Cora just smiled at him. “The way that I hear it, you do not prefer your bed when you take a woman. The hay loft is more your speed.”
Shane’s mouth dropped open, and the table erupted in laughter. “Women talk, Shane, surely you know that,” she teased.
“I do now,” he muttered. “I doona suppose they told ye that they had a wonderful time?”
“If you were praised too often, then you would not want to improve.”
The laughter increased, and even Shane had to grin.
Alec watched as his wife’s shoulders eased just a little bit as she sat back in the chair. She was a little more relaxed, and he reached under the table to put a hand on her thigh. It was meant to be a comfort, but when her skin warmed under his touch and her cheeks began to pink, he started to have something else entirely in mind.
Keeping his touch easy, he moved his thumb back and forth, just teasing her and hoping that she remembered just a few nights ago when she was begging to touch him.
“Ye look like yer father,” Kane said as he studied her. “I doona know how I didnae see it before. I brought ye dinner once while ye were in the prisons. I should have known. Ye have my sincere apologies.”
Alec’s anger swelled. Just how many of the MacKay men saw Cora in those prisons and did nothing to release her? Did nothing to help her?
As if she knew what he was thinking, Cora grabbed his hand and squeezed it. “I cannot be mad at you, Kane, when I lied about my identity when I was freed. I do remember when you brought me dinner, and I remember that there was kindness when you freed me and helped me eat.”
“Did any of them lay a hand on ye?” Alec hissed. It hadn’t occurred to him that anyone other than Seth would have hurt her, but for all he knew, every man here could have laid hands on her.
“No. Only Seth.”
“Seth was not like his father,” Kane said in a low voice. “Yer father was a good man. I hear ye didnae get a chance to know him. For that, I am truly sorry.”
“Perhaps I can get to know him more by getting to know all of you.” Her voice shook just a little, and Alec realized that he was disgusted.
Disgusted with himself.
He didn’t trust her, but he had to admit to himself that she’d had one hell of a year. Taken from her family. Witnessed the murder of her father. Imprisoned and abused by her half-brother, and now married to a stranger.
And what had he done to make things easier for her? Not a damn thing.
After dinner, he held Cora’s hand as he walked her out of the room. When they were out of Gavin’s sight, she tugged her hand away and wrapped her arms around her body. “I think I might take a walk before bed. I fear I ate too much.”
“Cora.” Before she could run from him, he reached down and snagged her hand. “Despite how our marriage came about, ye are my wife now. If ye tell me that ye are no longer hiding anything from me, then I will believe it.”
Raising her chin, she stared at him. Her beautiful green eyes were filled with anguish, and he mentally cursed himself. He’d wanted to put aside the animosity between them, but she was still keeping things from him. “What am I to do with ye?” he whispered.
“I do not keep anything from you that will harm you or your status here in the clan!” she cried out as she put her hands on his chest. “I was afraid after Seth and…and I did not know if I could trust you. I am sorry for that. I can see why you are angry with me, but I need you to know that what I keep from you now, I keep because I am just not ready to share with you. Not yet.”
“Your family? Cora, if ye wish to see yer family, I can make that happen.”
“No.” She shook her head. “No, it’s best if they continue to think that I am dead.”
“Why?” He couldn’t imagine letting his family think that he was dead. Connor, and even Grace, would go to the ends of the earth to discover the truth if there was any doubt. To him, family was everything.
“I can see what you’re thinking.” Letting her hands drop away, she turned from him. “The Thistles are not blood, and they need to look after their daughter first. She is entering her first season in London. It will go easier if there isn’t a scandal involved, and my history is fraught with scandal.”
“Then I am yer family now.” Yanking her up against him, he leaned down and brushed his lips across hers. There was an aching need inside of him to lift her skirts and see just he affected her, but he kept the kiss light and easy even though it threatened to drive him insane. “Ye will not keep things from me.”
“How can I tell you anything when you hate me?” Pulling away from him, she shook her head. “When you do not trust me? We may be family in the eyes of the law, but you don’t see me as a wife. Not really. You got what you wanted from me, Alec, and I will continue to play your games, but when the King’s man is gone, I think maybe we should just leave each other alone.”
He let her walk away, let her walk into her own chambers and close the door. But he wasn’t done with her.
Not by a long shot.
14
Cora had just started working on the buttons of her dress when the door opened behind her. With a shriek, she whirled around, but it was only Alec, and there was a fire in her husband’s eyes as he closed the door behind him. “This isnae yer room,” he growled.
“I have not moved my clothes just yet.” Her heart hammered against her chest as she stared at him. She’d said nothing untrue. In fact, she thought he would welcome the idea that she would not want to pursue a romantic relationship with him, but he looked infuriated.
“Ye doona make declarations and then storm away from me.”
The fabric of her dress, not loosened, fell from her shoulder, and she pulled it back up. “If you want to have this conversation, then perhaps it can wait until after I’m dressed.”
“Oh we are going to have a conversation, but I am not going to wait. Turn around,” he hissed as he stalked toward her.
Thrusting her chin up, she considered telling him just where he could go, but she turned instead. As soon as his knuckles brushed against the bare skin revealed by her loose dress, she inhaled sharply. The man could anger and arouse her in a span of seconds, and she hated that. She hated that he had such power over her without even trying.
“I doona hate ye, Cora. I never have.” The dress loosened even more as he slowly undid the rest of the buttons. “Distrusted, aye, but never hate. Since ye have been here, ye have been imprisoned, beaten, and threatened. That ends now that ye are my wife.”
There was such tenderness in him that was at odds with the fury and power that she witnessed when she spied on his training sessions. Her heart fluttered, and she sucked in her lower lip as she turned to him. “I am offering to leave you in peace. I would think that would make you happy.”
Slowly, he tugged down her dress until it pooled at her feet. Her shift beneath was so thin that it offered no protection against his intense gaze, but she didn’t bother to cover herself. Already, liquid heat pooled at her sex, and her chest was flushed with need.
“What would make me happy, dear wife, is if ye were naked and in my bed.”
“This is my bed,” she pointed out. Her voice was barely audible, but a wicked grin spread across Alec’s face, and she knew that her husband had heard her.
“Works for me.” Leaning down, he pressed his lips against hers, and there was nothing tender about it. Cora was eager for his kiss. Had been eager for it ever since the first time he’d kissed her, and when she opened for him, she tasted his need. For her.
It made her dizzy to know how much he wanted her. The things she remembered about her mother, the whispered secrets that echoed off the walls of her girls school and the stolen taboo writings in illicit novels couldn’t have prepared her for this.
“Tell me that ye want this,” Alec whispered as he moved his lips down her throat. Angling her head, she tried to give him as much access as possible. Grasping at his shirt, she bunched the fabric in her hands and wished th
ere wasn’t any barrier between her touch and his skin. She needed to know that he was running as hot as she was.
“Cora.” Tugging her shift down, he exposed more of her cleavage and growled before he closed his eyes and pressed his forehead against hers. “Cora, please.”
“Yes. Yes.” Releasing her hands from his shirt, she stroked her fingers through his hair and found the bold strength to kiss him, to run her tongue along the seams of his lips, and to moan. “Yes, I want this.”
“Sweet, lass. Kiss me again. I like the taste of ye.”
As her lips teased over him again, Alec took charge and pulled her up against him. The fabric rose with the action, and she wrapped her bare thighs around his waist. There was an ache that couldn’t be assuaged no matter how hard she tried, and she tried to press harder against him, feeling the hard edge of his erection. He gasped and walked them to the bed.
“Easy.” The murmur swept over her skin and curled around her. “Slow down.”
Slow down? She was going to burn up in his arms if he didn’t do something. “Please. I need…” What did she need?
“I have ye, Cora. I wilnae let ye go. Tonight, ye are mine.”
Yes, tonight, but what about tomorrow? When the sun rose, what would she be to him then?
As he softly placed her on the mattress, she reached for him again, but he pushed her arms above her head and stared down at her. “Do ye know how lovely ye are, Cora? Did ye have suitors in England? Men who did whatever it took to marry ye? To get ye into their bed?”
“No.” No one looked at her the way that Alec looked at her. No one made her stomach flip, made her knees weak, made her skin tingle from just a brush of his fingers.
“Then the English are fools.” Sitting back on his knees, he stared at her with such appreciation in his eyes as he slowly trailed a finger down between her breasts and along her abdomen. Her sex pulsed and quivered in anticipation for something she didn’t quite understand, but she put all of her trust in him. “Do ye have any idea how much control ’tis taken for me not to touch ye before now?”
“I was ready. I have been ready. Please, Alec. Make me your wife.”
“Aye,” he breathed as he gathered the skirt of her shift. “Lift yer hips. I want to see yer body.”
With warm cheeks, she did as he asked, and he slipped the thin material up and over her body. Now completely naked, she had to clutch the blankets beneath her to keep from covering herself. It wasn’t just her nakedness. When Alec looked at her, she felt as if he could unravel everything inside of her until there was nothing left but the truth of how she felt about him.
He was her savior and her husband, but if she let herself fall in love, then she would have to feel the weight of her guilt for not trusting him. For still lying to him.
“Alec.” Wanting to shove that all away and just enjoy the moment, she reached for him. If she was naked, then she wanted him to be as well. “Alec, please!”
Wordlessly, his gaze never leaving hers, he stripped off his shirt before he leaned over her to taste her mouth again. The column of her neck. Her shoulders. Her nipples.
Gasping, she arched under him as pleasure danced inside of her. His continued moving down her body, and when he kneeled between her legs, her eyes widened and she pushed herself up. “What are you doing?”
“Making you ready for me, sweet. Just relax and enjoy.”
Relax? How could she relax when those wicked lips and tongue were teasing along her most private center? When they slipped over her sensitive nub, she jack-knifed up and gasped, but there was nowhere to escape the pleasure. Using every bit of his strength and power, he held her down and continue to pleasure her until she didn’t recognize herself as she writhed and moaned.
Then it hit her. An explosion that rocked her body and left her helpless and shuddering. Releasing her, Alec eased off the bed and removed his trousers, and when he returned, he spread every delicious inch of his naked body along next to her.
“Ye are going to do that again when I’m inside of ye,” he whispered sensuously as his hands traced up and down her arms while she continued to glow from her orgasm. She had no idea her own body could do that, and she couldn’t imagine doing it again. “And I am going to feel yer pleasure, Cora.”
He kissed her, hard and hot, while his hands stroked her and brought her alive. Bolder now, she reached for him to explore. He was so hard, all muscle and power, and so hot beneath her fingers. Listening to his breathing, learning what he liked, she fluttered her fingers over him until she found courage and grasped his hard length and squeezed.
Hissing, he jerked out from her touch. “Sorry,” she muttered as she clenched her fist. “I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
“Hurt me? Cora, ye slay me. I want this to be good, but I wilnae last if ye touch me like that.” With another kiss, he moved between her legs and reached between them. She was wet and aching for him again. “My wife. Mine.”
Then he slid into her, and she had to bury her face into his shoulders to keep from screaming. After a few strokes, he was inside of her, and she was clawing at his back.
“Easy,” he whispered. “Cora, I doona want to hurt ye. Ye must give yourself a chance to adjust.”
Adjust? She didn’t want to adjust. She wanted everything that he was able to give her, and she ignored his pleas and moved under him restlessly until he grunted and started to move. Slow and easy strokes until there was nothing but him, and for the first time since she’d entered Scotland, she understood the power of the highlander. Not just the brute strength, but the control and depths of their love.
And when she found her release, she cried out his name and held him until he spilled his seed and returned her embrace.
15
Addicted to the way Cora felt at night, he made sure that she was in his arms every night and the moments that he could steal during the day, but even inside her, he could tell that she was holding back.
So he focused his energy elsewhere. Training. Hunting. Learning more about his new clan. It made it easier to deal with the fact that his wife was holding back on him, even in bed when they were alone.
Three weeks had passed since the King had departed, and he could feel the suspicious eyes of Gaston almost everywhere he went, so when the King’s man cornered him one evening after dinner, he wasn’t surprised.
“Alec,” Gaston said in that nasally voice of his. “I cannot help but notice that ye havna been spending much time with yer wife.”
“I have been busy,” Alec said coldly as he eyed the man distastefully. He didn’t understand the reason for King Edward actually leaving someone here. They all knew that he and Cora were not a love match.
“Still, I believe that Innes Campbell is returning soon, and the King must be able to back his word.” He looked uneasy and took a deep breath. “May I suggest that ye take yer lovely wife on a picnic today so that the clan will have something to speak about when Innes does return? I have already had the cook pack something lovely for ye.”
A picnic? Alec groaned. He had too many things to do to play the happy husband, but he nodded. “Verra well. Please make sure my wife is ready within the hour.”
“Aye, Laird. I am sure that ye will have a lovely time.”
A lovely time. Just what was Gaston and the King up to?
Annoyed at having to adjust his duties, he met up with his men. “I have something that I need to take care of,” he told Stephen stiffly. “I trust that ye will be able to run the training session without me?”
His friend raised an eyebrow. “I can. What are ye going to do?”
Looking around to make sure that no one was eavesdropping, he scowled. “Apparently I have to woo my wife so the clan will have something to boast about when Innes comes to visit.”
The men hooted around him and whistled. “Woo yer wife! As if ye have any idea how to do that,” Jamie joked.
“Mind yer tongue,” Alec growled as he shot him a dirty look. “I know how to woo women.”
“Ye know how to bed women, but woo them? ’Tis something entirely different. If ye didnae have a problem with that, then ye would not have to put on a front. The clan would already have something to talk about.”
His friends weren’t wrong, Alec realized. Before he’d married her, Cora had a certain look in her eyes when she watched him. Now she was more guarded than ever. It was a step backward.
Not that he wanted his wife to be in love with him. It was easier when they both understood just what this marriage was—a political step—but there was enough passion between them that they should be able to spend their days with each other instead of avoiding each other.
And he missed that sweet smile she used to give him.
“There will be no more talk of my wife,” he said finally as he stomped away. By the time he reached the stables, Cora was already there and stroking the muzzle of an older stallion while she whispered in his ear. Struck for a moment by the sight, he wondered just what stories she was telling the horse.
“Ready?”
At his stiff tone, she lowered her arm and turned to him. “Yes,” she said politely. “I am.”
Knowing that the groom and the stable boys would be nearby, he forced himself to relax as he gave her a chaste kiss on the cheek before he lifted her into the saddle and adjusted her skirts over her legs. The last time they were in the stables together, she was trying to run away.
Trying to run from him.
Now she was his.
“I know you have been busy,” she said a little too loudly as she looked around furtively. “I appreciate you taking the time to spend with me.”
She was a good liar but a terrible actress. Stifling a chuckle, he mounted his own horse, packed with their picnic, and led them away from the populated lands and into the wilds. Despite his annoyance, he felt himself relax. It was nice to take some time for himself.
And his wife.
“It's beautiful here,” Cora said, breaking the silence between them. “The Thistles have a place in the country that we go most summers, but it still isn’t quite like this.”
Highlander's Beautiful Lia ( Historical Scottish Medieval Highlander Romance) Page 11
