“No attraction, eh?” he remarked.
She couldn’t tell if she had offended him or not, speaking about his late brother in such terms, but she couldn’t pretend any different. If this was why he thought she couldn’t handle him, she had to prove him wrong.
She had to.
Her heart thudded against her ribs painfully, the pressure of his hand on her enough to make her head spin. But she did not yield, did not look away from him; did not let him fool himself into thinking that she could not handle herself in his presence.
“Not like the attraction we have for each other?” he pressed her, moving closer, close enough now that he could have kissed her if he wanted.
But he didn’t.
His eyes stayed fixed on her green ones, demanding an answer.
“N-no,” she finally managed to force out. “Not like that…”
And, with that, he kissed her.
It was not the soft, tender kiss she had known the other night, when they had consummated their marriage once and for all.
No, this was something insistent, something that left no room for argument.
His tongue grazed her mouth, and, when he pulled back, his eyes looked like smoldering coals staring back at her.
“Then ye can understand that not every dalliance is born from real passion,” he replied softly.
“Ye mean, ye and Riona…”
“I mean that whatever we had, it is nothing that can compare to what we share,” he promised her. “She was nothing more than a distraction to me. That’s still all she is. All she can be. Ye’re the one for me, Ailsa. I’ve known that as long as I’ve known ye.”
He kissed her again. And this time, she felt what little protest she might have had left sink from her, just like that. Because no man could have kissed her like that and not cared for her.
Riona had been here, practically climbing into his lap, and he still wanted Ailsa.
Ailsa pushed her hands into his hair, drawing him back just long enough that she could look into his eyes.
“Take me to bed,” she breathed to him, her voice catching in the back of her throat.
And, without another word, he leaned down and scooped her into his arms, carrying her towards their chambers together, all talk of another woman forgotten.
The outside world had ceased to be, and all that was left was the way that she felt in his arms.
Chapter Fifteen
Ailsa liftedher head sleepily from the pillow, casting her gaze around the room. The sun was high enough in the sky now that she would have expected Tavish to be down in the courtyard, training with his men.
Instead, he was hunched over the small table next to the window, entirely focused on something she couldn’t see.
She straightened up slightly, a small smile curling up her lips as the nightdress slipped from her shoulder. The two of them had spent the night together, but there was something even more intimate about seeing him here in the morning.
He must have known that she needed his company now more than ever, the assurance that there was nowhere he would rather have been than at her side.
From where she sat, she could make out what he was so consumed with; it looked as though he was arranging a simple breakfast on a tray for her; a few pieces of apple, some bread, some oatcakes and cheese, along with a large mug of steaming peppermint tea.
She bit her lip. Well, after everything that they had gotten up to last night, she supposed she would likely need to restore her energy…
He seemed to sense her watching him and glanced back to catch her in the act. She rested her chin against her bare shoulder, flashing him a playful smile.
“Is that for me?”
