Page 3 of Intrigued By A Highlander (Highland Revenge Trilogy #2)

CHAPTER 3

“ O bey your husband, woman, and be a dutiful wife,” Cleric Freen ordered Dru sternly once the vows were spoken.

Dru had a few choice words for the cleric but a sudden tight hug from her husband prevented her from speaking, though not him.

“Dru will be a good wife,” Knox said, feeling the wee woman who was now his wife tense in his grip.

That was left to be seen, though Dru was overjoyed when the cleric announced.

“I must take my leave shortly if I am to reach my destination on time.”

Unfortunately, her joy was brief.

Cleric Freen turned a stern look on Knox. “You will consummate the marriage, sealing your vows permanently before I take my leave.”

“I will see it done,” Knox assured him.

Dru learned out of necessity to keep a watchful eye on people. Their actions, even the smallest ones, usually said more than words. A sharp lift of the cleric’s chin was enough to see he would not budge on his decision.

“I will not be played the fool and see you both part once I am gone. The union will be sealed now.” Cleric Freen turned to Mother Abbess. “Show us to an adequate room.”

Mother Abbess’s cheeks flushed as she directed Knox to follow her. “Come this way.”

Knox didn’t hesitate, but Dru could tell by his firm steps and stiff shoulders, drawn back tightly that he was annoyed. Yet he followed the abbess, and the cleric followed behind him.

Dru, on the other hand, felt trapped. Trapped by how tightly Knox held her, forcing her to keep pace with him, and trapped by the forced marriage. And now, trapped in consummating a union she wanted no part of. She grew more upset when Mother Abbess stopped and opened the door in front of her.

The cleric stepped around them and entered the room to look around. “Small but adequate.”

Dru wanted to protest but Knox nudged her into the room with strength she couldn’t fight. She should have fled when she had a chance, but Knox seemed determined for her to help him, which meant he would have searched for her. At least she would not have been trapped in an unwanted marriage.

“Leave us, Mother Abbess,” the cleric ordered. “I will watch and make sure the union is consummated.”

Dru couldn’t believe it. This was not happening. It couldn’t be, not after all the precautions she had taken, things she had suffered to keep any man from touching her. She turned, ready to unleash her tongue and was met with her husband’s broad chest and when she tilted her head back to look up at him, he mouthed, Quiet .

Normally, she would pay no heed to such a command, but something warned her to do as he said and so she clinched her lips showing him that she would do as he said, at least for now.

Knox turned, his voice taking on a strong command. “You will not witness our union, Cleric.”

The cleric sputtered as if searching for words or strength to challenge the large, commanding man.

“Mother Abbess can confirm the consummation once we are done,” Knox said. “Until then, you both will remain outside the door.”

“A reasonable solution,” Mother Abbess said, hurriedly shooing the cleric to the door. “Come, Cleric Freen.”

The cleric muttered beneath his breath but stepped out of the room and Mother Abbess shut the door.

Dru kept her voice low but firm. “There is no way?—”

Knox whispered as well, his voice just as firm, “Aye, there isn’t. You are too small for the likes of me and consummation would seal our marriage, something neither of us wants.”

Again, why it should bother her that he did not find her appealing made no sense. It should be a relief to her and yet it troubled her. She pushed the ridiculous thought from her head.

“Speak up, saying you don’t want to do this,” he whispered.

Dru had no trouble calling out and adding her own thought on the matter, “I want no part of this. You are too big. We will never fit.”

Knox seemed to give that thought, his eyes quickly assessing her, then he raised his voice. “I’ll see that we do.”

The way his dark brown eyes washed intimately over her and the confidence with which he spoke, as if he had not an ounce of doubt, set off a flurry of strange sensations running through her.

“Evidence is needed,” he whispered as if she would understand.

She scrunched her face trying to comprehend what he was saying, then realized what he meant. The reason she was so good at finding out information was because she observed everything and everyone. She had seen couples, thinking they hid themselves well, while mating and men, thinking themselves unseen as they spied on women while they pleasured themselves. Add to that what her own mum had gone through, and she had no interest in coupling with any man, not ever.

She was aware enough to offer. “You’ll need some blood to mix with your seed.” She reached for the dagger at his waist.

He grabbed her hand. “I’ll see to that as well. Get on the bed and make yourself ready.”

She did as he said, relief easing the tension that had gripped her body as she hurried on the bed to spread her legs and yank up her robe just enough so as not to expose herself.

“Moan shortly after you hear me moan,” he whispered, and Dru nodded.

Knox turned away from her, slipping his hand beneath his plaid.

That Knox would do this to avoid being locked into marriage with her pleased and annoyed her, to her frustration. She should be grateful he didn’t find her appealing and that he was willing to protect them from a forced marriage. So why then was she so annoyed?

His moan started low, and she waited until it grew a bit before she joined in. It intensified and she found her moans growing on their own along with an odd feeling deep and low inside her. She recalled women, women who didn’t care who they took between their legs, talking about the delights of coupling and how they would scream out as their pleasure grew until they couldn’t contain it any longer. Dru jumped, hearing a roar from Knox and she instinctively joined in, a strange feeling suddenly tickling at her.

“Spread your legs,” Knox ordered, suddenly beside her and pushing at her garment.

Dru pulled her garment up a bit more, but still at a decent height and intended to take his seed in her hand when he mumbled, “The blood.”

She quickly grabbed his dagger from his waist, and he held his free hand out for her to slice it, but she sliced her own and held it out to him. He quickly let her blood mix with his seed, then hurried his hand beneath her garment.

It was a quick swipe of his hand against her private parts, and it caused her to shudder. No one had ever touched her there. She barely touched herself there, her mum warning her against it.

Knox hurried his dagger into its sheath and ordered, “Lie back.”

He settled himself over her and between her legs just in time.

The door sprang open and Cleric Freen rushed into the room, Mother Abbess hurrying in behind him.

“Hide your bloody hand,” Knox whispered.

Dru buried her hand in her garment, intending to feign an accident later to explain the wound and the blood on her garment in case anyone should notice.

“Move off her,” Cleric Freen demanded. “Let Mother Abbess see.”

As soon as Knox did, Mother Abbess stepped forward her cheeks plumped red as she lowered her head to peer beneath Dru’s garment. She stood straight, her cheeks now flaming. “It is done. Their vows are properly sealed.”

“Good and I hope it proves a fruitful union,” Cleric Freen said satisfied. “Now I must be off and remember, Dru, your husband’s word is law.”

The cleric took off without any acknowledgment to Mother Abbess and she didn’t seem to expect one since she focused on Knox.

“Food and drink wait in the refectory, please enjoy it while I have warm water brought to your wife so she may wash before joining you.”

Dru couldn’t let that happen. It could cause suspicion and questions. A slight lift of Knox’s brow warned her that he thought the same.

She let her audacious manner solve the problem for her. “I’m good.” She slipped off the bed. “I like the feel of his seed on me and the scent isn’t so bad either.”

“Good Lord in heaven, Dru!” Mother Abbess exclaimed, crossing herself. “You embarrass your husband.”

“Nay. I am pleased she will not mind me resting there often,” Knox said with a hint of a smile.

Dru grinned from ear to ear. “Then I will be round with child before you know it.”

“Aye, often since I want a gaggle of bairns.”

Mother Abbess smiled. “At least a gaggle of bairns will keep her too busy to get into any trouble.”

“I wouldn’t count on that,” Dru said, hurrying past them both to the door. “Let’s eat. I’m starving.”

Mother Abbess shook her head as Knox waited for her to exit before him. “I will set a day of prayer aside for you, my son. You are going to need all the prayers you can get now that you are wed to Dru.”

Dru was exhausted, the long day having caught up with her. She was eager to drop into bed and sleep, but how did she sleep when she had to share the bed with her husband?

Her husband.

Never had she planned on that, and it was something that needed to be rectified.

“It’s not big enough for the two of us,” she said, pointing to the bed after sharing a good meal with Mother Abbess and the nuns. Mother Abbess was pleased she behaved well. It had been strictly out of necessity. Dru had been too busy eating to engage in conversation. It had been a full day since she had last eaten, and she had begun to feel it. If she had some food in her, she might have just gotten away from Knox at the loch. She’d noticed that Knox had been quiet as well, listening more than participating.

“We’ll manage,” Knox said, stretching his shoulders back after ridding himself of the sword he wore strapped to his back that now rested against the small table and the daggers at his waist sat atop it.

Dru looked from Knox, tall and broad, a giant of a man to her small stature, to the narrow bed and back again. Impossible. No way would they fit there unless they were mashed against each other.

“You’re safe with me,” he said, hurrying his boots off and going to stretch out on the bed.

“You barely fit it,” Dru protested, scrunching her brow as his big body consumed the whole bed. “You’re far too large.” She wondered if he wasn’t used to smiling since she spotted only a hint of one, barely recognizable, when he spoke.

“I never heard that from a woman,” he said, sounding amused and patted the narrow spot beside him. “Join me. We need to discuss our situation.”

While she would have preferred to stretch out, she sat instead, not sure how she felt about sleeping beside him. Though more than likely she’d probably find herself sleeping snug in his muscled arms and plastered against his thick, muscled chest. She had never seen a man built as solidly and with such defined muscles as he was.

“You made it quite clear to me what you think of Lord Torrance, but he offered me something I never thought I would have—a piece of land of my own, a place I can call my own, something that has been a dream of mine.”

“And you want a gaggle of children to fill the place?” she asked but had no idea why she would want to know.

He nodded. “I do. I want a woman strong enough to stand with me and to give me several children I can pass the land onto.”

“So, you’re looking more for a broodmare than a woman to love,” Dru said, confirming that he would have no interest in her since she didn’t fit what he needed. Again, a relief, so why the nagging annoyance?

“Love doesn’t exist, so I will settle for a woman who will tend to her tasks and duties, as will I. But before I can even think about that, I must find Lord Torrance’s half-sister, Autumn.”

Dru didn’t agree. Love did exist, though it was rare and only found by a lucky few, and she definitely wasn’t one of the lucky ones.

“Lord Torrance is a notorious liar. How do you know he will honor this pledge?”

“I don’t know, but I do know that if I don’t try, I will always wonder if a missed a chance at my dream.”

She learned early on not to dream or hope, both always ended in disappointment. Instead, she learned what it took to survive.

“Do you not care what plans Lord Torrance has for his half-sister?”

“That doesn’t concern me. I was offered a task and a reward well worth taking.”

“So, if he means Autumn harm, you do not care?” she challenged.

Knox sat up so fast that Dru leaned back thinking he meant to lash out at her. His arm hooked her waist preventing her from falling back and his woodsy scent encircled her. She favored his scent, a familiar one since she spent much of her time in the forest, a place that felt like home to her and where she felt the safest.

“His sister, like other nobles, has a duty to her clan whether she likes it or not. From what I heard Lord Torrance plans to wed her to a noble, the union being beneficial to the clan.”

“A man two times her age who has lost two wives and is known to be a sadistic brute. It’s rumored that one wife took her own life to free herself from the torment.”

“How do you know this?”

“Information is my specialty.” She pinched her lips tight, realizing how foolish she was to admit that.

“The reason I came in search of you,” Knox said, and let his hand fall off her waist to drop his head back on the pillow, though a lingering tingle remained along his arm. It had happened each time he had taken hold of Dru. It wasn’t an annoying tingle or a worrisome one, it was a pleasant one and he thought it odd. “I have had no luck in finding even a small trace of her.”

“What do you know about Autumn?” she asked, yawning halfway through her question.

Knox reached out and with one yank and a gentle twist, he settled her in the crook of his arm.

Dru was all set to object when she realized how warm and comfortable she was there. Even his hard muscled arm proved to be a good pillow. One night sleeping beside him wouldn’t hurt.

“Autumn,” she reminded.

“Autumn is Lord Torrance’s bastard, half-sister, born to his father’s longtime mistress, one of many but his favorite. She took ill and asked him to give his word that Autumn would be looked after and treated well. He gave his word. But either she didn’t believe him or trust him or Autumn thought that since she disappeared soon after her mum passed. A search was made but to no avail. After the recent battle with Clan MacLeish, and with his father gone, Lord Torrance decided to continue the search for Autumn.”

“And use her to his advantage,” Dru said.

“As nobles do to their siblings. Help me find her and I will release you from our marriage.”

“And if I don’t?”

“Then you are stuck with me.”

Dru laughed. “You don’t even find me appealing. I would be of no use to you.”

Knox took a strong hold of her chin, forcing her to keep eye contact with him. “You will do this Dru, or I will see our marriage consummated and make sure you remain my wife for the rest of our lives.”

Dru pushed his hand away and he didn’t stop her. “That is a frightening thought, so I guess I have no choice but to help you find Autumn. But—” she said with a poke to his chest, “no matter what we find, whether she is alive or dead or already wed, you will release me from this marriage, on that I will have your word.”

“You have it. No matter Autumn’s circumstances when we find her, I will honor my word and end our marriage.”