Sean wanted to make love to Thomasina again in the night but she hadn’t awakened. “Yea. Give us a minute.”
Shutting the door, Sean returned to light the candle and bring it closer to the bed. The bloodstain beneath them was proof enough that she was indeed his. The smile on her face as she slept told him she was happy about it.
“Thomasina.” He kneeled beside the pallet, a hand on her shoulder. “Mo mhíle stór, we need to go now.”
She frowned, shielding her eyes from the light. “’Tis the middle of the night. We will not be able to see anything.”
“’Tis almost sunrise. Lachlann says we need to go now.”
She sat up still half-asleep. Her nakedness called to him and he cupped a breast as he moved in nearer. “If I had my way, I would wake ye slowly and pleasure ye until ye cried out my name.”
She smiled, her eyes partly closed in her weariness. “Did I not call yer name? I knew it was ye and none other that made such sweet love to me, mo mhíle stór.” She pursed her lips toward him for a kiss.
He kissed her, rubbing his lips against hers. “Good day, my sweet Thomasina.”
“Yea. ’Tis that.”
Thomasina stood up and stretched her delectable body. Sean had a hard time keeping himself focused on dressing with her body all but calling out to him.
“Are ye sore?”
She stilled and closed her eyes as if assessing her body from the inside. “Maybe a little here.” She opened her eyes and offered a most fetching expression while pressing her hand between her legs. “’Twas a necessary pain that resulted in much more pleasure.”
“Are not ye the worldly one now?” Sean pulled at the sheet, removing it from the pallet, and wrapped it up to take with them in case there was need of any proof. “Come now.”
She accepted his outstretched hand. Even as they opened the door, a dull light was making its way toward the sunrise. Lachlann handed Sean the lead to Niall’s riderless horse and smiled at Thomasina. “Ye made it through the night I see.”
“Yea. Even with my big, strapping husband, I survived just fine.”
Sean mounted and reached down to pull her up in front of him. “And I survived just fine as well.”
Lachlann’s face blanked before he broke into a laugh. “I had no concern for ye, man.”
He jumped onto his horse. By the time they made the shore, the sun was clearing the horizon but a heavy mist hung over the water making it difficult to see. Niall came out of the trees. “The boatman will be here anon.”
Sean dismounted and took a quick scan of their surroundings. He reached up to take Thomasina by her small waist and help her down. He stopped, holding her just short of touching her feet to the ground. “A kiss for my efforts?”
She smiled and kissed him. He held her against him, wrapping both arms around her when she would have pulled away. His lips demanding more, she wrapped her arms around his neck to deepen the kiss.
“Thank ye for yer efforts,” she teased him.
Sean smiled back but didn’t put her down. “Can ye say goodbye to yer brother? And his friend?”
She glanced behind him where her brother waited beside Lachlann. “Yea. Do ye think it be forever?”
“Nae. We will return if ’tis what ye want.”
She closed her eyes and drew a deep breath before looking at him with a smile. “Thank ye for that as well.”
Niall started toward the shore, the sound of the surf the only noise. “I think this is the boat now.”
Sean slipped his head through the rope on his shield, securing it to his back and took the sack. They followed behind.
Like a ghost in the mist, the longboat appeared with a single man. “Hail.”
Sean’s fist clenched. Something in the voice was familiar. He thrust Thomasina behind him and withdrew his sword. “Stay here.”
Niall was almost to the shore, Lachlann beside him. Sean surged forward just as the heavily-cloaked boatman waded into the water, bent toward his boat.
