“Shh, Ally. I don’t want you to fear me or this. I won’t do aught to break your barrier. I’ll leave you a maiden just as I found you.” Allyson relaxed and dropped her forehead against his chest, allowing herself to enjoy the sensations Ewan’s touch created. He continued to probe, adding a second finger, stretching her as her hips responded with a rhythm her mind didn’t recognize but her body knew. When he withdrew his hand, she whimpered, but he soon had her moaning again when he brought it around to rest against her mound. He lifted one leg higher on his thigh, lifting her foot off the ground. She wobbled and grasped his leine to steady herself, but Ewan feared her knees might give out when he plunged his fingers back into her, his thumb seeking the pearl that emerged as she grew more aroused. “Do you feel this, mo aingeal? This is how a man brings a woman to climax, by rubbing this bud until she writhes and is flooded with pleasure. I would do this for you every day for the rest of our lives. Would you like that?”
“Can’t you tell? Must I admit it?”
“Yes, Ally. I want to hear it. I want to hear my name from your lips as my fingers stroke you.”
“I want you, Ewan. I want this. I would have this over and over.” Allyson looked up at Ewan, but despite her words of yearning, he feared for a moment that she would push him away. Her expression was conflicted, and he realized that he was pushing her too far too fast. She might desire coupling with him, but she hadn’t decided if she wanted to marry him. He was putting her in an untenable position that threatened to ruin the moment.
“Then enjoy this right now. Don’t worry about what will happen next. Mo aingeal, I want to take care of you.” Ewan said no more, but Allyson sensed that his offer extended beyond their current intimacy. She suspected he meant in a larger, more permanent sense, and she realized she didn’t oppose the thought. She nodded before her mouth sought his. He continued to work her sensitive flesh, and he wanted to crow with pride as Allyson responded to his touch by exploring his body. She pulled his leine loose from his belt and trailed her hands over the scorching skin of his chest and back. Once she was certain she’d touched every inch, her fingers hooked into his belt and pulled him closer, and his responding growl made her sigh with satisfaction. Allyson intuited her body was creeping toward a precipice, and she was willing to tumble over the edge headfirst.
Ewan froze, his body taut and ready to react. His hands pulled away from Allyson with such suddenness that she tipped backward against the wall. She opened her eyes to discover Ewan pushing his leine into his belt with one hand while the other rested on the hilt of his sword. Her body pulsed with unspent lust as he placed a finger against his lips before he finished tucking his shirt back in. Allyson glanced down at her gown, straightening the bodice and brushing her hands down her skirts. She breathed a sigh of relief that she wore her hair down, so there was little chance anyone would think it more mussed than the slight breeze would do. She tried to peer around Ewan, but his warning was clear even without a word. Allyson shrank back and waited as Ewan turned, using his superior height to peer toward the gate. He darted a look over his shoulder at Allyson and shook his head. Whoever approached was not someone they wanted to discover them. Allyson held her breath, waiting to learn who entered the garden, so she might anticipate how great the fallout would be from someone catching her alone with Ewan.
Frustrated at the situation, Ewan forced himself to take several deep breaths as Angus approached. Ewan hadn’t known the man well before arriving at Redheugh, but he’d spent more time with him in the lists than Ewan liked. He didn’t care for the man’s smugness or dirty fighting. He’d taken a smashing blow to his ribs the day before from a sword that wasn’t nearly as dull as it should have been for training. The man often kicked dust at his opponents while they sparred. This might be an acceptable tactic during real combat, but it was unnecessary for training. Eoin had spent ten minutes that morning flushing his eyes with water to get the last grains of grit out. Ewan had been ready to smash Angus’s face in the dirt.
Allyson wanted to sink into a hole when she recognized Angus. There was no chance this encounter would go unmentioned. He had always been a tattle-tail when he was a child, and he had changed little over the years. He took a perverse pleasure in being the barer of bad news. She squared her shoulders and notched up her chin, prepared to go into battle with her brother, but Ewan reached his hand behind him until he found hers. He squeezed her fingers in reassurance before releasing them, so Angus wouldn’t see.
“What do we have here?” Angus’s supercilious tone set Ewan on edge all over again.
“Allyson and I were walking in the garden but stopped when a pebble landed in her slipper,” Ewan explained.
“In the furthest, darkest corner of the garden?” Angus leaned to catch sight of Allyson around Ewan’s shoulder.
“Aye. I wanted to look at the primrose. It only grows in the shade, so it’s back here in the corner. I like the color,” Allyson reasoned, not looking away as Angus’s face morphed into a mocking expression.
“You like the color,” he mocked.
“That’s what I said. I like purple.”
Ewan considered what Allyson revealed and realized he’d often seen her in gowns of various shades of purple. She also threaded purple ribbons through her hair in the evenings at court. He tucked away that newfound piece of knowledge for another day. He turned his attention back to the siblings as Angus took a step forward. Ewan perceived the menace in his posture and shifted to block Allyson. He held up his hand, but Angus turned his look of disgust toward Ewan. This led to Ewan tightening his hand on the hilt of his sword. Allyson recognized the situation was spiraling out of hand.
“I think you enjoy being groped in dark corners. Is that what you learned at court?”
Allyson refused to allow her expression to show her shock and disdain. She kept it relaxed and neutral. “I don’t like dark corners. I’d rather be with my friends and the music.” She infused as much innocence into her voice as she could, fearing the tartness he tempted her to hurl at him would slip through. “I wanted to pick some primrose for my chamber, and Ewan was polite enough to accompany me and wait.”
“That’s not what it seems.”
“And what does it seem?” Ewan interrupted. He placed one hand on his hip while the other appeared to rest lazily on his sword, but Allyson recognized Ewan was prepared to draw it with little warning. Allyson watched as the two men, both heirs to large and powerful clans, squared off. She realized it had little to do with her now as Angus sized up Ewan. Angus seized upon an opportunity he’d been hoping for, and it was becoming a pissing match between the two of them, but Allyson feared Ewan would break Angus in half. She’d seen her brother in the lists and heard tales from the raids he took part in, but he didn’t appear to be an even match to Ewan’s greater size and calmer demeanor. He looked like a lad who wanted attention from a man.
“It seems like you were pawing at my wee baby sister. It looks like you were compromising her honor, whatever might be left of it,” Angus taunted.
“Now you’re concerned? You didn’t sound at all concerned when you learned of what befell her at Chillingham,” Ewan narrowed his eyes as he spat each word.
“Befell her? She brought that upon herself. She got what she deserved for being so flighty and selfish.”
Allyson curled her toes in her slippers and clenched her jaw to keep from crying. Angus spoke what she thought countless times since returning to Redheugh.
“No woman deserves what your sister survived,” Ewan quiet tone belied the steel edge. “Why do you suddenly care what your sister does? What does it matter to you if we are in the garden?”
“Because you’re not married, not even betrothed, yet. You’d have her trap you and force to the kirk steps?” Angus grinned, but there was no humor in the expression. Ewan saw the malice and took a step forward.
“It would be hard to force a mon my size to do aught I don’t want to. When I stand on those steps with Allyson beside me, it’s because I want to be there. As far as I’m concerned, that day won’t come soon enough.”
“You don’t have to marry the chit to bed her,” Angus offered in a conspiratorial tone as he stepped closer to Ewan.
“We’re not speaking of your other sisters. We’re speaking of Allyson.”
“So, you’re bedding Mary? Or is it Alice? Or is both of them? I hear you like to share your women with your brother. Do you like women to share you, too?”
Ewan lunged forward. Anger at what Angus insinuated about Allyson and how he touched on the truth led Ewan to draw his fist back, but a weight tugged on his arm. He looked down to see Allyson’s frantic expression. Her hands had turned to ice, and he could feel the cold through his sleeve.
