“Leave, Rosie.” Thor didn’t wait for his sister to respond. His mouth crashed down to Greer’s before he kicked the door shut. He spun Greer and pressed her against the portal. Their hands roamed over each other as she returned his hungry kiss. It was only when he lifted her arms above her head and captured her hands in his left while his right cupped her breast that he realized what he’d done. He released her immediately and stumbled backward. Greer nearly fell forward, unprepared for Thor to no longer be there to support her. She blinked like an owl as she tried to form a coherent thought. She feared she’d done something wrong. Humiliation from her lust and fear that he was rejecting her made her tremble.
“Thor?”
“I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry. I willna do that again. I’m so sorry.” Thor’s horrified expression mystified Greer. She’d enjoyed their kiss, and she’d certainly enjoyed exploring Thor’s body. She realized she wished to become fully reacquainted with the masterpiece. But shame even more grave than when she’d told him what happened after they parted ways filled his eyes.
“I dinna understand. What are ye sorry for?”
“Yer hands. Touching ye.”
“Ma hands?” She looked at them, her brow furrowed.
“I restrained yer hands above yer head, and I touched ye when I promised I wouldnae without ye saying that’s what ye want. I shouldnae have kissed ye if that wasna what ye wanted. I’m sorry.”
“Och,mo ghaol. Ye did naught wrong. I hadnae even noticed what ye were doing with ma hands. I was as eager to kiss ye as ye were to kiss me. I’ve been pacing since ye left. I thought Blaine was going to tell me ye were dead. Kissing ye reassured me ye are still vera much alive. And as for touching me, I ken what ye offered, but I never said I dinna want ye to touch me. I said I dinna ken what I can manage. I liked that, so I ken I can manage ye touching ma breasts. I’d hoped ye’d keep doing it.”
“I should have asked, Greer.”
She watched his stricken expression as she drew closer. She placed her hand over his heart as the other went to his waist. “I dinna want ye to be afraid to show me any affection. I need it more than aught, Thor. And I dinna want ye to hide yer desire. I need that too. I need to ken ye arenae repulsed by me, and I need to feel a mon’s desire that isnae meant to hurt me.”
“I will never intentionally hurt ye,leannan.” Sweetheart.
“I missed hearing ye call me that, too. Thor, ye dinna scare me. Mayhap certain things will, but nae ye. If I dinna like something or I canna do it, I’ll tell ye. I ken ye’ll never make me feel badly for it. I dinna want ye to fear me.” Greer bit her bottom lip as she gazed up at the man who was doing his best to muddle his way through something he knew nothing about. His pained mien spoke to his noisy conscience. He wasn’t convinced.
“Mayhap I can just hold ye again.”
“I’d like that.”
Thor wrapped his arms around her, and she felt his sigh as her head rested against his chest. His heart still raced, but he already felt calmer. After a couple minutes of standing in silence, Greer slid her hand from his heart to his shoulder and around the back of his neck. She leaned back and lifted her chin, her eyes searching his. This kiss was gentler but infused just as much emotion. She returned her head to his chest when they pulled apart, their lungs finally screaming for air.
“What happened?” Greer needed to know, but she didn’t want to know.
“What do ye ken aboot yer mother’s people?”
“Vera little. Apparently, Edgar despised ma mother from the start. He was cruel to her, and she found solace with Albert, ma real father. Ma father said he and ma mother began an affair nae long after she arrived. They fell in love almost immediately. Until I was born, neither kenned if I was ma father’s or Edgar’s bairn. Ma birthmark made it obvious.”
Greer pushed back her sleeve to what looked like a cluster of freckles.
“Da has one exactly like it in the exact same place. I didna ken why Mama always insisted I keep it covered. I thought she feared someone would claim it was the mark of the devil or a witch. I saw Da without his leine on one day when I was four-and-ten. I kenned for certain what I’d suspected for a while. I was so happy to ken he was ma da and nae Edgar. I was also certain Edgar murdered ma mother for the affair. Since she died when I was only eight summers, I didna have much chance to learn aught aboot her people. Edgar slapped me when I was eleven summers and asked aboot them. I decided never to ask that again. Why?”
“The Macnaughtens allied with the MacDougalls and supported John Balliol against Robert the Bruce. Eventually, the Macnaughtens came around to the Bruce’s cause, but the MacDougalls didna. The Bruce stripped them of their lands, and John MacDougall, Lord of Argyll, fled to England. The Macnaughtens didna sever their ties to the MacDougalls, even once they supported King Robert. The MacDougalls supported Edward Balliol and now King Edward of England. The king’s messengers came for ye. Their leader said King Edward sent them at John Gallda MacDougall’s behest. He was the Lord of Argyll’s grandson.”
“Came for me at his behest? Why does he want me?”
“He’s unwed with nay issue. Ma guess is he wishes to return to Scotland through a Scottish bride. He thinks he might have his lands restored to him since King David is in exile. I assume he thinks that as the only daughter of the auld laird’s only daughter, ye must have substantial dower lands through the Macnaughtens.”
“I dinna. At least, nae that I ken of.” Greer brow furrowed deeply enough to create two grooves between her eyebrows. “Why me? There has to be a better woman to rely upon than the illegitimate daughter of a disgraced lady who came from a relatively small clan.”
“I believe he thinks he can summon the Macnaughtens to his side to help defend the MacDougalls, nae only because of their auld alliance, but because he will renew it by marrying ye.”
“He’s basically an Englishmon, right?”
“Aye. I dinna ken much aboot him, but I’ve had to learn a little aboot all the clans’ leaders.” Thor despised the monotonous lessons with his grandfather. It was the only time he loathed being with Liam. The older man seemed to drone on and on about who begat who after marrying so-and-so. Thor considered it as boring as lessons from Deuteronomy, which he thought of as God’s Ragman Rolls. The list of two thousand signatures demanded by King Edward I surely wasn’t as long as all the names listed in the early book of the Bible. Now, though, he appreciated his grandfather’s unceasing insistence that he memorize the lairdships and the families.
“And ye sent the Englishmen and the Gunns away? I saw them riding out.”
“Aye.” Thor looked around before taking Greer’s hand and leading her to the bed. “Will ye sit with me?”
“Of course. Thor, are ye still shaken by earlier? Are ye still scared to touch me?”
