Wed to a Highland Warrior (20 page)

“I am to abide by a rule that has me surrender my home without thought to what I lose?” she said, more adamantly than she had intended.

“You think you lose, not gain?” he said with a raised voice. “That is what you think of our marriage.”

Her voice rose as well. “Our marriage is not in question here.”

“Then tell me what is.”

His demanding tone irritated her. “You should know.”

He threw his hands up. “I do not have your abilities, and why don’t you just use them to answer whatever it is that frustrates you and be done with it.”

Her eyes narrowed, and her lips clamped shut.

“Don’t even think about remaining silent. We’ll have this out and be done with it.”

“You tell me to find the answer myself, then order me not to remain silent. Make up your mind.”

He shook his finger at her. “This was a discussion best left for another time.”

“You are the one who encouraged me to share all my thoughts with you.”

“Not when I hunger to make love to you,” he snapped.

She felt a pang to her heart, but her chin went up. “I didn’t know there would be specific times to discuss things with you.”

“That’s not what I meant, and you know it.” He rushed his fingers through his hair again. “Damn, but you’re frustrating me, but then you know that too. You know everything.”

“And that bothers you?” she more accused than asked.

He stomped over to her and placed his face so close to hers that their noses almost touched. “You know the answer to that too. Now tell me what truly troubles you, and let’s be done with it, though I doubt by now either of us are in the mood for making love.”

His words hurt, and she stepped back. Had she approached this matter at the wrong time? Was this rift between them entirely her fault? Would she lose a night of making love with a husband she dearly loved because she had thought only of herself?

Or was she once again surrendering another piece of herself for love?

“Now you say nothing,” he snapped, “which is what you should have done in the first place.” He turned his back to her, walked to the fireplace, and braced his hand on the mantel.

She stood where she was: shocked, disappointed, feeling guilty, all feelings foreign to her. Her world had always made sense, but then she had been in control of it. Love had taken that control from her and had taught her what . . . to share?

But hadn’t that been what she was doing when she had attempted to speak with him?

Not truly, and he knew it; he knew her. He knew there was more to the matter than the issue of her new home. So why hadn’t she been honest with him? Thus far he had not grown angry with anything she had discussed with him . . . until now.

He certainly had grown angry, and she understood why. He wanted to make love, not talk, and yet she needed to talk before . . .

She shook her head. She had wanted him to ease her doubts, her misgivings and her fears that this sudden marriage had been forced on her.

She glanced over at him and winced, the scars on his back looking as angry as he had. He had suffered so much, and she had felt most of it when she had helped heal him. He was a good, caring man, and, suddenly, the need to end this senseless rift between them overwhelmed her, and she walked over to him.

With a bit of reluctance but an overpowering need to touch him, she rested her hand on his back.

As soon as her hand connected with his warm flesh, he turned in a flash and grabbed her wrist. Anger mixed with passion in his eyes and in the next second he scooped her up into his arms.

“I’m sorry for my harsh words. I wanted nothing more than to make love with you. I could think of nothing all day but making love to you. Even when I led those two fools on a merry chase, I was thinking of what I would do to you tonight. Let me love you. And then we will talk until sunrise if you wish.”

She smiled and nodded, and hurried them to the bed.

Chapter 25

T
rey kissed her like a starving man, then quickly shed his plaid and boots and helped her out of her clothes. When he had shed the last of her garments, and she lay naked on the bed, waiting for him to cover her, he took a calming breath, his body so hard for her that it hurt, and slowly moved over her to cradle her hips between his knees.

He brought his mouth to hers and kissed her lips gently though he wanted nothing more than to ravish them. “I’m sorry for disappointing you.”

She shook her head in protest.

He nodded. “Yes, I did disappoint you. I promised I would always be there for you, and I wasn’t this time, and I regret it.”

“I should have waited,” she said.

“No, you needed to talk with me, and I could think only of making love with you.”

“Not a bad thought,” she said with a smile.

“A selfish one.”

“Not so,” she said, “for I get great pleasure from making love with you.”

“I won’t let it happen again. I prom—”

She pressed her finger to his lips. “Do not promise, for it is one you will not be able to keep.”

He nipped playfully at her finger, then kissed her lips gently. “I’m going to kiss every part of you.”

“Do I get to do the same to you?”

“Only if you want this night to end fast.”

She laughed and shook her head. “I’d rather what you promised—a night of making love, though”—she grinned and slipped her hand down between his legs to stroke him—“I wish a night to do the same to you.”

His hand grabbed hold of hers and moved it off him. “I will make certain of it, but tonight . . .” He smiled slowly, the smile turning wickedly sinful as it spread; and then he kissed her.

Bliss had shared many a kiss with Trey, but this one was as if he kissed her for the first time. She couldn’t say what it was about it that made it feel that way, she just sensed it. It was as if this moment they were starting their life together as husband and wife.

The thought tugged at her heart and made her senses explode, her body responding like it had never done before. It was as if his kiss had brought every fiber to life. Her skin prickled with passion, her nipples turned hard, aching to be suckled, her stomach fluttered with anticipation, and a tingling desire raged between her legs.

He had only begun, his lips now at her neck, and already she was mad with the want of him. She would never survive this. She would be crazy with—she nearly bolted off the bed when his lips claimed one nipple, and his tongue played unmercifully with it.

She moaned and squirmed beneath him. “Trey.”

His tongue moved to her other nipple, and his hand gripped her breast as his tongue and teeth alternately forced the bud to turn even harder.

“Trey, I can’t wait.”

“Not yet,” he said, continuing to torment her.

“Please, I can’t wait,” she pleaded. “I want you so badly.”

He glanced up at her and, with a smile, released her breast. “I’m going to make you come over and over and over tonight.”

His hand had traveled down over her stomach while he spoke and was now slipping between her legs as his mouth returned to torment her nipple.

She jumped when his thumb grazed her pulsating nub; and then his fingers slipped inside her. His thumb and fingers worked in a rhythm that had her body arching, aching for him to slip inside her, but he didn’t.

He teased and tormented her until she thought she’d go mad. While she knew he could pleasure her easily his way, she preferred sharing this moment of madness with him. She wanted him inside her, deep inside her. And so she slyly maneuvered her hand down until she was close enough to grab hold of him.

His body tensed, and she groaned with pleasure at the way the thick size of him fit so snugly in her hand. She then did what he was doing to her—she played with him.

“Bliss,” he said in a whispered warning.

“You’re hard for me,” she murmured in his ear. “Bury yourself inside me and pleasure us both.”

He groaned. “Damn, Bliss—”

She intensified her playful tugs. “It’s been too long since you’ve been inside me. I need you to fill me.”

Her words did the trick. He moved so fast that it stunned her. He drew her legs up over his shoulders and grabbed her bottom as he plunged into her in one swift motion.

She gasped with pleasure as he drove repeatedly into her, inflaming her passion to unimaginable heights. Her moans grew with each thrust, and she slipped her legs off his shoulder to wrap them around his waist and draw him closer.

His rhythm intensified, and she could feel his own passion building as wildly as hers. It wouldn’t be long now for either of them. They would climax together, she could feel it, she wanted it, and she wanted them to be one.

It hit them so hard and quick that they both cried out at the same time, exploding together in a climax that seemed to go on forever, rippling through them again and again and making them shiver down to their souls.

Trey collapsed on top of her, and she welcomed him. Tingles continued to run through her, and she didn’t want the deliciously delightful feeling to leave her just yet.

He went to move off her, and she grabbed hold of him to stop him, but she couldn’t, and when he took her with him, rolling her over to rest on top of him, she smiled and settled her head to rest on his chest.

“I love the feel of you inside me,” she said.

“Then I will reside there often.”

She glanced up at him and grinned. “As often as you’d like.”

He stroked her face. “I am a lucky man to have you as a wife.”

“Oh!” Bliss cried out and slipped off him, her hand rushing to her stomach as she jumped out of bed.

Trey was beside her in an instant, his hand resting over hers. “What is it? Did I hurt? Are you in pain?”

Her eyes turned wide, and she smiled. “We made a child.”

It was his turn for his eyes to grow wide, and he stared at her, speechless.

She moved her hand from beneath his and pressed his hand against her stomach. “I felt it the instant he took hold and nested.”

“He?”

She nodded and grinned. “A son. I carry a son.”

She felt his hand press more firmly against her, and a smile spread across his face. “You will know each time we make a child?”

“It would seem so. Oh, Trey, it is so amazing to feel life take hold.” She shivered, the chill of the room wrapping around her.

Trey scooped her up and settled her on the bed, tucking a blanket around her. She grabbed his hand as he turned to walk away.

“I go to add more wood to the fire.”

Reluctantly, she let him go. She wanted him beside her, holding her, sharing this special moment with her, and he did. He returned, climbed in beside her, and took her in his arms to cradle her close.

“I cannot believe I am to be a father,” he said.

“You will be a good one,” she assured. “I have seen how patient and caring you are with children. You will be an excellent da.” She grew quiet for a moment. “You do want to be a da, don’t you?”

He lifted her chin so that she looked up at him. “Nothing could please me more than to know that our love made a child this night.”

She kissed him quick. “Your words warm my heart and grow my love for you even more.”

He grinned. “Do you know what truly pleases me?”

“What?”

“That you cannot keep anything from me, and it seems that the closer we grow, the more difficult it is for you even to try.”

Her brow scrunched for a few moments, then she nodded. “You know, you’re right. I seem to just blurt things out.”

“Or they disturb you so that you must talk about it.”

He hadn’t forgotten that she had wished to talk and was offering her this time to do so, to listen and discuss with her.

“There is nothing I want to discuss right now,” she said.

“When you’re ready, I am here to listen.”

She smiled and kissed him again. “You have made me so happy.”

“We make each other happy and nothing—absolutely nothing—will separate us.”

She wanted to believe him, but her knowing told her otherwise although it was not always easy to understand her knowing. Perhaps there was more to it than what she had sensed.

She sighed, contented, and snuggled against him. “Remember that you promised me a whole night of lovemaking.”

“And so we shall, after a brief rest.”

“Just a brief one,” she said on a yawn.

His yawn matched hers. “Brief,” he repeated, and, within minutes, they were both asleep.

They woke sometime in the night and made love again, slower this time, though their climax was just, if not more, intense than the previous one.

They drifted off to sleep once again and woke just before daylight and joined quickly, as if starved for each other. They slept again, though briefly, then hurried to get dressed and be on their way though not before Trey took her in his arms.

“You feel all right?” he asked.

“I should not even know that I carry a child.” Her words made her realize their importance. “It would be better for none to know that I am with child.”

He looked ready to protest but hesitated a moment before speaking. “I see the wisdom in that since many would not understand, but I want you to know that I would shout it out for all to hear that you carry my son.”

She smiled though she cringed. “Another fact that would be best kept between us, at least for a while.”

He nodded and slipped his arms around her waist and drew her against him. “The birth will be an easy one?”

“I do not know.”

“I do not wish you to suffer.”

She chuckled. “That is something I agree with though pain is inevitable with birthing.”

He cringed. “The thought that you will suffer to—”

“Giving our son life will cause me no suffering,” she assured him. “I have attended many births, and while there is pain, there is joy. Every mother has smiled when the babe is placed in her arms.” She chuckled. “Perhaps it is because there is no more pain though I think it is more because of the small babe that grabs at the heart as soon as a mother holds her child in her arms. And I look forward to that moment when I hold your son in my arms.”

He looked about to ask a question, then thought better of it and stopped.

“Ask me,” she urged.

He tightened his arms around her. “Will I be there with you when you birth my son?”

“I do not know,” she said with a sad shake of her head.

“I tell you right now, wife,” he said adamantly. “I will be right there for you. Nothing will keep me away—not even the true king.”

She wrapped her arms around his neck. “That tells me much about you, husband, and pleases my heart.”

“Good; then know you and I shall have a good life together, and I will allow nothing or no one to interfere with it.”

She didn’t want to sense or know anything at that moment. She simply wanted to believe him, and so she kissed him, gently at first, but it turned heated all too soon and he rushed her to the bed, and there, with clothes hastily shoved out of the way, they made love.

It was a fast, intense joining, and though neither made mention of it, they both worried that it could possibly be their last, at least for a while.

It was well after sunrise when they took their leave, and it was a long tedious day of making tracks, backtracking, and making tracks again to confuse and frustrate the soldiers.

By early afternoon, they spotted a stream and stopped to rest by it and share a bite to eat.

“I’ve sensed no soldiers all day,” Bliss said, cuddled beside her husband and wishing they could share another night alone.

“It concerns me that we’ve come across none.”

“Why?”

“I wonder if they abandoned their search for a greater cause.”

“You think they are close to waging war?” she asked, and tried to sense if that was happening.

“It would seem the logical conclusion,” Trey admitted.

“True and yet—” She shook her head. “I can’t say I sense it though something doesn’t seem right. It is as if the king waits for something—a message, I think.”

“From whom?”

“I don’t know.”

“It is good that we will reach home by nightfall,” Trey said. “It is time I speak with my brothers.”

Bliss knew he was right. It was time for him to return home, and yet, as they continued walking, drawing ever nearer to his home, the feeling of them separating grew stronger. Something awaited them at Trey’s home that would somehow cause a separation between them, Bliss was sure of it, and with each step, she was beginning to realize what it might be.

Hard as it was to believe, the thought grew stronger and stronger within her.

Clouds followed them overhead and seemed to grow heavier with each step. The crisp air grew chillier, and it felt like snow.

Bliss was relieved when Trey stopped just before dusk claimed the land and took her in his arms.

“We’ll be home soon. Is there anything you need to tell me?”

There was so much she had to say though words slipped from her mouth before she could stop them. “I love you and I always will.”

“That sounds like you bid me farewell.”

She shook her head. “It is a reminder.”

His smile revealed relief. “A reminder I wouldn’t mind hearing often.”

“Then you shall.”

He kissed her, a long and lingering kiss, and afterwards, he whispered, “I will make love to you tonight.”

Bliss smiled though she knew it was not meant to be.