Isla repeated his name as a litany, screaming it for the heavens as she grew closer to her climax. He wound his arms around her, their bodies snug against one another, no space leftbetween them as they came together over and over again. Each movement sent a fresh wave of pleasure through his body, rising and rising until it felt like there was nowhere else for them to go, until, at last, he felt the wave crest and break within him.
She gasped as she felt his warmth filling her, and, almost in the same instant, he felt her body crease and clench around him as she reached her own release. He moved his head to her neck, breathing in the scent of her, drinking it in as though it were the most important thing in the world, trying to commit to memory how it felt to have her like this, to claim her as his in all the ways that mattered.
He held himself there for a long time, reluctant to draw away from her, as though fearful that the doubts might flood back in to fill the space between them once more. But, as she tugged him gently by the hair so that she could kiss him properly, he knew that it would not happen. No, it could not, not now that they had been honest with one another. As he kissed her, he felt a smile blossom onto her face, their bodies still tangled, still connected by some deep and unyielding passion that would not be stemmed.
And he could not help but smile back. Because, whatever part of themselves they had laid open to one another in this moment, he knew that they would not undo it.
And that, while she might not think of herself as the perfect wife, she could not have been more perfect for him if she had tried. And no more words were needed to convey that.
Chapter Sixteen
Isla rousedherself slowly the next morning, unwilling to pull herself from the comfortable warmth that she had found while she had slept in her husband’s arms.
They had made no effort to return to dining with Robert last night, nor to explain their absence. In fact, Camron seemed completely uninterested in anything other than proving to her that he truly cared for her, a gift she had not known she’d needed until that moment. She had spilled herself to him, let him see all the doubts and insecurities that had been nagging at her for so long, and, instead of turning his back, he had pulled her closer.
She reached over to his side of the bed, expecting to feel his body beneath her touch, but was, instead, surprised to find it empty. She frowned, lifting her head from the pillow, wondering what could have taken his attention so soon, only to find him leaning in the doorway, already dressed in riding gear, a grin on his face that looked fit to split in two.
“Good morning,” she mumbled to him as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes, her voice still a little throaty. “Are you going somewhere?”
“Aye, and ye’re coming with me,” he replied, gesturing to her riding clothes, which were laid out on the top of her trunk. “Come. Get dressed.”
“Dinnae want to keep the Laird waiting now, do I?” she laughed as she slipped out of bed to get changed.
“Aye, I’ve heard he can be quite a beast,” he joked back.
At one time, she might have taken him at his word on such a matter, but she knew it was nothing more than a jest on his part. She had seen those softer sides of him the night before, and even now, the thought of them warmed her through like a blazing fire after a day in the snow.
Once she was dressed, he led her downstairs, where two horses had been readied for them. His horse had a pack draped over the back, heavy with food that had presumably been packed by the maids.
“Where exactly are we going?” she asked, somewhat confused, though not in any great rush to do anything about it.
“I dinnae ken yet,” he replied, his voice light.
She stared at him, still baffled. “But we…”
“We can go anywhere you want,” he replied, grinning at her. “I have no plans today. I thought we could spend the day together.”
Her chest bloomed with excitement at his words. She could not recall a time when they had been together that had not come with some other meaning behind it, whether that was the trip to the village or the meeting with Robert. But she would take it, of course she would. She could think of nothing she wanted more than to get to know this man better. Though they were married, she was sure there were depths to him that she had not yet plummeted to, and she was keen to find out just how far they went.
The two of them rode away from the Keep at a good pace, the sun beaming down upon them and the breeze whooshingthrough her hair. She felt lighter than she had before, as though she had left something heavy in the room they had lain together in last night. Now that she knew what he wanted from her. She understood a little more clearly that he was not waiting for her to declare her pregnancy and be done with it. She could see how this place could be beautiful instead of the prison she had initially viewed it as.
The hills rolled out in every direction, and, when she took a right turn onto a small path that led around the bottom of one, she caught sight of the same burn they had followed down to the village before.
“How far does it go?” she called to him, over the sound of the hooves cantering below them.
“Come,” he called back as he tugged on the reins, guiding his steed. “I’ll show ye.”
She did her best to keep pace with him and just about managed to. Though she nearly slipped from the saddle a few times, she laughed it off with good humor and managed to catch up with him as he followed the twisting run of the burn along the hill. In every direction, it seemed to her that the landscape stretched on for an eternity. She knew there to be other residents of this place—she had seen them with her own two eyes—but she could not help but entertain the rather appealing notion that this place existed only for them.
He drew his horse to a halt beside a small pool, not unlike the one that they had stopped off at before when he had taken her out to ride the first time. He lifted her with ease from the saddle, the powerful grip of his hands at her waist making the hair on the back of her neck raise in delicious anticipation.
“Ye must be starving,” he remarked as he tugged at the parcel on the horse’s back. “I had the maids pack us some breakfast. Here, lay down this blanket.”
Soon, they had settled themselves on the soft earth, the only noise around them that of the trickle of the burn into the pool and the slight breeze through the large oak beside them. She popped another mouthful of the oatcakes and leaned back on her elbows, glancing around as she took the place in.
“How did ye know about this?” she wondered aloud.
She could feel his eyes on her, and there was something almost worshipful about them, as though he could see her in a whole new light. He shrugged.
