She could not remember ever feeling this happy and at peace—and she refused to spoil this moment by thinking of how brief their time as lovers might be.
“No regrets?” he asked.
“None.” Their lovemaking had been a revelation, from the fiery passion to the moments of unbearable tenderness. She’d never dreamed that making love could be like it was with Rory. Somehow he made her feel precious and yet utterly free at the same time.
“If you’d kept me waiting any longer,” Rory said, “it might have killed me.”
They both laughed, but then he went quiet.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
“I can’t say I’m sorry we didn’t wait.” He brushed the back of his fingers against her cheek. “But I do wish it could have been like ye wanted.”
“Like I wanted? Don’t let this go to your head, but I can’t imagine it being any better.” She felt her cheeks go warm.
“Ach, lass, we’ll never get up today if ye say things like that to me.”
A smile curved his lips as he leaned down to kiss her. By the saints, how could she resist him? And why would she ever want to?
Sometime later, they lay side by side staring up at the midmorning sky, their bodies glistening with sweat beneath the blanket despite the nip in the air. Rory clasped her hand where it rested over his heart.
“When I said I wished last night could have been like ye wanted,” he said, “I meant I wish it had been in the best bedchamber in a MacKenzie castle after we said vows before my clansmen and celebrated our marriage with a grand feast, music, and dancing.”
“What?” Sybil sat up, clutching the blanket to her chest.
“Though we’re already husband and wife,” Rory said with an earnest expression, “I promise we’ll have a marriage celebration with a fine gown for ye to wear and all the rest of it.”
“But I’m not your wife.” She was so startled that she blurted out the words.
“After what we’ve done, ye most assuredly are.” A warrior’s glare replaced the warmth that had been in Rory’s eyes the moment before.
“But I never agreed to marry ye.” She clutched the blanket to her chest and shook her head. “We said no vows.”
“A marriage contract plus consummation,” Rory said between clenched teeth, “makes a binding marriage.”
She’d forgotten about that damned contract. What had she gotten herself into? The only way she could persuade Rory they were not married was to tell him that they had no contract in the first place.
“As for agreeing to it,” Rory said as he threw the blanket off, “I believe I heard ye sayayemore than once on our wedding night.”
Sybil knew she ought to tell him the truth now, that delaying might even make it worse. Yet she simply could not bring herself to do it. Rory’s stormy expression was not what held her back, though that did not help. After all they had been through and all he’d done for her, how could she tell him the contract was nothing but a jest her brothers had played on him? How could she hurt his pride by saying he had traveled hundreds of miles and risked his life to rescue a woman to whom he owed no obligation whatsoever?
Nay, she could not. Especially now, when he was grieving for his brother and carried the future of his clan on his shoulders. She must find another way out of this.
“Now that you’re to be chieftain, we both know ye need a wife who’ll bring the support of a strong Highland clan with her,” she said. “I assumed ye would want us to destroy the contract now.”
“’Tis too late for that now,” he growled.
“Nay, ’tis not.” Sybil rested her hand lightly on his arm. “No one else knows about the contract.”
He should be relieved that she was offering him an escape from a poor marriage. Instead, he looked as if she had slapped him.
“Say ye don’t think so little of me.” Rory searched her face. “I’d never deceive and take advantage of ye like that.”
Tears welled in her eyes because he was so damned honorable. He really did need to be more pragmatic if he was to survive as head of his clan.
“Ye offered to destroy the contract if that’s what I wished,” she said. “Why should I not do the same for you?”
“I offered to destroy itbeforewe consummated the marriage,” he said. “Like it or not, we’re wed now.”
