“Where are we going?” she asked.
“To a special place I’d like to share with you.” He pointed to the staircase.
She scowled. “Not your chamber. Your cousins are there.”
“Nay.” He laughed. “My sire would kill me first and then my mother. The parapets. They are spectacular here because of the Sound of Mull.” He led her up the first staircase, then down the passageway to a door at the end. “May I take your hand? It’s a dark staircase.”
She nodded, so he tucked her hand in his and led her up the stairs, pushing against the heavy door and holding it for her. There was a slight breeze that greeted him right away and he smiled.
“This place makes you happy,” she said.
“The smell of the sea does. It’s so different than our castle in the Highlands. It’s why we stay. There’s something about the water.” He led her around the parapets until they overlooked the Sound of Mull.
“It’s chilly. I should have brought my mantle.”
He said, “If you’ll allow it, I’ll tuck you in front of me and you’ll be protected from the wind.”
To his surprise, she agreed, stepping in front of him. He wrapped his arms around her, yet making sure it wasn’t tootight. He didn’t wish to frighten her. “I’ll tell you a story. My grandfather always loved the parapets. It’s where he spent much of his free time. But he would also come up whenever he had to decide on battle plans, or whenever he had to decide who was to be in charge of certain things. He loved it so much that it was one of the last things he did before he passed. My father would carry him up to the parapets where they kept a chair for him. He loved the wind in his hair, but his favorite part was the view. He swore he could see all the way to the edge of the land of the Scots, though I doubt it.”
She scanned the area from one way to the other, a sight she’d never seen before. “It’s beautiful. I’ve never seen anything like it, Hagen. My thanks for bringing me here. Tell me more about your grandsire. How did he meet your grandmother?”
“He was out patrolling, something he loved to do. He always wished to know who his neighbors were. He was a distance away with one of my uncles when he stopped at a manor home, but the owner was not friendly. They went inside, decided to spend the night, and he claims to have been compelled to open doors in the middle of the night. Said he came upon the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen in a chamber, sound asleep, but he knew he could never leave her.”
“Why not? She was sleeping.”
“She’d been badly beaten. He left because her maid chased him out with a broom, but he couldn’t leave her. He and his brother were sent out by the owner, but they snuck back inside later, and he caught him whipping her, so he stole her away.”
“And they married right away?” she asked.
Hagen chuckled. “Nay. She didn’t trust him, but she didn’t trust any man. She was quiet, reserved, and afraid of men. Grandda said it took him forever to convince her that he would never hurt her.”
“And your sire found Sela, also someone held against her will. And they married.”
“That took him a while too. She stayed in an abbey because she didn’t think she deserved to marry Connor Grant. But he convinced her.”
“She’s so happy now.”
“Oh, naught makes my mother happier than grandbairns. She keeps hinting at me and Astra that she needs more. Morgan is too young yet.”
“How many summers are you?”
“Two and twenty. And you?”
“Eight and ten. Old enough to leave the abbey, but I have nowhere to go.” She stared out over the landscape and asked, “Have you been to all those places out there, Hagen Grant?”
“Nay. I’ve visited many, but not all. You?”
She smiled and said, “None. This is my first time on Mull. I’ve only been to Tiree and Iona.”
He stood back and turned her around to face him. Cupping her cheeks, he said, “Brynja, I’ll take you wherever you’d like to go. But may I kiss you first?”
She smiled and nodded.
His lips melded with hers, slowly and cautiously at first, not wanting to frighten her. It was clear to him that she hadn’t been with a man before. Everything about her was hesitant. His tongue teased hers and she opened for him, giving him access to the sweet cavern inside. He teased and taunted her until her curiosity got the best of her, dueling with him until he was panting with a need he hadn’t felt in a long time.
A need to know more about her, taste her, make her his.
She surprised him by leaning into him, her curves fitting against him so perfectly it was as if they were made as one. Her arms slipped around his neck, and he deepened the kiss,growling with a need that was so fierce he feared what he would do.
