She tensed. Her fury over being sent home like some wayward child was returning. Arianna smiled. She might be a little lacking in courage but, when she was furious, she tended to forget that.
“So ye dinnae plan to come out of your room and wave us all on our way?”
Brian scowled at Callum. “Strange. I didnae hear ye knock.”
Callum sat in the chair across the worktable from Brian and helped himself to a drink of ale. “Might be because I didnae.” He took a drink, sighed with pleasure, and then fixed a cold, green gaze on Brian. “As her dearest cousin, I should have beaten ye soundly for taking her to your bed, but she was happy. Now I think I shall beat ye soundly for kicking her out of your bed. Ye have made her verra unhappy.”
“Ye kenned I was going to do it when ye were in here earlier.”
“Aye, but I saw her face when she left.”
“She was angry.”
“Och, aye, that she was, but she was also hurt.”
“And I am sorry for that but this is for her own good.” He glared when Callum made a harsh sound of derision. “’Tis. I am but a knight and that honor was given to me by my own cousin. If I wasnae here, I would have to be selling my sword to some laird. Now that I am healed I will be back to sharing a room with three of my brothers. I have no land. I dinnae e’en have a wee cottage to put her and the lads in. Aye, I have a wee bit of coin but nay enough to keep a lady like her.”
“But ye will.”
“What?”
“The trade ye started. It has served ye and Scarglas verra weel. I was shown some of the improvements that trade has brought ye, as weel as some comforts and luxuries.”
“It isnae a particularly safe business. Ships sink and take all the coin ye spent or would have gained down with them. And, aye, this wine trade with Ignace may prove profitable but ’tis too early to tell. I havenae built the trade up beyond the one ship, either.”
“I can provide ye with the names of a few of my kinsmen who can help with that.”
“But only if I wed your cousin.”
“Nay, I wouldnae do that to my cousin. Wouldnae do that to the mon I will be in trade with, either. If naught else, it would constantly put me in the middle and that is nay a place I want to be.”
The door to the room slammed open startling both men. Brian gaped at Arianna. Her gown was wrinkled, her hair was half down and half pinned up, and if she had a sword in her hand he would have been considering making a run for it. He did not think he had ever seen a woman so furious.
“Callum,” she said, and Brian was surprised that such a dainty, bonnie lass could sound like she was growling.
“Aye, cousin?”
“Leave.”
“Going.”
Brian thought that wide grin on Callum’s face was unnecessary. He also thought, that as a fellow man, Callum should have made some attempt to protect him. If nothing else, the man should have shown some concern about the fact that his cousin looked ready to murder his new trading partner. He could not stop himself from jumping slightly when she slammed the door behind her rapidly retreating cousin.
“Arianna,” he began, trying to use the most soothing voice he could.
“Ye are an idiot,” she snapped. “Who do ye think ye are to make my decisions for me as if I am some child? Did ye ask me if I wanted to leave? Nay. Ye decided it was best for me.”
Brian wondered how she could make that sound like some perversion.
“Weel, I will have my say now and I will tell ye what I think and ye will listen.”
Since she was silent and glaring at him, Brian decided she was waiting for some response. He nodded.
“I allowed ye to make love to me. Do ye think I do that with just anyone? I didnae e’en do it much with the mon I thought was my husband.”
“Aye, but the passion ...”
“Shut up. I am talking. I ken that I was weak, allowing Claud to make me think less of myself, but am I nay recovering from that weakness? Aye, I am, but ’tis clear ye still think me some weak child or ye wouldnae have been deciding things for me. And ye think I care about silks, jewels, fine homes, and all? What have I done to make ye think that, I ask? Naught. I ate thrice-cursed rabbit for days and ne’er once complained, did I?”
“Nay?” Brian was not sure what eating rabbit had to do with anything but he was beginning to think he would be the idiot she claimed he was if he interrupted her now.
“Nay, I didnae. I didnae complain about the dirt, sweaty horses, cold beds on the ground, or the lack of clean, silken gowns. I cannae understand why ye think I am such a delicate, particular lass. As for all this weel-born nonsense? I was born in a bed just as ye were. My parents have coin, aye, and enough to make sure all their daughters have dowries and their sons some sort of inheritance that will allow them to wed where they please, but they are nay wealthy and they are nay particular about who their children wed. My sister married a blacksmith. My mother was the bastard daughter of some rutting goat of a laird and the village alewife. Ye, sir, are the only one who seems to fret o’er such things.”
“But ...”
“Shut up. I thought this all out and I have to say it. If ye interrupt, I willnae get it all out. I am going to tell ye what I want. I want a mon who can make my eyes cross when he makes love to me. I want a roof o’er my head and I dinnae much care if the roof is only thatch. I want enough food to keep us from starving and enough coin to buy something pretty when I have to go to some special celebration. I want bairns. I may nay be able to bear any of my own but there are many, many poor wee bairns who need a home and I will be looking for some. And ...”
Arianna suddenly realized that Brian was sitting up straight in his seat staring at her in a way that made her a little nervous. It was such an intense look that she found it difficult to recall the rest of what she had planned to say. Her fury was also fading and suddenly so was her courage.
“And ...” Brian demanded.
“And I want ye to give them to me. I want to be with ye, in your bed, in whate’er home ye make for us, and I want ye to try and love me as I love ye. And if ye try to send me away again, I will come right back.”
“Ye are nay going anywhere.”
He moved so fast she had no chance to elude him even if she wanted to. Arianna was astonished at how quickly he got her down on the floor. She was swiftly drowning in the heat of his kiss when she heard a slight tearing noise.
“My gown,” she began.
“I will get ye another.”
Brian did not think he had ever undressed her so fast or shed his own clothing with such speed. He needed to be skin to skin with her so badly he did not care about what ripped or where their clothes landed when he tossed them aside. If he did not have the proof of her kisses and the touch of her hands to tell him that passion had gripped her as tightly as it had him, he would be worried about how rough he was. Instead, he thought only of burying himself deep inside her.
Arianna cried out with joy when Brian joined their bodies with one hard thrust. She wrapped her arms and legs around him, reveling in the ferocity of his passion. Her own desire rose up hot and wild, her need for him a greed she doubted would ever wane. When her release crashed over her, she was faintly aware of shouting out her pleasure and her love. Then she was lost in the pleasure that swept all thought from her head as he joined her in that blissful fall, saying her name against her neck as his body shuddered from the strength of his release.
“So, ye are staying then,” he said once he regained the power of speech.
“Only if ye truly want me to,” she said, praying that she had not mistaken what had just happened, that what they had just shared meant he loved her, too, or was at least very close to loving her.
“I ne’er really wanted ye to leave.” He kissed the hollow at the base of her neck. “I just thought that it was what I should do.”
“But do I stay as just your lover or am I to be more?”
He lifted his head and kissed the tip o
f her nose. “Ye have always been more, Arianna. Always. If ye stay, it will be as my wife. ’Tis one reason I was insistent on making ye leave. I kenned that, if I kept ye close any longer, I would ne’er have the strength to let ye go. I thought that was wrong, even selfish, when ye could find a mon who could give ye so much more that I can.”
“Ye give me what I need, Brian. That is all that matters. I wish I could give ye a child,” she whispered.
“If ye dinnae, then ye dinnae. I shall nay be upset. I have so many kin I cannae recall half their names anyway.” He returned her quick grin. “And I like your thought of finding some wee ones who desperately need a home. I think we shall do that e’en if we are granted one of our own.”
He eased free of her body and picked her up in his arms. “And I shouldnae have my soon to be wife lying on the hard floor.” He settled her down on a small bed tucked against the wall and quickly joined her there.
“Ye have a bed in your ledger room?”
“We have wee beds where’er we can fit them and this isnae really my ledger room, but the room where anyone who has some work to do can come and do it.” He frowned as he stroked her hip. “I fear that will be the way of it for a while, Arianna. I have no home save this one.”
“This is a fine home. All we need is a bedchamber that doesnae have a few of your brothers in it.” She smiled when he laughed. “Or, if ye want, we could go and live in a wee cottage on the land the boys hold.”
“Where is that?”
“About a half day’s ride from here in the same direction as Dubheidland.”
“Jesu, that close?” He shook his head. “Weel, we can talk on all that later. I want to enjoy the first day of ye becoming part of Scarglas.”
She sighed with pleasure when he licked the hard tips of her breasts, fondling them in an almost idle manner that had her blood heating in a deliciously slow way. There was only one small shadow on her happiness. Brian had not told her he loved her. Arianna thought she could sense it in the way he made love to her, in the way he looked at her, but found that was not enough. She wanted to hear the words.
“Brian, I said I loved ye,” she began with a hesitancy she hated but could not shake free of.
“I ken it. I dinnae think I have e’er heard anything so beautiful.”
She looked down at the top of his head, enjoying the way he was kissing and licking her breasts but needing to look him in the eye as they spoke of such serious matters. Just as she reached to turn his face up to hers, however, he slid his hand between her thighs and began to caress her in a way that made thinking of serious matters almost impossible. Arianna gritted her teeth and forced her mind back to the problem of finding out whether or not the man she loved and would soon marry actually loved her.
“Brian, I love ye.”
“Aye, and I will ne’er tire of hearing ye say it.”
She frowned. There was a teasing note in his voice. The man was teasing her about something so very important to her? She rapped her knuckles on top of his head and scowled when he lifted his head and grinned at her.
“Ye can tease me about it all ye like later. Right now I am feeling as if I am at a disadvantage here,” she said, not surprised that her voice did not hold the tone of prim reprimand she wanted for he was still stroking her, sliding his fingers in and out of her in a way that had her beginning to pant.
Brian kept his hand busy right where it was but slid up her body far enough to brush a kiss over her mouth. “I love ye, Arianna. I have for a long time but I kenned it for certain when Amiel took ye from me. I loved ye enough to let ye go because I thought it was what ye needed.”
Arianna rapidly blinked, not wanting to cry when she was actually so happy she felt choked with it. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him, trying to imbue the kiss with all the love that filled her. When he slowly entered her, she sighed with pleasure, stroking his back as he stroked her with his body. Release came slowly to them both, whispered words of love adding to its beauty. Arianna knew she was crying while she held him close as they both trembled from the force of their release.
“I dinnae ken how ye would have e’er thought of being without this,” she whispered against his cheek.
“Weel, mayhap ye were right to call me an idiot.” He lifted his head and grinned at her when she laughed. “Ah, lass, I still think ye are too good for me but ye are stuck with me now.”
“Good. ’Tis the only place I wish to be.”
“We should get off this wee bed and get dressed before someone tries to get in. I dinnae want any of my kin seeing all this bonnie flesh. ’Tis mine and mine alone.”
“Are ye mine and mine alone, too?”
“Aye, lass. I should have said so. I ken my family isnae one to inspire belief in the faithfulness of a MacFingal but—”
She stopped his words with a brief kiss. “Your word is enough. Now, let us get dressed before—”
“Am I to unpack or pack the horses?” yelled Callum from outside the closed door.
Brian had to bite back a grin at how deeply Arianna blushed and how swiftly she leapt from the bed to start getting dressed. He sprawled on his back and watched her, enjoying the way she moved. She loved him. He felt like a king and could not seem to stop grinning.
“Weel? Have ye gone deaf in there or has my wee cousin killed ye and she is now weeping o’er your rotting corpse?”
“’Tis too soon for my corpse to be rotting,” Brian yelled back as he got up and began to dress, biting back a grin when he saw a flustered Arianna struggling to disguise the tear in her gown.
“So are we staying? Am I invited to a wedding?”
“Callum, go away!” yelled Arianna.
“That was what I was going to do but since ye two have been in there together for so long and I didnae hear any screams of pain, I thought there might have been a change of plans.”
Brian was glad he knew how to dress quickly for Arianna rushed to the door, flung it open, and glared at her cousin. “Have ye been out there the whole time?”
“Weel, nay the whole time,” Callum said, and then winked. “Just long enough to ken that we probably willnae be leaving.”
Brian caught up to Arianna just in time to catch her little fist as it swung toward Callum’s nose. “Tell my fither that we need a feast so that I can announce that I am about to get married.”
Arianna heard a round of cheers and finally looked beyond Callum. There had to be two dozen MacFingals standing around in the hall outside the door of the little ledger room. Right outside the door of the room where she had been yelling at Brian and then yelling in pleasure. She groaned, turned around, and hid her face against his chest.
“Tell them to go away before I die of embarrassment,” she told Brian.
Callum patted her on the back. “Congratulations, cousin. Best ye find time soon to write to your family. Come on,” he said to the gathered MacFingals. “We need to prepare for a celebration. Your brother is nay longer an idiot.”
Brian put his fingers under Arianna’s chin and tilted her face up to his. “Welcome to the MacFingal family, my love.”
“I think I need to warn ye about my family now.”
“Nay, I have a good idea of what faces me after meeting your cousins.”
“Callum,” she snapped, and glared in the direction her cousin had gone, “needs to have a care. I think he insulted me. Ye had best go and avenge me now.”
“Och, aye, I love avenging ye.” He picked her up in his arms and started up the stairs.
“Callum went the other way,” she said between giggles.
“I’ll see to him after I do some avenging.”
She was still laughing about that when he dropped her on the bed they had shared once. She held out her arms and welcomed him into them when he joined her on the bed. This was what she had been searching for. Laughter, love, family, and passion. For the first time in five long years Arianna knew she was home.
Epilogue
One year
later
“What is taking so long?” Brian shouted at the ceiling.
The sudden silence in the previously noisy great hall of Scarglas caught Brian’s attention and he looked around at all the MacFingals, Camerons, and Murrays gathered there. They were all staring at him as if they feared he was going to need to be chained down. Brian feared they might have to soon as this waiting was driving him mad.
Sigimor was the first to make a sound. The man started laughing so hard he was in danger of falling out of his chair. A moment later, just as Brian decided he needed to go over and kick his cousin, all the rest of the crowd started to laugh as well.
“Och, weel, ’tis verra glad I am that I can provide ye all with such amusement,” he grumbled, and flung himself into a seat next to Harcourt. “I doubt any of ye who have been through this were verra calm and sensible.”
Harcourt grinned. “None in my clan.”
“Sigimor wasnae, either,” said Fergus, earning a slap on the back of his head from his laird and brother.
“Ye have been through this often enough,” said his father. “Dinnae ken what ye are fretting about.”
“It was ne’er my wife or my child,” snapped Brian, and he quickly poured himself a tankard of ale, hoping the drink would ease the knot of fear in his chest.
“Wheesht, if ye had just told me that the fool lass thought she was barren, I could have settled her mind about it.”
“What do ye mean?”
“I could have told her she wasnae.”
“And just how would ye have kenned whether she was or wasnae?”
“Nay sure how I ken it, I just do. Always did. Ken when a lass is a fertile wee thing and when she isnae. My Mab can tell when a lass has quickened. We make a fine pair.”
Highland Avenger Page 27
