Husband. He liked the word on her lips. He vowed to spend a lifetime earning it.
Angus took his time, starting slowly and building their rhythm until he hung on the very edge of release and her whimpers threatened to push him over the edge. Suddenly she clenched around him and cried out his name. His body answered the call of hers and in the space of a few breaths, he filled her with his seed.
“My wife,” he murmured. “Shona, ye are mine, now and forever. I will always love ye.”
She smiled, secretively with her eyes closed, then cupped his face. “My husband, mine, now and forever.” She tangled her fingers in his hair. “I love ye, too.”
“Then ye’ll marry me as soon as we’re able to travel?”
She chuckled. “Having seen what ye have done with yer clan, I should have guessed ye would be a stubborn man.”
“Persistent, lass. It has a nicer ring.”
“Persistent, then. And aye, I suppose I will.”
Angus rolled to his side and gathered her into his arms. “Aye, I suppose ye will.”
Angus drifted off but woke again just before dawn, wondering what he’d heard. Shona spooned against him, bonelessly relaxed, her bottom nestled against his morning erection, and her heat warming every inch of him. He contemplated waking her, but decided to let her rest. Instead, he tugged the covers from her shoulders up to her neck before he slipped out of bed and pulled on his long shirt. When he opened the door, he found the healer standing outside. She must have knocked quietly, waking him.
“I’ve come to check on yer lass. How is she?”
“My wife, now.” Angus grinned.
Aileana’s eyes widened.
“Startled ye, did I? She said she could see the glow of the hearth. She’s only been asleep for a few hours.”
“Well. I see ye went to great lengths to keep her awake. Married.” She rolled her eyes, then looked into the room behind him. “Give me a moment to monitor her condition, and I’ll leave ye in peace.”
Angus stepped aside and allowed the healer to enter. She glanced around the room, then smiled at the woman sleeping in his bed before bending to place her hands just over Shona’s head. After a few moments, she trailed her hands just above the rest of Shona’s sleeping form, then straightened and nodded. They moved away from the bed before she spoke.
“She’s much improved. Ye have given her the best of care. In a few weeks, she’ll be as good as new. For now, ye can let her sleep. And get some more sleep yourself,” she admonished as she ran a hand a hair’s breadth above his skin from his face to his chest. “Ye have done well by yer lady and yer clan, but the laird needs his rest, too. Ye’ll have many sleepless nights in oh, about nine months.”
With that, she quirked an eyebrow and smiled, stepped outside and closed the door. Angus’s jaw dropped. He closed his mouth and shook his head. How did she know? And how could that have happened so quickly? But if the healer was correct…by Shona’s own pledge, she would not leave if they had a wean on the way, she was his. His heart swelled at the thought of the family he and Shona would make.
