“Tonight?”
Ewan didn’t answer with words that time. He rolled them over and showed Allyson that they could do it several more times that night. Once they were sated but not yet sleepy, Ewan knew there was an issue they still needed to discuss. Ewan was glad they’d resolved two topics, but he dreaded revisiting the one that caused Allyson to sob earlier. But they couldn’t leave the attic without addressing what launched them into the conversation that led to them making love. “Ally, what aboot the paintings? What aboot what ye fear of yer father’s and mother’s past?”
Allyson’s hand that was drawing lazy patterns on his back dropped, and she seemed to shrink before his eyes. He wanted to kick himself for pressing the issue. She looked tiny and vulnerable as she stared in the paintings’ direction. But she shook her head resolutely before looking back at him. She rose and went to stand beside the stack of paintings, Ewan following her until he slipped his arms around her waist, pulling her back flush against his chest. He nuzzled her neck as she relaxed in his embrace.
“That is their cross to bear. Whatever happened between them is not my fault. If my father abused my mother, there is naught I can do to change it. If my mother allowed him into her bed then regretted it, then that’s her choice to live with.”
“But what aboot the rumors and how yer brothers and sisters treat ye? Even how yer mother treats ye?” Allyson turned to look at Ewan, and he released her.
“I wish I could fix that, but we’ll leave soon, and perhaps I won’t look back.”
Ewan pulled Allyson back into his embrace, and she burrowed closer as she absorbed his heat, his reassuring strength bolstering her fading resilience to face her family. They moved to the spot where they slept each night they spent in the attic, and like the previous times, Ewan wrapped his plaid around Allyson. Ewan’s arm rested on Allyson’s waist as her back pressed against his chest.
“Sleep well, mo ghaol,” Ewan whispered.
“Goodnight, mo chridhe,” Allyson murmured, then yawned. They were both asleep in the space of a few breaths.
Chapter Thirty
The next ten days passed in uncomfortable isolation for the Gordon twins and Allyson. Foul weather delayed Kenneth’s and his sons’ return. Flooding upriver forced them to stay in one of the clan’s villages to help the locals.There was little left of their reputations to protect after Ewan and Allyson rode out of the bailey, so they continued to spend their days together. Margaret hadn’t forgiven Ewan or, by extension, Eoin. She tolerated their presence, but made it clear they were unwelcome. She ceased her campaign to push Alice and Mary toward Ewan, but she didn’t cease her disdain for Allyson. While Ewan and Eoin preferred Margaret ignoring them, it pained them to see how her mother’s indifference toward her still cut Allyson so deeply. Mary, Laurel, and Alice gloated at Allyson’s shame, and the unwed sisters did little to curtail their pursuit of both Ewan and Eoin during the evening meal, now treating them as interchangeable.
While her family paid little attention to them, Allyson, Ewan, and Eoin spent time in the Great Hall playing nine-men’s morris, knucklebones, and fox and geese. Ewan discovered Allyson was an expert chess player, and he teased that she would become Clan Gordon’s chief tactician and logistician. After the evening meal, Eoin disappeared to the tower chamber while Allyson and Ewan spent their nights in the attic. One such night, Allyson shared her selection of books that she’d hidden away over the years. It made Ewan chuckle to see tales of courtly love and chivalry when he knew the royal court was far from the lavish tales spun by bards. He teased that she’d spent too much time living near the English if she believed such stories, and Allyson accused him of being jealous. They dissolved into laughter as he tickled her ribs, but it only took a moment and a glance for the mood to shift. Ewan swooped in for a kiss, and Allyson welcomed his tongue into her mouth. They struggled out of their clothes; the endeavor made more difficult when they didn’t want to let go of one another.
Once they were undressed, Ewan guided Allyson to straddle his hips. She looked dubiously at Ewan’s hard length, but when he guided her to take it into her, she settled with a low moan. The feeling was different from when Ewan was on top. He encouraged her to set their pace; the position drawing him in deeper. She experimented just as she had the afternoon in his chamber when she learned how to take him in her mouth. It wasn’t long before the sounds of their bodies moving against one another filled the attic. Allyson didn’t fear anyone hearing them, as there was an entire floor of empty guest chambers between the attic and the family chambers. They held little back as Ewan pulled Allyson down for a kiss that left her feeling drunk.
Another night, Allyson posed Ewan as she drew him with a charcoal pencil and a piece of parchment. Ewan hummed to them as Allyson sketched. When she twisted away to find a quill and ink in a nearby chest, Ewan pulled the bow loose from her laces. Allyson pretended not to notice as he loosened the ribbons that held her kirtle closed. When she returned to her seat, she pretended the loose bodice frustrated her and resolved the problem by stripping her arms and pushing it down around her waist. Ewan toyed with her breasts and nipples as she worked while Allyson studiously ignored him, or at least pretended to. When she could no longer withstand the torment, she tossed her art aside and launched herself into Ewan’s arms.
It was only a matter of moments before they were both undressed. Ewan lifted her into his arms, and she wrapped her legs around his waist. He backed them against a wall, slipping inside Allyson as she rocked her hips forward to accept him. Ewan had feared their second night together that Allyson would be too sore to make love again, but she’d demonstrated each night that she was both willing and able to join with him. As he took her against the wall, she scored her nails along his back, inciting an urgency within him that she gladly met. His fingers bit into her hips as he lost control.
“More, more,” Allyson encouraged him. “You won’t break me. Harder, Ew.”
He was more than happy to accommodate her requests, slamming into her over and over. When she cried out her release, he lowered her to the floor and guided her to bend over a chair covered in a dust cloth. He entered her as she arched and threw back her head. He grasped her hair in a ponytail and held it as he kissed her back and shoulders. She met each thrust as she pushed her hips back against him. Ewan had never seen anything more erotic than the picture Allyson made as she turned her head to the side, but her eyes drifted closed. He pistoned his cock into her until she once more shattered, the muscles of her core milking him as he exploded within her. He supported Allyson’s body against his as they stood, panting and still fused together.
“I love you, Allyson Gordon. More than life itself.” Ewan confessed, unready to let go.
“I love you, Ewan Gordon, and heaven help the person who tries to get between us.”
* * *
Allyson and Ewan knew Kenneth and her brothers would return soon, despite the delay the weather caused. They laid together on Ewan’s bed, having retreated to the privacy of the tower while Eoin visited the tavern in the village. Allyson floated in a state of half-wakefulness as Ewan sang. She learned that his rich baritone wasn’t just suited for humming. He sang hymns his mother taught him as a child, and his voice soothed the anxiety and dread that filled Allyson each day as her father’s return approached.
“Part of me wishes Father would stay away longer, then we could continue as we have. But another part of me wants him to hurry, so we can be done with it all and be on our way to court. I hate skulking around. I just want everything out in the open.”
“I know, lass. I wish the same. I’m not ashamed of the choices we made, but it feels as though I should be when we’re hiding.”
“When Father returns, we’ll request an audience and explain what we’ve done. He wanted this marriage in the first place, so he can hardly be upset that we decided not to wait for Lent to end.”
Ewan opened his mouth, but the tinkling of bells announcing the laird’s return interrupted him. Allyson and Ewan moved to the arrow slit, his superior height allowing them to look out the window together. Their moment of reckoning was about to happen.
Chapter Thirty-One
Allyson left to change for the evening meal, which would be held earlier with the arrival of men who’d been cold and wet for several days. Ewan moved to the other bed and pulled the paintings from beneath it. He and Eoin agreed that it was best to hide them, not wanting any of the servants to report that they had them.He waited for his brother to return for dry clothes.
“The laird has returned, and the family is reunited once more. That’s why I’m taking a stand this eve. I’ll be sure everyone sees these paintings. There can be nay doubt that Ally is part of the laird’s family once they see them. And all the better that the laird is finally home.” Ewan laid the art on the bed and examined the three pieces. He’d been impatient to confront Margaret, but he’d forced himself to wait until Kenneth returned. He had no reason to wait any longer. When Allyson wore Mary’s gown and his plaid, it hadn’t been the vindication he’d wished for Allyson’s sake. “Let’s be on our way. I want to have these ready before everyone enters the Great Hall.”
“Does Allyson ken ye have them?”
“Nay. Ma mind wasna on them earlier, but when the bells rang to announce the laird’s arrival, I remembered.”
