She remembered reading the letter vividly. She had been sat at dinner between Erskine and the Laird, her hands trembling as she read her father’s angry words. It wasn’t long before Laird MacCallum had snatched the letter out of her hand. She had looked up in surprise, pleasantly relieved by his words.
“When I married Erskine’s maither,” he had explained, “I received every kind of angry letter ye can imagine. Sooner or later, people grow tired of their hate. They learn to realize that it’s misplaced, and they move on with their lives.”
“Why were they not happy about your marriage?” she had asked, amazed by how open she could be with the Laird in her questions. Granted, he was quick to anger, just like Erskine was, but just like Erskine, he was one for honesty and had a great depth of feeling lurking in his breast.
“Ah,” the Laird smiled at the memory, “she was the eldest daughter of another Laird, and they had planned for some time to marry her to Laird Douglas. It was supposed to be part of a big alliance, a treaty that would end the clan’s wars.”
“So ye married in secret,” Erskine took up the slack of the story. Laura could see his smile of pride as he looked at his father.
“That we did. There was never goin’ to be any other I could marry. That was clear to me,” Laird MacCallum shrugged. “Laird Douglas dinnae mind too much. Turned out he loved another too. So, by the time we had finished with all these angry letters, such as this from yer faither,” he tossed the letter into the air behind him, showing what little he thought of it, “they came to their senses and realized things werenae quite as bad as they seemed.”
Laird MacCallum had been proved right. Laura pulled the covers in the bed over her head as she considered the passage of the last few weeks. After Laird MacCallum had explained quite succinctly to Sir Hamilton the advantages of a match between their children, Sir Hamilton seemed to be only too pleased to give his blessing.
As Erskine had once guessed, her father hadn’t minded too much the idea of swapping a marriage with one noble bloodline to another.
That didn’t mean Laura felt any easier about the day, though. She was quite certain that her father’s pride would be seen, and he would make comments about her being ‘stolen’ away, ignoring the fact she had run willingly.
Let’s just hope he doesn’t make too much of a fool of himself.
There was another fallout from the event, though, that still cast a shadow on the family. It was a shadow in the place of a now missing person: Dearg. After Erskine and the others had rescued Laura from Lord Moore’s carriage, they had come back to the castle to find Laird MacCallum giving his decision. So outraged that Dearg would not only betray his brother in such a way but also stir up trouble between a Scottish Laird and an English Lord by reporting Laura’s whereabouts, risking the new peace between Scotland and England, the Laird found to be such a reckless act. One probably unforgivable. Yet…some leniency had been urged. To Laura’s mind, it was wise, but she had never seen Dearg’s true response to Erskine. She could see, though, that Erskine didn’t think Dearg’s announced punishment was strong enough. He was to be banished from the clan for two years. Laird MacCallum had said he hoped it would give Dearg a life lesson, that petty jealousies were not worth obsessing with, and it was certainly not a reason to mess with the happiness of others’ lives.
The empty chair at the feasting table Laura had seen both Erskine and Laird MacCallum staring at more than once, but she had to hope in time it would become easier for them all.
As she finished with this thought, there was a sound in the room.
She pulled the covers down from her head sharply, looking to the door to see Erskine was standing in the doorway, wearing only his shirt and trews.
She smiled at the sight of him, the smile so great that her cheeks ached.
“Did anyone see you?” she asked.
“Nay,” he answered as he stepped inside and quickly closed the door behind him.
“We are not married yet,” she laughed as she moved to her knees. Erskine waved the idea away as he crossed the room toward her and joined her on the bed.
“We are married today, arenae we?” he said with a smile and sat beside her, his legs dangling off the end of the bed. “And I couldnae stay anyway anymore,” he said as his hand reached out toward her. He brushed her thigh through the thin material of her chemise, making her wriggle with excitement.
“Erskine, are you thinking we could…” she trailed off, leading him to finish it for her.
“Well, I have been good for the last few weeks,” he smiled mischievously. “Later on, we’ll be pressed into a long celebration, and I’ll barely have a chance to be alone with ye.”
“How long is it until we have to start getting ready?” she asked, biting her lip as she really didn’t want to say no.
“An hour,” he explained. “Long enough do ye think?”
“Long enough,” she smiled and reached toward him just as he reached for her.
They met in the middle for a kiss that had so much heat to it, Laura was certain they could have set the bed on fire.
Things moved quickly. Laura found her chemise was being dragged over her head, revealing her body to him.
“This time, I’m goin’ to take me time,” he whispered in her ear before dropping kisses down her neck. “Close yer eyes.” The gentle order had her doing his will. “I want ye to be surprised where I touch ye.”
It was an exploration completely in touch. With each new place he touched her, Laura gasped and wriggled in the bed, desperate to know where he would go next. First, he dropped a kiss on her belly button, then trailed fingers across her hips. Then he moved to her thighs, drawing small circles there with his thumbs. Next…he moved his tongue to her breasts. As he circled one, she gasped, finding it very difficult to keep her eyes closed and not look down to see what he was doing to her. He sucked her areole into his mouth, making her arch in pleasure, just as his hand went to her other breast.
Soon, she was practically mewling at the pleasure he was causing her, palming one breast and playing with the other in his mouth. Then he switched round, the dual pleasure heightened things, and soon she was arching completely off the bed, desperate for more of him.
As his tongue left her breasts, he dropped kisses up her neck and moved his position.
