Arran nuzzled her neck, her sweet smell intoxicating his senses and stirring up his lower half yet again. “We are far from done.”
She sighed as he grinned. “What more could we do?”
Arran didn’t think his wife was ready to hear what he truly wished to do with her. It required them to spend a great deal more time in this bed, locked away from what lay beyond that chamber door.
“How do ye feel?”
“Fine,” she grumbled, her fingers trailing along his forearm.
He flipped her toward him, his fingers trailing over her shoulder then down to her collarbone. When they brushed over a section of puckered skin he had not noticed before, Arran’s blood ran cold.
“Wot’s this?”
She refused to meet his eyes. “That’s where Liam nearly killed me.”
Arran examined it lightly, noting how close it had come to her heart. An inch or so lower, he would not be laying in bed with her, married to her. Anger rose in his throat.
“Wot did ye do?”
He felt her stiffen against him and for a moment, Arran did not think that Ainslee was going to tell him what she had gone through.
“It was a horrid night,” she started, her voice soft. “There was a laird there, at the keep, that mah brother wished for me tae marry. He was just as cruel as Liam was and he tried tae, well, force himself on me hours before.”
Arran growled and tightened his hold, wishing he could plant his sword into the laird’s stomach for doing so.
“I fought him off and in the process, cut him with a broken shard of glass down his cheek. He was livid, but I was able tae escape. I went tae mah brother, hoping that he would defend me.” She then drew in a sharp breath. “He told me I was nothing, that if I wasnae going tae marry the man he had picked out for me, then I was as good as dead tae him.”
“Lass,” Arran whispered, knowing what she was going to say next.
“He attacked me, stabbing me with the same dagger that our da had given him, and then left me tae die. I got lucky, though. Mah nursemaid helped get me tae the healer in time.”
There were no words that Arran could say to erase the pain she had carried for years. No wonder she had hid her appearance. Her brother would likely kill her if he knew she was still alive.
It was another reason for him to hate his enemy and for him to protect the woman in his arms. “Why have ye not killed him?” he asked. “Ye have been close tae him.”
“Because I am tired of the killing. I am tired of Liam using mah family’s name tae make it something that is feared. I just, I want him tae go away.”
So did Arran, but he wanted McDougal to meet his untimely death at the end of his sword for the pain he had caused. “He wilnae hurt ye, not while I am breathing on this earth.”
“I’ve never had someone defend me before,” she answered after a moment. “’Tis nice.”
Arran pulled her close to him, brushing his lips against her forehead. He would defend her to his last breath if need be. “Why did ye not tell me who ye were before I took ye?”
“I didnae know if I could trust ye with such a secret. I have hidden it for five years, Arran. I wasnae about tae give mahself away.”
“And now?” he asked lightly, his heart thudding in his chest. He needed to know if she felt safe with him, if she felt like she could trust him. “Do ye trust me now?”
“Aye,” Ainslee replied a moment later. “I do.”
She trusted him. The weight lifted off his shoulders, and Arran knew they could survive this. She was stronger than he had made her out to be.
“Thank ye, lass.”
Her hand tightened on his arm. “Thank ye, Husband.”
They lay there for a few moments; the only sound was the fire crackling in the fireplace. Arran started to feel himself become drowsy. He wished he could stay like this for days, weeks, maybe even a month so he could learn every lovely inch of his wife’s body and lock out the rest of what was waiting on them.
But that was not going to be the case. Tomorrow he would begin to plan his revenge on her brother and could only hope it would work to his advantage this time.
