“Nay, at least I hope fighting is not required.” A smile danced across her lips. “But I am certainly not going to turn away from happiness.”
He drew her towards him, his fingers tracing over her cheeks and down. “Do I make you happy?”
“Aye.” She nodded simply.
“Perchance we could make each other happy.”
He closed his mind to thoughts of family allegiance and treachery. With Frida by his side, anything would be possible.
She nodded again. “I think we might.”
He had waited long enough. He would give her pleasure, even if his own must still be denied. He kissed her—first her lips, then her neck, then her throat. His hands roamed over her bodice until only a cotton shift lay between his warm fingers and Frida’s small, perfect breasts. He nudged it downwards until the rosy bud of her nipple sprang free. With a deep sigh, he closed his lips around it.
Frida shifted in his arms making small moans of pleasure that unravelled the last of his restraint. With one hand, he held her waist and with the other, he reached beneath the hem of her skirts, travelling up over her stockings until he reached the heavenly softness of her upper thighs.
Here he paused. Lifting his face from her breasts, he shifted his gaze to her eyes, which were closed with pleasure, and her lips, which were parted as if waiting to meet his.
He dropped butterfly kisses onto the corner of her mouth as his gentle fingers found her curls. She moaned into his mouth, pulling him closer and eradicating any doubt that she wanted this as much as he did.
“Frida.” He whispered her name softly as he slid a finger inside her, holding her steady as the first waves of pleasure took her.
“Oh,” she gasped, sinking against him.
He took her weight easily, watching her face to see what touch pleased her the most. He stroked and cajoled until she tipped over the edge with a deep groan of release.
And then it was over and she was flushed and warm in his arms. He kissed her forehead as her breathing slowly returned to normal and her heart ceased to hammer beneath her shift.
“Beautiful,” he repeated, still quite unable to believe what had happened.
Her eyes flickered open and held him transfixed in pools of blue. “I did not know it could be like that.”
He reached for the blanket, tucking it around her shoulders against the cold. “That is only the beginning,” he promised, guiding her over to a chair where he took a seat and pulled her onto his knee.
She smoothed her hands through his tangled hair before cupping his stubbled cheeks with her palms.
“The beginning of our future?” she whispered. “Together?”
“Together,” he confirmed, interlinking his fingers with her. “We will make it happen, you and I.”
She rested her head against his chest and Callum felt himself grow warm and relaxed, despite the hardness of the chair. For the first time, he could glimpse a future where he would be happy.
I will make it happen, he swore to himself, before letting his eyelids droop.
They dozed in the candlelight, tucked under the blanket, together.
*
Callum should nothave allowed himself to fall asleep. He cursed out loud when he awoke some hours later to find the sun already set and the light all but disappeared from the day.
Frida was equally dismayed; her blue eyes were wide with shock as she stood by his side and they looked out at the darkening afternoon. The snow lay thick and unspoilt all around them. Slow flakes still drifted down, but the storm had lost its conviction. An hour earlier, they would have made the journey back with ease. But now, the snow was not the only danger—if they ventured out, they would have darkness to contend with, too.
“Mayhap, if we move quickly?” she suggested.
“Nay,” Callum responded, before pressing his lips together and softening his response. “I do not think it would be wise,” he amended. Frida was not one of his men and he should not address her as such. But after so many years barking orders—and receiving the like from his father—it had become something of a reflex.
Her shoulders sagged. “They will be worried, back at the hall.”
“I know it.” He took her hand and led her back to the relative warmth of the hut. “But in the morn, we can return and show them that we are safe and well. Thatyouare safe and well,” he corrected himself with a smile. “But if we set out now and fall into a snowdrift or wander of course, mayhap they will not find our frozen bodies until the first thaw.”
