He ran his hands through her hair, then traced the path of her arms from shoulder to wrist, all while his need for her grew stronger. She was all he had ever dreamed of. Standing in the small hut whilst outside the wind howled and the snow cascaded down, Callum couldn’t recall the worries and concerns that had made him fret so. Or rather, he could recall them; ’twould behard to forget his father’s allegiance to Robert the Bruce and Callum’s own orders to take down Tristan de Neville. But right now, none of that mattered.
All that mattered was Frida. Standing in his embrace. Where she belonged.
“I have…” he began, then floundered. “I have ne’er stopped thinking about you,” he managed. “You have been in my heart these last years.”
A painful part of his heart, until now.
She smiled and it was as if the sun shone down upon him in a blessing.
“Then kiss me again,” she whispered.
Her invitation unleashed the fires inside him and this time his kiss was not gentle. Nor did he stop his hands from roaming where they longed to be—at first, up and down her slender spine; within moments, skimming sideways over her ribcage to brush against the swell of her breasts. She gasped and he took the opportunity to deepen his kiss, probing her mouth with his tongue, scarcely able to restrain his reaction when she responded with equal desire.
It would be the easiest, most natural thing in the world to unfasten her bodice and trail his lips along her collar bone and beyond. It took every ounce of self-restraint not to lay her down atop a blanket and introduce her to the pleasures of human flesh, claiming her as his very own in the process.
But he would not.
Trembling with repressed desire, he broke off their kiss, his face still hovering inches from hers. Confusion clouded her eyes.
“You are beautiful,” he whispered.
She smiled at him again, tentatively this time. “Then why did you stop?”
He groaned and hauled her against him, wrapping her in his arms and holding on tight. “I would have no regrets between us.”
Her breath was hot against his neck. “You would regret continuing to kiss me?”
“Never. But kissing you more would lead to other things. And those, we might regret come the morn.” He took a deep breath and spoke quickly. “Frida, you don’t know how I have dreamed of this moment. But ne’er in my dreams did we come together in a cramped hut, both nearly numb with cold.”
“Where then?”
She was teasing him, he realised, with a jolt that was half pleasure and half surprise. “In a comfortable bed beside a roaring fire, where I might remove your silken gown with exquisite slowness and kiss every inch of your beautiful body,” he replied without hesitating.
She lifted her head to look at him, her lips and her eyes dark with wanting. “That was what you dreamed?”
He chuckled. “That and more.”
“Show me.”
His heart threatened to jump outside of his rib cage. “I cannot.” He cleared his throat, the unreality of the situation helping him to form his next words without pause. “Not until we were husband and wife.”
A beat passed. “Is that what you want?” Despite the momentousness of the question, her voice was steady.
Callum could only answer with the truth. “That is what I have wanted since I first set eyes upon you in the banqueting hall of Wolvesley Castle.” His hands started on a journey all of their own, sweeping down to span her waist as he summoned up the cherished memories. “You wore a gown of emerald green and your hair shone more golden than the sun.”
She made a half-strangled sound. “My golden hair is a thing of the past.”
“Now your hair shines silver like the stars,” he said softly.
“I am not the same person I was.” She rested her palms on his chest. “I am much changed.”
“As am I,” he intoned, pushing away the sharp-edged, bloodied images of the siege of Kielder Castle that had left scars on his very soul. Shrugging off the guilt that followed him everywhere like a faithful hound. All that mattered now was Frida. Not yesterday, not tomorrow. Just this present moment.
She stepped away and disappointment stabbed him in the heart. But she went only to light a second candle, casting a new glow of golden light into the hut.
“I have learned that life is full of twists and turns,” she said softly. “The future is not always what we expect it to be. And not so long ago, my friend Mirrie told me I should fight for my happiness.”
He reached out and took her hands. “Is that what you are doing now?”
