“I sent out word as weel.”
“Then help should be on its way. But, I think ye need to seek your bed, cousin. If I felt as weary as ye look, I would be snoring with my head on the table right now. We can talk on this in the morning.”
“I was thinking we should continue on our way in the morning.”
“Then ’tis even more important that ye get some rest.”
“Where was Arianna put then?”
“In Ilsa’s old bedchamber,” replied Jolene. “I have put ye in the one across from her.”
“Nay, I will stay with her,” Brian said, and could hear the force of demand in his voice despite how softly he spoke.
“Brian, she is not some simple wench. She is a lady, and a Murray.”
“I ken that. I also ken she is a widow, so ’tis nay as if I sully some cherished innocent.”
“I know what men think about widows, but that does not mean it is acceptable to treat them like you would some tavern wench. They still have a good name to protect.”
“I dinnae treat her like that but I willnae leave her alone, either.”
“Do you mean to marry her then?”
“Jo, m’love, leave the mon be,” said Sigimor.
“But ...” Jolene began.
“Nay. Go on with you, Brian. Ye will see that she is safe and cared for. Sleep weel and we will talk in the morning before ye leave.”
Brian quickly escaped the great hall before Jolene could say anything else. He knew it was wrong to be so open about the fact that he was Arianna’s lover, but the thought of not sleeping at her side forced him to be blunt. Jolene could not know that he did not have much time left with Arianna before he had to hand her over to her family. He was not going to waste one single minute of the time they had left in bowing to the proprieties.
He entered the room Sigimor’s only sister had once occupied and smiled as he closed the door. Arianna was little more than a lump beneath the blankets. Brian shed his clothes and crawled in beside her, pulling her into his arms. She murmured his name and pressed close to him.
“Brian?” she said, although he could see that she was not really awake.
“Aye, love.” He touched a kiss to her forehead.
“Ye are unhurt?”
“I am hale and so are all of Sigimor’s men. I fear Amiel managed to escape, though.”
“Bollocks.”
Brian looked down at her face, saw that her eyes were closed and the hand on his chest limp, and laughed softly. Arianna could not only ride a horse while asleep, she could carry on a conversation. He knew she would not recall a word of it, however.
He tucked her head under his chin, and rested his cheek against her hair. The herbs from her bath teased his senses and his body stirred with need, but he was so tired it was easy to quell the urge to make love to her. The need to sleep with her in his arms troubled him a little as it showed him he was not keeping the distance between them that he should. No matter how often he told himself that he had to stay close to keep her safe, he could not fully believe it. They were now inside a strong keep with a strong force of men to watch over them and fight an enemy that tried to get to them. Brian knew, in his heart, that he simply liked to hold her close as he slept.
The part of him that wanted to keep her rose up and he tried to banish it. Even if he could convince himself that she would be happy with him, that she felt more than passion for him, it would be selfish of him to try and hold on to her. He could not give her all the things she could find with another richer, better-born man. Arianna deserved a life of ease, surrounded by the finer things, and there would be little of that if she stayed with him. Even with the improvements made to Scarglas and the money he had saved, it would not equal what she had had as a child of the Murrays or the wife of acomte.
Brian closed his eyes and held her a little closer. There was still some time left to them and he did not want to shadow it with thoughts of all they could not have together. For now, he would enjoy all they could share. He also swore that by the time he set her free, she would know her worth and be bled of the poison Claud had fed her for years.
Chapter 10
Fire flowed through her veins as Arianna crawled her way up through the fog of sleep. It took her only a moment to understand why she felt so hot and needy. Brian’s dark head was against her breast, his lips and tongue stirring that almost painful pleasure in her breasts. She groaned softly as she threaded her fingers through his thick hair, holding him close and silently inviting him to do as he pleased.
She shifted beneath his stroking hands and heated kisses. There was a small part of her that was still shocked by how wanton Brian could make her but her delight in the passion he blessed her with easily soothed that shock away. Until she felt the touch of his mouth upon that part of her where she ached for him the most.
“Brian,” she gasped as she tried to squirm away from him, but his hands on her hips held her firmly in place.
