“I wasna yer wife anymore.”
“I ken, but it just doesnae feel right now.”
“There’s nay point to regret, Thor. Neither of us imagined we’d lie together on a bed again anywhere but in our dreams. It wasna every mon in ma clan who came to ma chamber. It was the same handful, but they came back more than once. I dinna want ye thinking that it was scores of them.”
“Wee one, I dinna care if it was scores. I dinna hold any number against ye. I am nae going anywhere unless ye tell me to leave.”
Greer nodded because she couldn’t speak around the lump in her throat. Knowing he’d been with other women should have hurt her. Or at least, she thought it should. But she felt a little less of a whore knowing he’d been with women besides her. She reached for him, and he lowered himself, careful not to rest any of his weight on her. But she pulled him closer. When they were chest to chest, she cupped his cheek before their mouths met for another gentle kiss. But it soon turned into a blaze that heated them from the tips of their ears to the tips of their toes.
As the kiss continued, Greer yanked at Thor’s leine until she could slide her hands along his scorching skin. She marveled at the taut muscles she felt beneath his smooth skin. She recalled the way he felt each time they’d come together when they were younger. They’d met while Thor and Jamie hunted near the loch. She’d been alone, swimming. Thor had offered to hold out his plaid to shield her as she came out of the water. He’d warned her that more Sinclair men were in the area. He’d wanted none of them to spy the gorgeous water nymph who wore nothing but her skin.
He'd held his plaid across his back, just as he’d done when they swam that morning. She still couldn’t believe that was only a few hours earlier. Once she’d dressed that day eight years ago, they’d talked while Jamie continued to hunt. It alarmed Thor that Greer didn’t have a guard. He knew who she was because he’d recognized her from the Highland Gatherings. She’d thanked him for his concern but insisted no one from another clan would ever come near her. None would see any value in her as a Gunn. Thor’s face had turned to a thundercloud, and she’d nearly tripped trying to back away. He’d pulled her close and admonished her for saying something so negative about herself. He warned her not to do it again. She truly believed him and didn’t wish to learn the consequences if she did.
“Do ye remember the first time I kissed ye?” Thor asked as his whisky-brown eyes met her violet ones.
“Of course, I do. Ye came back to hunt at the loch every day for a sennight. I never went to the loch so many days in a row, but I hoped each time that I would see ye. On that seventh day, ye told me yer hunting party was returning to Dunbeath, and ye wouldnae be able to come back again.”
“And I asked if I might have something to remember ye by. I was so nervous. I’d never kissed a lass before, even if plenty of lads ma age had done far more than just kiss. But I’d never seen someone as bonnie as ye. I didna want to walk away and never ken what it was like.”
“I felt the same way. There’s never been a mon brawer than ye,mo ghràidh. I thought I would surely melt into a puddle. I felt so overheated as ye wrapped yer arms around me and gave me the sweetest peck. Then I feared that was all ye would do.”
“I couldnae stop. I wanted to taste ye, so I did.”
“Aye, ye did.” Greer grinned, and Thor swooped in for another kiss.
“I couldnae leave ye alone after that. I couldnae stay away. We were so foolish with all that we risked sneaking out to that loch. Bless Jamie because he lied for me so many times, so I could visit ye.”
“I dinna ken how we werenae caught during those nine moons.”
“Now that I think aboot it, I think mayhap ma mama kenned. She kenned ye and Rose were friends. She said she always kens where her weans are. When I remember some looks she gave me when ye were with us at Dunbeath, I think mayhap she was questioning why we werenae the same as we once were.”
“Does that mean other people in yer family kenned?”
“Nay. Grandda’s brother, Daniel, fell in love with Edgar’s great-aunt. Edgar’s grandfather, Tomas, killed Daniel because he learned of Daniel’s relationship with Ceana. She was with child when it happened. He beat her badly enough that several moons later, her bairn was stillborn. Now I ken Grandda would have understood if he’d learned aboot us. I didna realize that soon enough.”
“Thor, I never want to live apart from ye again.”
“We never have to. I hated kenning ye were ma wife for three of those nine moons, yet I couldnae see ye every day. We never had enough time. Even when we spent hours together, and even when I arranged hunting trips and patrols, so I could go to the loch. It was never long enough.”
“At least one of those times after we handfasted was long enough to get me with child.”
They looked down between them at Greer’s belly. Balancing on one forearm, Thor laid his hand over her belly.
“There is so much I regret, but I regret ye believing ye couldnae come to me.”
“Thor, I kenned I could come to ye. I didna because I feared ye’d die too. I couldnae live with losing ye and our bairn.”
“I should have protected ye, nae the other way around.”
“Why? Because ye’re the mon? I refuse to believe that. I love ye, and I will always protect ye. Ye canna convince me otherwise. Ye do that for people ye love. Would yer mama nae protect yer da because she’s a woman?”
Thor chuckled. “Nay one is more protective of ma da than Mama.”
“I’ve heard.” Greer grinned.
“Ye are so bonnie, wee one. I could look at ye all day.”
“Can we try a little more than just kissing?” Greer prayed she didn’t panic and start screaming like a banshee. But nothing about being with Thor reminded her of what she had endured. The way they were now reminded her of how they’d once been.
