Page 15 of Married to the Scarred Highlander (Unwanted Highland Wives #4)

15

I t was entirely too good.

Far too good.

Laura told herself the same thing again and again as she paced in her bedchambers.

What am I goin’ to do ?— ?

The knocking interrupted her thoughts, and she was grateful for it.

“Lass?” His voice carried through the door, and she swung around to crack it open.

“Aye?” she said, her voice a little more firm than she had intended.

“Have I done something? Have I disrespected ye?” Worry flashed across his brow, quick as a whip, before softening again.

“Nay.”

“May I enter?”

Laura chewed on her cheek for a moment before finally stepping aside. His massive body somehow didn’t make her room feel smaller, and she wondered whose room it had been before it was hers.

Typically, the healer doesnae get such a room. Our healer didnae anyway…

“I ken I crossed the line tonight, nae even a full day after I promised?—”

“It’s nae ye, Ciaran. Ye’ve done nothin’ wrong.”

His eyes flashed down to hers as they stood in silence for a moment. The words drew the most miniscule hint of confusion between his eyebrows.

“What happened? Was it nae…?”

Her hand shot out and landed on his arm. “Nay, nay—it was very good. I have never felt that way. Never.”

“Is it that ye miss yer husband?”

The word struck a chord inside her, eliciting the most hysteric and uncontrollable laughter.

“Hus— Husband ? Och, Christ.” She placed a hand on her stomach to calm herself. “I’ve never been married,” she said, amusement lacing each word.

I should tell him everything. He deserves to ken …

“I—” she started to say when the sound of Fraser’s nursemaid entering his chambers made her ears perk up.

Ciaran’s eyes also turned toward the sound before landing on hers again.

Cannae do this with others around…

Laura took a tentative step back, having not realized they had been standing so close. In a whisper, she said, “I will tell ye everything ye wish to ken—everything. Tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow?” he whispered back, but the urgency was plain in his voice.

She sidestepped and angled her body so that she could gently push him back out into the corridor. “Aye, anything ye wish.”

Ciaran walked backward toward the door, ceding control to her—a fact that she hadn’t missed in the slightest. “Anything?”

“Anything.”

He stepped back out into the corridor, a smirk playing at the corners of his mouth.

“Tomorrow, then,” he said, nodding his head. “G’night, lass.”

“Do ye mind if I write to me sister? Let her ken that I’m here and safe?”

His dark eyes met hers, and his response was immediate. “Of course.”

Laura smiled at the ease of his response and then slowly closed the door. The sound of his footsteps retreating down the corridor and disappearing somewhere on the stairs to his room left her standing with her back pressed against the heavy wood. A smile spread across her face.

She moved quickly through the passageway to Fraser’s room. Kenna was leaning over the bed, doing her regular checks as the bairn slept heavily.

“He’s a gorgeous lad, Laura,” Kenna said with a kind, considerate smile.

“Thank ye.”

“He’s the spittin’ image of ye, ye ken?” Kenna said, curling a lock of the boy’s hair before stepping away from him. “He and me bairns get along very well.”

“Oh? He’s met them already?”

“Oh, aye. All the bairns spend the day together. Did Mairead nae show ye the bairns’ space?”

“There’s a space for the bairns?”

“Aye. We call it the Bairns’ Keep, but its true name is the Hearth Room.”

“Where is it?”

“Would ye care to come see?” Kenna asked, her excitement nearly boiling over.

The woman was clearly quite proud of it, almost as if it were her idea, to begin with.

“Sure, lead the way!” Laura said, matching her excitement while also keeping her voice low so as not to wake Fraser.

She followed the woman through the servants’ door in Fraser’s nursery and climbed up the winding steps until reaching the top. Once there, she quite literally stepped straight into the room itself.

The warmth of the large hearth wrapped around her instantly as Kenna, too, stepped into the Hearth Room.

“We can open all the windows up here to let in a breeze as well,” Kenna said, walking over to the closest window and popping it open.

The cool night air drifted into the room and kissed Laura’s bare arms.

“How delightful!” she said, spinning around once, appreciating the room’s size.

It was much larger than she’d expected. Several doors lined the wall, identical to the one they’d walked through. Each of the doors was slightly ajar to provide warmth to the nursery through the stairwell.

Realization dawned on her like a soothing balm— Other children live here, too.

“How many others?”

“Well, I have two—both under five years old. A few of the other maids have bairns, and Mr. Clachair’s twin sons are here as well.”

“And ye all live here in the keep?”

“Aye, though nae up here. Our rooms are a bit further away, but it’s as it should be.”

I kenned that room wasnae meant for me .

“Can ye tell me about the room I’m stayin’ in? Do ye ken who…?”

“Oh, I dinnae ken. The Laird will be able to tell ye, though,” Kenna said quickly, but her words were too clipped and too quick to be fully true.

Laura let the woman continue to pretend she didn’t know, but it was clear that Kenna knew more than she let on.

“Are ye fine with me bringin’ young Fraser up here, or would ye rather he stay in the nursery and yer rooms?”

“Oh, please bring him here. I love that he’ll be able to make friends.”

The kind smile returned as Kenna nodded and gestured for them to leave the way they had come.

As the nursemaid closed the open window, Laura turned slightly to watch her come back over the threshold. Kenna closed the door—though not fully—and the thought of someone so caring minding her son while she was busy warmed her heart.

“Thank ye, Kenna,” Laura said as they reached the slightly ajar door to Fraser’s nursery.

“Of course,” Kenna said before continuing down the stone staircase.

Laura planted a soft kiss on Fraser’s brow before walking back to her bedchamber. The events of the day finally caught up to her, and her steps slowed until she stood before the large, four-poster bed.

A heat throbbed between her hips, putting pressure on the places where Ciaran’s mouth had been as he coaxed her arousal and release from the depths of her soul. The images flashed in her mind again, and she gripped one of the posts.

She slowly unlaced her corset and stepped out of her skirts after unbuttoning them and letting them fall to the floor. Her heavy-lidded eyes ran over the space and landed on the large, brass tub next to the hearth. The water was still steaming, and her body moved before her mind could think to stop her.

Easing herself into the water, she let herself relax. Bubbles formed as she poured soap and bathing oils into the tub and stirred the water with one hand. She shifted to lean back, her arms hanging languidly over the edge of the tub and her eyelids fluttering shut as the essence of lavender seeped into her veins.

“I did knock,” she heard a gravelly voice say.

Ciaran?

Her eyes flashed open, landing on the doorway to her bedchambers. Scanning the space and not finding any sign of him, she relaxed back into the tub, her senses on high alert.

Strange …

The water was less warm than before, but she had dozed off long enough for her fingertips to prune. Leveraging her body weight, she slowly pushed herself to her feet. She grabbed a nearby towel, but she merely wiped her face and then hung it back up.

Laura walked lazily toward her bed, water droplets falling from her damp hair, punctuating the damp footprints she left in her wake. She pulled back the blankets and climbed into the bed, finally letting sleep take her.

The next morning, she rose before the sun. The soft scratch of the sheets on her naked body made her suddenly aware. Her memory was filled with flashes of Ciaran’s mouth on her core, lapping at her as if she were the very water he needed to survive. She thought of his hands gripping her hips, pinning her in place, and she groaned in the empty bedchamber before throwing the blankets off of her.

The shock of the chill in the room made her sit bolt upright, before she snatched her clothes from the wardrobe and changed quickly. Guilt gnawed at her as she walked across her room to the nursery. Red curls shot out wildly from her son’s scalp, untamed.

I dinnae care what he says — I’m goin’ to bring him with me.

Today, she was hell-bent on spending time with Fraser before she went down to the surgery. That meant bringing him with her to Ciaran’s study while she tended to his wounds. She grabbed the boy’s hand and walked slowly with him to the study.