Page 7 of The Chieftain’s Feud (Chieftain #3)

In all the years Jamie had lived at Cragenlaw, and with all the advice handed out, the McArthur had ne’er explained how one’s life could change in an instant. They had all been told about the McArthur and the witch, how she had changed Euan’s life with a curse. It had taken so much less to change Jamie’s. And it hadnae come with a curse or the slice of a blade, as with Gavyn. Yet, he felt the shock of transformation soaking through the pores of his skin with every kick his bairn thumped against the palms he kept curved around Eve’s protruding belly.

It was obvious she had sought him out, come looking for him. Now he was the one who was lost. He kenned it with every breath he took, every heartbeat. His mind wouldnae settle. Eve would live now; of that he was certain. Betwixt the logs he had intermittently piled on the fire and his own body heat, her skin had lost the chill he had felt when first he slid onto the bed beside her. It was he who shivered now.

He was going to be a father.

And that brought to mind his own—Ruthven. Would he ever live up to him?

The thought of his responsibilities almost overwhelmed him. What he needed was a plan, a strategy. Now that he had been trained to accomplish—a battle plan. Which meant his first move must be to marry Eve to legitimise his bairn’s birth in a way that the hand-fasting couldnae achieve.

Naebody had come looking for him, making him believe that for once Iseabel had held her tongue, and he thanked the Lord that she had learned discretion.

He was in nae fit state to face anybody who became o’er curious and unable to leave them alone.

At the moment, lying beside Eve was pure torture. The simple action of touching her skin made him hard, wrapping her naked body up in his hair-roughened chest and legs turned his prick into steel and like to burst out of his skin if it didn’t get inside Eve—a place he wouldnae enter without invitation, for to do other would be rape. Lying together, his arms holding her, persuaded him that there wasnae a skerrick of doubt in his heart that he would to do right by Eve. He wanted her like he had ne’er wanted another; every thought of being inside made him want, want her, want to be better for her, aye she deserved a better man than him, but it seemed he was what she had got. To that end, he would wait until she told him she felt the same.

He couldnae foresee her refusing. He prayed frae the bottom of his soul it were true. Why else had she travelled through thigh-deep snowdrifts if not to find him? He didnae question her reasons for riding through a burgeoning snowstorm with nae escort, for the obvious one lay snug beneath his palms. The second, he imagined, was her father, a truth that made the hairs at his nape curl.

If Eve had fled Buchan’s Keep to look for him, she must have heard news of them all journeying to Cragenlaw. There was but one way she could have learned of their almost political gathering—frae her father and brothers.

After that day in June when she left, he had waited for word frae Eve, or at least to hear news of at least one Buchan brother’s death—waited in vain. Aye, Eve’s father had misled both of them with the deception he had practiced on that hell-born morning at King Malcolm’s palace.

So many questions filled Jamie’s mind. Had she even told Buchan they were hand-fasted? How had she escaped without the Buchans ripping the child from her womb? To her father a half-Ruthven bairn would be an anathema. Eve was a brave lass; he would give her that. She had battled through one storm, but was she strong enough to weather the one to come?

Were they both stout enough to face the war of words, if not swords, awaiting them once she awoke? Chances were that her father might not be the only one with objections. Where Ruthven was concerned, Jamie’s months of keeping a closed mouth about Eve could come back to bite him. He had pretended to be over his infatuation, unwilling to let his father ken that he had let another lass make a fool of him, especially a Buchan lass. He hadnae wanted to see the disappointment on Ruthven’s face—aware his father had bundled up all his hopes for the clan and placed them on Jamie’s shoulders. That’s what happened when ye were an only son.

The bairn Eve carried, would it be a lad or lass?

As far as his father was concerned, the chance of it being a Ruthven heir might be his only saving grace. The thought filled Jamie’s mind like a supplication and, as if in answer, the bairn kicked hard enough to distract him.

Hard enough to awaken Eve, who at last lay snug and warm against him, the heat of both their bodies mingling. She stirred in his arms and his heart raced, pumping blood into his groin. Not wanting to frighten her he pulled back. Too late he heard her swift indrawn breath and hoped it wasn’t because of his state as she began shivering again. Murmuring in her sweet wee ear he attempted to reassure her, “Eve, can ye hear me? It’s me, Jamie. Ye were all but frozen to death after falling in the snow. Nae matter yer all right now, lass, and so is our bairn.”

A sharp breath left her lungs, a sigh of relief that he felt through his skin. “I made it, then? Ach, Jamie I was so scared I wouldnae find ye, but yer here. Here with me … and we’re both naked. How? What?” She quivered in his arms like a bowstring plucked and its arrow flown. “I dinnae see ye for months, and look at us, already you’ve dragged me into yer bed and probably had yer way with me without even a by-yer-leave.”

Jamie tensed. “Well now, this is a fine greeting for a man who’s saved yer life. And I didnae have my way with ye. It goes against the grain to make love to a corpse, and believe me ye were all but dead, frozen. But I can tell I have nae need to share my heat with ye any longer. Yer in fine fettle lass, gi’en me a flea in the ear for saving yer life,” he finished abruptly, holding her away frae him so she could see his face, see that he meant it.

Her lip quivered. “A-a-h, I remember now. I’m sorry, and yer right, I thought I would die out there within sight of Cragenlaw, but I was so cauld,” she shivered in his arms. “I could nae longer hold the reins. The last thing I remember was toppling off Mirabelles’ back into a drift and calling yer name, hoping…”

Jamie doubted the last part. Eve was inclined to make a performance out of everything. Even the way she had introduced herself had been a production. “My name is Eve,” she’d announced holding out the fruit in her hand. “Would you like a bite of my apple?” As if he were Adam.

Aye, and eventually he had taken that bite, but not straight away. Missing her dearly in the months after she had gone off with Buchan, not wanting stir up strife, he had in the beginning made excuses for her actions: when they met she was young, inexperienced, inviolate. She had been a virgin, and he had taken that frae her when she offered, unable to resist. But that was then. Now he had to discover what had sent her off on such a daft venture. “What was Buchan thinking of letting ye out without an escort?”

“He hasnae the least notion that I’ve gone, though mayhap he does by now. It was dark when I left but, in my favour, I thought I would be all right. It wasnae snowing when I left. I hadnae the slightest notion that the weather could change so suddenly. The stars were bright with nary a sign that snow would eventually fall out of a clear sky and drown me in flakes.” She halted the excuses tumbling frae her lips as if saying them fast would make them seem plausible and instead braced her hand on the pillow, propping her shoulder higher as she looked around the chamber. The candles guttered around the wicks, but the fire shone bright, gilding the walls in red-gold. “What hour of day is it?” she wanted to ken.

“Still night, but that’s not saying anything. Being the shortest day of the year, the sun doesnae rise till late in the day. But that is by-the-by, I’m more interested in how ye came to be here. Did Buchan threaten ye when he found out about the bairn?”

Her bottom lip took a beating frae her teeth. “Ach aye, the bairn. Well nae I wasnae threatened, my father isnae even aware of its existence, not yet. I had to leave when the time came that I could nae longer hide my secret beneath a plaid. There’s nae saying what he would do when he discovered the truth.” She paused, and he wasnae sure if it was just for effect, but what she said next stilled his heartbeat. “I heard my father and Hadron talking about yer family and the Farquhars of Dun Bhuird having a gathering with the McArthurs at Cragenlaw for Yule, and there were nae best pleased about it. Hadron would have it that you were making plans to gang against the Buchan clan. Father wasnae completely convinced, but Hadron always manages to talk him round. However, I decided this could be the perfect time to run away and find ye. I should have tried sooner, but I was always hoping that one day ye would ride up to our Keep and rescue me.”

“And I was waiting for a messenger with news frae ye, and I’m sorry I did. Ye must have been terrified. My only excuse is I had nae way of discovering if ye still wanted to be my wife. A hand-fasting isnae as immutable as marriage, and that must be the first order of our day. To protect our bairn, we must be wed by a priest,” he told her in a low voice, almost a growl. He didnae want to scare her, but she had to realise how important it was to their future together.

“Ye have nae doubts about the bairn then?” In contrast to the noise he had made, her voice was quiet, hopeful. “Nae worries that the bairn wasnae yours?”

Without hesitation, Jamie answered, “Not for a moment. How could I mistrust you when I knew for certain you had eyes for nae other man frae the first time our glances met in the King’s great hall? And how could I forget the time I took your maidenhead? It was like a gift frae God, redemption for a man who was certainly nae better than he should be.”

“Whist Jamie, I dinnae like it when ye put yerself down.” Her hand cupped his cheek. “Ye were honest with me, told me of yer past and that wicked woman who seduced ye while ye were but a lad, before ye had enough years under yer belt to resist her wicked wiles,” Eve asserted, her belief in him shining frae her eyes.

He chuckled at her description; Eve could always make him laugh, though she wouldnae find much humour in him being accused of possessing a few wiles of his own. A trifle he disdained consideration, too caught up in the feel of her hands on his face and the discovery how much he had missed the way she liked to touch him, placing her hands on him even when they weren’t making love. Little touches that had helped to soothe his soul and the guilt he carried there. It pleased Jamie that she had absolved him of blame, however his conscience wasnae so easy swayed. His only defence was that before he met Eve, he hadnae seduced a virgin the way Brodwyn had him.

Now she was here with him, it was hard to remember he’d had doubts, qualms that he’d ne’er rid himself of the picture in his mind, the one of Eve walking away frae him escorted by her father and Hadron.

The act of leaving was easy; he had firsthand knowledge and all the regrets that accompanied the action. Staying was harder. Did she have the gumption to see it through? “I have but one question for ye Eve. Do ye still love me?”

Her big green eyes widened as she stared at him, made more limpid by the tears forming above her lower lid; disbelief drowned in her expression. The pink fullness of her bottom lip quivered and her breasts rose, grazing his chest. “I came all this way to find ye. I almost died.” Her tongue slipped between her teeth to dampen her lip as she sucked in a breath to add the clincher when he didnae respond, “I’m having yer bairn.”

Not quite the answer he had expected. How hard was it to say, ‘I love you? ’ “I never questioned yer word, or hinted that it wasnae my bairn acquit me of that.”

“Seems to me there is more accusations in this bed than there is love, Jamie Ruthven. However, I might ask the same question of the father of my bairn. Do ye love me?” Eve finished with a lift of her finely arched brows.

He should have expected that the clever little lamb would hit him with his own demand. “I should think ye could tell that without asking.” He flexed his hips till the head of his prick nudged her belly. “It’s not something I can hide nor intend to, I want you Eve … all the time.” Sliding his hand betwixt her arm and her breast, he brushed the tip of her breast with his thumb. Her response was immediate, her nipple tightened, hard as the bead of pink quartz it resembled.

“I ken ye want me as much as I crave the feel of ye inside me.” She reached betwixt them to touch him, a contact that contained as much pain as it did pleasure.

“Are ye sure of that Eve?” The way his larynx ground up the words as if in the pain wasnae imagined. “For I can assure ye, Eve, if I get started, wild horses willnae be able to part us.”