“The maidservant who helped get you into bed told me William was leaving Aran’s room when they returned from fetching supper. She said they found you upset and shaking, my son crying—”
“He said I was an enemy. It frightened me—oh, Roger, it’s just as those women were talking before our wedding. If your brother hates me because I’m English, how will there ever be peace in your home?”
“Ourhome,” he countered, drawing Julianna into his arms so suddenly that she gasped, looking up at him. “William will be leaving Douglas Castle soon and will trouble you no more. Gabriel MacLachlan has offered him a place among his captains.”
“Y-yes, I know,” she admitted, blushing deeply to her scalp. “I didn’t mean to overhear you the other day…”
Roger gave a low chuckle, which astonished her, as if sharing his news about William with her had eased his mind, though his eyes appeared dark as night in the candlelight.
“I have a confession tae make as well. Do you remember when I swore we would not consummate our vows until you’ve had time tae adjust tae our marriage?”
Julianna nodded…something in the way he gathered her more closely against him making her shiver.
Her hand splayed against his chest, his heartbeat thudding steadily beneath her fingertips as he leaned down to press his lips to her temple.
“That’s not what King Robert bade me, wife, on the morning we left Dumbarton Castle. Shall I tell you what he said?”
Julianna didn’t know whether to nod or shake her head as Roger pressed a kiss to her cheek, she felt so flustered…so unlike anything she had felt before.
“It’s nothing tae fear, just the way of things after a highborn wedding. The king warned me that delaying the consummation would mayhap threaten the legitimacy of our marriage.”
“B-but how did he know?” she blurted out, Roger’s breath so warm against her face. “That we didn’t…that we only went to sleep…”
“He saw you faint dead away at the altar—och, Juli, no honorable man would take advantage of his bride’s distress. I willna press you now, and I willneverallow anyone tae take you from me, so if you wish tae wait a while longer…”
Roger fell silent, lifting his head to stare into her eyes as Julianna felt her heartbeat quicken.
His expression inscrutable to her, though she felt him grow tense as if awaiting her response.
Was it possible that someone could attempt to wrest them apart if they hadn’t yet…? God in heaven, she already felt a true wife to him after holding his son in her arms as if Aran was her very own…and hugging his sweet daughters as they giggled and squirmed.
A tug of emotion so intense in her heart that she couldn’t speak in more than a whisper, “I don’t want to wait, husband…”
She felt him shudder against her, Roger finding her mouth before Julianna could draw breath, his kiss so achingly tender she felt as if the room spun around her.
She had never known the warmth of a man’s lips pressed to hers before, her hands drifting up to cradle his face, her fingers entwining in his dark hair…only for his kiss to suddenly become impassioned, almost fierce, and he groaned against her mouth.
To her surprise she felt a wetness on her face, but it wasn’t from her tears, Julianna realizing it was Roger as her heart went out to him.
She sensed something so deep had released inside him even as he held her more tightly, the power and strength in his arms making her dizzy.
“I’ve never kissed any other woman than Sylvia,” came his ragged whisper against her lips. “It’s you I want, Julianna. It’s you I love…”
Tears stung her eyes now, too, for never would she have imagined after so great a first love, Roger would open his heart completely to her.
So overcome that she scarcely realized he had released her to leave the bed, Julianna could only stare at him as he beckoned to her.
His heavily muscled body so beautiful in the candlelight even as she could see the first faint rays of sunlight outside the narrow window.
“Take my hand, Juli.”
CHAPTER13
Roger drew in his breath when Julianna did not hesitate, but moved to the edge of the bed and obliged him, her fingers trembling.
The light blue gown she wore and the linen shift peeking from beneath the hem as disheveled as her long dark hair after a night’s sleep, but to Roger, she had never looked more beautiful.
Her violet eyes wide and filled with some nervousness over what was to come, aye, as would any virgin bride’s, giving herself for the first time to her husband—Roger’s throat growing tight with emotion that she trusted him so completely.
