To Tempt Highland Fate (The Mac Coinnach Brothers) (65 page)

             
“Aye… and I would never have let him go if I believed such a charm exists, or that he would find it.  The gypsies speak of all kinds of charms and magic that they ken nothing about.  Eian needed to blow off some steam.  I thought it would do him good, to get away for awhile.  I thought he would search for a time, then give up and come home.”  He set his cup of ale down on the table with a thud.  “That was before we found the documents.  Three sons to be born of three sons.  Six men to usher in an age of peace and prosperity.  I think Eian had to go searching not for a charm, but for his mate.”

***

             
Later that night, Willa tossed and turned on the huge bed, her eyes seldom leaving the heavy oak door, which she had left unbolted.  Was he not going to come to her?  Or was he really going to wait until their wedding night to take her again?  Was she bold enough to go to him?  Maybe, but she wasn’t sure she could find his chamber without getting lost in the maze of corridors.  Finally, there was the faint sound of the latch lifting, and her heart began to race in anticipation.

              Drust had no intention of waiting for a ceremony to take what he already considered his.  In his mind, no wedding vow could bind them more tightly together than they already were.  As it was, he could not physically stay in his room while Willa was sleeping elsewhere and within his reach.  He already needed her like his next breath, which both frightened and thrilled him.

             
He pushed at the door to her chamber, and smiled when he found it unbolted.  She had been waiting for him, again.  Very soon, he would share a room with her, and she would fall asleep in his arms every night.  After he loved her.  She sat up in the bed, the sheets falling down around her hips, her hair in loose tangles over her shoulders and down her back, her face lit softly by the moonlight.  The most beautiful thing he had ever seen, and she was his.  He crossed the room in two strides, pulling off his clothing as he went, until he stood before her, naked. She reached for him and he sank down over her soft, warm body. 
This was home
.

Chapter 18

             
The three weeks since her wedding had been the most perfect weeks of her life.  She had a man that she loved above all else, and he doted on her, barely letting her out of his sight.  She had a new home at Creagmor, and a new sister in Faith.  And Maura and James would be coming to visit in a few months, after they dealt with all the repairs at Dunbroch and things were well settled.  Bren had even sent some of his men to help with the new fortifications. 

             
The wedding ceremony had been simple and perfect:  a short exchange of vows, a feast fit for a king, dancing, and then a long, sweet night of making love to her husband again and again.  She smiled.  Drust had come such a long way from the stubborn and surly man who wanted no wife and no love.  Now he was openly affectionate with her, touching her and kissing her whenever he could, looking at her as if she was the most precious thing in the world.  She had never dreamed she could be this happy.

             
Now Willa hurried down the tower steps to the hall.  She and Faith were going to have a picnic lunch in the gardens this afternoon, because the men would be gone all day to the training fields.  Just as she reached the bottom step, Faith came out of the kitchens carrying a basket.

             
“Are you ready?”

             
Faith grinned.  “Yes, let’s go!  Time for some gossip and girl talk.”

             
Willa smiled back.  She had liked Faith immediately, and though she had noticed something a little different about her new sister in law, she never would have guessed it was because Faith had been pulled from the future by a magic ring to be here in this time with Bren.  And then sent back.  And then returned again.  And it was Drust who risked his life to bring his brother’s mate back to him.  Which was how she had found him nearly dead in the mountains.  Fate… it was a beautiful and complicated thing.  She was so glad it had worked in her favor.

             
They chose a nice spot in the sun, and Willa rolled out a small blanket for them to sit on.  Faith began pulling food out of the basket.  “Oh!  The cook packed us some meat and onion pies.  I love these!”

             
The smell of the pies drifted to Willa’s nose, and she nearly gagged.  “God!  They smell awful!”

             
“I thought you liked these, you ate them with me just last week”, Faith said.

             
“I do like them… but don’t those smell odd to you?  Maybe they’ve gone bad…”

             
Faith lifted one and drew in a deep breath.  “Nope.  They smell delicious.” 

             
Suddenly she paused and looked at Willa, a slow smile spreading over her lips.

             
“What?  Why are you looking at me like that?  Do I have something on my face?”

             
Faith glanced around and leaned closer.  “No.  But tell me, when was the last time you um… bled?”

             
Willa felt her mouth fall open.  Oh god.  “I… I don’t remember exactly… I think I’m a couple of weeks later than usual, but with all that happened… I didn’t think about it…”  She swallowed, her eyes wide.  “Why?  Do you think…”

             
“I definitely suspect.  Are your breasts tender?  A little swollen? 
Bigger?
”

             
“Well, yes… but I thought maybe they just weren’t used to… being squeezed so much.”

             
Faith laughed.  “Believe me, they don’t get bigger from squeezing alone.  Or sore.  I should know.  Nope, I think it’s official, you’re pregnant!  We’ll have Maggie check you over, of course, but there’s no doubt in
my
mind.  Now that I look at you, you’re even glowing!”  She suddenly gave a happy shriek, bouncing up and down in her excitement.  “Oh, this is so amazing, we’re going to have babies together!  Sons!  They’ll play together and grow up together… oh and we can spend the winter making cute little clothes!”

             
Now that Faith had said it out loud, Willa knew in her heart it was true.  A wave of pure joy swept through her.  A baby!  A little life growing inside her, a part of her and a part of Drust… her smile fell.  Drust was not going to be at all happy about this.

             
Faith frowned and picked up Willa’s hand, squeezing it in her own.  “What’s wrong?  It’ll be all right.  We’ll have each other… is it about the baby clothes?  Because I can teach you how to sew…”

             
Willa shook her head.  “No.  No it’s not that.  I’m happy… I really am!  It’s a dream come true for me, to be a mother.  Something I’ve
always
wanted.  It’s just that Drust… he didn’t want to have any children.  In fact he was quite adamant about it.  He was even going to talk to the sorcerer about herbs that would keep me from getting pregnant.  I think… no, I
know
he’s going to be very angry.”

             
Faith scowled.  “What?  Stupid man!  Most men would kill to have a wife like you and a baby on the way.  What’s his problem?”

             
“I’m not sure exactly.  He said he doesn’t want to be a father, that he wants it to be just me and him forever.”

             
“Well”, Faith said confidently, “If the man has issues, he’s just going to have to get over them.”

             
Her elation at finding out she was pregnant was tempered only by the fact that she would have to tell Drust.  She just did not see that conversation going well.  She placed a hand over her womb and couldn’t help but smile, her heart swelling with love.  “It’s all right, little one.  I love you.  I want you.”

             
Willa took a bath after dinner while Drust was meeting downstairs with his brother and some of the other men-at-arms.  She then donned her laciest, most provocative nightdress and sat by the fire to comb her hair dry until it shone.  Lost in her own thoughts, she was startled when the door opened.  Drust stepped into the room, and as always, her heart sped up.  Even more so tonight, because she had a secret.  She had a part of him inside of her; his son or daughter.  Son, if what Faith said was true.  Butterflies gathered in her stomach.  She smiled at him and stood up, turning to put the comb down on the dressing table.  He was behind her in an instant, his powerful arms encircling her, pulling her close while his mouth found the curve of her throat.  She leaned back into him, waves of tingling heat washing over her. 

             
“I need ye”, he said against her skin.  “I’ve been waiting all day, in fact I’ve been hard since I spied ye in the garden just after breakfast.”  He reached for the laces of her night dress, pulling them free and reaching down to cup her breast. 

             
“Mmmm… God, ye’re beautiful.  I will never, ever get enough of ye.  I
love
this being a husband.”

             
At least, Willa thought ruefully, he’d stopped fighting her on
this
front.  Since the beginning, he had been determined to fight against his attraction to her, then to fight against his own happiness, and now he would wage a war against their unborn child.  She had won the first two battles; she could win the third as well. 

             
She traced her hand slowly down his chest, pausing to brush a fingertip lightly over the rounded tip of his straining cock.  His breath hitched in his throat.  He let her fondle him for a moment before he flipped her back onto the bed, pinning her with his big body.  “When ye touch me that way”, he murmured near her ear, “ye make me lose all control.”

             
“Good”, she told him, and bucked her hips up against his.

             
He hissed in pleasure and drove into her, sinking deep.  Willa sighed and arched her back.  She could feel the tension of the day coiled tightly in her muscles… all of them.  As Drust thrust against her, the tension quickly grew tighter and tighter, pleasure building to impossible heights, until finally it erupted into hard spasms of relief.  Above her, Drust groaned low in his throat as his muscles strained and he thrust faster and harder.  He threw back his head and pulled out of her body, just as she felt the hot spurts of his release against her stomach.

             
Sated, at least for the moment, Drust gathered Willa close with her back against his chest and her head pillowed on his arm.  This was bliss; pure happiness that he had never thought to have, never thought he deserved.  But she had saved his life, healed him, loved him, and brought him out of the darkness that had been his existence for so long.  She was his light.  She was everything.  Without her, he was fairly certain he would no longer be able to breathe.  His chest pulled tight and ached just feeling her there in his arms, in his bed, in his life.  He would never, ever let her go.

             
Willa took a deep breath.  She hated to break the peace that had settled over them like a soft warm blanket, but this was not news she could keep secret for long.

             
“Drust?”

             
“Mmmm?”

             
“I think it would be so wonderful if we were to have a child of our own.  Don’t you?”