It was hard to be happy in a place where no one wanted her, no matter the effort she put into changing that fact.

Her head drooped more and more until finally Graeme tucked her underneath his chin and held her more firmly against him. She yawned broadly once and quickly clamped her mouth shut, determined not to show such rudeness in front of the others, but Graeme didn’t seem to mind.

His hand soothed up and down her back and then slid back around to hold her once more. She sighed in utter contentment, wishing the moment could last forever.

Fatigue won the battle she’d fought all day and her eyes grew so heavy, she could no longer keep them open. She nuzzled her face into Graeme’s neck and with one last sigh, she surrendered to the lure of sleep.

CHAPTER 31

Graeme stroked his fingers through Eveline’s hair and listened as her soft breathing filled his ears. She was asleep, warm and contented in his arms. He’d known how exhausted she was and that she wanted to go up to bed, but he’d wanted her to remain below stairs with him.

Part of it was simple greed. If he could not go up to bed immediately with her, he wanted her with him so he could at least hold and touch her. He’d waited all day to be able to enjoy the simple joy of merely having his hands on her skin.

The other part was that he wanted to make it clear to his clan that he valued his wife and she had a permanent position in the clan. He’d use every opportunity to reinforce that idea. He wanted it well known that he fully supported his wife, Armstrong or not.

“Your wife has abandoned us,” Bowen said in amusement.

“Aye,” Graeme said. “She’s sleeping soundly.”

“Perhaps ’tis time you should retire,” Teague offered. “The lass looks exhausted. I didn’t think she’d be able to keep her head up during the meal.”

So he wasn’t the only one to note Eveline’s fatigue. It made Graeme angry that she was working so hard for acceptance when he’d already accepted her.

“Aye, I think it is time for me to take Eveline up to our chamber. If you’ll excuse us.”

He stood, bearing Eveline easily in his arms.

“Father,” he said with a nod in the priest’s direction. “We’re glad to have you, and you may start on Rorie’s instructions at your discretion.”

“Eveline’s too,” Rorie piped up. “She wants to learn as well.”

“Eveline, too, then,” Graeme said in a soft voice.

Perhaps it would keep her too occupied to worry about doing hard labor in order to satisfy what she thought the women of the keep would respect. In truth, Eveline was far more worthy of their respect than they were worthy of hers.

“I look forward to instructing two such intelligent women,” Father Drummond said, a broad smile on his face. “I have a feeling this will be one of the more entertaining tasks I’ve ever undertaken.”

Graeme walked beyond the group of men and then glanced pointedly at Rorie to let her know she should take her leave as well. She reluctantly rose from her chair and bid the others good night.

When Graeme reached their chamber, he nudged the door closed behind him, and then he carefully set Eveline on the bed.

If he were a generous man, he’d simply divest her of her clothing and tuck her into bed. But he knew that was not what he wanted. He wanted to awaken her with kisses and caresses. He wanted to make her moan with pleasure, and then he wanted to possess her again.

Two days was all he could bear to wait for her to recover from their first union. He could be patient and tender with her. But what he couldn’t do was wait another night to take her.

He’d thought of little else but how good she’d felt, how beautiful she was, and how … complete … she made him feel.

He leaned down to kiss her even as he began to ease her clothing from her body. The many layers confounded him and sorely tried his patience. He wanted nothing more than to just rend the material and bear her to his gaze as quickly as possible, but the gown she’d worn was obviously something of value and meticulously stitched.

He nibbled at her earlobe as he continued undressing her. She twisted and sighed, smiling in her sleep, which made him grin.

When she was completely naked on the bed, he lowered his mouth to gently suckle at her breast.

Her eyes flew open, still hazy with sleep, and she seemed disoriented for a moment. Then she seemed to realize where she was and what Graeme was doing. Her eyes widened and then darkened with answering desire.

She arched her body, stretching like a cat, clear invitation in her body language. It was all the encouragement Graeme needed.

He hurriedly stripped himself of clothing and found her propped on her elbow, watching as he returned to the bed. He reached for her, wanting nothing more than to feel her naked flesh against his.

When he was over her, propped on his elbows, his face just inches from hers, he said, “I’ve tried to give you time to recover, but God’s teeth, Eveline, I want you so. I cannot wait any longer.”

She smiled and lifted her chin so she could kiss him. “I’ve more than recovered. I want you, too, husband.”

With a groan he crushed his mouth to hers, drinking deeply of her sweetness. His body was flush to hers and her softness beckoned, such a wondrous contradiction to the hard planes of his own body.

He rolled, taking her with him so they lay side by side and he simply stared into her eyes, absorbing the glaze in her expression. Desire was evident. It mirrored his own and he had to task himself with treating her gently, no matter that she said she was recovered.

His instinct was to roll back atop her and plunge as deeply into her welcoming body as he could. He wanted to remain inside her, simply feeling her around his cock. He would be content to spend the entire night surrounded by her warmth.

She stirred restlessly beside him, as if she, too, couldn’t wait for him to possess her again. He ran a hand up her leg to her shapely hip and then up her side with a gentle caress until he reached the swell of her breast. There he cupped the soft mound and rubbed his thumb across her puckered crest until it hardened into a point. Then he angled his head down and drew the nipple into his mouth, sucking until she let out a moan and arched farther into him.

Pushing himself farther up so he was above her, he reached down, sliding his hand between her thighs, satisfied to find her hot and damp with desire.

He rubbed over the tiny nub hidden in her woman’s flesh, eliciting another sigh of satisfaction from her. Then he pushed her gently onto her back so he had full access to her body, her breasts, everything he wanted to kiss and touch and caress.

He loved the contrast of the pale, plump mounds and the pink-tipped nipples. He could spend hours feasting on them, licking and sucking until he drove them both mad with lust.

Feeling particularly devilish, he licked over one and then followed it with little nips, his teeth grazing the points until they were hard and puckered. Then he licked the other, rubbing his tongue over and around, circling until she was writhing beneath him.

Then he pulled away, staring intently into her beautiful eyes. “Ah, lass, how you tempt me. I cannot spend another moment outside your sweetness.”

He slid his fingers into her opening, wanting to ensure that she was prepared for him. They met with no resistance. She opened easily for him and then fit his fingers snugly as he moved them deeper.

It was enough to send him right over the edge.

He rotated his body over her, moving her thighs apart with his knee. Then he grasped his erection and worked it up and down, bathing himself in her moisture. Finally he positioned himself at her opening and pushed forward, entering her just enough that she fit snugly around the head of his cock.

She closed her eyes and her hands flew to his shoulders, her nails digging into his flesh. He pushed farther, gaining another inch. She trembled and then lifted her hips in silent plea for more.

He was more than happy to accommodate her. He surged forward, burying himself to the hilt. She cried out and he went completely still until he realized it wasn’t a cry of pain but one of pleasure.

It was the most intense sensation he’d ever experienced. Never had he realized what it would feel like to be with the right woman. One he wasn’t with for a quick rut and an even quicker release. This was right. So very right, and he knew he’d never feel such again. There would never be another woman for him.

She was his. His wife.

He loved her.

The realization was startling and it overwhelmed him.

Love.

He loved Eveline Armstrong. How could it have happened so quickly? How could he love a woman whose clan had caused his family such grief? Logically he knew—and he’d already made it clear—that she could not be held accountable for the sins of her clan. He even knew that he felt a certain tenderness for her, and aye, a fierce protectiveness.

But love.

’Twas an extraordinary realization and one he hadn’t been prepared for. It was like being hit by a mace.

“Graeme?”

Eveline’s whisper reached his ears, and he realized he’d gone still and was hovering above her as he processed the magnitude of this moment.

“ ’Tis all right,” he said, his voice breaking. And it was. Everything was perfect.

He was holding in his arms the woman meant for him. Nothing would ever feel this right if he lived to be a hundred.

He looked down at her, wanting to savor this moment, to commit to memory the moment he realized just how much Eveline Armstrong meant to him.

A tiny slip of a lass who’d snuck between his defenses. It was baffling even as it was satisfying.

He began to thrust again, this time with slow and measured movements meant to prolong their pleasure. He was besieged by tenderness, by the need to hold her and cherish her. How was he possibly to explain to her what she meant to him? How could he even find the words?

Aye, but he could show her. He could show her what he didn’t yet have the words to describe. He might not be able to tell her what was in his heart, but he would show her in actions and deeds.

Gathering her in his arms, he slid into her deep and then retreated only to push back inside her.

Never had he felt so vulnerable, so completely unprotected, and yet it wasn’t the terrible thing he would have imagined. He found he didn’t mind trusting her with this softer side. Indeed, he wanted her to have it.

She wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him closer. Her lips whispered over his jaw and then to his ear where she kissed and nibbled at the lobe, playful and yet sinfully sweet.

Her actions were unpracticed and yet he found it endearing that she sought to show him her affection and perhaps her love. He could only hope, for it was the worst sort of hell to imagine that she wouldn’t return his feelings. She simply had to love him. He could entertain no alternative.

Closing his eyes, he buried his face in her hair, letting her surround him, hold him. He didn’t trust this sudden overwhelming emotion. It was overpowering. Beyond simple lust. Beyond the pleasure of a beautiful woman’s body. His heart was captured and it was a helpless, wondrous feeling.

“I love you,” he whispered into her hair, knowing she wouldn’t hear, but wanting to test the words on his lips. “I love you,” he said again when he realized how easily they came.

He covered her completely, but it was she who held him in her tiny hands. She who possessed him, not the other way around.

His release was powerful, so much more intense than ever before. It came from a place much deeper inside him. His entire body drew up and he plunged deeper, harder until she tightened around him.

She went liquid around him, soft and satiny, and he thrust again, this time his satisfaction roaring through him like a storm. He held her so tightly, he feared he was hurting her and yet he couldn’t let go.

He wanted to be inside her so deeply that they could never be separated, so that when they were apart, she would remember this moment when they were inseparable.

When they were one.

He relaxed onto her body, his loins still quivering with the last vestiges of his release. He rested there a moment, savoring the feel of her flesh imprinted on his. After a moment, he shifted to the side, bearing her with him, their legs tangled, their bodies still connected in the most intimate way possible.

She murmured something against his neck, but the roaring in his ears had yet to subside enough that he could make out what she said. He stroked her hair, down her back to cup her buttocks, holding her tightly against him so their link would not be severed.

It was a few moments later that he realized she was sound asleep, her head nestled underneath his chin, her mouth resting over his heartbeat. He smiled, more content than he’d ever been in his existence.

Her hand rested on her side and he reached to twine their fingers, fully intending to pull her arm over his side. When he touched her palm, he frowned and then lifted his head as he held up her hand in the dim light of the glowing candles.

Her palm and even the pads of her hand and fingers were ravaged. They were red, and there were still traces of dried blood where the skin had been broken. He turned it so he could better see and then swore when he saw the evidence of broken blisters.