“Aye. Douglan explained it to me. I wasna living under a rock. I kenned aboot ye, Lady Catherine, but I didna realize—I didna want to accept—that the only reason Rab sought me out was because he wished to pretend he was with ye.”
“I canna imagine how that makes ye feel,” Catherine offered. “Thank ye both for doing the right thing.”
“We handfasted that night, Rab,” Douglan spoke up. “We’ll marry in a moon once the priest’s read the banns. We wanted ye here for it.”
Catherine’s eyes narrowed as she watched Douglan, who turned bright red.
“I mean, we wanted ye to be part of our happiness and to ken we’re making our future together,” Douglan added.
“We canna both be called the same thing,” Catherine spoke up.
“Should we call ye Kitty?” Douglan asked.
“Nay.” Catherine and Rab answered together. Catherine explained, “I’d prefer only Rab to call me that.”
“I go by Kate in the village,” Katherine offered. Rab, Catherine, and Douglan nodded. “Lady Catherine—”
“Catherine. Ye’re a lady now too. Ye married a laird’s son, which makes ye and yer bairn nobles. It will only get tiresome and confusing if ye use ma title when we are peers.”
“Thank ye. I need ye to ken that I love Douglan. I was fond of Rab, but I love ma husband.”
The two couples stood staring at one another, neither certain what else to say. There didn’t seem to be much else to say. Catherine leaned against Rab, suddenly exhausted despite having slept in her chamber at Inveruglas the night before. With an awkward parting, Douglan and Katherine left for the croft they now shared. Catherine and Rab found Nessa and Caelan and Catherine’s relatives waiting for them in the Great Hall. A few more awkward smiles and a reassuring embrace from Nessa eased them into sitting around the table on the dais as the new arrivals ate. It wasn’t long before Catherine struggled to keep her eyes open. She was dozing by the time Rab carried her to their new chamber, but she roused herself to look around.
“Do ye ken how many nights I’ve dreamed of bringing ye to our chamber, of undressing ye, then making love to ye on this bed?” Rab asked.
“The same number of nights that I dreamed of being here,” Catherine replied. She cast her gaze over the bed, which was wide enough for at least four women to fit but seemed just the right size for Rab. “I hope ye dinna lose me on that.”
“I’m nae letting go of ye, wife.” Rab pulled at the ribbons that laced Catherine’s gown in the front. He peeled it back from her shoulders after she unfastened the brooch at his shoulder. Neither hurried as they undressed, pressing soft kisses as they exposed new patches of flesh. Rab kneeled before Catherine as he rolled her stockings down to her ankles and peeled them off her feet. He breathed cool air against her heated petals before sweeping his tongue along her seam.
Catherine’s moan was tortured pleasure. She tilted her head back and closed her eyes, but she soon grew lightheaded as Rab’s ministrations stole her breath. She grasped his shoulders as she swayed. When the tip of his tongue pressed into her core, she feared her knees might give out, but she had no intention of stopping him. She forced her eyes to open and focus as she watched his dark head press between her thighs. She was uncertain what mesmerized her more: the sensations he stirred within her, or the sight of him stroking his rod as his fingers joined his tongue. She cupped the back of his head as Rab continued to elicit one moan after another.
“I want to touch ye, too,” Catherine panted. “I canna reach.”
Rab rose to his feet, kissing her neck and trailing his tongue over her collarbone. Catherine wrapped her hand around his length and stroked. It was Rab’s turn to let his head fall back. She watched his Adam’s apple bob as he swallowed. He whispered, “Kitty,” over and over as he kneaded her breasts.
“I want to be inside ye, but I also want to draw out this first time with ye in our chamber.” Rab brought his mouth to Catherine’s. They savored the moment before climbing onto the bed.
“I want the same, but I dinna think I can last.” Catherine inched beneath Rab as he guided his cock into her core. With a hard thrust, he seated himself inside her as her nails bit into his biceps. “It can be slow next time or the time after that. Nae now.”
They moved together as their bodies grew slick with perspiration. Catherine’s hands roamed over Rab’s shoulders and chest as the muscles bunched and flexed. She pressed her heels into the mattress and lifted her hips to meet each surge, the passion and need dragging them away like an undertow that threatened to leave them adrift. They clung to one another, each other’s lifeline in the tumultuousness of their desire. There was no finesse. No gentleness. Just a consuming hunger to show and be shown the rightness of their coupling.
“I love ye, Kitty. I love ye so damn much I dinna ken how to say it.”
“Just keep showing me because I dinna ken how to say it either. More, Rab.” Catherine encouraged him to lose control as she moved with him, contracting her inner core until the muscles spasmed with release and held Rab captive as his seed jetted from him. They gazed into each other’s fathomless blue eyes, a sense—an intuition—that their coupling had been more than passionate love play. Catherine reached between them at the same moment Rab did, resting her hand on her belly with his covering it. “Do ye think we did?”
“I dinna ken, but something makes me think we did.” Rab brushed a soft kiss against her lips. “But even if we didna, I willna forget this moment together.”
“Neither will I. I’m finally home.”
“Where ye belong.”
They nestled together, Rab’s arms wrapped around Catherine as she rested her head at the crook of his neck. They were asleep only moments later.
* * *
“I canna believe all this,” Catriona said as she and Catherine made their way back to the dais, out of breath from the country reel.
“I didna think they would welcome us with such an extravagant feast,” Catherine said as they took their seats and watched the dancers in Edinample’s Great Hall. “And I have a bone to pick with ye. Why didna ye tell me that how serious ye felt aboot Óg?”
