Faye's Sacrifice

by Madeline Martin

  “Ye’ve cared well for my sister,” Drake said. “I dinna know what I’d find when I arrived and was grateful to see her safe. Thank ye.”

  “I’m afraid it wasna enough,” Ewan said candidly. While he would not tell Cait about why Faye had decided to wed him, he knew Drake would need to be informed.

  “What do ye mean?” Drake’s brows immediately pinched with concern, and his shoulders squared.

  Ewan indicated the chair, and the other man lowered himself to the seat.

  “Ross said if Faye dinna wed me, he would force one of her sisters,” Ewan replied. He’d prepared for this moment, an opportunity to keep Faye’s sisters safe. While he tried to reassure her Ross wouldn’t find out, he couldn’t be entirely certain what the other chieftain might do, and if Faye left, Ewan would be too far away to provide protection. “While I wouldna wed them in a similar condition, there are other clan chieftains who would readily agree.”

  Drake’s lips thinned. “That’s how he convinced her to marry ye.”

  “Aye.” Ewan pulled the parchment from the desk drawer. “I dinna want her to do it, but I had no choice.”

  “Faye has her own mind,” Drake replied.

  Ewan chuckled. “Aye, she does that. But I wouldna put it past Ross to still try to get to yer sisters, especially Clara.”

  Drake drew in a deep inhale. “She’s a good soul. Mayhap too good. I’ll ensure no harm comes to anyone in my family.”

  Some of the weight eased from Ewan’s shoulders at Drake’s ardent reply. Faye and her family would be safe.

  “There’s more.” Ewan untied the parchment and unrolled it. The remainder of the information had been completed, with Drake’s name where Ross had expected his to be.

  Drake’s gaze lowered to the desk.

  Ewan explained how the agreement to wed Faye had included giving Berwick to the Ross clan. “I dinna trust yer grandda,” he said in conclusion. “But from everything I know of yer family, I trust ye and have deeded the land no’ to yer grandda, but to ye.”

  Drake’s focus snapped up to Ewan. “Me?”

  “It will be safe in yer hands,” Ewan replied.

  Drake stared at the document, not speaking. Finally, he cleared his throat and nodded. “Thank ye.”

  “I know ye must prepare for yer return trip to Werrick,” Ewan said, offering the man an excuse to depart should he want it.

  “Aye. Now that I know Faye is safe.” Drake stood and locked forearms with Ewan before leaving the room.

  An emptiness filled Ewan upon Drake’s departure. Berwick had been a pressing concern; one Ewan had wanted resolved prior to Faye’s departure. Now he need only receive her answer, however much that filled him with dread.

  16

  Despite Ewan’s trepidation over Faye’s reply, he had enjoyed the evening meal. By the time it drew to a close, his cheeks hurt from jesting and laughing with her family.

  Even when his brother and da had been alive, they had not possessed a bond like that of the Fletchers. It was easy to lose oneself in their chatter and long to belong to their tight-knit closeness.

  If Faye chose to be with them, her decision would be understandable.

  She slid her hand into his beneath the table and glanced at him.

  “I believe ’tis time to retire,” she said.

  His loins stirred with anticipation. After bidding good night to all, they rose together and made their way through the halls toward Ewan’s bedchamber.

  He knew her passion was nothing more than a mask, another barrier she put up between them. But it was hard to resist the heat of her mouth, the flick of her tongue, the way her fingernails raked over his skin and her cries echoed off the walls.

  It had been thus since he’d offered to allow her to go back to Castleton, their pleasure being another shield. His brain knew he should deny her even as his cock went hard with need.

  He pushed open the door to his bedchamber and secured it behind him. Only this time, she did not arch her body against him once they were alone. Instead, she remained where she stood several paces away, her face tucked downward.

  She drew in a deep breath.

  “What is it?” Ewan asked. “Is something amiss?”

  Her teeth sank into her bottom lip. “I’ve made my decision.”

  Ewan’s stomach knotted. He’d been waiting nearly a sennight for her reply and now that it was coming, he didn’t want to hear it. Once the words had passed her lips, actions would be put into motion. Her items would be packed into trunks, preparations would be readied for her departure, and soon after, she would be gone.

  She took a step toward him and reached for his hand. He offered no resistance as her soft fingers curled around his. He might never feel this from her again.

  “I’ve decided…” She closed her eyes and paused, as though dreading what she might say.

  Ewan’s heart stopped beating for that moment of time.

  “I’ve decided to stay,” she said in a rush.

  The breath whooshed from Ewan’s lungs, and his thoughts spun. She had said it. She had made her choice. She’d decided…

  His gaze jerked to hers. “What did ye say?”

  “I said I’m staying,” she breathed.

  He stared at her, disbelieving. “Here?”

  “Aye, here.” She laughed and put her arms around him.

  “With me?” Ewan asked, still unable to believe her words, thinking he’d somehow not heard correctly.

  She squeezed him closer to her and gazed longingly up at him. “With ye.”

  “Why?” he asked. “No’ that I want ye to change yer mind, but I thought ye would choose Castleton.”

  “It doesn’t hold the same appeal to me that it once did.” She gave him a cautious look. “I want to get to know ye better. And I want ye to get to know me better, as well.”

  A glow of warmth filled his chest, and a smile blossomed on his lips. “I’d like that too. I’ve enjoyed having yer family here and learning more about ye through them. I want to make ye as happy as they do.”

  “Ye’re a good man, Ewan Sutherland.” She rose up on her toes and pressed a kiss to his lips. “I’d be a fool to let ye go.”

  Unlike the other kisses earlier that week, this one was chaste and gentle. And though it lacked the sexual intent behind it the others had, it was far more intimate.

  Part of him wanted to pull her against him and claim her as fully his, but the more rational part needed to know why, to ensure this was truly what she wanted.

  She pulled away slightly after the kiss. “I’ve been scared, Ewan.”

  “Of me?”

  She nodded. “Of ye. Of us. Of what it meant if I allowed myself to care for ye and give my trust.”

  He stroked a hand down her soft cheek. “Ye’ve been hurt before.”

  Tears welled in her eyes. “Aye. Several times.” The tip of her nose went pink.

  He thought she would leave it only at that and was pleasantly surprised when she continued, “My da was an English knight.”

  Ewan nodded, knowing of Drake’s desire to follow in his father’s footsteps and become a knight. A feat that was difficult for a man with equal parts English and Scottish blood in his veins.

  “He died in a battle against the Scottish,” she went on. “Losing him was painful. It was made all the more so from people we thought had been our friends. Many of them had lost loved ones in the same battle that took my da. They hated us, Ewan. These people who we thought were our friends, and they turned their backs on us. The butcher wouldn’t sell us meat, women blocked the well so we couldn’t get to the water, even the priest cast us from the chapel. Through it all, I thought surely, I could trust our neighbors. But when I sought help from my friend for food and comfort…” Her voice went tight with emotion. “She spat on me.” She looked at her sleeve as if expecting to find a spatter of spittle there. “She said we deserved to starve.”

  Ewan remembered Faye as a girl, a sensitive, kind girl whose heart was
easily bruised. He didn’t know who Faye spoke of, the one who had hurt her so cruelly, but he wanted to punish her.

  “We left the village but were met with much of the same hatred all the way up through England and into Scotland, past the border,” Faye said. “We stayed in one place for a while, but…”

  “But what?” Ewan pressed.

  She closed her eyes in clear chastisement of herself. “I told a friend there of how we were avoiding our grandda. The next day, I overheard that her da had gone to the Highlands to seek out the Ross Chieftain. They thought to profit from sharing our location.”

  She shook her head, her expression so pained, it pulled at Ewan’s heart. He stroked a hand down her back, trying to offer whatever comfort he could.

  “It was my fault,” Faye whispered. “I shouldna have trusted anyone.”

  “Ye were a lass in need of a friend.” He pulled her to him. How he wished he could cradle away her pain.

  She nuzzled into his chest, their bodies a perfect fit. “We had to go to the border then, where our accents would be lost among so many of English and Scottish descent, where we could properly hide. But I never trusted anyone again.” She looked up at him. “Until ye.”

  “Ye trust me?” Ewan asked, unable to keep the hope from his question.

  Her blue eyes met his and held. She pulled in a long inhale. “Aye,” she whispered.

  “I’ll never hurt ye,” he vowed. “I think Kinsey would kill me if I did.”

  She laughed through her tears at that. “Aye, she would.”

  Ewan gazed at the woman who had been forced into his life, the one who had been given little option to marry him and yet had decided to stay when she was given the chance to leave. She was attractive enough to turn the head of any man and fierce enough to escape an army of Ross warriors.

  He loved her.

  The thought struck him like an unexpected blow. And yet even as it did, he knew the realization to be undeniable.

  He loved her, but he could not tell her for fear of scaring her off. In time, hopefully, he could confess the depth of his feelings. In time, aye, but not now. Not when it still seemed as if she might be skittish.

  He had her trust, but hearts, he knew, were a different matter.

  Faye had never considered herself a timid woman. She confronted her challenges and dared them to take her on. But standing before Ewan and baring her soul took a bravery she had never before needed.

  The tender, almost hesitant, way he watched her told her he understood her admission had been difficult. He gently brushed his fingertips over her cheek. “Thank ye for trusting me.”

  She gazed into his eyes, and desire stirred within her. Not like before, where lust had swept through her and drowned everything out. She didn’t want to couple with him to forget. She wanted to couple with him to remember—to savor this moment and how hard he’d fought for her trust, how much she willingly gave of herself to offer it and the bond growing between them.

  “Ewan,” she whispered his name softly.

  His thumb stroked over her skin with heart-aching affection. “Aye?”

  “I…” The emotions barreling through her were almost too much. Too foreign to put a name to. She put her hand to his chest and her fingers molded over the shape of his muscle there, and his heart tapped a strong rhythm beneath her palm. “I care for ye.”

  He gazed down at her, and she found herself lost in his hazel eyes, unable to pull away. As if she could stare at him for hours and still crave more. He was a man as beautiful outside as he was inside. And he was her husband.

  He had risked so much for her, given her everything she’d asked for, and offered even more. Never had she imagined herself married to anyone, let alone someone who made her feel safe enough to be vulnerable.

  And here she was, with her heart peeled raw and her hopes thrown wide.

  Ewan cradled her face in his hands. “I care for ye, Faye Sutherland, and I swear to ye, I’ll never break yer trust.”

  He lowered his head, and she rose up on her toes. Their lips met, not with the clash of passion as before, but with a savoring, chaste kiss that became several more. Faye’s hands moved over Ewan, needing to feel him, as though reassuring herself of his nearness and desperate to be closer still.

  He nudged his chin against hers. The rasp of his cropped beard against her sensitive skin sent a prickle of goosebumps running over her.

  “Ye’re so bonny, Faye.” His breath was warm, where it washed over her lips.

  She tilted her face forward to brush her lips over his once more. And again and again and again. Her core pulsed with desire, but more than the need for satiation was the craving for his touch on all of her.

  Her fingers moved over his belt, pulling it free. It clunked to the ground and was soon joined by his doublet and leine. Faye paused in undressing him to marvel at his body. Her hands glided over his bare skin, taking note of every detail of him, learning every scar, every swell and valley of hard-won muscle.

  Through it all, he watched her, not saying anything, his expression soft with regard that settled into an unfamiliar part of her soul. He put his hands on her shoulders and gently turned her around. She gathered her hair in one hand to allow him access to the ties at the back of her gown.

  His mouth swept over the sensitive dip between her shoulder and her neck. Ripples of delight teased over her skin. She pressed back against him as a sigh escaped her lips. He was hard against her bottom, the thick column of his arousal jutting with a need that was echoed in her own core. He continued to kiss her as he unlaced her dress. First pressing his lips to her neck, then her shoulder as it was bared, then the nakedness of her back as the kirtle and sark slid away.

  Every kiss was a spark that left her skin humming with delicious heat. Her clothing pooled at her feet in a soundless heap, followed by the soft pop of the ties of his trews being undone and the rustle of leather pushed free from his legs.

  He curled an arm around her chest and drew her back against him as he cupped her left breast in one large hand. Though they had been naked many times together, the meeting of skin to skin was even more euphoric. Like the heat of sun spreading over one’s face on a cold day.

  He kissed her neck again, light passes of his mouth as the hardness at her back swelled. His free hand eased over her waist, her hips, her stomach and down between her thighs. The first connection of his fingers at her center elicited an eager gasp that nearly knocked her knees from beneath her.

  He gave a low growl in her ear and curled his finger inside her, stroking her as his lips played over her skin, and his thumb swept over her nipple.

  Faye’s legs went weak as her body ignited under his ministrations. She arched toward him, yearning to be with him wholly and completely. Slowly, he turned her around and lifted her into his arms.

  She gave a little laugh. “Are ye taking me somewhere?”

  His eyes locked on hers, and he gave a half-smile that made her heart go soft. “I’m taking ye to bed, wife. But no’ like before.”

  She put her hand to his chest as he carried her and trailed her fingertips over the powerful muscles of his shoulders. His was a body sculpted by the life of a warrior.

  “Not like before?” she asked in a husky voice.

  “Nay.” He settled her on the bed and caressed her in sweeping touches from shoulder to navel. “I want to take my time with ye, to explore every inch of yer body.”

  She closed her eyes to relish all her senses better. She wanted to lose herself in the spiciness of his masculine scent, in the whisper of his fingers causing waves of tingles over her entire body. She wanted her ears filled with the quiet huff of his breath hitched with excitement. She longed for the saltiness of his skin on her tongue and to watch the shadows play over his powerful body. She craved all of it, all of him. All of them.

  The bed shifted beneath her, and she realized he was no longer at her side. She opened her eyes to find him crawling down her body. He stopped when his face was near
her navel and traced his fingers down her inner thighs.

  The delicate muscles there trembled as her legs parted for him, revealing herself to him. He gazed at her center, and heat rose in her cheeks. Then he ran his thumb down her sex in a slow, sensual stroke. A low groan sounded in the back of his throat.

  Pleasure rippled through her, not only at his intimate petting but at the delight he took in seeing her. Yet for the first time, she wasn’t relishing in the power her body had over him, but in the gratification that she took from knowing he found her so desirable.

  His eyes met hers with an intensity that made her bones go soft, then he lowered his head, his mouth hovering over her sex. The tip of his tongue followed the same path his thumb had: gliding over her sex.

  Her breath caught.

  Before she could protest, before she could even register the bliss of such an intimate kiss in her shocked mind, he licked her again. Her hands clenched into the bedclothes as she suddenly feared she might slide off the earth.

  He flicked his tongue over her, probing inside her, circling the little sensitive bud, now swollen with the brazenness of his ministrations. Everything in her went tighter still as an impending release caught her in its grip.

  He shifted slightly and eased a finger inside her, stroking her within as his tongue teased over her. It was all too much in the most exquisite way. Faye tumbled away from any element of control and climaxed with an unrestrained cry.

  Ewan lapped at her even as she gave way to her crises. Her hips jerked away at the sensitivity of her sex. She laughed lightly. “’Tis too much,” she gasped.

  He delivered one final lick, then kissed her lower stomach and up her body as he crawled over her once more. She squirmed underneath him, longing for the feel of his arousal pressing into her.

  She’d never climaxed without him being inside her, and while it felt good, it wasn’t the same without his fullness, without the pleasure of his simultaneous release. He braced himself over her, his gaze still fixed on her, and reached for his arousal.