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“You should understand one thing, Andrew,” she said frankly. “At Torridon, I am the one who gives the orders. There is no one who gives me orders.”

He cocked an eyebrow at her. “That is about to change,” he said. “The mere fact that we are betrothed means that I am in command. You shall do what I say.”

She pursed her lips at him, irritated. “Or what? ”

“Would you really care to find out?”

Josephine couldn’t tell if he was bluffing or not.

She was certain he wouldn’t truly harm her, but a spanking might be in order.

To be safe, she stayed out of arm’s length.

“I have commanded an army quite ably for the past two years,” she said.

“Do not think that you can sweep in and start ordering me about. We will be equal partners in our marriage and we will discuss all situations first. There will be no ordering about, from either of us.”

He looked at her as if she’d gone daft. “A partnership?” he said. “Where do you get these odd ideas? There is no partnership in a marriage. The man gives the orders and the woman complies.”

Josephine grew serious. “Then you do not respect my mind or my thoughts?”

Andrew had been teasing her for the most part– he did mean what he said but he didn’t want it to sound cruel or demanding about it, so he was trying to jest his way through the subject to see how she’d respond.

Clearly, she didn’t think any of it was funny.

But she had to understand that he wasn’t going to go through the rest of his life clearing every order with her.

“Of course I respect your mind and your thoughts,” he said. “You are very intelligent as far as women go. I have never seen brighter. But to deny my wishes and my commands shows a complete lack of respect to me. Did you not think of that?”

She sobered dramatically. “I would never show you disrespect.”

“By arguing with my orders, you are showing everyone that you do not respect me,” he said. “If my men see that my wife will not respect my wishes, it will give them second thoughts about obeying me as well. It could throw my entire command into question.”

Josephine hadn’t thought of it that way. “I would only let your men see my great respect and admiration for you, Andrew.”

“Then that means obeying me, at all times, without question.”

Josephine wasn’t so sure she liked any of that, but she saw his point. “Well,” she said reluctantly. “When we are in private, may I at least question you?”

He nodded, feeling some relief that he was gaining headway with her. “Of course you may,” he said. “And there may be times when I seek your counsel. But I must know I have your obedience, love. That is very important, in all things.”

She nodded, but it was with reservation. “You shall have it.”

Andrew smiled at her, reaching out to pull her near the fire.

When he sat down in a big oak chair, he drew her onto his lap, feeling the warmth of her soft body against him.

It was incredibly arousing, and his thoughts shifted from her obeying his orders to the situation at hand.

Things were coming that she had to be aware of.

“Now,” he said, trying to ignore the heat blooming in his loins. “There are things we must speak of. The situation is going to change quite rapidly around here very soon.”

Josephine wrapped her arms around his shoulders, her fingers tickling the back of his neck. She sensed his change in mood.

“When are you leaving to confront your brother?” she asked.

He shook his head. “Not merely confront, love,” he said. “ Kill. I am going to kill my brother.”

“When?”

“Tomorrow,” he said softly, reaching up to push a stray piece of hair out of her eyes.

“I shall leave before dawn and it will take me a little more than two days to reach Haldane Castle. I will tell you what I have told Thane. If I have not returned in seven days, assume I am not coming at all. Thane has instructions to take you to my cousin, Roan, at Castle Questing, home of William de Wolfe. Roan serves de Wolfe and he will protect you, but much depends on de Wolfe. If the man does not want you there because of the trouble you will undoubtedly bring with you, then Thane has orders to take you south to Cornwall and give you over to another cousin of mine, Dennis. Dennis commands a very big castle and he will ensure you are protected. He will not fear the King of Scotland or my foolish brother.”

Listening to Andrew speak of contingency plans made Josephine realize just what an undesirable commodity she would become should Andrew perish in his quest to save her from his brother.

“I do not want to put so many people in danger,” she said quietly. “I could just as easily flee to France and lose myself there. Andrew, truly, I do not wish to put your entire family at risk from the wrath of the king.”

Andrew looked at her, seeing that she was earnest about it.

She was so terribly brave, this woman, something he admired so much.

But there was such a large part of him that didn’t want her to be brave.

She shouldn’t have to be brave. He should simply be able to protect her, always, so that she never had to worry about it.

But the truth was that there was a very real chance that he might not return for her.

The thought of Josephine running from the king and from his brother for the rest of her life made him feel sick inside.

God, he didn’t want her to have to worry about it.

He just wanted to marry her and get on with their lives.

“What the king is doing is wrong, Joey,” he said.

“Even if I did not love you, I would still figure out a way to help you. The king betrothed you to my brother, with the full knowledge that you and I were betrothed, so he is the one in the wrong. We are fighting for what is right and true and good. You must believe that. And when you are fighting for what is right, risk is not a consideration.”

He made it sound so very noble. Josephine put a soft hand against his cheek, watching him kiss her palm.

“Had you not come to Torridon, I would still have been pledged to your brother with no one to warn me what a horrible man he is,” she said. “Your arrival was divine intervention, I think. God knew what was about to happen. He knew I would need you.”

He smiled faintly. “And if the king did not arrive but I had still come, would you still think it divine intervention?”

She grinned. “There would have been no need for Sully to marry my sister, nor me to marry you,” she said. “I suppose we would still be trading insults and arguing about who would lead Torridon’s defenses.”

He shook his head firmly. “We would not have been arguing,” he said. “I would have had command and control, in all things.”

Her eyebrows lifted. “Is that so?”

“It is.”

Now, she scowled. “You are an arrogant man, Andrew d’Vant. You assume too much.”

He eyed her. “Not nearly as much as you do.”

Josephine couldn’t tell if he was serious or not, but the glimmer in his eyes caught her attention and she realized that he was toying with her.

With a frustrated sigh, she turned to climb off his lap but he grabbed her, pulling her close against his chest. Before Josephine could utter a word of protect, his lips slanted over hers, hungrily.

Andrew intended to shut her up, and he did.

Josephine was caught off guard by the kiss but, very quickly, she responded.

Her arms went back around his neck and she held tight as the man kissed her furiously, with passion and hunger that made Josephine’s heart race.

When he began to caress her through her clothing, first her back and then her arms, she was hoping he might do something more, although she wasn’t exactly sure what more.

He seemed to be rather tame about his kisses, especially when she’d heard the maids talk about how aggressive the soldiers could be.

They touched women’s breasts and even put their mouths on them.

She wondered if Andrew was going to be as bold as all that.

She soon found out.

As Andrew suckled her lips, his hands moved for her breasts.

He was rather subtle about it at first, coming up from her torso, pretending to be stroking her ribs when his hands brushed up over her breasts.

Josephine trembled but she didn’t stop him, so he became bolder and put a big hand over her right breast, squeezing gently.

She rather liked the feel of it; he could tell when she arched her back, pressing her breast into his hand.

When he began to play with a nipple through the fabric, the woman reacted like a wanton and groaned. Her breathing began to come in pants.

Andrew took that as an invitation to disrobe her.

She wasn’t stopping him and he didn’t want to be stopped.

He’d bedded many women, too many to count, and they were all simply a means to an end– the end being his pleasure.

He couldn’t even recall one woman that had been remotely special to him because he simply didn’t have that mindset.

He’d never been looking for anyone special.

But now, he had a special woman in his arms and she consumed him like nothing else.

The stays on her surcote were ties, and he managed to untie most of them, yanking the cote right over her head.

The shift came next, very swiftly. Josephine gasped as he bared her naked skin to the warm, dark chamber.

Quickly, she was up in his arms, and he swept her over to the bed, laying her gently upon the mattress.

Josephine was a little startled by it all, perhaps even apprehensive, but not enough to tell him to stop.

She didn’t want him to stop. In fact, when he suddenly turned and headed for the door, she was very disappointed.

She thought he was going to leave. But she saw him throw the bolt on the door, ensuring their privacy, and her excitement knew no bounds.

She knew that her maidenhead, the thing most of value to a woman, was about to be given over to the man she loved.

The man she would marry.

As Andrew made his way back over to her, pieces of his clothing were coming off– his tunic, under tunic, boots, and finally his breeches.

He’d nearly tripped trying to pull his boots off, flinging them aside as they hit the wall of the chamber.

Next, Josephine realized, he was throwing himself on the bed and pulling the coverlet over them both.

Josephine wrapped her arms around him as he fell atop her, his mouth hungrily finding hers. His hands, big and warm, were all over her flesh, touching her, caressing her, as he wedged his large body in between her legs.

She was simply moving on instinct, obeying the man’s silent commands as he settled himself atop her. His mouth left hers and moved down her jaw to her neck, nibbling on her shoulders, his hand fondling her warm breast.

“I love you, Joey,” he murmured, his mouth against her flesh. “Until the end of time, I will love you and only you. You belong to me.”

Josephine gasped as he suckled a nipple. “I belong to you,” she whispered. “All of me, forever.”

Andrew’s hand moved to her pelvis, touching her where only Josephine had ever touched herself.

She was uncertain with it at first but, quickly, she grew to like it.

He was so very gentle with her, acquainting her with his touch.

Everything he was doing to her was marvelous and delicious, like nothing she could have imagined.

Gone were the thoughts of gossiping maids and clumsy soldiers; what Andrew was doing was soft and beautiful.

When he finally lifted himself up and she could feel his erection pushing at her threshold, she didn’t even flinch. She welcomed it. She wanted it.

She wanted him.

Coiling his buttocks, Andrew thrust into Josephine’s quivering body, listening to her gasp as he breached her maidenhead.

But he didn’t give her time to dwell on the shock or the pain of it before he was thrusting into her deeply, with full and measured strokes.

He wanted her to know the pleasure, not the pain.

Never in his life had he known such satisfaction.

This was more than a primal mating act; this was his demonstration of his feelings for Josephine, of the love and admiration and respect he had for a woman who had very quickly consumed his being. It was more than taking what was his.

It was a melding of souls.

Beneath him, Josephine gasped with each thrust, but it was a pleasurable gasp now.

He could tell by the way she was writhing beneath him.

She was even starting to respond to him, to move her hips against his, and it was all Andrew could to do keep from releasing himself inside her.

He wanted the experience to last, something for him to remember during the time of separation that was soon to come, but the way she was moving underneath him was bringing him to a climax whether or not he wanted it to.

Knowing his release was imminent, he put his hand down where their bodies were joined, expertly manipulating her.

Very quickly, Josephine experienced her first release and Andrew joined her, filling her with his seed and, for the first time in his life, thinking on the strong sons she would bear him.

Magnificent sons. Lads with his strength and her sensibilities. Surely no greater sons in all the land.

Bodies cooled and breathing slowed as he lay on top of her, he felt her heartbeat against his chest. He gathered her up so tightly in his arms that he was certain he was crushing her, but she didn’t complain.

She held on to him tightly as well, her face pressed against his shoulder.

He could feel her hot breath against his skin, eventually slowing and becoming more even.

Andrew didn’t even want to speak; he didn’t want any words to spoil the beauty of the moment that needed no words.

He just lay there and held Josephine, feeling her steady breathing against him.

When he finally thought he should say something, at least ask her if she enjoyed it, the woman in his arms suddenly let out an old-man snore.

Deep and loud, she was passed out cold in his arms.

Andrew had never tried so hard to keep his laughter quiet in all his life.