“Kitty, I told ye before. If we canna make our home at Edinample, and we arenae welcome at Inveruglas either, then I will hire out ma sword arm. There are plenty of clans that want a mon with ma training and experience, even if only as a guardsman.”
“I ken. Let’s hope it doesnae come to that.”
Catherine and Rab gazed at one another, feeling unified and prepared to face the future as partners. They moved together, bringing their lips within a hair’s breadth of each other.
“I love ye,” they whispered in unison. Their kiss was languid as they relaxed against one another. The strain of the day and of their conversation falling away from them as they found comfort and reassurance in their embrace. Rab rolled Catherine onto her back as his hand trailed over her breast and belly to her waist and down her hip. She clasped her hands behind his neck as she watched him move, fascinated by the obvious strength. A warmth radiated from her chest as she enjoyed his gentleness while knowing he possessed such barely contained force.
Rab dipped his head to suckle Catherine’s breast, likely his second most favorite thing to do while alone with his wife. He squeezed the supple flesh as he nipped and licked the tip. Catherine’s hand slipped between them, encircling his sword and guiding it toward her sheath. She stroked him as she arched her back in offering. Rab pressed his hips forward while Catherine guided him past her entrance. They thrust together but clung to one another, savoring the moment.
Rab sat back on his heels, bringing Catherine with him. They adjusted so Rab sat with Catherine straddling his lap. The closeness of their embrace amplified the eroticism of the moment as Catherine rode Rab’s length. Their kisses and touches drew out their passion, both enjoying the feeling of Catherine’s breasts caught between them, the firmness of Rab’s back, and the softness of Catherine’s buttocks. They moved together over and over, bringing one another to the cliff’s edge before inching back. Catherine tunneled her fingers into Rab’s hair as her body’s demand for release pushed her into a frenzy. Rab helped rock her hips until her inner muscles contracted around his cock. She threw back her head, her eyes squeezed shut.
“Yes.” Catherine moaned as Rab intensified the pleasure by catching her nipple between his teeth. “More.”
Catherine’s arousal wasn’t nearly satisfied, and it only heightened Rab’s. He laid her back against the pillows, pistoning his hips over and over. Sweat beaded his forehead and between his shoulder blades. He watched as Catherine’s skin shimmered with her perspiration. She met him thrust for thrust, her silent pleas making Rab grow wild, inhibitions thrown to the wind.
“By the saints,” Catherine panted. “I like this too.”
“Like?” Rab struggled to speak. He pushed himself to move faster, to plunge deeper, to place pressure on her nub in a way he knew she craved. He’d learned a great deal about his wife’s body in only one day. He intended to use that knowledge to make her as addicted to him as he was certain he was to her.
Catherine watched Rab’s expression as their lovemaking moved from sensual to demanding. She reveled in the desire she spied in his gaze, the way his body seemed to hunger for hers. She’d harbored no small fear that Rab might hold back because of her inexperience or might be frustrated that she didn’t know what to do. But making love to her husband felt as natural as drawing her next breath. She didn’t want to admit that she feared him comparing her with women—a woman—from his past.
“Catherine,” Rab groaned. “It’s only ever been ye. I am nae thinking of anyone other than ye.”
Catherine froze for a moment, shocked that he intuited her moment of trepidation. She drew his head down and claimed a savage kiss. Her mind jumped to the comments the other ladies-in-waiting made about Rab being a barbarian, a heathen. As her husband moved above her, pushing her toward another wave of ecstasy, she was grateful for who he was. A Highlander. A man she could put her entire faith in. A man who placed her and anyone else he’d sworn to protect ahead of himself. A man who could face the wilds of Scotland and come back the victor.
He reminded her of the colossal mountain ranges throughout the northern half of the country. They stood as guardians to the Highlands, a place of vast ruggedness and beauty. Just as the rocky formations were unmovable, so too was Rab’s resolve. Despite their time apart, he’d been a constant in her life since she was three-and-ten. She could count on him to stand tall and unwavering in his commitment to her and to his clan, just as the mountains steadfastly shielded the Highlands. Catherine recognized that her chest ached from how hard her heart pounded from their vigorous lovemaking. But she preferred to think it came from it swelling with love. With one last thrust and rise, euphoria swept them away like a rushing tide. They collapsed beside one another, just enough energy left to share a brief, last kiss before they were both asleep.
Chapter 16
With a strategy in place—albeit constantly changing—Catherine and the men set off from the inn as the earliest rays peeked over the horizon. Once they’d fallen asleep, neither Catherine nor Rab moved. They awakened in the same position as they’d been when exhausted bliss claimed them. Unlike the night before, when they’d woken to make love in the middle of the night, the fatigued couple didn’t stir.
Catherine burrowed into the plaid Rab gave her as a wedding present the previous morning. It smelled of him: pine, soap, fresh air, and leather. It was a comfort to her senses, which felt on high alert after their mad dash the day before. As the sun rose higher in the sky, and the brisk early morning air grew comfortable, Catherine pushed the plaid back from her hair and looked around. Nothing but them seemed to stir among the rolling hills. She rested her eyes on Rab, who rode at the front of the group that morning. She watched, admiring his profile, when he turned to speak to Cullen. The guard said something to make Rab laugh, and Catherine appreciated the view of the deep grooves Rab’s smile cut into his cheeks. She could see the lines crinkle around his eyes.
Watching Rab good naturedly laughing with one of his men helped Catherine to relax. She eased her grip on Timber’s reins, not realizing how she clutched them. Her horse had, because the mare knickered and shook her head, as though enjoying the freedom. No one was prepared for the responding whinny that came from the group’s right.
“Catherine, remain in the circle,” Rab ordered as they all leaned over their horse’s withers. “Buchanans.”
A band of fifteen men galloped toward them, several with bows in their hands. When an arrow embedded in the ground a second before Bolt’s hoof landed, Rab snagged his own bow and arrow that was attached to his saddle. Catherine watched as the men shifted their formation without notice, continuing to keep her in the center of their circle but placing Rab on the outside. He slowed Bolt before he released one arrow after another, felling three men. He swung Bolt around and charged after the other MacLarens. Catherine alternated between watching where her horse headed and looking back to ensure Rab was still with them.
A loud whistle rent the air in the opposite direction from the Buchanans. Catherine twisted in her saddle and released her own bird call whistle. “It’s Óg!”
“Where?” Rab asked as he fell in alongside Catherine. She pointed to another group of riders cresting a hill ahead of them. The MacFarlanes barreled toward the MacLarens, and within moments the number of warriors surrounding Catherine doubled. Within moments arrows flew from both the MacLaren and MacFarlane bows, knocking one Buchanan after another from his horse. When the attackers dwindled from fifteen to four, the Buchanans retreated.
“I’m going to murder ye,” Andrew snarled as he drew his sword.
“And I will murder ye,” Catherine bellowed. “Dinna touch a one of them, any of ye.” She swept her glowering expression over Andrew and the MacFarlane warriors.
“Have ma bowels on a skewer after we get Catherine away from here,” Rab retorted. The group of temporary allies stared at one another with distrust, but Andrew nodded. They rode in silence for ten minutes.
“That’s far enough,” Andrew announced. “Catherine, how could ye?”
Catherine glared at her cousin, but her shoulders drooped. She recognized the hurt masked by anger. She dismounted from Timber’s back as she looked at Rab. He took Timber’s reins as she gestured for Andrew to follow her.
“Óg, I warned ye that ye wouldnae like ma choice if I felt too desperate. Ye refuse aught but what ye believe must be right. Ye and Mòr canna consider that compromise isnae weakness in this case.” Catherine looked back at Rab before meeting her cousin’s gaze. “I have never put ma wants or ma happiness ahead of our clan. I went to court because it was good for us. I would have married Edgar because it seemed helpful. I would have accepted whomever Mòr decided and done it because that was what he asked of me. Nay, nae asked. Told. But ye have kenned for years how I feel. It’s Mòr, Caelan, and ye who keep this alive. Rab and I want it to end. We want our clans to be at peace. What more does he have to do to show ye that he wants a truce between us? He executed his cousins for what they did to us. He didna balk at the punishment King Robert ordered. He offered to come onto our land himself to deliver the coins. He hasnae run from ye or attacked ye. His father may well disinherit him for marrying me, but we both hope our marriage will end this bad blood.”
“It’s nae yer place to decide clan politics, Catherine.”
“Dinna be a hypocrite all over again, Óg. Just because ye have something swinging between yer legs doesnae make ye God’s gift to politics. Ye had plenty to learn when ye nearly had the Rosses and Campbells after us.”
