He frowned at her, trying to look stern. “Do ye even ken how much ye frightened me, lass? I was near out of my mind when I came back and ye werena in the cottage! I could kill ye for making me worry like that!”
She gave him a smile. “That’s sweet, that you worried about me. But I didn’t know for certain you were coming back, Drust. And I’d had a dream about you, months before, while I was still here at the castle. That’s when I knew… and that made it all the harder to see you go.”
“What was the dream?”
When she looked down and didn’t answer, he slipped two fingers under her chin and lifted her face to look at him.
“Lass”, he said softly, “What dream?”
Her breath caught a little at the intensity of his gaze. He held her eyes with his, more intimate than any kiss. God! She wanted him to stop asking questions and kiss her!
“A dream where I knew you were the one I was meant to be with.”
A soft moan escaped from his throat as Drust pulled her close and pressed his lips to hers. He wanted to tell her how verymuchhe wanted to be with her, but the feel of her lips against his was just too good. Soft and sweet and God! he’d never get enough. He tangled his fingers in her hair and deepened the kiss until he couldn’t tell where he ended and she began.
He was rock hard and aching and nothing on earth was going to keep him from claiming Willa as his this night. He was hungry and wanting, both body and soul, and he fought for control to go slowly, gently. He forced himself to pull back a little, and they met each other’s eyes, both of them breathless and trembling.
“Drust? Why did you stop?”
“I dinna want to scare ye… go too fast. I want to be gentle, but I…it’s been so long…”
“You don’t scare me… and I won’t break.”
As if compelled by a force beyond his control, he bent to take her mouth again. But he was stopped short by frenzied shouting, coming from the direction of the castle gates. “Och, no!” he moaned, dropping his forehead to rest against hers for a moment before pulling away. It seemed providence had saved him from himself this night. He had waited this long, certainly he could wait until Willa was his wife and his mate. He hadn’t asked her yet, but he knew that nothing in this world would stop him from claiming this woman as his own. Hell, in his own mind, he already had, whether or not she was willing, she was already his and his alone.
“It’s only a fire”, he said, looking out towards the village. Fire was all too common with the open hearths and thatched roofs of the cottages, and taken very seriously. A few stray sparks on the wind could burn the entire village. “Come, we’ll see if they need help.”
Thirty men with buckets made short work of the flames, and Maura invited everyone back to the Hall for music and dancing to help ease the tension of the day. Willa smiled after her sister-in-law. It had been only hours, and Maura was already shining in her new role as Lady of the castle, as if she had been born to it. In no time at all, she had found a group of musicians, had the tables all moved to the side, and brought out the best wine from the cellars. Willa understood that this was about more than just the battle and the fire… this was a celebration of their return home. It was well needed and well deserved. Besides, it had been ages since she had danced!
As soon as the music started, people took to the floor in a general mood of slightly disbelieving joy and relief. In the end, it had all happened so fast. They had gone from one laird, to a hostile takeover by another, and now to yet another: James.
Willa looked for Drust, but he was nowhere in the hall. Probably still helping some of the men in the village. She thought to wait for him, but Maura had other ideas, and it wasn’t long before she was pulled into the fray, spinning around the floor and losing herself in the music and the crowd and the laughter. How long had it been since she’d felt so happy and had so much hope for the future? Longer than she could remember.
Drust came in shortly after, and his eyes automatically scanned the crowd for Willa. He saw her in the midst of the dancers, looking like a beautiful and delicate flower, and his chest grew tight with emotion. At first he just watched her dance, in awe of her natural grace and the sensual way she moved. His body grew hard and aching just seeing the sway of her hips beneath her long skirts. But then he began to notice he was not theonlyman watching her, and his anger mounted as one after another of them smiled at his woman, stood too close, made her laugh. Did they not know she washis? He would hate to have to kill so many, but his blood was nearly boiling now and his mind had flooded with thoughts of unreserved male possession. She washis, damn it! Forever. And to make sure of it, he would be marrying her. Then no one could ever challenge his rights. She would belong to him and him alone. He marched over to where she was and took her by the arm, swinging her away from the small but steadily growing group of admirers.
“When we return to Creagmor, you will wed with me.”
She looked at him in stunned silence, but before she could answer, he had turned on his heel and left. Beside her, Maura burst into laughter.
“That has to be… the most romantic proposal… I’ve ever heard!”
Willa grinned at her. “Even so, I’ll take it.”
It was late, and Willa stretched out on the soft bed that she had missed so much during her stay at the cottage, where for most of the time she had slept on a pallet on the floor. She pulled the crisp linen sheet up over her naked body and lay back against the pillows, watching the door and hoping that men were as predictable as she thought them to be. She knew Drust did not intend to share her room, mostly, she suspected, out of respect for her brother, and of course his misguided sense of honor. She, on the other hand, had been waiting far too long to have him alone in her bed. Her fingers ached to touch him, and her hips arched unbidden off the bed at the thought of him taking her. He was going to be hers, and she could still not quite believe how quickly everything had changed. But now she was through waiting. Tonight she would finally know what it was like to have him deep inside of her.
All evening at the feast Maura had put together she had set out to torment him until she was certain to get her way. She sent Drust steamy looks, she trailed her fingers up his thigh under the table, and peppered the conversation with seemingly innocent innuendo. And when he walked her to her room to say goodnight, she rose on her tiptoes and kissed him, hard, looping her arms around his neck and pressing her body to his, rubbing against him. He had groaned and held her tighter, deepening the kiss. In a matter of seconds, he had her pressed up against the door, his lips trailing down her neck and ending with a gentle bite before his mouth moved to her ear and he spoke softly, his voice already husky with need.
“I ken what wickedness ye’ve been up to all evening lass. Are ye trying to kill me?”
“Kill you? No, that’s not what I’m trying to do at all.”
And… there it was… the sound of footsteps in the hall. Then the latch lifted and the entire doorway filled with the hulking form of a warrior in his prime, lit from behind by the torch farther down the hallway. As soon as she saw him, her breath caught in her throat and her heart skidded to a halt only to start beating again with an impossibly fast rhythm. He drew in a deep breath before stepping into the room and closing the door behind him.
“I couldna sleep”, he told her. That was an understatement. More like he had been burning so hotly with lust and need that he would have been willing to crawl out of his own skin to get to her. He hadn’t been able to sleep, but he hadn’t been able to breathe either. He needed to be inside her in a way he had never needed anything before in his life. To bloody hell with honor and waiting for the wedding night. He was evidently not that strong a man.
Willa held her breath as he stalked across the floor to her, his eyes sparkling in the pale blue moonlight streaming in from the window. When he reached the foot of the bed, he crawled up over her on his hands and knees and held himself there, looking down into her eyes.
“Have ye put some sort of spell on me lass?” he asked softly. “I had no intention of coming to ye this night and yet here I am.”
