Chapter 22

"Who's there?"

Isobel sat bolt upright in bed, hearing an unfamiliar thud and a scrabbling sound. She bolted from the bed, running to the hearth and grabbing the poker.

The sound was coming from the adjoining passage to her room, and she backed away from the door, ready to fight any assailant who would come through it.

To her surprise, the door opened to reveal Alex, his huge bulk almost filling every inch of the doorway, his head bowed low.

He had a cut on his cheek that did not look as though it had long since stopped bleeding.

"What were ye plannin' to do with that?" he asked, looking at the poker in her hands.

Isobel clenched her jaw, trying to summon the fury she had felt earlier, but it was difficult. He looked so dejected and tired that she could not help but feel sorry for him.

She lowered the poker and placed it back in its stand.

"Run ye through," she muttered bitterly.

Alex let out a soft chuckle. "I'll sharpen it for ye, ye might have better luck."

Isobel stood back from the hearth, shivering from the cold but determined not to show it. She crossed her arms over her chest and raised her eyebrows at him.

"May I come in?" he asked.

Isobel laughed. "Is this ye wantin' to conceive an heir? Because ye can forget any chance of that after today."

Alex entered the room, his towering frame overshadowing the door as he closed it, and he turned to face her, taking a step back.

"I just wanted to talk to ye, lass. I ken I've been a brute to ye, but I wanted to explain."

Isobel looked him over. "Is that blood?" she asked, looking at his hands, which were mostly scrubbed clean, but there was a clear stain on one thumb.

Alex looked down at it in surprise and tried to scrub it away.

"Stop that. Come here," Isobel chided, grabbing his wrist and walking him over to the bed, where he sat, dutifully waiting for her as she brought a basin of water and a cloth over to him.

"Is it yers?" she asked, examining the blood and trying to keep the concern from her voice. She was not entirely successful.

"Nay. ‘Tis Rory's."

Isobel paused, her hand hanging in mid-air as she looked up at him. "Rory Darrow?" she asked.

"The same." Alex sighed. "He was the one who attacked us on the beach. Came at me with a knife in the village. Clumsy and scattered as he was, he managed to catch me off guard." He touched the fresh cut on his face. "A matching set, I suppose. Needed a few more scars to make sure I uphold me reputation."

She watched him carefully, the weariness in his gaze almost tangible.

"I stabbed him in the side," Alex continued, his voice catching a little. He swallowed, and Isobel laid a cool hand on his arm.

"He tried to kill ye."

Alex's eyes hardened. "He tried to kill ye. Nay one will hurt ye and live, nae as long as I have the strength to fight them."

"Hush now," Isobel murmured as she took his hand and began to gently clean away the rusty brown stain.

"Nay, lass. This time, I need to speak. I need to explain what happened today and why I said those things to ye."

Isobel glanced up at him, seeing the determination and resolve on his face. She simply nodded, allowing him space to speak.

"Ye have every right to be furious with me—I am furious with meself. But I couldnae risk yer life. I didnae ken who was behind what happened to us, but I had me suspicions that it was a pirate."

"Why?" Isobel asked.

Alex gave a half shrug. "I didnae believe the villagers were angry enough to try it. They've been displaced and moved about a fair bit in the last few weeks, ‘tis true, but I couldnae see any of them being as good with a bow or organized enough to plan somethin' like that."

Isobel scoffed. "If I didnae fire those shots, we would have both been dead."

Alex let out that rare laugh of his, looking at her with such warmth that it almost made her breath hitch.

"Aye, lass. I reckon we would have, but nay member of the village would have had the tools. Me men do. They all had weapons they kept from their days on the ship. I didnae ken it was Rory, though. He was a good man. I wouldnae have wished that end for him."

"And why did he do it?"

"Jealousy. Anger. Revenge. He hated the villagers, felt ashamed by their treatment, didnae wish to leave the pirate's life." He shook his head, frowning. "I cannae understand anyone wishin' to remain on that ship. Any man who chooses to remain in that world when he has the chance to escape is a madman, as far as I can see."

Isobel had finished cleaning his hands, and she slowly brought the cloth to his neck, where more stains were visible beneath the clean léine he'd pulled on. Slowly, she curled her fingers beneath the hem and pulled it over his head.

Alex watched her quietly as she began to wipe the blood from his chest.

"And why were ye in that life? Will ye tell me now?"

She watched his muscles tense up, and she braced herself for another rejection, but to her surprise, he began to tell her the truth.

"Ye remember when I told ye of the rabbit I wouldnae kill?"

Isobel nodded.

"Me faither led me into the forest one day and told me to kill it. When I refused, he sent me away to a pirate ship."

Isobel shook her head. "He was mad. Why would he ever do such a thing to his own son?"

"He was mad. I never kenned how bad it was until I returned."

Alex's gaze was pinched and drawn, his eyes sad and hollow in his face. Isobel continued to slowly stroke the cool cloth over his skin, washing away the blood stains in long, clean strokes.

"Me faither always hated me. When I was small, me braither used to take the brunt of his anger, but he couldnae protect me from him forever. I had never been strong, always weaker than them both. Me faither wanted me to become the wildest, fiercest warrior in the land. He wanted to prove to himself that he had produced a worthy heir."

Isobel closed her eyes, sitting back. As the pause lengthened, she took her chance to speak.

"Worthiness isnae in strength. It is in who we are. I hope ye see that now."

"I do. Ye're one of the strongest people I ken. Ye've only ever done the best for yer sisters and fought all yer life for what is right. Me faither would see any woman as lesser than himself, and that's his misfortune, nae mine."

He took her hand in his. "When I came back, he was outraged. Screamin' in me face that he never believed I would survive a day on that ship. He'd sent me out there to die."

Isobel tightened her hand around his fingers.

"He was at war with every laird within a few miles. Rothach was a ruin. He'd destroyed me people, their livelihoods, and their safety, all for greed." Alex swallowed convulsively.

"I told him I had returned to prove to him I had become what he wanted. He said I was the biggest disappointment of his life, and I ran him through with a dirk when he tried to slice me in two with his own. I didnae ken me braither was dead when I did it. I was a stranger just come from the sea, with nay friends, and nay one at me side save for me crew. I'd come lookin' for a family, and I was more alone than ever."

He turned to her, his eyes filled with desperate yearning. "I've made a lot of mistakes in me life, and I willnae be able to promise that I'll never make any more, but I promise ye, Isobel, ye are me partner, and I'll protect ye for the rest of the time I'm granted on this earth." He rested his forehead against hers and sighed heavily. "I love ye."

Isobel breathed steadily through the happiness threatening to overwhelm her. She had never believed that he would ever say such a thing to her, and as soon as he did, she felt the restlessness and uncertainty within her settle.

"Ye told me today that ye wanted a dutiful wife, to wait for ye to be ready for her."

"I'm sorry," he groaned.

"Ye ken that isnae who I am. It never will be."

"I ken that. I didnae want that," he said fervently. "I didnae mean any of it. I wanted to protect ye. I didnae ken any other way. I should have had ye with me. Ye're stronger and braver than me, and I ken that better than ever now."

He gave a small smile, and she looked into his eyes, so brimming with love and affection that she could hardly speak.

"I love ye, too," she whispered, cupping his face in her hands. "Ye great oaf."

He laughed and ran his fingers through her hair, looking at her with an expression akin to awe. "I dinnae deserve ye," he whispered.

"We deserve each other," she stated firmly.

"Gavin told me ye are the best thing that has ever happened to me," he admitted ruefully.

"I kenned that man-at-arms had a good brain in his head."

Alex laughed, but as she pulled back from him, their gazes locked, and she felt the same dark heat rising between them as she had felt in the ocean.

He looked at her for a long moment, slowly moving his hands toward her, as though asking for permission, and he finally grabbed her by the waist, dragging her onto his lap with a grunt of satisfaction.

"I am sorry for what I said today," he said solemnly.

"I shouldnae have said what I did either. Ye could never be like Geoffrey, nae in a thousand years. Let us forget it."

Alex gave her a sly smile, his fingers tightening around her thighs. "I wouldnae like to forget all of it. I still wish to make that heir with ye, now more than ever."

"Ye're impossible," she scoffed as he grinned and pulled her down to his mouth.

He drove his tongue between her lips, his right hand moving to cup the nape of her neck as he rolled her over and beneath him on the bed.

She arched into his body, his tongue dueling with hers as he moaned in her mouth, his hips beginning to grind gently against her own.

He pulled away from her, giving her a wicked smile as he leaned back and pulled the hem of her nightgown up until her lower half was bare beneath him.

He gently pushed her legs apart as he lowered his head to her inner thigh, his wicked gaze meeting hers. Soon, she felt his tongue flick against her entrance, and she shuddered. His fingers gripped her thighs tightly as he worshipped her, his tongue pushing inside her again and again until she melted against him with a quiet sigh.

She brought her hand down to his hair, gripping it tightly as he groaned against her sex, and she felt gooseflesh spread across every inch of her skin.

"Ye are beautiful," he said as he came back up to lie over her, his dark green eyes bright with mischief as she felt his hard length against her thigh.

She moaned and trembled as she felt the tips of his fingers running down her stomach, over her navel, and dipping between her thighs.

"Are ye ready to beg me?" he asked.

Isobel had never felt pleasure like it. Knowing that they loved one another and that, despite their differences, they would be able to forge a life together meant everything to her.

"Yes!" she cried out as she felt him slide his finger inside her, circling it and pulling it out in a steady, exquisite rhythm.

"Beg."

"Please!" she cried out again.

"What do ye want lass?"

"I want ye. I need ye," she gasped.

He gave her a long, sensual kiss as she shivered beneath him, his tongue exploring her mouth. She moaned as she lifted her hips to his, feeling the pressure from his fingers riding high within her. She panted as he pulled back, his eyes twinkling with affection and shared delight as he took her in.

"What do ye want now?" he asked, his voice so low and intimate that she could barely breathe.

"More," she begged, and he shuddered at her response.

A second finger joined the first one as he thrust into her harder than he ever had before. She cried out in ecstasy, and he ran his tongue up the length of her neck as he groaned above her.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, he withdrew his fingers and stood back. She watched hungrily as he undressed, his beautiful body on display for her in the candlelight.

"Like what ye see?" he asked.

"Aye," she said with a shuddering gasp as he dragged her to her feet and pulled her nightgown roughly over her head.

His hands came down to cup her breasts as he lowered his head and took a soft nipple in his mouth, sucking on it until she moaned loudly. She arched into him as he massaged her breasts and pulled her body fully into his own. She could feel how hard he was for her, and she could not wait to finally have him inside her.

With a wild energy that took her by surprise, he threw her onto the bed and followed her, straddling her body as he looked down at her longingly, before he leaned in to take her lips in a languorous kiss.

"Now, please," she said desperately.

Alex smiled at her and moved back, before wrapping her legs around his waist and notching his length at her entrance.

"I love ye," he said.

"I love ye, too," she breathed.

Isobel shivered as she felt him push the tip inside her.

Slowly, his long, thick shaft slid further and further inside her. Her back arched off the mattress, pleasure like no other ripping through her.

"Breathe for me," he murmured, pulling them upright so she was looking down at him, just as she had in the ocean.

He slowly lowered her onto him, and she moaned as he finally slid into her to the hilt.

"Ye are the bonniest thing I've ever seen," he said reverently, taking her mouth with the same desperate fervor as his hips began to thrust up into her.

Isobel groaned as she jolted forward against him, the full length of him pushing further into her than she ever thought possible.

He pushed her down onto the mattress and began to thrust in earnest, his lips finding hers and his tongue matching his rhythm as she came undone beneath him, crying out desperately for him to continue. He kept going, rocking his hips against hers and grunting as she gripped his shoulders so hard that she was sure he would have bruises come morning.

She smoothed her fingers over his wide back, allowing herself to luxuriate in the warmth and security of his body as his hips met hers over and over, his panting gasps matching her own as he groaned above her.

A cascade of pleasure rushed through her, and she threw her head back, screaming her release into the world, echoing his own as he shuddered and climaxed, filling her with his seed.

They collapsed back on the bed, her head hitting the pillows even as his full weight fell on top of her, his mouth finding hers in a long, lazy kiss that seemed to never end.

They lay like that for a long time, until Isobel made the smallest sound of protest. Alex slowly pulled out of her and lay beside her, taking her hand and intertwining their fingers, making her smile

"Ye are so small, I might have crushed ye," he said playfully, and she hit him lightly on the chest.

After a pause, he propped himself up on his elbow and looked down at her for a long moment.

"Did I hurt ye?" he asked with some concern.

"Nay. Nae at all," she said with a smile.

He glanced at the door with a frown and then looked back at her with a soft expression. "Do ye wish me to leave? I wouldnae want ye to feel confined."

"There's a feelin' I've come to value more than freedom," she murmured quietly.

He brushed a lock of hair tenderly from her face. "Och, aye? And what is that?"

"Feelin' safe. Yer arms have a strange way of makin' me feel that."

He grinned at her, and then he wrapped his arms around her as they lay together in silence.

"Now that me condition has been broken—" She gasped as his hips ground against hers.

"Has been fulfilled. And just once, so far. What of it?" he asked as she shuddered at the promise in his words.

"I have another condition to add to the list."

"It is already too long," he grumbled affectionately.

"We are going to get a pet for this castle. Perhaps many pets. It is too wide and empty for just the two of us."

Alex smiled as she looked at him, something softening even further in his gaze as he nodded. "I'd like that." He kissed her nose. "But, pets or nae, it willnae be me and ye forever, M'Lady, I can promise ye that."

His hands moved down between her legs for a second time, and she shivered at his touch.

"I think we should continue practicin' for that heir," he murmured wickedly.

Isobel laughed, wriggling in his arms, and he took her lips in a kiss filled with promises and love.