“Now that business is done, I must bring up something truly serious,” he says, and there’s a collective groan. Even Dougal’s looking concerned. “Ma’ insists that we will all have dinner together tomorrow so that we can all meet our new sister-in-law.” He graciously neglects to mention that I was in handcuffs being dragged through their mansion the last time they saw me.
Shaking my head at Dougal, I open my eyes wide, pleadingly. Apparently, he doesn’t understand the silent language of, ‘Don’t you dare put me through this, think of something!’
“Aye, Isla and I will be there.” He ignores my violent head shakes until I get dizzy and give up.
Hanging up from the call, he grins at my glare. “You’ll have to meet them all sometime, wife. Let’s get it done and you’ll feel better.”
“I will not feel better!” I seethe, “As I recall, the last plan your family had for me included the phrase ‘keep her or kill her?’ This is too soon.”
“Well, they don’t think thatnow,”he says, smiling diabolically. “You’re a MacTavish. Like it or not, there are obligations, like being at my mother’s table. Plus, you’ll meet my brother’s wives, who will like you far more than they do me and will always side with you. It’s exhausting.”
“I just…” I can’t explain it. It feels wrong, sitting down to a meal with the MacTavish’s. When it’s just me and Dougal, I don’t feel like I’m going against everything the Blackwoods stand for. Meeting them like family… It feels disrespectful to my father.
He’s watching me, one finger running over his full lower lip. “Do ya’ feel like you’re insulting your da’?”
“Aye,” I sigh. “This has all been so hard on him, and… aye. It does.”
Dougal comes around the desk, seating himself on the couch that has seen far too many dark deeds, most of them done to me. Lightly lifting me onto his lap, he puts his arms around me and it feels more comforting than it should.
“I think that one day soon,” he says, resting his chin on my shoulder, “we will break bread with your da’ and your brother. Without him threatening to kill me again.”
Smothering down a giggle, I nod.
“We’ll talk and laugh. Gavin will tell me deeply unflattering stories about your childhood because brothers canna’ help themselves. And when it’s time to go home, your father will shake my hand without wanting to break it.”
The hatred my father has spewed for years about the MacTavish’s makes me question it, but I want to hold onto that vision. That there could be more than this uneasy standoff.
His gaze is steady, his blue eyes warm and confident.
“There’s nothing wrong with hope, wife.”
I don’t believe him. Hope can crush you.
I force a smile and nod.
Chapter Twenty-Four
In which it's time to Meet the Parents.
Dougal…
The next day…
Waking up with morning wood immediately makes me think of Isla. I would have loved to have eaten her out last night - several times - until her sore pussy felt better, but she scooted to the other side of my vast bed.
I can take a hint.
Still, she didn’t protest when she found all her belongings moved from her room to mine, and this morning, she’s curled around me like a cat.
Women rarely stayed the night when I was single, I preferred to go to theirs or get a hotel suite. So waking up with my wife wrapped around me is a new and surprisingly pleasant experience. When I married her, I’d planned on keeping her in her room, away from me, and simply tolerating her. Instead, I’ve spent an excessive amount of time thinking of ways to get her into my bed.
Ma always lectured us that, “Love happens when you least expect it.”
Shite.
Is that what this is? I know I’m proud of my wife, and I’m protective. And of course, I feel lust. So much lust. When I’d seen her pale face down in that ravine, my heart nearly stopped, thinking I’d lost her. Lost something precious.
Isla rolls over, her hand up by her face and the sheet down around her waist. Her nipples are hard and pressing against the thin cotton tank top she’s wearing. Despite the enormous array of lingerie I’ve purchased for her, she stubbornly kept to the simple cotton underwear. Knowing my wife, it’s likely out of spite. What she doesn’t know is that everything she wears turns me on. I’ve never jacked off in the shower as much as I have for these last two weeks.
