“Sleep, mo ghraidh.”
The sound of being called my love by Callum made her smile, even as her eyes drifted closed once more. “We have entered yer brother Graham’s territory, and his men have joined us. Neither yer father nor the earl’s men can follow without threat to their lives.” Relief made her sigh as she nodded. Callum pressed his lips to her ear. “Soon, we will be with our son.”
“Aye,” she replied drowsily and drifted to sleep once more, where she was met with a dream of Brody and Callum.
They were all floating in the water, the sun shining down on them. The day seemed perfect. But then a shadow appeared of a figure holding a dagger. She could not see its face, and she jolted awake with fear and dread in her heart. They traveled through the day and into the night without stopping. There was no time for talk with the pounding hooves and jolting road. She fell asleep once more near the break of a new day, and when she awoke sometime later, the sun was high and Dunvegan Castle loomed before her. Her breath caught in her chest as joy flowed through her.
The courtyard was filled to capacity with MacLeods, but at the front of the gathered men and women stood Iain, who held his son Royce’s hand. Beside Iain stood Marion, his wife. In her arms, she held the most beautiful thing that Marsaili had ever seen—Brody. He was giggling as Marion tickled him, and then she pointed toward Callum and Marsaili and whispered something in the child’s ear.
Behind her, she felt tension ripple through Callum’s body, and she understood why because she felt the same thing, had the same worries. What if Brody feared them? What if they were terrible parents? What if—
“Together,” Callum whispered to her.
She nodded. Callum dismounted and helped her to do so, too. They interlaced their fingers and walked to their son as one. When they stood before him, Brody reached for Marsaili, holding out his chubby arms, and said, “Mama.”
She promptly burst into tears.
After greeting her brothers, her sisters-in-law who were present, and Maria, Marsaili made her way to her bedchamber to wash and spend some private time with Brody. Callum followed. She could sense he was reluctant to part with her, and she was with him, as well, but Iain had asked Callum to attend him in the laird’s solar before supper, which did not give them much time.
When Marsaili opened her door, she was shocked and grateful to see a beautiful crib within, nestled under the window. Callum rested his hand on her shoulder as she bounced Brody on her hip. From behind them, someone cleared their throat, and Callum and Marsaili turned as one.
Marion stood there and gave a radiant smile. “Iain commissioned the crib to be carved for you,” she said, her English accent not as heavy as it once had been. Marion brushed a hand over Brody’s head. “When Lena wrote to him and told him of the bairn and what had occurred—”
Marsaili tensed knowing that Marion was referring to Marsaili’s treachery. Iain had been kind enough when he had greeted her in the courtyard, but she had not expected him to denounce her on the spot. She assumed he would discreetly call her to him for her reckoning.
“He was angry,” Marion said, ever truthful, “but Marsaili, he does understand. I told him I would have done exactly as you did.”
“Truly?” Marsaili asked. Marion was one of the most honorable, bravest women Marsaili knew, and if she would have done as Marsaili had when put in such a terrible position, it somehow lessened the guilt she felt.
Marion nodded, then hugged Marsaili as she held Brody. “Truly.”
“Down!” he pronounced, wiggling out of Marsaili’s arms. She set him down, though reluctantly. He marched over the bed on still-wobbly legs and picked up some toys that had been left there for him before settling on the floor to play. Tears of joy came to Marsaili’s eyes.
Marion patted her as Callum drew her near and squeezed Marsaili’s arm reassuringly. “We will have a thousand of these moments,” he said quietly.
She nodded, knowing it was true.
Marion cleared her throat. Marsaili looked over at her, but Marion’s green gaze was focused on Callum. “I took the liberty of putting you in the bedchamber next to Marsaili. I presumed you would want to be near her and your son.”
“Thank ye,” he replied, his voice catching with obvious emotion that made Marsaili’s heart squeeze.
Marion looked at Marsaili now. “I had the gowns you left here washed and the wrinkles shaken out. I’ll have them bring up a tub and water. I gave Brody a bath this morning. Royce helped me,” she said with a chuckle. “Those two boys will be the best of friends.”
“Thank ye for taking care of him.”
Marion waved a hand. “He’s a joy to have around, and I am his aunt, at any rate. We will have to visit you a great deal after you are married—” she gave Callum a pointed look that made Marsaili chuckle “—so the children will all grow older together and be close.”
“I could nae agree more,” Callum said, taking Marsaili’s hand. “And I’m certain that Marsaili will wish ye all to travel to our home to attend our wedding.”
“When will that be?” Marion asked, giving Callum another pointed look that left no doubt in Marsaili’s mind that Marion had heard Callum was promised to wed the Earl of Ainsworth’s daughter.
“In the next fortnight,” Callum replied, glancing at Marsaili. “If ye agree, that is?”
Marsaili barely got out the “aye” that cracked on her lips. The swirl of emotion inside her stealing her ability to speak.
“I’ll leave you now, but I will see you both shortly at supper.” Marion started to walk away, then turned back around. “Oh, Brody usually takes a nap right about—” She laughed suddenly and pointed at something behind Marsaili. She turned to find her son curled up on the bed with his thumb in his mouth, his tiny chest rising and falling with sleep. “I’ll send a supper tray up for you, Marsaili, if you prefer to stay with him.”
Marsaili nodded. “I’ll stay with him until he wakes. Does he sleep long?” She hated that she did not know.
Marion shook her head. “Actually, no. So you should likely be able to attend supper if he wakes and is not fussy. He has only woken fussy once, though, so all should be well.”
Once Marion departed, Marsaili and Callum made their way to the bed. Callum very carefully scooped Brody up, set him in the middle of the bed, and then the two of them lay on either side of their sleeping son, facing each other. Below Brody’s curled-up feet, they interlaced their fingers and each of them set a palm on their child. Marsaili could see in Callum’s eyes that he had just as much need as she did to touch their son and ensure he was here, that it was all real.
For a long time, they lay in silence, alternately staring at each other and at Brody. Then Callum spoke. “When we return to Urquhart, I will need to speak with Coira alone to break the pledge of marriage given to her.”
Marsaili nodded. “I ken. I am nae vexed about it. But I am fashed that yer mother will be angry with ye. Will ye ask Iain for an alliance to help continue to defend against the MacDonalds, the Gordons, and now possibly the Earl of Ainsworth?”
Callum rubbed a gentle hand down their son’s back. His tender touch to their child made Marsaili’s chest ache with happiness. She could see he was contemplating things, so she did not speak. She simply enjoyed watching him with their son.
After a moment he said, “Aye, if ye are fine with my doing so?”
She smiled, pleased he asked her thoughts. “Aye.”
He smiled. “I dunnae wish to be like my father, but I see and ken that he did what he needed to in order to keep the clan safe. He made an alliance and used me to do it. We will need alliances, but I dunnae wish to use our children, unless it is something they wish for.”
“We are of a like mind,” she said, relieved. Her father had always used his children, and she had thought for a long time that all families did the same until she had met her half siblings and their partners. They had all married for love, and only one of those alliances had been dictated, and that had
been Iain and Marion’s. Yet, even then, Marion had chosen Iain. Albeit, her only other choice had been an evil English knight, but she had picked Iain. Marsaili would give her children the opportunity to marry for love. Trying to deny the love between herself and Callum had almost destroyed them both, and she did not want that for her family.
“We will find a way,” she said, squeezing his hand, “but I believe Iain will be agreeable.”
“I believe so, as well. Iain has a heart for ye, lass. He is yer family.”
“I felt alone all my life, and now I dunnae. I feel so blessed. It scares me a little.”
“Why?” he asked, giving her a perplexed look.
She felt foolish telling him, but she did not want to hold anything back from him. “I have nae ever had such good fortune. I feel as if something bad must surely be brewing.”
“I will nae let anything bad happen to ye again, Marsaili,” he vowed.
“Nor I to ye. We will have to guard each other well, aye. We will have many enemies to contend with.”
Brody started to stir. Callum and Marsaili both went to pat him at the same time and in the same spot. They laughed, and Callum moved his hand down to pat their son’s bottom as Marsaili patted his back.
Once he stilled, Callum said, “I hope the MacDonalds will pull back if I secure an alliance with yer brother. That reprieve would allow me needed time to strengthen fortifications and train new warriors so that the need for an alliance is nae so great. The Gordons will want my blood always, but I dunnae fear them. As for Ainsworth, I am hoping that he will see reason when I offer to keep the alliance with him and help defend his land against sieges from the MacDonalds.”
“Ye have given this much thought,” she said, impressed.
“Aye. The moment I kenned I could nae deny my feelings for ye and honorably marry Coira, I started to think on how I could protect my clan and also have ye. I love ye, lass. I would rather wage a thousand wars than live another breath without ye.”
“I love ye, too.” She wiped away a happy tear as their son’s eyelids fluttered open.
Large, brown eyes stared first at her and then at Callum, and then Brody promptly announced, “I hungry.”
“That’s my, laddie,” Callum crowed, scooping the child into his arms. “He already kens his mind, and I will teach him to stay true to it.”
“We will teach him,” Marsaili corrected with a chuckle.
Twenty
The meeting with Callum and Iain went better than Callum had hoped. Iain proved to be a generous man, offering an alliance before Callum could even broach the subject. Having the weight of that worry off his shoulders allowed him to concentrate fully on Brody, Marsaili, and her family at supper. As he watched Marsaili’s half brothers with their wives and children, anticipation for his future built for the first time in a long time. Soon he and Marsaili would be wed, and he would sit at the dais in his own great hall with her by his side, along with Brody, until he likely wiggled away to wander around the great hall as children were prone to do. Royce, Iain and Marion’s son, had sat at the dais for a time between his parents, as had Lachlan and Bridgette’s son, Magnus, but both children were already squirming and trying to get down.
Marsaili was bouncing Brody on her knee when Iain asked her to attend him in the solar. She rose and started to hand Brody to Marion, but Callum stopped her. “I’ll take the lad,” he said, holding out his hands. Marion smiled at him, but Marsaili gave him a questioning look.
“Are ye certain?” she asked. “What if he cries?”
Her new motherly worry pleased him. His own mother had been rather cold all his life and had shown more concern for how much coin was in the chests than for her two sons. He’d thought most women were like that, but in his short time at Dunvegan, he’d seen that his mother was not like most other mothers. “If he cries, I will soothe him.”
“What if he wets himself?”
“Then I’ll clean him,” Callum assured her. “And if he’s hungry, I’ll feed him. If he falls, I’ll pick him up. Dunnae fash yerself, lass. I am his father, and I will care for him always.”
“Ye are proving to be a good father,” she said, her voice hitching.
He grinned as she left the dais with Iain. Lachlan leaned around Cameron and said, “Dunnae make the rest of us look bad, ye ken?”
Everyone on the dais laughed, and not long later, Callum found himself on the dance floor, swinging Brody around while Royce clapped and shouted, “Me too!” Then Lachlan’s son tugged at Callum’s arm for a turn. He was having such a good time that he did not notice Marsaili had returned until she tapped him on the shoulder and then held her arms out for Brody.
“’Tis his bedtime.” She gave Callum a smile and look that heated him. “And mine and yers, if ye are intelligent.”
Desire thickened in his blood. “Do ye mean to say ye wish me to come to yer bedchamber?”
“Ye are intelligent,” she teased, turned, and sashayed out of the great hall, provocatively swaying her hips.
He immediately started to follow her, but when he exited the great hall, he found himself face-to-face with her four brothers and Alex MacLean. The men all had their arms crossed and Iain spoke. “Ye will marry immediately upon breaking the other vow, aye?”
Their concern amused rather than irritated him. “Aye. The verra next day.”
“Why nae that day?” Lachlan demanded.
“I thought to give the earl and his daughter time to depart.”
“Likely wise,” Alex agreed.
“We will all come to witness the wedding,” Graham said.
Cameron nodded. “And our wives.”
“And bairns,” Iain added. “So ready chambers.”
“Gladly,” Callum assured them. “Now if ye dunnae mind, I wish to see my son to bed. I’ve nae ever gotten to do that.”
“By all means,” Iain replied, sweeping his hand toward the stairs that led to the bedchambers.
“But after that,” Lachlan said, “find yer own chamber, aye? Marsaili is our sister, and we give ye liberties for we ken a wedding is to come and—”
“And well, ye already made a wee bairn,” Graham said, which elicited chuckles.
“But it kinnae seem we condone ye being in her chamber before the marriage,” Iain finished.
“Certainly nae!” Lachlan exclaimed with a wink. “We did nae ever do such things.”
“At least,” Alex added, “nae that anyone kenned. So be quiet.”
All the men nodded, grins on their faces.
With a shake of his head, Callum made his way to Marsaili’s bedchamber, and when he pushed open the door, he found her curled around their son, both mother and child fast asleep. Such strong emotion filled him that he rubbed his chest as he made his way into the room, crept carefully onto the bed, and fit himself behind Marsaili, one hand resting on Brody. Soon, he too fell asleep.
Callum awoke to a touch as light as a feather trailing down his chest. He opened his eyes to find the room in complete darkness, except for the moonlight that streamed in through the window. Marsaili sat atop his hips, her thighs on either side of his.
“Will we nae wake Brody?” he asked.
Marsaili chuckled. “He awoke crying nae long ago. I took him out so as nae to wake ye, and Marion was in the passage doing the same with Royce. She said the two of them like to sleep side by side, and I wished to have a bit of time alone with ye, so…”
“So Brody is sleeping with his cousin?”
Marsaili grinned. “I hope so. Callum, I had a dream,” Marsaili whispered, running her fingertips down to his braies, hooking her nails under them, and then touching the tip of his staff, which had become painfully hard.
He hissed in an effort to hold in a groan of pleasure at her touch. “What did ye dream?” he asked.
“Of the time we joined our bodies. I have dreamed of that night many times. I dunnae wish to wait until we wed to feel ye within me again. And tomorrow we will be traveling and nae be alone,
so…”
“So we have but this night,” he finished for her, sliding his hands up the silken skin of her thighs, under her thin léine, and to her perfectly rounded bottom, which he squeezed. Need rushed through him hot and fierce. It was the need of three long years without her. His pulse spiked as he rolled her over to her back and climbed atop of her. “I dunnae think I can be slow, lass. I have longed for this too much. But the next time—”
“The next time?” she asked with a giggle as she slid her palms up his bare stomach to his chest.
Lust strummed through him, making him tremble. “Aye, the next. Tonight, after the frenzy, there will be calm, slow, pleasurable torment.”
“I look forward to it,” she promised, wrapping her arms about his neck and tugging him toward her.
He did not need to be asked in any other way. He crushed his mouth to hers, as he pulled her léine up to her hips and slid the undergarment off. She parted his lips with her tongue, and the reckless abandon he tasted in her mouth, the feverish need he felt from her hands, and her thudding heart that matched his own took the little control he had.
He trailed his hands to her breasts as he kissed her and ran his fingers over her hardened buds. When she moaned her pleasure, he teased her there with pinches, but he needed more, and he sensed that she did, too. Breaking their kiss, he took her nipple into his mouth and sucked and pulled, spiking his desire with each luscious stroke. Her gyrating hips and the way she tossed her head back and forth told him her need was as great as his.
She clutched his arms and whispered fiercely, “I’ll take tenderness later, aye. Come in me now, I beg ye.”
He quickly kicked off his braies, braced her thighs, and slid into her with a groan. She fit him perfectly, just as he remembered, and the moment he started to move, so did she. They found a rhythm that made everything fade away but the two of them, and all the moments that they had lost, they reclaimed with each kiss, each touch, each whispered word of love. They found their climax together, covering each other’s mouths to silence their screams of release, and when their wild joining was over, they lay panting side by side.
When a Scot Gives His Heart Page 23