‘Callum?’
His heart soared at the sound of his name on her lips. ‘Aye.’
‘Are ye planning to stand here and hold me the whole night through?’
He planned to hold her all night, but not while standing. He cleared his throat. ‘I never thought to wed, Isla, but more than that, I cannae believe you’re my wife.’ Awe stole the strength from his last few words.
Her palm cupped one side of his face. ‘Since I was a lass, my dream was to marry a man who loved me. A strong man who would sweep me off my feet. Look at me now. And to think I’d started to believe such a man was only a foolish girl’s dreams.’ Her tongue slipped out to moisten her lips. ‘Ye almost died. For me.’ Soft fingertips traced along his jaw and brushed against his lower lip. ‘I love ye with all my heart and soul, Callum. I want to love ye with my body too.’
A rush of desire swept through his veins. He’d never lain with a woman, but he’d shared enough conversations with Duff and Adair when they’d tried to convince him not to choose a celibate path to know what to do. He’d also learned the first time for a woman was painful and he was determined to do all he could to ensure Isla felt as little discomfort as possible.
He lowered Isla to her feet, then cradling her face in his hands, he captured her mouth with his and kissed her until the pulse beating beneath his fingers against her throat drummed as fast as his own. She tasted of joy and truth and everything good. He savoured her and her urgent kisses. But the tension that had troubled him since Father Beaton named them husband and wife seeped into every muscle.
Callum broke the kiss and pressed his forehead against Isla’s. Their panted breaths mingled and filled the air. ‘I have a confession.’
‘Whatever it is, I hope ’tis short.’ Her hands slid down to curl over his shoulders.
Callum chuckled at her breathless impatience and slowly shook his head in wonder. Despite not knowing what it was, his new wife’s belief in him made the words come easier. ‘I have never lain with a woman.’
Her fingers flexed on the tops of his shoulders. ‘Because of yer mother?’
Her understanding helped relieve much of the strain holding his body rigid. ‘Aye. I thought she suffered from a sinful desire of the flesh. When I met you, I feared I suffered the same affliction.’
‘Why?’
‘Something about you made me want to kiss you. I’d never even kissed a woman before, but once I tasted your lips, the need to kiss you again was too fierce to deny.’ Cal remembered his struggle and his willingness to fail.
‘Yet ye denied Mags when she offered ye more than soup and ale.’
‘Aye.’ He had.
‘I’m certain ye have passed up many other offers too.’
Aye. ‘A few.’
Her fingers slid into his hair at his nape. ‘I must confess I am pleased. I know little except what Sorcha’s married older sister had told her. Now we can learn together and teach each other.’ She licked her full lips. ‘Callum?’
‘Aye.’
‘May I undress ye?’
Callum smiled at the woman in his arms. Her willingness told him she wasn’t afraid of him or what they were about to share. ‘Only if I can undress you too.’
‘Oh, aye. But only if ye kiss me first.’
Cal cradled her face in his hands and pressed his mouth to hers. The feel of her lips fuelled his desire for more. His fingers trailed down her arms and across her breasts until they found the laces of her gown in the centre of her chest. He heard the faint hitch in her breath, but before he’d untied the first of her lacings, Isla’s fingers had already opened those on his vest and fought to tug his shirt from his waistband.
He shrugged his shoulders out of the leather vest and pulled his linen shirt free from his plaid. Cool fingertips edged their way beneath his shirt and found his stomach. He had no idea how sensitive the bare flesh of his torso was until his wife skimmed adventurous fingers and palms up his sides and into the centre where they paused at the vee of hair that continued below his waist.
His stitches pulled and he clenched his jaw against the tightening about his wound.
‘Did I hurt ye?’ she asked softly.
‘Nae.’ She hadn’t, but she bent close and set her lips against his stomach as if she had. Cal hissed his delight and tore his shirt off over his head. His heart pounded in his chest and every breath he drew and released sounded uneven.
He cupped her face and kissed her with all the desire she was fanning to life beneath his plaid. Her hands trailed over his skin from stomach to chest and it was then that he captured her wrists and kissed the palm of each hand before he released them at her sides. ‘My turn.’
He finished tugging the laces of her gown loose and knelt to grasp the hem about her ankles. As he raised the fabric higher, he looked up to see her teeth worrying her lower lip and her fingers were curled into the palms of her hands.
‘Isla, do you want me to remove your gown?’
‘Oh, aye. Here, I’ll help ye.’
Callum smiled and stood as she whisked the woollen gown off over her head. The smell of lavender and Isla’s womanly scent filled the air and wisps of her chestnut hair settled about her face. The garment she’d removed dangled from her fingertips as she stood before him wearing only her shift and ankle boots, the flickering flames from the brazier behind her rendered the linen sheer and revealed the slender curves of her figure beneath. The sight almost drove him back to his knees. He wanted to show her in words what he saw but his throat grew thick and his pulse doubled. God above, let me do this right.
He swallowed and stepped forward. ‘Let me help you remove your boots.’
Cal gently grasped her waist and relished the tiny gasp she emitted at his touch. He knelt and sat her on his bent knee. ‘Hold onto me.’
Cool fingers settled on the heated flesh of his bared shoulders and he grit his teeth to silence his own gasp. He forced himself to concentrate on the task he’d set himself and slipped the first boot and hose free. He’d never taken notice of a woman’s feet before, but Isla’s were slim and small and delicate. And cold. He cradled her foot in his palm and massaged warmth back into her sole and toes with his fingers.
The little sighs escaping her lips and the tightening of her fingers on his shoulders caused his desire to swell beneath his plaid.
He sealed his lips closed and gave her second foot the same attention, but this time he looked at Isla instead of what he was doing. Her chin was tilted high, revealing the smooth creamy underside of her neck and the strands of shiny chestnut hair that had fallen loose from her soft braid curled lovingly about her ears and the tops of her smooth shoulders. His breath caught. His desire leapt. He wanted to set his mouth upon her throat and taste her, devour her.
Cal closed his eyes to lessen the temptation but the small noises she made only fanned the flames of want and need and lust higher. He released her foot, and lifting her from his knee, he set her on her bare feet clad only in her shift. Her hands remained on his shoulders.
‘Callum?’
‘Aye.’ His voice sounded strained.
‘My feet thank ye. I promise to pay ye back in kind.’
Cal smiled at the giving woman in front of him. ‘I look forward to it.’
Her fingers clenched and eased their grip. ‘Callum?’
‘Aye.’
‘Can I touch ye?’ Her head tilted slightly to one side. ‘I know yer face but I want to ken what yer body looks like too.’
The thought of her questing fingers exploring every inch of his body almost cost him his fledgling control. For Isla he wrestled it back. ‘Aye.’
She smiled and drew a deep breath before stepping closer, as if what she was about to do was something to savour, to cherish.
Her fingers flexed and then shifted across to his upper arms, the feel of her skin sliding over his sent his flesh rippling beneath her touch. Her hands slid down the length of each arm to the wrist and slid back up, leaving the fine hairs on his
forearms standing in her wake. Her palms skimmed across to meet in the centre of his chest.
‘My heart races at your touch.’ He wanted her to know what she did to him.
Her left hand followed the line it had taken to his wrist, only this time her fingers continued until they grasped his. She lifted his hand and leaning forward, pressed his hand to her chest. ‘As mine does touching ye.’
The drumming of her heart under his palm quickened his blood. Her hand returned to his chest to learn the rest of his upper body. Cal closed his eyes and settling his other hand alongside the first, he set about learning Isla the same way she learned him.
Hands searched over hollows and mounds, small shivers from each of them revealing sensitive places they hid away to remember another time. Only the sound of the wood crackling and snapping every now and then interrupted the sighs and moans and shivered breaths they shared.
By the time Callum’s legs threatened to fold, they were both naked and pressed breast to chest, hungry mouths feasting on each other. He scooped Isla into his arms and carried her to the bed. Eyes open, he stretched out on the bed beside her and drank in her naked form for the first time. He stared in wonder at her beauty, her perfect breasts his hands now knew well, the curve of her hips his fingers had explored over and over, the patch of chestnut hair between her thighs he’d yet to discover.
‘Callum?’ His name escaped on a panted breath.
‘Aye.’
‘Is all well?’
She had no clue as to just how well everything was. ‘All is perfect, Isla.’
* * *
Isla relished the husky tone of Callum’s voice washing over her and rumbling through her side. Her naked side. The heat of his powerful form moved over her, strengthening the smell of pine and sandalwood and man. She shivered with excitement. Her legs parted to cradle his lower body, her arms opened and slipped beneath his to hold onto his back. She didn’t know what to do but thankfully her body did.
‘Are you frightened?’ His quiet words brushed over her face from where he rested on his elbows above her.
‘Nae,’ Isla said and smiled to let him know she spoke true. She wasn’t afraid but was a little nervous. ‘Are ye?’
His hands cupped each side of her head and she felt him move slowly closer before his lips took hers in a heart-stopping kiss. By the time he raised his head any nerves had been replaced by want and need and impatience. ‘Only of hurting you.’
His concern for her warmed her heart. She knew there would be pain this first time. She wanted it done. ‘I promise to let ye ken. Now please kiss me again.’
‘You are a demanding woman, Wife.’
Isla heard the smile in his voice before he lowered his head once more and granted her request. The thrill of his mouth on hers, hungry, ravenous, demanded she respond in kind. She did and more. Her hands searched the lines of his upper body, slid down his tapering sides and across to the hollow on his lower back and up and over the raw strength of his wide shoulders to cling to the tops with eager fingers. His lower body pressed against hers and teased awake her most womanly place. She had no choice but to lift her hips and press herself against him, their mouths locked in a kiss that sent their lips one way and then another, their panting, shallow breaths proof of the ongoing struggle to find something they both craved.
Pressure built and something hard and blunt pressed into the opening between her thighs. This was it. She was about to become Callum’s wife in body as well as in soul. She wrapped her legs about his hips, inviting him in, willing him closer.
His mouth left hers, shuddering breaths sounded.
‘I love you, Isla.’
His lips claimed hers and the barrier between them gave way to the rise and fall of their lower bodies. The hint of hurt lasted but a moment before it was swept away by the rising heat they were creating. Stoking the flames of the inner fire only they could build. With searching hands, grasping fingers, their bodies riding the undulating waves together in a rhythm of beauty.
Isla held on tight to this man of honour, the man who loved her. She showed him how much she loved him, meeting him, matching his every stroke, setting every moan and groan free. She felt as if she were climbing, scrambling toward something, higher, closer. She clung to Callum, ascending with him, rising, and then they were flying, soaring high above until they reached the stars and found heaven together.
* * *
Isla woke from the deepest, most restful slumber she’d ever had and for a moment she thought she was dreaming. The shoulder her head lay upon warmed her cheek. The broad chest her hand rested over rose and fell with each long, deep breath. The heart beneath beat strong and even. Callum’s heart, her husband’s gift to her. She’d given hers to him in return.
She lay quiet and savoured the shared warmth of the bodies, moulded to one another, his powerful arms cradling her close, holding her dear, keeping her safe. She’d long ago loosened her hold on her dream of finding a man who accepted her for who she was, a man whose love was greater than her lack of sight, a man who would see her as a woman and not the burden she believed she’d become.
She’d lost so much, but it hadn’t been until she’d lost everything and everyone that she’d found the man of her dreams. Or rather, he’d found her. Rescued her. Protected her and shown her beauty lived on through others. He’d believed in her, shown her she was worth fighting for and taught her she was special. He’d reminded her of her strengths and he’d taken on her weaknesses to share, to lighten their load. He’d married her and made her feel things she hadn’t known could be felt in body or in her heart.
He loved her. He made her feel whole. She pressed her lips to the warm flesh under her cheek. The strong arms surrounding her drew her closer into his side. He slept on. She smiled, and with her heart full of love she slipped back into slumber.
Chapter 22
Cal looked on in the early morning light as his wife farewelled her uncle with a long-lasting hug and a kiss to his cheek. Isla wiped a stray tear from her face and Cal stepped forward to wrap one arm about her and offered his hand to her last living relative.
‘Thank you for your blessing and your help, Norval.’ It felt strange calling the man of God by his name rather than by his title, but Isla’s uncle had made the request.
‘It is I who am grateful for all you’ve done for my brother and for my niece.’ The priest grasped their already joined hands with his other. ‘I know Isla is in the best of hands.’
Cal gave a single nod of agreement and they released one another.
Cal ushered Isla to Mungo’s side. ‘Ready?’
‘Aye.’
He lifted her into the saddle and adjusted their sacks and the bundle of supplies Mags had given them for their journey. Cal mounted and looked across to where Norval mounted his. They drew their horse’s side-by-side and began the short journey toward Stonehaven.
‘’Tis a braw morning,’ he said quietly and was rewarded by his wife leaning back against his chest and offering him a side view of her beautiful face. ‘The sun has nae long risen and has lightened the new day sky to a pale blue like that of a robin’s egg.’
Her lips lifted in a smile he was tempted to claim with his own. Never had he believed he’d feel so much for someone. Joy, wonder, desire, love. Never had he dreamt how strong another could make him feel. How protective he’d become. How necessary she was to him and how necessary he was to her.
What they’d shared the night just gone was love in its physical form. Hot, straining heat that swept them up on waves so high by the time the tide had caught them, he’d fallen more in love with her. What he was feeling right this moment, looking at this woman who accepted him, had climbed out of a window to find him, who loved him despite all his faults and tested all his misbeliefs, was love in its purest form. He couldn’t imagine life without her.
She looked ahead, as if sensing their time to part ways with her uncle had come. Norval drew his horse to a halt where the Mounth continued
south and a crude dirt track branched off to the west.
‘I will leave you here.’ He pointed to the track. ‘This path will take you to the burgh of Banchory and finally to Braemar. If you keep to a steady pace, you should meet up with your friends by midafternoon.’
‘Godspeed, Uncle.’
‘And you, Isla.’
‘Many thanks, Norval,’ Cal said. ‘If you’re ever in the Borders, stop by Castle Redheugh. Clan Elliot will welcome you.’
The priest nodded. ‘The doors to Restenneth Priory will always be open. God’s blessing on you both.’
Cal raised his hand in farewell as each horse headed along their designated paths. Isla’s sigh softened the sound of Mungo’s hooves as she sank back against his chest.
‘I am so happy Uncle Norval married us.’
‘As am I, Wife.’ Cal tightened his arm about Isla’s middle. Norval Beaton was a good man and one of many talents. A priest, a healer and a swordsman. Despite all these skills he’d chosen to dedicate his life to God. A noble choice, but with his new wife cradled between his thighs, not the right one for Cal.
They rode along the tree-lined track and Cal’s mind turned to thoughts of home and the friends he hadn’t seen in almost a year. How had Duff and Adair fared in their quest to find their families? Had they, like him, found love along the way? How did Isla feel about leaving everything she knew to start her life in a different place surrounded by strangers?
Cal peered down at the sun’s light glinting on her chestnut hair. They’d been riding for an hour and she hadn’t said a word. He pressed a kiss to the top of her head. ‘A kiss for your thoughts.’
She sighed, much like before. ‘Which thoughts? I have so many.’
‘How are you feeling about living in the Borders?’
‘Oh, that one is easy.’ Her arms pressed tight against the arm he held about her waist. ‘I’ll happily live anywhere as long as ye’re with me.’
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