T he moment she’d stepped through the doors to the McKinnon Castle, her mother rushed to her and wrapped her in a tight hug.
“Is it true?” Daisy looked heartbroken and distraught, “Did me husband really do all those evil things? Did he take the lass Norah and try to kill Elijah?”
Knowing how frail her mother was, Paige guided her up the steps to a room near their breakfast room. Guiding her mother to a seat she gently sat her down.
Reaching over she held her mother’s hand tightly while swallowing over her own grief. “I hate to tell ye the truth, Maither, but aye…” she swallowed, “Father did do those things.
She told her about her father admitting to kidnapping Norah, the bet he had lost, and how he had admitted to wanting to kill Elijah.
Tears trickled down Daisys’s face and utter grief darkened her face. Hugging her mother close, Paige allowed her tears to fall as well. The pain of feeling utterly betrayed by her father and the unneeded hatred she had built up for Ruben.
Both emotions crashed with the memories on fear and frenzy, only two hours collided into a ball of pain that poured out of her in tears. She held onto her mother’s shoulders as they cried together.
Pressing the back of her hand into her eyes, Paige wiped the tears away as Ruben stepped into the room. His astute eyes took one look at the two of them and stepped back out of the room.
He returned with Maisie in tow. “She’ll take yer maither to her rooms, and I need to take ye to ours.”
“Good night, Maither,” Paige said.
As her mother, she saw how Ruben have her a long look at her. Paige felt his eyes take in her haggard appearance, including her ragged, stained dress and tousled hair. He wrapped her up in a tight, warm hug.
“When I saw him hold that weapon to ye, I wanted to take his head off,” Ruben said.
“I was terrified,” Paige admitted as she pressed her face into his chest. “Me heart was beatin’ out of me chest.”
“But ye did well,” Ruben said, “Very well. For that one lesson in defense, ye took it well.”
His left hand slipped up to cup the back of her neck. He tilted her head up to face him, and kissed her on the lip, and in that moment she did not care about anything.
The kiss was amazing, and Paige found herself standing on her tiptoes, deepening the connection between her and this man who had saved her life twice…this man whom she loved…
“What ye do to me,” he muttered, tracing his finger along her jawline. “I never planned to fall in love with ye.”
The words washed over her and nearly made her swoon. Ruben loved her; he was in love with her. The love of her life was in love with her!
That was enough let her truth fall from her lips. “I…I am in love with ye, too. I dinnae want to believe it, but it is true.”
“I’ve sent for us to have a bath,” Ruben said. “Do ye wish that I’d only captured yer father for the crown to deal with him instead of killin’ him?”
She rested the side of her head on his chest, “The Crown would have imprisoned him or sentenced him to death. I ken they will make an enquiry when his death is kenned, but we can deal with it then.
“I am simply glad we have answers to all the questions about Norah, me cousin and the war.” Paige sighed, pressing her face into his chest. He smelled like smoke and sweat. “Ye must have some comfort too.”
“With ye,” he brushed his lips across her forehead, “Aye, I do.”
Three Weeks Later
The merry sounds and smells of the going away feast wrapped around Paige like a comforting blanket. Her mother and Elijah, the new Laird of MacPherson, were set to ride back to her old home by dawn.
“Are ye going to miss us, cousin?” Elijah asked from her right side.
“Aye,” Paige replied. “But ye are nae hundreds of miles away. I can visit ye two at will. I ken ye will be a smart, kind, reasonable laird. Ye ken what the court said.”
Upon learning about her father’s death, the court had examined all the evidence of the laird’s crimes and found him guilty in death. The evidence had been stacked higher than the Ben Nevis Mountain.
The tribunal had read the condemning wager, signed by her father’s own hand. They had heard the spoken testimony from Elijah who had faked his death to save himself from persecution, and the kidnapper who knew about Norah’s abduction.
They had appointed Elijah his successor upon Ruben relinquishing any rights to the land as Paige’s husband.
“I ken what they said,” he said. “But ye ken what they say, heavy is the head that wears the crown.” He nodded to Ruben as he entered the room, “Speakin’ of crowns….”
The head of the clan was dressed in its finery, clan in a green tunic, his father’s sword hung at his side and a sprig of heather in the clasp of his cloak. He looked extremely dashing and every bit the Laird of all that he surveyed as he took the steps to the dais.
Her mother smiled widely as she spoke to Niall and Paige knew the two would be in contact from then on.
The serving women came around the tables were platters of roasted meats; salmon had been dressed and prepared on great platters and salads of wild herbs prepared alongside breads and sweet fruits.
Ruben had ordered several barrels to be brought up from the cellars and already the room was merry with the sound of clansmen enjoying the feast.
Sitting at the high table, her thoughts turned to her father. She felt no anger towards him, just pity. She could not imagine how tiring it would be to keep up such appearances, because she now knew that appearances can be deceptive.
Now, they were celebrating the union of the two clans and the peace which now this brought to the glen.
A year previously it would have been unthinkable to imagine the McKinnons feasting with the MacPherson’s in the Great Hall of the MacPherson castle, but now her union with Ruben had brought peace.
“Are ye feelin’ well?” her mother asked.
Paige tore her eyes from Ruben, “Aye, Maither. I just want to speak with Ruben for a while.”
Lifting her skirt, she descended the dais and went to find Ruben. He was talking to Galan, but as soon he caught sight of her, pulled away.
“Paige?” he asked. “Is something the matter?”
“Nay.” Paige said. “I just want a moment to speak with ye. In private.
He cocked his head, then took her hand and they left the hall with a few eyes flickering to them, but she did not care. He walked them up to their rooms and closed the door behind them.
“Were ye tirin’ of the feast?” he asked while unpinning his cape.
“Nay,” she said. “But I would prefer to have some alone time with ye.”
“Would ye now,” Ruben rumbled. “And what sort of time are ye lookin’ for?”
She came closer and ran her hand down his chest, looking coyly up from under her lashes. “I want ye to touch me.”
He cupped the back of her head with one hand, then slid down to cup the curve of her bottom with the other, His fingers tangled in her silken hair, drawing a breath from her.
He thrust his tongue into her mouth to tangle with hers. She surrendered under his invasion, her lips parting and softening. Paige melted like wax against him, so warm and yielding.
“Stop me,” he rasped against her lips.
She deliberately wrapped her arms around his neck. “Nay.”
“Damn it, lass. Ye must, for the hunger I have for ye is going to make me demand much of ye that an innocent like ye cannae give.”
In answer, she lifted her head from the mattress and kissed him..
With a growl, he grabbed a fistful of her skirts and yanked them up and Paige made a startled noise as his hand locked under her bare thigh. He pulled her wide beneath him, settling into the cradle of her open legs. Innocent or nay, she could not mistake the hard length he pressed against her.
“Is this what ye want?” he demanded, desperation tightening his voice. To his surprise and pleasure, she pushed back against him exploratorily. Her hands trembled on his shoulders, but she fixed him with an unwavering gaze.
“Aye.” All she still wanted from him was to give him all of herself.
She stared up at him with wide, dark eyes. Her lips were damp and swollen from his punishing kiss as Ruben set to work on the laces running down her back. He moved behind her and brushed her hair over her shoulder.
When the ties were loosened, he peeled back her blue gown and kissed down her spine now before he lifted her chemise. His fingers brushed along her collarbone as he cupped her breasts, from behind. The taut pink tips strained under his touch.
She did not try to hide her body from him, but she knew he knew from the trembling of her lips that she was nervous. Dipping his head, he lowered his mouth to her neck and dragged his lips from the base of her throat to the slope of one breast.
When his tongue flicked her beaded nipple, she jerked and gulped a ragged breath. She was so sensitive. He lavished attention on first one breast and then the other, pulling gasps and moans from her with each graze and swirl of his tongue.
“God above, ye’re beautiful,” he groaned while stepping away to shuck his shirt and removed his breeks.
Her dark gaze was like a soft caress as it slid over his chest and down his torso to his jutting manhood. Her eyes rounded and her mouth formed a silent “oh” as she took in the size of him. While she had had him in her mouth, he looked thicker than ever before.
Pushing her on the bed, his tongue lavished attention on first one breast and then the other, sliding lower and lower at each time. He settled between her trembling thighs and lowered his mouth to her very core. She opened her legs wider to accommodate his hips when he kissed up her.
Paige sucked in a breath when his manhood nudged against her wet entrance. With one trembling finger, he circled her opening, teasing and taunting her, his fingers dipping in and sliding out of her tight body.
He doubled his fingers and his thrusting force, delving inside hard enough that she peaked; shattered, crying out. He kissed her ear. “Now, lass. I’m going to take ye now.”
“I’ve waited,” she reached for a kiss. “For a long time.”
. Instead, he circled that nub of pleasure at the top of her sex until she tilted her hips in wordless invitation.
Gritting his teeth, he pushed in an inch at a time. Whenever she tensed at the new invasion, he stilled, waiting for her to adjust and relax. Finally, he was flush inside her and Paige could never imagine she would feel so full.
He kissed her lips, “I love yer body.”
Reaching for her, he locked her ankles behind his back, and the last of his self-control shattered. Smoothing his damp hair from his forehead, she felt a shuddery breath leave him.
Her fingers dug into his shoulders as he rocked into her again and again, pushing harder and faster. Paige tightened around him as burst and burst of pleasure exploded inside her body.
She kissed him as hard as he kissed her and reveled in how their tongues twined with the same eroticism as their joined bodies. With each hard thrust, his need and lust seemed to double.
He drove into her with wicked, scantling abandon, not once losing his rhythm, but kept driving them to completion. Her lungs burned as he slung her sleek legs over his shoulders and gave it to her.
His hips slammed again and again, her muscles tensed as she screamed, her tight channel milking him. They both careened over the edge and into ecstasy together, riding the wave until they drifted back into their bodies, breathless and shaking.
He dropped onto the mattress beside her, drawing her onto his chest as her frantic pants began to even out. She was as supple as melted wax, draping over him in languid repose.
“Ruben…”
“Aye?”
“What do ye wish for, sons or daughters?” Paige asked.
It took him a long time to reply and when he did, his words were not what she’d expected. “It matters nae to me who comes first,” he said. “Any daughter we have will be as strong and brave as their Maither, and any sons we have will be as just and good.”
He turned to her, “Are ye already thinkin’ about out bairns?”
“It’s in the back of me mind,” she replied. “I suppose we’ll have to see one day. But before we do have children, I’d prefer ye to teach me how to handle a sword and swim.”
He laughed. “I agree to those terms. Now, get some sleep, we’ll have a long day on the morrow.”
“Startin’ with?”
“I think with gettin’ ye a proper sword,” he replied. “I will turn ye into the best swordswoman the Highlands have ever seen.”
The End?