“Is someone looking for ye?” she asked candidly.
“They should nae be, if Matthew managed to keep Donal Stewart penned up,” he answered her. “But I would nae take any chances. I’d rather send Stewart to his da wi’ my parchment than hae to face Moray before I can explain the truth of the matter. The innkeeper tells me there hae been more troubles along the border the past two weeks. I dinna know if they are involved wi’heror nae. Damn the woman! Could she nae just keep Bothwell as a lover, the way her mam did wi’ Patrick Hepburn?”
“How could she hide her belly?” Annabella said as she pulled off her cap and unpinned her braid. “She was a widow, and Knox would hae pilloried her publicly again. ’Tis nae like the old days, when a queen might be indiscreet privily.” Annabella went to a small table where a basin of water and a towel were waiting. She washed her face and her hands.
“What madness that both of these Marys should fall in love with Hepburn men. What is it women see in them that I canna see?” He sat down across from her.
“That’s because ye’re a man,” Annabella said with a giggle. “I watched as he spread charm to every pretty female wi’in his ken, and his charm is genuine. Women wanted to please him just because of his charm. They couldna help themselves, and he couldna help himself.” She laughed. “But I truly believe that he loved the queen, a fact that surely confused him, for I doubt he had ever really loved any woman wi’ all his heart and soul. How tragic that it should be the downfall of them both.”
The earl was astounded by his wife’s acuity. His respect for her grew. “Aye,” he said. “I believe ye’re correct, but it was up to the queen to consider Scotland first, and her own heart second. Her poor wee bairn, being raised by Erskine and his cold wife. A good man and a good woman, yet they lack the kindness needed for a bairn.”
Annabella sighed. “I know,” she said. “But after her great disappointment in Darnley I suspect it was very difficult for her to resist James Hepburn. I dinna know what it is about the Hepburn men, but they hae always been as fascinating to women as are the Stewarts. Can ye imagine what a child of Mary Stuart and James Hepburn would have been like, Angus? I wonder if God has not spared Scotland.”
He smiled at her, thinking as he did that his wife was indeed very wise. “Aye,” he agreed. “God may have indeed spared Scotland.”
While she spoke she had carved him a goodly piece of beef, and piled his plate with some mussels in a mustard sauce, fresh peas, a bit of breast from a fat goose, bread, and cheese. She filled his goblet with rich red wine, then placed it before him. “Eat, my lord,” she said. “It looks and smells delicious. ’Tis the first good meal we have shared in several weeks.” She then attended to her own plate, which contained a similar array of food. They both ate with a good appetite.
A small tartlet of apple had been left on the sideboard. When Annabella had cleared their plates away, she divided the little sweet, covering it with clotted cream. She gave him the larger portion, for she knew how much her husband enjoyed this particular treat. He devoured it quickly, and she gave him what remained upon her plate. With a guilty smile he accepted it, and ate it quickly.
“Did ye think I would take it back?” Annabella teased him as he wolfed down what remained of the sweet.
He laughed. “Matthew, James, and I always squabbled over the last bit of a treat, and usually while we did Jean snatched it for herself,” the earl told his wife.
“Roosters do a lot of crowing,” Annabella teased him.
He chuckled, then, reaching across the small table, took her hand in his. He kissed each finger in its turn. “I hae come to love ye so greatly that were I ever to lose ye, madam, I think my life would be bleak forevermore.”
Annabella felt herself near tears with his passionate declaration, but then he continued.
“But, if I should ever hae to leave Duin again, and ye follow after me when I hae told ye nay, I swear I shall lock ye in the castle’s highest tower, and never let ye roam free again! Do ye understand me, madam? When I tell ye nay, I mean nay.”
“Ye would hae never known I followed ye had those villains nae attempted murder,” Annabella said. “I could nae let them kill ye.”
“I was awake, madam, for I was expecting such an attempt. Do ye think me such a fool that I was nae aware I was being followed? Actually I thought there were three of them, particularly when ye decided to remain after the meal,” he told her.
Annabella giggled.
“Ye find this amusing?” he said to her, standing up.
“Aye, I do. Ye thought I was an assassin when I was really there to protect ye.” And Annabella began to laugh. “Did I really look like an assassin?”
“Assassins dinna hae alook,” he said, coming around the table and pulling her into his arms. The feel of her sweetly rounded body against him, her plain little face looking up at him with those trusting gray eyes of hers, the subtle fragrance of her, set his senses reeling. This washiswoman, and she had put herself in danger for him.God’s blood!Was there a more fortunate man alive in Scotland today than he was? All he wanted to do was get them safely home to Duin to live their lives in peace, and never have to leave it again.
Annabella had grown silent, watching the play of strong emotions crossing his outrageously handsome face. What good luck had brought her this wonderful man who loved her? “I think, Angus,” she said softly, “that it is past time ye kissed me and took me to bed, my dearest lord.” Her fingers caressed his cheek.
He smiled suddenly, and nodded. Then his mouth took hers in a slow, deep kiss even while he picked her up and took her into their bedchamber. Together they undressed each other by the light of the fire in the hearth before crawling between the lavender-scented sheets. Annabella sighed with happiness as he stroked the length of her body.
His touch sent little shivers of delight through her. She lay on her belly while his lips pressed little kisses down the length of her spine. She lay on her back as his hands caressed her breasts and belly. His mouth suckled slowly at her nipples until they were sore, but she was so filled with pleasure that it didn’t matter.
Finally he whispered in her ear as his big body began to cover hers, “I need to be inside of you, sweetheart.”
She felt his length and thickness against her thigh. Her legs opened for him, wrapped themselves about his torso as he pushed himself slowly, slowly into her wet and waiting sheath, and she groaned as he filled her entirely. “Oh, Angus!” She sighed, clinging to him, her nails digging lightly into his broad shoulders.
Jesu, he thought. She felt so damned good. His cock was throbbing with his need for her. The wall of her sheath tightened about him, clenching and unclenching, until he cried out low. He began to move upon her, slowly at first, but as his lust increased, faster and faster, deeper, deeper, deeper. He could feel the crisis approaching for them both, and struggled not to race ahead of her.
Then Annabella said hotly in his ear, “Now! Now!Now!”
His creamy tribute burst forth and their love juices combined, leaving them both satisfied and breathless. “God’s blood, how I love ye!” he whispered hoarsely.
