In a way, he supposed hewasescaping. Escaping from Struan’s plan to make a match between Iain and Struan’s cousin. Escaping from the need to pretend he did not want to be withRobena. As he made his way to the stable to ready his own horse, Iain decided that he was escaping, but instead of running away, he was runningto. . .her.
As he rode like the flames of hell were pursuing him, he realized that he had made a decision to marry. Not to a woman most would expect or want him to marry. When he arrived at her cottage and stood before her door, he understood that his biggest challenge, the one he might not overcome, was the woman waiting within for him.
Iain knocked softly and waited for permission to enter.
When it did not come, he lifted the latch and opened the door slowly. Careful not to allow too much of the cold in, he quickly closed and secured it against the growing force of the winds. Waiting for his eyes to adjust to the low light, he finally found her. Not lying on the pallet, but sitting in the one large chair, sound asleep.
He walked softly over to her and crouched before the chair. Her breathing was deep and even as she slept, unaware of his arrival. Then he noticed that her hair tumbled loosely over her, and that she wore only the blanket wrapped around her. Her bare feet peeked out at the bottom and rested on the floor. If the fire had been stronger when it was laid, ’twas not now, and she shivered in her sleep.
Iain put the bag down and found some wood to add to the fire. It grew stronger and threw more heat as the new logs caught, and he watched as her shivering eased. Returning to the place before her, he sat, and with a care not to wake her, lifted her feet up and put them on his lap.
Then, after rubbing his hands together briskly to warm them up, he laid them on her feet and stroked up under the blanket in a very slow path. His hands could almost encircle her ankles, so he did, sliding down and up, along the front of her shins and onthe back of her legs. Her loud sigh was the only warning before she woke.
Robena opened her eyes then,though she wanted to sit here and enjoy the feel and the heat of his touch on her feet and legs. She hadn’t realized how chilly it had gotten, because she’d sat down and had promptly fallen asleep.
So much for her intention to wait and be ready for his return.He sat at her feet, or rather under her feet, stroking her, bringing the warmth of his strong hands to her chilled skin. Leaning forward, she smiled at him when he looked up at her.
“I wanted to be ready for ye,” she said.
“Ye did not come to the keep when Anice sent word.”
If she did not have a care, she would hear the disappointment in his voice and allow it to soften her resolve about him. She lifted her feet from his lap then and he allowed it. Reaching down, she took his hands in hers.
“I couldna.”
She tugged until he stood and let the blanket around her drop as she reached out to caress his legs. Beginning at his knees, she stroked up much as he had, but onto his thighs, feeling the well-defined muscles there. His breathing changed as she slid onto her knees before him.
“Couldna or wouldna?” he asked in a breathy whisper.
Did he think her willful? That she would ignore his call for no reason but her own? Robena sat back on her heels and tilted her head up to meet his gaze. The erection brought on by her caresses was visible there in the way the woolen plaid tented out from his groin.
“The laird forbade me from entering the keep.”
She felt his strength as he pulled her to her feet and admitted to herself that she loved it. The way he could move her at hiswill. He could hold her up while he entered her, while he took her standing or against the wall. He could stretch out his arms over her body and hold her immobile as he tormented her with his mouth and his cock. Never once had he used that strength in a way she did not wish.
“But Anice has welcomed ye there,” he said.
“Anice is the lady of the keep, but Struan is still laird, Iain. He has every right to bar me from entering, or to punish me if I disobey his word. Ye ken that, ye do.” She moved back a step and let the blanket fall completely away. “So, I’m afraid ye will have to visit me here if ye want me.”
She found herself waiting for him to say he would come here. That he did want her. But the icy expression that covered his eyes worried her.
“Iain? Is aught wrong?”
“Nay, Robena. Not with ye. But ’twould seem that Struan is up to some game.”
He reached for her then and slid his hands up and down on her arms gently. When he looked at her, his eyes were warm and alive. “I do not mind visiting ye here at all. As ye can see, I had planned to do that already.” He canted his head towards the pallet, and she noticed the leather bag there.
“Will ye tell me what he did?” she asked.
The laird had been openly hostile to her, but he could not do that to Iain. Not with the long history of friendship between their families. Not with the position of respect each held in their clans. Struan had changed with his son’s death and with Rob’s marriage to Anice. He’d broken his word and few trusted him, but fewer still raised a voice to question his authority. Rob had made it clear that he was serving as tanist until a new chieftain was needed.
“He brought his late wife’s cousin here to visit.”
That did not seem so strange, or even a bad thing to Robena. With a clan as large as the MacKendimens, kin came from all over their lands to visit, stay, foster, or live.
She shrugged, not seeing the problem.
“For me to consider marrying.”
