She wriggled around, and his manhood broke free of her.
‘I want to stay inside you forever,’ he said.
‘Good. That is where you belong,’ she replied, wrapping her arms around him.
His throat felt tight, and his eyes hot. ‘I don’t want to talk, Rowenna,’ he said.
‘Nor do I. Our bodies just said all there is to say. But I do love you, Jasper Glendenning.’
His heart lightened as he hugged Rowenna hard enough to break bones. She was not a fit consort for a man of his power. She brought no wealth and was from a family that plotted against him. She was headstrong and would never obey him. But Rowenna was not like Isobel, doing her cold, begrudging duty in his bed. Nor was she like Brenna, forever spurning what he had to offer.
Rowenna was beautiful, passionate and fearless. Had she not just taken him as much as he had taken her? And when she said her words of love, some wounded part of him, deep inside, believed her.
Jasper felt light, as if he could float above the bed. Rowenna’s love gave him a final sense of belonging that brought a tear to his eye. He wiped it away before she could see.
They lay in the darkness, talking, kissing, and touching each other for hours until Rowenna yawned, and he said, ‘We should get some sleep before setting off for Annancross.’
‘Are we really going?’
‘Aye, and we must. Rowenna, there is something you should know about Maeve.’
‘I know she is a little free with her favours.’
‘She has been since she was but fifteen. My mother caught her with a visiting laird’s son, doing God knows what. She got the birch for it, but it did not stop her. And as to Carstairs, when he first visited in the summer, she threw herself at him. He was another conquest to Maeve. She likes to be admired, to exert her power over men. When she tired of the betrothal, she began to say she did not like him, but she liked him well enough to let him take her to the barn and, well, if they hadn’t been caught in time, you can imagine the rest.’
‘But she told me she could not bear to lie with him.’
‘Lies. Maeve has always been changeable, and her latest dalliance with a groom at my aunt’s has sealed her fate. I have to make sure she is wed to a steady man to control her worst impulses and hide her shame.’
‘Maeve cannot help her passionate nature.’
‘Aye, and my mother tried hard enough to beat it out of her. She didn’t spare the rod with me, either. Nor did my father. They said it would make me grow up strong. It did, but it also made me grow up angry and hard, some might say, too hard. I think I am a cold man, Rowenna.’
‘No, you are wrong.’ She stroked his hair off his forehead with gentle fingers.
‘My childhood was strict and brutal. I had to bury any soft feelings, and I was always raging against being told what to do.’
‘I know how that feels,’ she said with a little laugh.
‘Tell me, lass, did you follow my command just now?’
‘No, I followed…’
‘Your heart?’
Rowenna laughed. ‘Another part of my body, one that surrenders every time you lay hands on me. It leads me to such sin.’
‘Tis the same for me, lass. Are we not lucky to have this hunger for each other? I never had it with Isobel, no matter that she was lovely to look at.’
And with other women?’
‘Aye, in my youth, but then I became jaded. And I never felt it as strongly as this. You hold my thoughts prisoner, Rowenna. It burns my heart out every time I earn a smile from you.’
‘It is the same for me,’ she sighed, and their mouths came together. It seemed neither of them would get any sleep before the journey to Annancross.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Early morning saw them on the road to Annancross after many tearful farewells to the servants from Maeve, who, despite her faults, had a soft heart. Glenna looked as cheerful as a wet cat, clearly jealous of Maeve’s wedding, and Joan was smug and imperious to everyone. She could not get her errant daughter off her hands fast enough.
