Where had she gone after her husband had been killed?Back to her family’s home?He would not rest until he found her…God help him that she wasn’t already wed again.
If their quarry proved to be English, he would destroy them and resume his journey to the furthest reaches of Argyll where he had first set eyes upon Cora.
If a Scots ship, mayhap he would let them go, but his gut instincts told him some treachery must be afoot for a ship to travel at night with torches lighting their way…risking raiders such as himself to come upon them.
Fools!Soon he would know…
“Will you wake and see me off, lass?”Conall’s whisper did no more than make Lisette’s eyelids flutter.She snuggled in her sleep even closer to him, her warm nakedness making him groan.
He would never quench his desire for her—never!Their lovemaking had carried them deep into the night, so it was no wonder that he could not rouse her, but there were other ways to coax her from her slumber.
She smiled and even laughed softly as if delighted by a dream, which made Conall hesitate now to wake her though he knew he had only moments more to linger.
Her tousled head against his shoulder and her curled hand beneath her chin, her breath like a sweet whisper across his chest, which made him groan again.
His wife.His forever love.
Yet what was the most wondrous revelation of all—she loved him, too.She had told him last night after she’d collapsed satiated against him, her silken thighs straddling his hips and his hands still clutching her perfectly rounded bottom…that she had known she loved him from the moment they had consummated their marriage.
She had stared down at him with such emotion in her eyes, tears glimmering in her lashes that had dropped like warm raindrops upon his face…the taste of salt upon his lips when she had bent her head to kiss him.
Och, how was he to leave her now with such stirring thoughts making him want desperately to stay?Yet Gabriel had ordered him and Cameron to make a display of might to all residing upon their lands—clansmen loyal to King Robert as well as the MacDougalls no doubt plotting to do harm if presented with a chance.
That stark reality alone was enough to make Conall rouse Lisette with a gentle shake.
He wanted to look into her eyes before he rose from their bed to dress and then meet his men in the bailey—half of them to remain behind to guard the castle while the rest would ride out with him across the countryside.
Their first stop would be the village they had passed a quarter league away, the windows shuttered and doors closed though Conall knew the residents were hiding inside.He didn’t blame them given his show of force yesterday, but he wanted everyone to understand that he wished to live peaceably with them so they all could prosper.
The weather had turned cooler already as the summer was fading and harvest time coming, and Conall had seen that the golden fields were heavy with oats and barley that would tide them all through the winter.
As baron, he would share the bounty with his tenants gladly, but he demanded loyalty from each and every one of them—all this they would soon know.Yet it wouldn’t happen with him whiling away the morning with Lisette, no matter how much he wished to remain by her side.
“Wake, wife…you must wake.”
This time she seemed to hear his voice and stretched languorously against him, which made Conall wish again that he could remain abed as she opened her eyes to gaze upon him.
Her rosy lips curving into a gentle smile that filled his heart with such love for this woman that his breath caught at the wonder of it.Lisette reached out to trace a finger along his stubbly cheek and then she cradled his face and drew him down to kiss her.
A long, languid kiss that made his lower body grow hard and a chuckle escape him that she could rouse him so easily—by God, if he didn’t jump out of bed now, he would never leave her!
He did, too, Lisette gasping as he threw aside the covers and swung his legs over the side of the bed to rise and pad on bare feet away from her…though everything in him wanted to rush back and kiss her again.
“Must you leave me, husband?”
Her soft query an agony to him, Conall nodded and thrust his arms through his tunic and then drew it over his head.
“You know I canna stay…but my men and I will return by dusk.Will you look in upon Colin?Mayhap we’ll need two nursemaids tae keep up with him, aye?”
His query drew a laugh from her as she rose naked from the bed.
He stopped pulling on a boot and stared at her loveliness.The creamy perfection of her breasts and the tempting curve of her hips made his loins tighten again, Conall wanting nothing more than to cast off his clothes and toss her back onto the rumpled sheets.
Somehow he forced himself to focus upon his other boot and then his sword belt, followed by a quick tunneling of his fingers through his own tousled hair and he was done.
Lisette had hastily dressed, too, in a lavender gown and with her cloak wrapped around her, for it was clear she intended to accompany him down into the bailey to see him off.
“So you did hear me the first time,” he said as she ran an intricately carved comb, which Aislinn must have given her, through her long dark tresses.
