuzzled Anna’s neck and bit her earlobe playfully, loving that he could tease his wife senseless and make her forget what she was trying to accomplish. He chuckled softly and kissed Anna’s hair just above her temple, slowly moving his hands back up her arms and out of the dishwater.
“Ye seem tae have forgotten about the dishes,” he teased, pressing himself against his wife’s delicious bottom.
“You have a way of doing that to me, Husband,” Anna smiled, her face flushing with color.
“I’ll leave ye be and wait for ye tae join me when yer done,” Rowan said in invitation, slowly backing away from his wife and smiling to himself as he walked back over to the fire and settled himself in the chair. Rowan loved the way that Anna responded to his touch. He took joy in unnerving her, knowing that she could easily do the same to him, and in fact, often did so.
Anna watched her husband as the fire reflected on his handsome face. She knew that he was tired, but he never complained. Rowan worked so hard, side-by-side with his brothers, doing everything in his power to build a life for her. Her beautiful man had seen so much, had lost so much in his short life, but his spirit remained, wild and unbroken. Oh how she loved him.
Arousal began to build between Anna’s thighs as she watched her husband, in all of his shirtless glory, warm himself before the fire. His skin was golden from working in the sun and his muscles had developed even more from the fruits of hard manual labor. Rowan’s chest was expansive and sinewy with muscle. Anna’s eyes lingered over the muscles of his arms and trailed over the sinew that built his flat abdominal muscles, which tapered deliciously beneath his linen pants. When she thought of just what lay beneath Rowan’s pants, she felt her feminine parts constrict.
The dishes would have to wait.
Drying her hands on her skirt, Anna briskly walked behind Rowan and into the small bedroom that they shared. Boldly, she slipped out of her homespun dress and let down her hair, running her fingers through the blonde masses so that they would cascade down her back. She knew that this was how Rowan liked her hair best. Biting her lower lip in anticipation, Anna lifted her chin and walked completely naked back out into the main room of the cabin. Loving Rowan made her feel bold, reckless, and powerful.
Anna walked behind her husband. Rowan’s eyes had drifted closed as he savored the warmth of the fire. Anna bent down and kissed Rowan on the cheek. She felt his lips turn up into a delicious smile. Anna trailed her fingers lightly over the skin of Rowan’s collarbone and moved to stand in front of him.
“Rowan,” she whispered huskily, standing completely naked before the fire.
Rowan’s eyes opened slowly and then flew open widely.
“Lord in heaven!” he exclaimed with an awed look of astonishment on his face. His mouth hung open in a perfect “O” as he gaped at his beautifully naked wife.
Anna moved forward boldly and straddled her husband, her breasts bobbing seductively against his bare chest.
Rowan’s hands were on her at once. He growled low in his throat, eyes devouring Anna as she sat erotically atop his quickly growing erection.
“Ye’ll be the death of me, love,” he whispered appreciatively as he nuzzled her neck and trailed his fingers down the side of her breast to the subtle curve of her waist.
“I want you, husband,” Anna confessed, moving against his manhood, causing pleasure to shoot through her veins as the rough linen of Rowan’s pants brushed intimately against her sex.
“I can see that verra well,” Rowan chuckled, moving his hands up to support Anna’s back. He took her pink nipple eagerly into his mouth and suckled.
Anna arched back in pleasure. Rowan’s arms were there, waiting and ready to support her as he teased her nipple with his mouth. Anna’s hands were on his chest, sliding up his shoulders and across his strong arms as he supported her. She slid a hand through his wet hair, groaning as Rowan suckled her breast.
“I want you now, Rowan,” Anna demanded, needing relief from the pressure that was building deep within her.
“I’m yours, sweetheart. Body and soul…take what ye need,” Rowan coaxed, his breath whistling through his teeth as he fought to remain in control, fought to let Anna take the lead in their lovemaking.
Frantically, Anna reached down between them and tugged the lacings of Rowan’s pants free, exposing his pulsing erection. She fitted her hand around him, and she smiled devilishly as she began to torment her husband, sliding her hand up and down his length.
Rowan let his head fall back against the chair, savoring the feeling of his wife’s hand surrounding his cock. He gritted his teeth in response to her touch, working hard to give her total control. He needed to be inside of her now but forced himself to hold back.
Rising up on her tippy toes, Anna positioned Rowan at the entrance to her womanhood. Watching the passion flare in Rowan’s eyes, she lowered herself onto his shaft, inch by delicious inch, until she was filled to the hilt by her husband.
Rowan closed his eyes and groaned deeply, lost in pleasure that he felt at being buried deeply in his wife. Having her straddle him like this allowed him to penetrate her so deeply, to possess her so completely. He placed his hands on her hips and began to move her, teaching her the rhythm of their lovemaking.
Rowan trailed his fingers down Anna’s flat belly and found the bead of her desire, stroking her lightly and causing her to call out with pleasure.
“Look at me, sweetheart,” he coaxed, stroking Anna intimately as he tilted her chin down so that he could see her eyes. Her eyes were misty with passion. Anna focused on her husband, slowing her rhythm and savoring the love that she saw in his eyes as he worshiped her with his body. “I love ye sae much,” he said huskily as he stared into Anna’s eyes.
“I love you too,” Anna replied. “So much that it hurts sometimes,” she said with a half-smile.
“Look at me, Anna,” Rowan demanded as he began to stroke his wife again, taking her back to the brink of orgasm. He thrust deeply into her, and her body came undone around him, quivering with an explosive orgasm. Her eyes held his as she moaned loudly and then called out with the force of her orgasm.
Rowan growled loudly and joined his wife in her release, not being able to hold back his own pleasure any longer. He thrust powerfully into her and called out her name, spilling his seed deep within her and surrendering to his own release.
Breathing heavily from the exertion of the lovemaking, Rowan gathered his wife against his chest and tucked her head into the space between his neck and shoulder. He languidly stroked her back, delighting in the goose bumps that spread over her skin as a result of his faint touch.
“Have I told ye today how happy ye make me?” Rowan whispered against Anna’s hair, pulling her closer.
“Hmm?” Anna mumbled, still lost in the aftermath of their lovemaking.
“It’s no just this, ye ken. I mean, I love doing this with ye…” Rowan chuckled and nipped at Anna’s shoulder. “I just want to make sure that I tell ye, that I never let ye forget how happy ye’ve made me.”
“You make me so happy too,” Anna said dreamily, still feeling drunk from the aftereffects of loving her husband.
“I could stay like this with ye forever,” Rowan whispered, relishing the feeling of Anna’s body surrounding him still, savoring her intoxicatin
g scent mingled with the scent of their lovemaking. “I want forever with ye, love,” he added longingly, apprehension about Jonathan Arbor suddenly flooding his thoughts.
His comment flew past Anna, who was now deeply relaxed and satiated, arms wrapped tightly around Rowan’s waist. Rowan pushed his dark thoughts about Arbor from his mind, gathered his wife protectively in his arms and carried her to bed.
Chapter Seventeen
Dearest Mother,
I have a wonderful husband and a wonderful life here in the New World. I am truly happy. In fact, the happiness that I have found here knows no bounds.
Although our life here is comfortable, I will not be able to send you more money as I had promised. I hope that you will understand. I am regretful that I could not keep my promise. I urge you to sell Stanton Place and join us here in America. I know that you would find renewed happiness here with us. As always, I love you Mother.
Hopefully Yours,
Mrs. Anna Murray
North Carolina
..ooOoo..
Anna watched Rowan from the edge of the forest, making a mental note to say an extra prayer for her soul tonight because she was committing the deadly sin of lusting after her husband. She wondered if she would ever get enough of Rowan.
She watched Rowan while he worked, safely concealed in the dense undergrowth of the trees. He had taken his shirt off and his tanned skin glistened with beads of sweat in the afternoon sunlight. Rowan’s shoulders were broad and the muscles of his back rippled as he fought to tear the blade of the plow through the moist soil. The hard labor of farming had developed even the tiniest muscles in Rowan’s arms and chest, and watching his magnificent physique till the soil made Anna’s knees weak.
I’m so lucky that he’s mine.
With one hand resting on the handle of the plow, Rowan straightened his spine and looked up towards the sun. He was probably trying to gauge the time, Anna thought smiling, knowing that he would be expecting her to arrive soon with his lunch.