He did love her more than he needed vengeance.
There was no doubt in her mind.
As much as Isadora wanted to remain with him all night, she knew she could not. She stayed as long as she dared, acquainting herself with the man’s naked body as he acquainted himself with hers, but it was forced to come to an end.
With great reluctance, Isadora dressed, with Cam helping or not helping her, touching her flesh as she struggled to don herbraies and tunic. At one point, he had his hands between her legs, stroking her as he suckled gently on her neck, and Isadora experienced a powerful climax simply from the man’s touch. She never even knew such a thing was possible.
But, then again, tonight had opened her eyes to a great many things.
“It seems ye’ve bedded me twice, my bonny lad,” she said, her arms wound up around his head. “Must we keep meeting in secret like this or will ye finally speak tae my father?”
His forehead was against hers; he felt her long body up against his torso. “I’ll speak with him very soon,” he said. “I promise ye that. I dunna want tae keep meeting in secret because if yer father catches us, it would go badly for me.”
“He would simply force ye tae marry me.”
“It would take no force at all for me tae do that.”
Isadora grinned, hoping this meant he was going to speak to Niall sooner rather than later. With a final kiss, she quit the cottage and headed back to her family’s home.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Cam was awakenedby pounding on his cottage door.
He was up before he even realized he was awake, wiping his eyes of sleep as he staggered to the door. Throwing the old iron bolt, he yanked the panel open to find Ewan and Ossian standing there.
“Are ye still asleep?” Ewan appeared genuinely perplexed. “Get up, man. We’ve much tae do today.”
They pushed into the cottage and Cam found himself buffeted between the pair. Ewan bent down to stir the nearly dead embers in the hearth and throw on some peat while Ossian reached down and began collecting the clothing from Cam’s meager possessions.
All the while, Cam stood in the doorway and watched.
Since his heated encounter with Isadora, life at Auchnacree had come to a standstill because of the horrendous storm that had moved in over the past few days. Nearly everyone had been confined to their cottages, unwilling and unable to move about in rain so heavy it was almost like fog, obscuring the land and creating slick hillsides that made travel very difficult.
As of this morning, however, the rains had subsided and people were out and about, but the truth was that when therehad been a knock on his door, Cam had hoped that it was Isadora. He hadn’t seen her in days.
Ewan and Ossian were not a welcome sight.
Cam watched the pair busy themselves in his cottage. Ossian shook out a tunic and tossed it to him so he could put it on as Ewan tried to bring some heat into the room.
“The elders are convening this morning,” Ossian, usually the silent one, said. “We’re tae bring ye, but we thought we’d show ye the village first.”
Cam pulled the woolen tunic over his head. “What is there tae see?”
Ewan stood up, brushing off his hands. “Lots of things,” he said. “Aunt Clova, mostly. She asked tae see ye first. But we’ve got tae show ye where the important people live, the boundaries of the village, and where the trouble comes. Things ye should know.”
Cam straightened out the tunic, running his fingers through his hair to smooth it down. “Ye realize I was born in Netherton,” he said. “I know these hills, too, some of them as well as ye do.”
“But ye dunna know our village.”
Cam shook his head. “Nay,” he said. “As a lad, I was instructed tae stay away from the Keith. Everyone in Netherton was.”
Ossian handed him his cloak. “It must seem strange tae ye tae be here, Lion.”
Cam looked at him. “My name is Cam.”
Ossian grinned, displaying a great gap in his front teeth. “Ye are The Lion of Caledonia,” he said. “That is what they called ye when ye tamed The Beast.”
Cam thought Ossian’s wide-toothed grin to be fairly comical. “Too bad for ye,” he said. “Yer sister told me that ye wanted The Beast tae return tae Auchnacree with ye.”
