by Lucy Monroe
He pulled the knife from his boot. It was sharper than the one he kept on his belt.
She took a step back, but confusion rather than fear showed in her eyes.
He put his hand out over the right spot on the sheet and then cut a thin, short line down his palm. Her mouth was open, but no sound escaped as she stared in uncomprehending fascination as drops of his blood decorated the sheet.
“Your mother wants the blood proof. I will give it to her, but I will not claim you on the land of another.”
Abigail nodded as understanding, and then relief, settled over her lovely features. She gave him an intense look and stuck her hand out. “Cut me, too.”
Very little had the power to shock him, but her offer slammed into him like a blow from Niall. “It is not necessary.”
“It is.”
He shook his head.
She stubbornly put her hand right over his, palm up. “We share in this as we will share in the other. Later.”
His entire body reacted to her touch and the unexpected words coming from between her innocent lips. A growl of approval came from the wolf, and Talorc acquiesced with a jerk of his head.
He laid his knife against her small, white palm. “You are sure?”
She nodded.
“So be it.” He cut her, just a prick, but enough to let her drops of blood mingle with his on the sheet.
When there was sufficient blood to indicate a bedding, he ran a hand across the drops to make streaks as if there truly had been a sex act. Then he raised her palm to his mouth, and allowing his wolf’s saliva to mix with his own, he licked her cut. The bleeding stopped immediately, but he did not release her hand. The flavor of her skin and the few drops of blood on his tongue was unlike anything he had ever known. And yet like something he would never have expected—the satisfaction his wolf felt after a successful hunt.
The beast inside him howled in exaltation Talorc did not understand. It was that sense of victory he felt that gave him the impetus to let go of her hand. She was human and English. She stood between him and ever having a true mate. His wolf should be whimpering, not howling.
Her expression one of guileless certainty, she took his palm and returned the favor. Even though she did not have the wolf, his wound had been close to closing anyway and the blood stopped. But the feel of her lips was addictive, and he had to bite back an instinctive denial as she pulled her lips away.
They stood there in silence for several seconds, neither looking away, neither appearing ready to speak. Heat suffused his body. It was like a fever, but he was not ill. Her eyes reflected confusion and wonder. He did not know what had just happened, but it was profound.
Unable to stop himself, he pulled her closer, until their scents commingled and their bodies were aligned.
Then, he kissed her. Because he could. Because he couldn’t not.
As soon as his lips touched hers, another wave of heat suffused his body and he heard what sounded like the barest of sighs in his head. Was his wolf that affected that the beast sounded so unlike himself?
The prospect was not a pleasant one on any count. It felt too much like weakness.
An anathema.
Refusing to give in to the sweetness of her lips, he stepped back from her.
She looked up with an expression he had no idea how to decipher. And he refused to allow himself time trying.
He deliberately turned away from the connection he felt to her and ripped the sheet from the bed. “Your mother will have nothing to harp about now.”
He stormed from the cottage, tossing the bloodied sheet at the feet of the baron. Lady Hamilton bent and grabbed it, examining it even as Talorc leapt to the back of his horse and looked to see if his wife had followed. She had. He bent to grab her. She settled in front of him without a murmur of protest.
He gave the signal and he and his warriors set their horses galloping north … toward home.
Abigail concentrated on not falling off Talorc’s great beast of a horse. Until she realized the stone band around her middle that was his arm wasn’t about to let her go anywhere. The horses were galloping so quickly, the green beauty around her was naught but a blur to her dazed eyes.
She had never ridden at such a pace in her life. It was most exhilarating.
Despite the trauma of her wedding and near bedding, Abigail felt a smile of pure pleasure steal across her face and laughter welled up inside her. She realized it had not been silent when the body so close behind her stiffened as if in surprise.
She cocked her head back and turned it so she could see Talorc’s face. Sure enough, he had a questioning look on his darkly handsome features.
“What?” she asked.
“What has you laughing?”
“I believe I enjoy riding Scottish horses, my laird.”
“This is no mere horse; ’tis a beast worthy of a Chrechte warrior.”
His arrogance made her laugh again. “No doubt.”
To have his confidence would be a wonderful thing. Abigail spent so much time in fear of revealing her true self, she rarely felt confidence in the company of others. But right at this moment, she knew unadulterated joy as they rode away from a life and family that had caused her pain and pain again.
“You surprise me, lass.”
“Perhaps that is a good thing.” She could not believe her own temerity, but Abigail felt freer than she had since waking to a silent world as a terrified young girl.
“Aye.” He looked quite serious. “I believe it is. I would not have you eaten, lass.”
“The Highlanders are cannibals, then?” she asked with undisguised humor, knowing they were no such thing.
He stared at her as if seeing her for the first time. “Nay, but my clanspeople have little tolerance for weakness.”
“You think I am weak?” She did not know why his judgment should surprise her so. She worked hard not to be noticed; it would be a true shock should he realize the woman under the exterior. So, rather than be offended by his assessment, she found in it her own private joke.
Though in this case, she did not let him see that.
“There is much fear in you.”
She could not deny that. She lived in daily terror. “I am not afraid right now.”
“I can see that.”
“I was afraid when I thought you would bed me with brutal expediency,” she admitted, still grateful he had not done so.
“Aye. You were terrified.” No worry at that truth showed on his features, yet he had protected her.
“You alleviated my fear.”
He shrugged, causing her body to move against his.
Quite unsettled, she gasped. “I have not been this close to another person since my sister left our home.”
“No one else will hold you thus.”
No, really? She was no wanton to allow another man to touch her. She rolled her eyes at him, but then had a thought. “I will hug Emily when I see her again.”
“You dare to defy me?” Was that a twitch at the corner of his lips?
“In this instance, yes.”
“If you think to let another man touch you …” He let the rest of his clear threat remain unsaid, but a fury completely unjustified by their current talk glowed in his blue gaze.
“Do not be daft. I’m not fully reconciled to you touching me.”
“You will grow used to my touch.” There was that amazing confidence again.
“It is your responsibility to make it so.” Had she truly said such a thing aloud to him? But it was no more than he had claimed when explaining what the marriage bed would be like for her.
“Aye.”
“What is Chrechte?”
He did not answer but stared into her eyes with an expression she could not read, no matter the time she’d spent learning how to do so.
“You said the horse was worthy of a Chrechte warrior. Is that another word for a Highlander?”
He shook his head.
“Then what does it mean
? Chief? Laird?”
“Do you always ask so many questions?”
“In truth?”
“I will always expect the truth from you.”
Her heart twinged at his words. She determined right then that though she could not tell him her secret, she would never lie to him. “I often wish to know things I do not ask about.”
“Yet you do not hesitate to query me.”
“Should I?”
He did not answer immediately.
“Well?” He could not know how important his answer was to her, but it would say much about her place in his esteem.
“Nay.”
“That is good to know.”
“The Chrechte are an ancient tribe of people who live among the Highland clans now.”
She smiled at this confirmation of his willingness to appease her curiosity. “You mean the Picts?”
“That is what the Romans called us, aye.”
“Like the Normans among the English?”
He shrugged again, but there was no mistaking the moue of distaste on his lips at the mention of the English.
Abigail turned to face the front of the horse again, her pleasure draining from her. Talorc hated the English. That would never change.
No matter how considerate he was this day, the fact that he claimed not to hate her would not last indefinitely. If for no other reason than that she was not the innocent he and his warrior Niall believed her to be. She was lying to them by pretending to be something she was not. A whole woman, worthy of being a laird’s wife.
For the first time, Abigail felt grief at the inevitability of her future. Talorc was not the monster she feared him, nor was he the barbaric animal her mother had claimed.
He had assigned his warriors to watch over her the night before, showing she had more value to him than she had to her parents. Even if she was English. He had also protected her from a soulless bedding Sybil had been only too happy to demand.
Abigail did not know what had led her to insist on adding her blood to his on that sheet. She only knew that something inside her had told her it was the right thing to do.
And he had respected the gesture. She had seen it in his eyes. Their incredible blue warming with approval, however brief. One day, probably sooner than later, that same blue would grow icy with distaste when he discovered her secret.
And there was naught she could do about it.
Talorc did not know what caused his new bride to draw back into herself, but he admitted, if only to himself, he did not like it.
He had enjoyed her pleasure in the ride, her laughter a truly beautiful sound. He shook his head. He was going as daft as she claimed him to be if he thought an Englishwoman’s laughter beautiful.
But she was not English any longer, was she? She was his.
Or so his wolf and his king claimed.
The beast had never laid such certain claim to another, not the members of his pack, not even of his family. The wolf howled for the moment when they reached Sinclair lands so they could claim Abigail in the most basic and irrevocable of ways. Words could be dismissed, but joining his body to hers could not be undone.
When Talorc called a halt to his men for the night, Abigail’s joy in the ride had given way to numb exhaustion. They had stopped only twice to water the horses, and only one of those times had they dismounted. They had eaten bread and cheese then, but that had been hours ago. Yet, as hungry as Abigail was, she was too tired to contemplate eating.
She stumbled into the forest to deal with her body’s most pressing needs. When she returned to the men and horses, Niall and one of the other warriors were erecting a small tent of skins.
He noticed her when she came near and nodded, his frowning visage not changing, but there was an understanding in his gray eyes that nearly moved her to tears.
“I thought Highlanders slept under the stars,” she found the energy to tease.
He smiled at that, pulling the scars on the left side of his face into a twisted grimace. “It’s for you, English.”
“Oh.” She swallowed inexplicable tears. “Thank you.”
He shrugged and she decided that was the Scottish warrior’s answer when he did not want to be bothered with speaking.
When the other soldier finished putting furs inside the tent for her to sleep in, he left and only then did Abigail’s tired brain tell her she had been rude not to ask Niall for an introduction. When she said so, the giant scarred warrior gave her an odd look.
“Talorc will make them known to you at the proper time.”
“Oh.” She did not know what that meant and was too fatigued to try to make sense of it.
She turned toward the tent and stumbled. Niall was there faster than she could have imagined possible, stopping her from falling on her face.
She looked up at him with gratitude. “Thank you.”
He held her arm, obviously concerned she would stumble again. “Are you all right?”
When was the last time anyone had inquired after her with no more reason than basic human concern? These Chrechte warriors might not be civilized, but they showed more care for her well-being than her family.
She brought forth a smile, a weary effort at best. “Merely tired. It has been a … complicated … two weeks.”
“Preparation for marriage is that way for women, I have heard.” He dropped her arm but stayed close enough to be of assistance should she need it.
“I did not know I was preparing for marriage. I believed I was going to Scotland to visit my sister, Emily.” She was not sure why she had admitted it; maybe it fell under being as honest as she could be. More likely it was simply that she trusted this big, scarred warrior as a friend. For no more reason than her heart told her she could.
“The Balmoral’s wife?” he asked, confusion lurking in his gray eyes.
“Yes.”
“I do not understand. Your father petitioned your English king for redress when she married the wrong laird. Your marriage to our leader has been a foregone conclusion—at least to our monarchs—these past weeks.”
“I did not know that.”
Niall looked at her with pity and something else. Something that told her she was right to trust him as friend. Understanding . “When did you learn you were to be married?”
“The day before we left my stepfather’s keep.”
Looking properly furious, Niall nodded as if agreeing to something someone said, and his gaze fixed on something behind Abigail.
Chapter 5
She turned to find her new husband standing not a foot behind her. Normally, she was much more aware than this. It must be her exhaustion.
“Hello, Talorc.”
“I will not apologize.”
“I will not ask you to,” she said, trying to figure out why he thought she expected it.
“It was her idea, wasn’t it?”
Ah, he had overheard her conversation with his soldier and had correctly surmised her mother’s machinations had been behind Abigail’s ignorance. Maybe he had called Sybil an indelicate name?
Abigail did not care. “Yes. She did not think I needed to know the plans for my future.”
Neither man asked Abigail why her mother would treat her so cruelly. Thank goodness. They probably attributed it to the fact Sybil was English.
Talorc winced. “When I arranged my sister’s first wedding, I told her the moment the plans were finalized.”
Emily used to remind Abigail that tone of voice held as much or more meaning than the words people spoke, but Abigail could not even remember what those tones might sound like. She only knew that when watched closely, a person’s face told its own story. One that did not always agree with the spoken word either.
Talorc’s expression was a mixture of chagrin and righteousness, both at odds with his claim.
“That was the same night he had her wed to his second-in-command,” Niall said with a wink.
Ah, that explained it. Her husband had no wish to think he was
like the Englishwoman he had called bitch.
“’Twas not the same. I had not arranged her mating with a stranger from a foreign land. Caitriona knew Sean from the time she was a babe, and they liked each other well enough.” But something in Talorc’s expression told Abigail he felt guilt for his actions all the same.
She liked him for that. He cared that he might have hurt his sister. It was something Abigail could cling to in regard to her own future. She hoped.
“The first time she wed?” she asked.
“Sean died in battle. Cait wed Drustan, second-in-command to the Balmoral, after.”
“No wonder you are now allies.”
Niall snorted. It was not words but an expression of disbelief that Abigail had seen far too many times not to recognize. Talorc gave his soldier a quelling glare—with little appreciable effect.
“Your sister and my own would have it no other way,” Talorc said.
There was definitely more to it than he was saying, but Abigail was caught by one truth above all others. “And you listened to them?” she asked in true shock.
Her stepfather never admitted to taking the advice of a woman, even Sybil’s.
“It was a good alliance to make.”
“Aye, it was.” Niall inclined his head toward Abigail. “Your bride is so tired, she can barely stand.”
“She needs to eat.”
“Let her eat in the tent, where she can sleep after.”
“You think to advise me how to treat my bride?” Talorc asked, looking dangerous.
“Why not?” Abigail asked. “He is your second-in-command, isn’t he? Surely he is allowed to have an opinion.” She wasn’t trying to be rude but realized after speaking that her questions could be taken that way. She simply wanted to understand the Highlander’s way of things.
Niall’s smile might be considered frightening by some, but Abigail saw the honest amusement lurking in his gray eyes. “Your wife is feistier than I thought.”
“She is.”
“She does not flinch from me.” He appeared both pleased and astounded by that fact.
“I noticed you held her arm.”
“She would have fallen otherwise.” Niall’s head bowed in apology.
“She is right here.” Abigail frowned at both big men.
