She smiled. “Good, then try to get some sleep. We have a long day tomorrow.”
She pressed another kiss on his forehead and closed the door to the small ambry attached to her bedchamber behind her.
She startled at the shadowy figure looming in the bedchamber, relaxing when she recognized Eoin. But good gracious would she ever get used to his size? In a low voice so that Eachann wouldn’t hear, she asked, “How long have you been standing there?”
“Long enough.” His fists clenched. “I should have killed the bastard. How could he tell my son I didn’t want him?”
Margaret didn’t know; nor would she make any excuses for him. “Eachann knows the truth now. That’s what’s important.”
But Eoin would not be so easily pacified. “Your father has poisoned him against me. God knows what other lies he’s told him!”
Margaret didn’t want to contemplate. “Eachann will see they are lies. Just give him some time.”
“I’ve lost too much time as it is.” She could hear the emotion in his voice as he raked his fingers through his hair. “He’s five, Maggie.Five.”
Margaret looked at the devastation on his face and knew she had to do something. “He cried horribly when he was a babe—and always in the middle of the night. I didn’t sleep for almost a year. He would screech until my ears were ringing, and I thought I’d go mad.”
Eoin frowned, clearly taken aback. “He did?”
She nodded. “Aye, it was horrible. But not as bad as all those dirty cloths.”
The frown turned to befuddlement. “Cloths?”
“Aye.” She shivered. “It was amazing such a foul smell could come from one tiny creature.”
His mouth twisted with amusement. “That’s disgusting.”
“Not half as disgusting as cleaning up when his nursemaid wasn’t around, I assure you.”
He held her gaze, a wry smile curving his mouth. “You’re trying to make me feel better.”
Her mouth quirked. “Maybe a little. But I’m just pointing out that not everything was coos and goos, and cute little baby faces. There were plenty of days I felt like pulling out my hair. And I’m sure there will be plenty more for you to look forward to.”
“Thanks—I think.”
She laughed, and then asked, “Was there something you wanted? From the sounds below, the celebrating is just getting started.”
“It is, but I wanted to make sure you both had everything you needed.”
She smiled. “We’re fine, Eoin. You don’t need to check up on us. Enjoy your celebration. I know you must have been waiting for this for a long time.”
Given what had happened years ago, she would not begrudge him his victory, even if it was at the expense of her father and clansmen.
But what would become of the once proud and ancient clan of MacDowell? Eoin had her undivided loyalty, but that didn’t mean she stopped loving her family.
He stepped closer to her, and she couldn’t prevent the resulting quickening of her heartbeat—or of her breath.
The passion they’d shared last night only heightened her body’s reaction to him. Every nerve ending seemed to flush with awareness and not a small amount of anticipation.
She’d forgotten everything. Forgotten how good it was between them. Forgotten how it felt to experience the kind of all-consuming pleasure that grabbed you deep down and wouldn’t let go. Forgotten how it felt to have his weight on top of her, how it felt to have him inside her—filling her. And most of all, she’d forgotten how it felt to shatter into a million tiny pieces of bliss.
Six years of abstinence would not be sated by one night. First Tristan, and then when he’d tired of waiting for her mourning to be over, Sir John, had tried to make their relationship intimate, but it had felt wrong—disloyal somehow even to a husband she thought dead.
Ironic, given that...
She tried to push the thought away that had lodged in her head the night before, when she realized the difference in her husband’s lovemaking. He made love like a man—anexperiencedman. With all the confidence and finesse of someone who knew exactly how to bring a woman pleasure.
Her chest squeezed. She had no right to expect six years of abstinence from him, but being confronted with the proof otherwise hurt.
