Chapter Seven

D iarmuid was growing cold.

Ailsa felt terror grip her when he muttered Brigitta's name.

The ghost was real.

Whether or not there was any logic in that thought didn't matter. Ailsa was left with only the hard fact of how pale Diarmuid was getting. She searched his face, desperate to find some proof that he still lived.

His chest rose. Just a shallow breath but then it was still.

"No, you cannot have him!"

Ailsa jumped off the bed. Was she planning to do battle with an unseen force? She didn't really know but she wasn't going to give up.

He'd been so alive just moments before!

So warm. So hard. Responsive to her touch. She still felt the prickle of yearning he'd awakened inside of her. Although they were just beginning to know one another, she wanted to learn more about him.

She wanted to be worthy of his smile. She wanted to be the one he smiled at.

Alisa went back to the bed. "You must return to me, Diarmuid. I think…we might be very well suited to one another…"

Her mumbled words had no effect.

Of course not. What had Laird Keith said? Brigitta had been imprisoned inside of the Maiden's Tower unjustly.

It made sense that the restless spirit was going to fight for what she wanted.

So you must fight as well!

A shudder shook Ailsa. She frowned, irritated by that shudder. This was her battlefield, and there was no time for shudders.

"Brigitta…sweet lass."

Diarmuid muttered softly. The sound sent another vibration through her but this time, instead of becoming fearful, Ailsa felt his voice stroking the flames of yearning inside of her.

If she wanted him to be hers, she would have to get back into bed with him. She would have to lure Diarmuid away from the embrace of the ghost.

Ailsa started toward the bed and climbed back into it. "I am here, Diarmuid. It is our wedding night."

She leaned down and pressed a kiss against his lips. This time she wasn't so nervous but kissed him with all of the yearning flickering inside of her.

But he didn't stir.

Ailsa teetered on the edge of falling back into despair. A soft sigh crossed his lips and she felt that part of him stiffening against her hip.

Was Brigitta trying to consummate her union with Diarmuid?

Well, she could not have him!

Ailsa did spare a moment of compassion for Brigitta. They did share being locked in the Maiden's Tower. The difference was, Ailsa was still alive.

If there was going to be a consummation, Ailsa was going to be the one Diarmuid sealed a union with.

She stood and grabbed the edge of her smock. Ailsa pulled it up and over her head before she had any time to think about it. Her mother's words rose from her memory with instructions for her behavior on this one special night.

Ailsa rejoined Diarmuid in the bed, pressing herself against him from chin to toes. A ripple of pleasure went through her when their skin met. Ailsa smiled, surprised to discover she liked being bare against a man.

Diarmuid muttered. He shifted, appearing to respond to her.

"We are married, Diarmuid," Ailsa whispered. "And I am alive."

She slid her hands up his chest beneath his shirt. His chest was hard, and firm and it delighted her. His heart thumped hard, giving her hope that she might prevail against Brigitta.

"I left home to marry a man I had never met." Ailsa stroked him again. "Now that we have met, you must return and be my husband."

She realized she wanted it to be so. It didn't make any sense to have such yearning for a man she knew so little about and yet, it was so.

You know he is a good man…

She did.

"Kiss me, Diarmuid…" Ailsa framed his head with her hands and sealed his lips beneath hers.

*

"Kiss me, Diarmuid…"

Diarmuid heard the sweet plea. What was the lass's name? He'd been a fool to growl at her and never ask her name.

"My lord?" Brigitta's voice interrupted. "Please stay with me."

The fog keeping him from thinking thinned. He looked at Brigitta and somehow knew she wasn't living. He felt the chill, felt the way his heart was suspended between beats.

"Diarmuid…"

He heard his name from across the boundary between where he was and Brigitta's pleading face.

"You could stay with me," Brigitta implored him. "We can be husband and wife."

"I am sorry, lass," Diarmuid muttered sincerely. "There are responsibilities I must shoulder."

Brigitta's eyes glittered with tears. "I will show you that I am a good choice."

She reached toward him. With every inch her hand covered, Diarmuid felt himself growing colder. His heart stilled inside his chest as he straddled the boundary between life and death.

"Please stay, my lord," Brigitta beseeched him.

But there was a warm kiss from the other side of the boundary. A kiss Diarmuid hungered for. He closed his eyes, falling back through the boundary between the past and the present.

He caught the scent of the lass. She was sweet and warm. Diarmuid turned her over, settling on top of her before he took his time kissing her back.

*

Ailsa gasped when Diarmuid rolled her onto her back.

She hadn't expected to like it so very much. Pleasure shot through her, fanning the flames of that yearning. She shifted, needing an outlet for all of the new sensations.

Diarmuid kissed her long and slowly. He teased her lips until she opened her mouth for a teasing thrust of his tongue. A jolt of awareness hit her. It was hot and needy, leaving her eager for more.

Diarmuid didn't disappoint her. He pushed his hands into her unbound hair and she reached for his shoulders.

Perhaps she had heard the word entangle before but now it had meaning. Now she was eager to open her thighs so their legs might entwine. She didn't want there to be a place where they didn't touch.

She craved more connection.

And he didn't disappoint her.

The first thrust was hard, her body tight. But she craved him so much, lifting her hips sent his member deep into her.

He groaned.

And she answered with a breathless sound.

They flowed together, moving faster. There was something beckoning just out of her understanding. She wanted it but didn't know what it was. Her ignorance didn't last. Diarmuid moved harder and it pushed her over the edge into rapture.

Pleasure burst inside of her as hot as a summer day. It seared a path through her, leaving her clinging to her lover. He let out a growl before his seed burst inside of her. A second ripple of delight came from that release.

It all washed over her, taking her down into oblivion.