“Are ye trying to say that I went there because I wanted to bed him?”
“Nay, not at all. I just think that ye thought too much on how he had saved Moragh’s life.”
“Well, mayhaps,” she mumbled, suddenly unsure of herself. “I thought honor demanded it.”
“There is no honor in meeting dishonorable demands.”
“So, I have lost everything and for no good reason at all.”
“Lost everything?” Alexander stared at her in confusion.
“Aye, ye and the baby.”
“Might I ask where Moragh and I are going?” Alexander knelt by her feet and removed her shoes despite her look of confusion.
“I betrayed ye, Alexander. Ye have never made a secret about how ye feel about women who betray ye.” She wanted to leave before she began to cry, but he was now undoing her hastily pinned-up hair, idly tossing the bone hairpins aside as he pulled them out. “I had so wanted to change your mind about women, to show ye that not all of us are bad and that there are still those ye can trust.” She gave a startled cry when Alexander suddenly straightened up, caught her up under the arms, and lifted her up until they were face to face.
“Do ye ken how many women I have had in my life, Ailis?”
“Thousands?” she grumbled, wondering why he had to remind her of his profligate past now.
“Aye—thousands. And of all of those thousands I have never been left so utterly confused as I have so often been by ye.”
“Confused? By me?”
“Aye. By ye. Utterly confounded and puzzled.”
He gently tossed her down onto the bed and then pinned her there. Ailis wondered how he could call her confusing when he was acting so strangely. Alexander should be sending her away, throwing her out, yet he was taking her clothes off. He was, in fact, not acting as if he felt betrayed or even particularly angry.
“I have betrayed ye, yet ye are acting as if naught has happened,” she muttered, her words faintly distorted by her chemise as Alexander tugged it off of her.
“Ye havena betrayed me.” Once Ailis was naked, Alexander sat back on his haunches to savor the sight of her before taking off the rest of his own clothes.
“I went to Malcolm.”
“Ye didna bed down with him.”
“I was going to. That was the price asked.” She shivered when he eased his naked body back into her arms.
“For Moragh’s life. Do ye think me such a little man that I would fault ye for doing anything and everything ye needed to do to keep our son alive? I can find a few faults in your thinking, but none in your motive. I ken what fears drove ye to it. How can I condemn ye when I ken full well I could sell my soul to the devil himself if it would buy our child even one more day of life?”
He gave her such a fierce kiss Ailis could only cling to him and return it. She felt the first stirrings of hope since the day she had agreed to Malcolm’s demand. Then she lost all ability to think as he made slow, passionate love to her. With his every kiss and touch, he cherished her, stirred her. There was not a place upon her body that did not tingle from the touch of his lips or fingers, that was not deeply warmed by his passion. She felt as if he paid her some high honor. When he finally joined their bodies, she was already crying out with need for him. Ailis clung to him with all the strength her ardor could produce as he eased into her. She continued to hold on tightly as he took her to a blinding release, which left her weak and trembling, a release enriched by Alexander’s sharing it with her.
“Does this mean that I can stay with ye?” she finally asked, smiling when he chuckled.
“Aye,” Alexander replied. “Ailis, what is it that ye canna give Malcolm that ye can give me?”
“Love,” she answered, then gasped.
Ailis groaned and closed her eyes, embarrassed by her own stupidity. She had answered without thought, simply blurted out the truth. In one small word she had opened herself up completely, and yet she had no idea of what Alexander would do with such information or how he would even react to it. She was not sure that the way she could feel him grinning against her skin was a particularly good sign.
“Poor Ailis, ye really didna want to say that, did ye?” He propped himself up on his elbows to smile at her.
“ ‘Tis none of your business.” She was becoming irritated by his intense good humor, yet was curious as to the why of it.
“None of my business? Ye dinna believe I should ken how my wife feels about me?”
“Not when ye trick the declaration out of her.”
