by Paula Quinn
When she reached them, her father stepped forward and took her hand. She was so glad he was here, so thankful for his blessing, her heart nearly burst. He was the shining example who taught her what a good man was. She found her brother behind him and smiled, her joy overflowing. She wished the others were awake, but it was better this way, with only her father and brother, Ruth, the children, and Ettarre…this time.
“God’s blessings on yer life together, daughter.” Her father handed her over to Lachlan, trusting that she had chosen wisely. It made her eyes sting, but she was done with weeping.
She looked up at her betrothed and found him smiling at the sprigs of thyme woven through her hair. She was thankful to Ruth for finding her a beautiful lavender gown to wear to her wedding. She grinned like a dreamy lackwit while the priest asked for their consents. She gave hers, promising to love, honor, and cherish him all her days.
When it came his turn to speak, he began, paused, and then began again. “I pledge my heart and my life to ye, Mailie MacGregor, and to our children. I will be at yer side through every joy, and carry ye through any storm. Ye…brought hope to my soul, and…ehm…ye had faith in my heart when I did not. I promise ye’ll never regret it.” His eyes went a bit misty and he laughed softly at himself. “Hell,” he muttered, shaking his head. Then, “Fergive me, Father.”
The priest gave him a slight nod and then continued with the benediction. Finally, he pronounced them wed.
It was done. She had married the beast, the man she loved above all others. She kissed him in the sight of her kin and her children. It wasn’t the way she wanted to kiss him, but it would do for now.
They drank to a long, happy life, and Lachlan and her father briefly discussed Sinclair and what to do about him. He’d arranged for her to be kidnapped, but she was safe. Mercy was her father’s discretion. If Lachlan felt differently about having his deceased daughter used for Sinclair’s gain and killed the earl, the MacGregors would stand behind him.
Her father wanted to take the men and leave for Invergordon at dawn, but Mailie didn’t want Lachlan to leave her so soon. They were just married! “Faither, can Sinclair wait one more day?”
He shook his head. “Nae. We’ve already tarried long enough. He’s going to realize his emissary failed at his task, and he’s going to leave Invergordon and hide somewhere else.”
“Aye,” Lachlan agreed, “he must be caught while we know where he is.”
Mailie looked away. They had a few short hours together, then. Because revenge was a ravishing monster.
“If ’tis all right with ye,” she heard Lachlan say to her father, “I’d like to meet up with ye in Invergordon in a day. I’ve no desire to kill the man who brought her into my life.”
Mailie went soft against his side. He’d rather stay with her for another day than chase down the man who deceived him about his daughter. Oh, she would thank him for it soon.
She felt a blush steal across her face and tried to conceal it from her father.
“Mummy?”
She looked down at Lily and her doll and smiled. “Aye, my love?”
“I’m sleepy.”
“Come to bed, then,” Mailie told her tenderly. “First, bid yer grandpapa farewell. He must leave in a few hours. Uncle Luke as well.”
She watched her father bend to one knee and gather Lily in his arms. Luke kissed her and Lily the doll’s small hand. That pleased the lass well. They would visit Camlochlin often. Her children would spend time among the MacGregors and learn of their clan as the other children in the vale did.
Promising to see them all off in the morning, she asked her brother to see the priest out, then looked around for Will. She found him sprawled out asleep in a deep cushioned chair before the hearth. She smiled at Lachlan when he appeared at her side to lift the lad in his arms.
“Come, Ettarre,” Lily called out as they left the solar, picking up Ruth on the way.
Mailie caught her father’s worried look when the hound came running.
Will didn’t awaken when Lachlan laid him into bed. Mailie thanked the Lord he was a sound sleeper and set Lily down next.
“Are ye no’ comin’ to bed, Mummy?” Lily whispered when Mailie pressed her lips to her forehead.
“Nae, darling, but I’ll come and check on ye later. Ruth is going to stay with ye tonight.”
“And Ettarre,” the gel added, hugging the dog to her as she snuggled deeper into her pillow.
“Good night, Papa.” She grinned at Lachlan when he hovered over her.
“Good dreams, Princess Lily.” He wiggled his fingers on her belly and she giggled and squirmed.
Watching them, Mailie realized that something between them had changed. He’d won Lily’s heart, and she had won his.
Mailie wondered what happened. Had Lily had a difficult time while she was gone? She asked Lachlan when they stepped out of the room.
“The first night ye were gone, she insisted on sleeping with Ettarre’s bowl. I boiled it and scrubbed it until the wood squeaked. ’Twas the only way she would get into bed at night.”
Poor babe, Mailie thought. She’d never leave her again. “Thank ye fer keepin’ them.”
He looked down at her and crooked his mouth. “Of course. I’ll always be here fer them, Mailie. I’m their father.”
“Aye,” she said tenderly. “Ye are.”
She smiled and then giggled as he bent to lift her off her feet and carry her to his room.
“Alone at last,” he whispered against her ear, and set her down on the bed. He kicked off his boots and discarded his plaid then and stretched to pull his léine from his shoulders.
She basked in the sight of him, thrilled in the anticipation of his strong arms around her. Her gaze dipped to the pageantry of muscles displayed in his tight, flat belly. She wanted to run her tongue over it…and more. She’d dreamed of him while she was away, but nothing compared to the true majesty of his form and physique before her now. Every inch of him was hard as granite, save for his expression.
“I have thought of nothing all day,” he said softly, slowly while he climbed over her onto the bed, “but the taste of ye on my mouth, the feel of ye in my hands.” He bent his head and took her mouth in a brief, possessive kiss, branding her with a sweep of his tongue while his fingers fumbled with the laces of her stays. His breath came harder, shorter. She helped, and they laughed as she removed the layered barrier between them.
She sat up, dangling her bare breasts over him, and slipped out of her skirts, leaving nothing but her petticoats.
He moved his mouth to capture her tight, teasing nipple, but she backed away and laughed.
“Ye’re verra eager.”
“Aye,” he agreed thickly, closing the gap.
“I was thinkin’,” she told him with a playful smile curling her lips, “ye escaped all this with naught but a scratch from my brother. I think ’tis time ye were properly punished.”
He cast her a dark smile of naked male intent. “What did ye have in mind?”
She left the bed and laughed when he reached for her again. “Ye will no’ have me tonight, Lachlan. This is yer—” She squeaked and bolted when he bounded from the bed after her. She ran around the bed and over it to escape him, her laughter filling the chamber.
He followed, as agile as a cat and as fast as one, snatching her waist and dragging her back into his arms.
“Do ye think ye can ootrun me, wife?”
Breathless, she gazed into his lightning-streaked eyes. He excited her, made her wilt in his enveloping embrace.
With the last of her feigned resistance, she smiled against his mouth when he moved it over hers. “Do ye think ye’ll have yer way with me if—”
In one fluid movement, he swept her knees from under her, landing her flat on her back, yanked up her petticoats, and disappeared beneath them.
Mailie’s eyes opened wide with surprise, and then she giggled when his prickly jaw rubbed across her inner thigh.
&nb
sp; He wouldn’t be held back from having his way with her. She liked it. She loved it.
He ran his palms down her thighs and spread her delicate folds with his fingers. When he dipped his mouth to her crux, she grew stiff, stunned at how delightfully good it felt.
With a slick swipe of his tongue, he made her writhe and open herself wider. His teeth grazed her nub, setting flames to her insides, her thoughts. He feathered his tongue over her, inside her, and drank of her like a parched warrior until she covered her mouth with her hands to muffle her cries.
He rose up on his knees like a carved mountain over her and untied the laces of his breeches.
Her hungry gaze settled on the fullness of him still confined. She watched him free himself, his huge cock springing forward, weighted down by its heaviness. She thought about all the ways she wanted to enjoy him while he tossed his breeches over his shoulder. She wanted him inside her, but first she wanted to touch him, learn him, taste him.
She sat up and traced her fingers over his taut belly, burning a path to his inner thigh. His cock leaped and she took him in her hand. He groaned above her, emboldening her to close her fingers around his thick shaft. She stroked him as if he were something treasured. When she bent her head to take him into her mouth, he fell back, catching himself on his palms behind him, thrusting his cock upward.
Mailie didn’t let him go but licked her tongue over the length of him and sucked him until he ground out a tight moan that sounded less than human.
Her body ached for him, so she didn’t resist when he pushed her down and tore her petticoats away with little force.
She lay naked, ready, and waiting for him, needing him.
He covered her, kissing her mouth, her chin, her throat, and sank deep, ripping a muffled gasp from her lips pressed against his shoulder.
She coiled her legs around his waist and took him to the hilt, gyrating her hips, clutching his shoulders, his arms while he thrust and withdrew. He slipped his hands under her and cupped her buttocks to hold her still while he guided himself in and out of her, pressing her burning nub to his hot skin. His eyes glittered on hers like hot steel. She felt her muscles tighten around him as he moved faster and with scintillating purpose.
She never wanted to stop, but pleasure overtook every one of her senses, and ecstasy racked her body while she found her release with him and then went limp, drained in his arms.
Thankfully, because of Lachlan, they had another day together before he was off to Invergordon. She would make good use of it, she thought, before she climbed on top of him.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Mailie stood with Lachlan in the front hall, surrounded by her kin readying to leave Avoch Castle. She’d known they would find her. She hadn’t expected them to leave Lachlan alive. Or to like him.
“Stay on the road when ye travel tomorrow,” her father told her husband. “’Twill be easier to find ye if ye get there too late.”
“Dinna worry,” her brother said, “we’ll save ye a few bones to break.”
Ruth, who had woken before dawn and prepared food for them to take on their journey, stepped out of the kitchen and handed each his package. When she came to Mailie’s father, she blushed. “Safe travels, sir.”
Mailie smiled, knowing what Ruth thought of him. Most women liked him and his glossy chestnut locks and dimpled chin, his courtly manners and easy smiles. But his heart belonged to her mother, and to her was he loyal.
“Remember,” he said, turning to his daughter next, “we’ll be expecting ye in Camlochlin in a month fer yer wedding.” He winked at her and she nodded, then threw her arms around him.
“Our secret fer Mother’s sake.”
“Aye, love,” he said into her ear. “I’m glad to share it with ye.”
When he stepped away from her, she was tempted to call him back. But she was a wife and a mother now, with a new life before her. She couldn’t wait to put all this behind her and begin living it.
She looked down at Ettarre sitting by Lachlan’s feet. Mailie had let her out of the children’s bedchamber earlier to give the dog the chance to go with her father.
None of them knew what her choice would be.
Her father turned away and headed for the doors. Mailie’s breath faltered with every instant Ettarre didn’t move. Her father would never force a lass to do anything against her will, but Mailie knew his heart had to be heavy.
When he stepped over the threshold, Ettarre leaped forward and took off after him. When she reached him, she shoved her nose under his palm first and then stood up on her hind legs and pushed herself under his arm. She was his and no one else’s.
Mailie rejoiced at Ettarre’s loyal heart and mourned the canine member of her new family.
“We’ll need to explain to Lily…,” she told Lachlan as he shut the castle doors behind them.
“Jamie MacKenzie’s dog recently delivered pups,” Ruth told them. “’Twould help Lily get over the loss of Ettarre.”
“Aye,” Mailie agreed.
“Aye.” As did Lachlan.
They smiled at each other.
“We will visit Jamie later, then.”
She nodded. Later, then. Now she wanted to bring him back to bed. “We shall visit everyone. Ye’re their laird, after all. But later.”
His gaze warmed on her, sensing what she wanted and eager to give it to her.
“Why dinna ye both go rest.” Ruth smiled at them. “I’ll take care of the children when they wake up.”
Mailie could have kissed her! She did kiss her!
His wife was eager for him. What more could a man ask for? To be hungry for her in return? He was. He barely made it back to his bedchamber before his cock was rock hard once again.
He shut the door behind them and drove home the bolt with one hand. He grasped her wrist and pulled her to him with the other.
They undressed each other between kisses and intimate smiles. They stood naked together, soaking up the vision that stood before them. They both rushed forward at the same time and collided in love’s embrace. She closed her arms around his neck and stretched up to meet his lips.
He opened his mouth and took her in while his palms roved down her back and curled around her firm arse. She pushed up, winding her legs around him. She held firm, tossing back her head and driving him mad as he buried himself inside her.
He wanted to burst clenched in her tight sheath. He used every ounce of control not to. Watching her hooded eyes and languid, seductive smile didn’t help. He grabbed hold of a handful of hair falling down her back and pulled, exposing her throat. He bit her neck softly and held on while he glided her up and down. Her grip grew tighter around him, her movements more sensual, until she cried out and dug her fingernails into his shoulders.
He watched her, satisfied that he pleased her, thankful that she loved him. His control snapped, and he lifted his face from her throat and pushed her back against the wall. He held her up with the power of his thrusts until she emptied him and he fell against her.
Later, he lay on his side next to her in their bed, his elbow in his pillow and his head in his hand. He watched her while she told him about her childhood in Camlochlin, her other brother Patrick, who had thankfully found his true love and turned from his roguish ways before someone’s husband killed him.
He told her of his life before and after Hannah and Annabel, of the wars and the things he’d seen.
Hearing the children up and about a little while later, they left their room and joined them for breakfast.
Lily wept when she discovered Ettarre was gone, but her mood brightened when they told her about Jamie MacKenzie’s puppies.
“Can we go get the puppy now?” Lily asked, teary eyed.
It meant his going to the village and reacquainting himself with everyone. He mourned his quiet, peaceful life with a brief sigh and then mourned it no more. He loved the clamor of a family, the sounds of living.
“I dinna see why not.”
The
children cheered. His wife’s gaze warmed on him. Hell, there was nothing better than this. He’d become a monster, but the love of his family restored him.
“Mayhap,” Mailie said, her eyes lit with excitement. “We can have a gathering here tonight. We can invite everyone from the village!”
“I’ll tell everyone to bring a dish or two,” Ruth suggested. “Otherwise, there will be no time to prepare enough food. They willna mind.” She paused to tell Lachlan while he scowled, “They will be happy to share yer life again.”
A gathering? Here? Lachlan swallowed back his resistance and nodded. “I’ll have to bring down the chairs and open the great hall. ’Twill be dusty.”
Ruth waved away his concern.
“There’s a great hall?” Mailie asked him.
“The eastern wing,” he reminded her. “There’s a chapel, guardrooms, a buttery…I didna think I would have use fer any of it. But aye, there is a great hall.”
She looked toward the kitchen door with a quirk of her delicate brow, as if wondering how she’d missed it.
Lachlan smiled watching her. He loved her face and was tempted to lean over his chair and kiss her.
Her gaze returned to him, just as perplexed, but softening as she spoke. “What is yer aversion to chairs? Why did ye empty the castle of all but the three before we arrived?”
So, she wasn’t finished barging into every detail of his darkest thoughts until she knew every part of him. He sat staring at her while he tried to remember why he’d removed all the chairs specifically. When he did, he shifted his gaze away for a moment and then returned it to her. He wasn’t that man anymore.
“I didna want anyone to find comfort here and want to stay.”
She smiled and reached out to touch his face. “Ye brought the settee doun fer us—fer our comfort.”
“Aye,” he breathed.
She looked at the two smiling faces watching them while they ate. “Ye wanted us to stay.”
“Aye,” he told her, not taking his eyes off her. “I wanted ye to stay.”