A Highlander's Home (33 page)

             
He wiggled his toes under the water.  “That’s a lot of love, lass.  Ye’re not going to smother me and the people with it, are ye?”

             
She straightened behind him, and he flinched, readying himself for the sound smack he was sure she would deliver upon him.  But there was no retribution from her.  When he peeked out of one eye, he found her smiling, sitting on her knees.

             
“You have enough bruises and scars.  I don’t want to add to them.”

             
“Och, ye’re not losing ye’re spunk now, are ye?” he taunted her.

             
She rose slowly and sauntered over to the bed, laying down on it
as
seductively
as her roundness would allow
.  “Nope.”

             
His gaze had already heated up as he watched her.  His body ached with wounds and stiffness, but his nether regions were beginning to feel a different ache.  He inhaled deeply, smiling lazily.  He was
definitely
home.

             
She had wondered about how the changes in her body would affect his attraction to her.  Her fears were quenched when she saw the heat in his eyes as he stared at her from across the room.  She smiled.

             
He rose from the tub, forfeiting the nearby towel, and strode over to his wonderful, beautiful wife who was soon to be as naked as he was.

             
Her smile was slow, sexy, as she watched him.  She rose up on her knees and met him.  He noticed her skills had improved
with undoing her laces as she made quick work of them and pushed her dress down to her waist.

             
He groaned at the sight of her breasts, so much fuller than he remembered, larger, begging him to hold them.  Her back arched, her hair fell away, and her eyes closed. 

             
He was home.  This was his wife.  There was no place he’d rather be. 

             
When they lay sprawled in the bed a little while later, both sated in their lust, they were almost in the clutches of
sleep, when
Raine’s
stomach
began to move and take on strange shapes.

             
Leith leaned up on his elbow to watch in
fascination
.  “What on earth is going on in there?”  This certainly did not look natural.  Her belly was supposed to be round, not contorted as it was now.

             
Laughing, she turned
onto her back and told him, “They
like to
wake up just before dawn. They are
very active little bugger
s
.”

             
Leith was in too much awe to laugh.  He placed his hand reverently on one of the mounds that had appeared, only to jump backwards when the mound disappeared and then forcibly kicked his hand.

             
“Is that supposed to happen?  Does it not pain you to bear that?” he asked incredulously.

             
She shrugged nonchalantly.  “No, it doesn’t hurt.  It’s slightly uncomfortable sometimes, and very annoying when I have to get up at dawn eve
ry day, but I enjoy watching
.”

             
Leith smoothed his hand over her belly and leaned down to kiss it.  His mouth was met with a strong kick.

             
Raine laughed at the startled look on her
husband’s
face. “Don’t worry.  They
like you.”

             
Leith looked skeptically from her belly to laughing eyes.  Then he smiled proudly.  “Of course
t
he
y
do
.  They are
MacGregor
s
!”

Chapter 27

             
The next morning they woke late
and dressed unhurriedly, stopping a couple of times to return to bed and enjoy each other again.  When they finally made their way to the great hall, most of the wounded had been moved or returned to their homes.  Mac was there,
a
priest
turned doctor, helping to heal the bodies as well as the souls for those who
would and
would
not survive.

             
Later that afternoon, when they all sat down for a late meal, Mac told Leith, “I’m glad you’re home, son.  It was a long battle.”

             
Leith fingered his cup.  “Thank ye, Mac.  It was a long battle.  And I’m glad to be home.”  He looked at Raine who was heartily refilling her plate of chicken, potatoes, vegetables, and a little bit of everything else on the table.

             
“She eats like a horse,” Mac whispered
conspiratorially
.  “She never stops, either.”

             
Leith turned his head from Raine and tried to stifle his laughter.

             
“I heard that,” she said with her mouth full.

             
The fire place cackled and spit, filling the room with heat and casting a glow on the wall.  The wounded were sleeping soundly thanks to Mac’s and the midwife’s administration of a sleeping potion to them.  The dogs sprawled lazily in the corners or as close to the fire as they could without cat
ching their tails on fire.  The men all wore smiled on their faces as they talked and laughed with their wives, all happy to be
reunited
.  Leith smiled.  He had missed this.

             
When the table was cleared, they remained, none of them wishing to spoil the jovial mood that had descended and remained in the great hall.

             
Mac reached into the folds of his robe and pulled out a book.  It looked like it was going to disintegrate into dust any second.  He handed it to Leith.

             
“What’s this?”

             
“It’s the future of Hell’s Gate.”

             
Leith pushed the book back to him.  “No more talk of ye’re stars and planets and destiny, Mac.”

             
“This is a different book than the first one I showed you.  I knew there was another book with more information, I just couldn’t find it!  This is the one that ye’re mother was speaking of.”

             
Leith and Raine exchanged blank looks.  Raine continued to eat her dessert and loudly licked her spoon.  “What does that mean?”

             
Mac slammed his hand on the book, sending a cloud of dust into the air.  Excitedly
he said, “That means, my dear,
that ye are supposed to be here!!  Ye were meant to be here and save us!  If ye hadn’t come when ye did, if ye had not run into Leith that day in the woods and distracted Alisdair with your thievery, he would have ambushed Leith and his men and claimed Hell’s Gate for himself!  Don’t ye see?  Ye were meant to be here.  The book says so!”

             
Raine swallowed.  “Mac, that book could be referring to any woman.  How do you know it means me specifically?”

             
“Och, ye of little faith!”

             
He flipped through the pages and stopped.  Raine was surprised the book had not fallen to pieces yet.

             
Mac pushed the open book in between the two of them and stood back. 
There on the dirty, yellowed pages of this book that had been written by an unknown ancestor, was a hand sketched
portrait of Leith, Raine, and two
young boy
s
. 

             
Raine gasped, almost choking on her desert.  “That’s us!”

             
Leith looked closely at the drawing.  “It could be, but it’s an old book, and the details are blurred.  It does look similar but there’s no way to tell that these people are us.”

             
“Turn the page.”  Mac stood frowning with his arms crossed over his chest.

             
Leith turned the page and stopped breathing.  Looking back at him was Raine.  The page looked as if it had been drawn yesterday, it was so clear.  Her eyes, her lips, her smile.  She was dressed in those blasted clothes he hated that she claimed were “jeans”.  She stood in front of Hell’s Gate, staring back at him, her hair blowing gently away from her face.

             
“How can this be, Mac?” Leith asked in wonderment.

             
Raine looked over his shoulder and choked.  A servant girl patted her on the back.

             
She said, “Where did you get this?  How can that picture of me be in this old book?  I haven’t even been
technically
born yet.”

             
Mac held his arms open to the sky.  “
Wondrous
things can happen if you but listen.  The name on the book is worn.  I cannot tell who wrote it, but I know it was your ancestor, Leith.  And he knew you were coming,
my lady
.”

             
Leith flipped the page back to the family portrait
on the other page.  “And the children
?”

             
“Your son
s
.”

             
Leith
squinted at the drawing.  “Well,
t
he
y
def
initely
look
like
MacGregor
s
.”

             
Raine could hear the pride in his voice even if he claimed not to believe this hard-to-believe explanation from Mac.

             
Lady MacGregor swept into the room and made her way to them.  “Good afternoon everyone.  Raine,
my dear,
you look wonderful.  And hungry.  Doesn’t your husband ever feed you?”

             
They smiled at her humor as she reached for the book in front of Leith. 

             
She gasped when she saw the picture.  “I told you! I told you I saw her picture!  I told you so!”

             
Mac sighed and rolled his eyes.  “Yes, my lady, you told us.  And I found the book.”

             
As the two bickered over who was responsible for discovering it, Leith and Raine made their way outside.  They stood in front of the
oversized doors
and looked out over the land.  It was still covered in white, the silence comforting, the wind still and the air causing their breath to turn into little white clouds.

             
Raine leaned into Leith’s warmth.  “Do you believe that?”

             
Leith rested his chin on her head.  “I believe that ye are here.  I believe that ye are my wife and the mothe
r of my child
ren
.  I believe that
somehow
, some way, ye were brought to me.  And I believe that I love ye.  No matter how much of a headache ye cause me.”

             
She giggled,
and then
hiccupped.  “Hmm.  I believe that I have to have some more of that dessert.”

             
Laughing with her, he kissed her lips, tasting the sweet custard she enjoyed so much. 

             
She sobered.  “I also believe that no matter how I got here, through magic or accident or
destiny that
I was meant to find you.  And I believe that I love you more than anything else in this strange world.”

             
He flashed
a smile.  “I am glad ye
fell on me in the forest that day.”

             
She gave a small laugh. “So am I.”

             
His smile disappeared.  “I’m glad you did not go home, lass.  I don’t know what I would do without ye in my life.”

             
She took his face in her hands and marveled at the beauty of this oversized Scotsman who had become her everything.  She tiptoed and kissed him lightly. 

             
“I am home.”
             

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