Epilogue

MacGillivray House, Perth, two nights later

H is naked thigh felt rough and hairy to her stroking palm until she slid it to the smoother skin of his inner thigh. When her

knuckles brushed lightly against his cods, she smiled to hear his quickly indrawn breath. His cock stood stiff and eager for

her touch. It was heady to know that she could stir his lust so easily.

Their bedchamber lay just across the landing from that of Fin and his wife, Catriona. She liked Cat. She savored the fact

that Cat had immediately accepted her as a sister. In a way, Marsi thought, that was nearly as heady as having sex with Ivor.

The strength of her astonishment at Cat's ready acceptance would ease quickly as they became better acquainted, she knew.

But she doubted that the strength of her love for stirring Ivor's lust would ever wane.

He was an impatient man, though, and she knew that he would not lie quietly for long. Already he had begun teasing her right

nipple. As the thought occurred to her, he rose up on an elbow, pushed her gently back, and positioned himself for taking

her. As she spread her legs for him, she continued to caress him in all the ways that he had taught her, delighting in his lustful response.

His hand moved to her mound, and he slipped a finger inside her. She knew he would try to restrain himself, to be gentle.

He had apologized once when he'd thought that he might have been too aggressive, but she had hushed him. She loved knowing

that he could not resist her, that he wanted to dominate her in bed.

She trusted him and knew that he would not hurt her.

He took her swiftly, powerfully, and left her gasping in her culmination. His own release followed swiftly. When they both

lay back, sated, she sighed and snuggled against him, resting her head on his chest.

" Now do you believe we are truly married?" he murmured, stroking her hair.

"I do," she said. "I believed it in that pitch-black hold of Jake's. But that was not my ideal bedchamber. I would not have wanted to be down there without you."

"I'd liefer you not be anywhere without me, sweetheart." But he could scarcely blame her for disliking the dark hold.

Jake had stood in the entry to light their way down into it but had refused to leave a flame burning there while the ship

was moving. He had offered to leave the entrance open instead. A look from Ivor had elicited another of Jake's mischievous,

flashing grins, but the door had shut softly a moment later.

Ivor smiled at the memory and at the knowledge that Jake was going to spend a few more days with them at MacGillivray House.

"I love you," she murmured.

"So you told their reverences the other night. And me, too, come to that."

"I did, aye."

She sounded drowsy, but she did not fool him. He knew what she wanted to hear, and he would say the words as often as she

wanted to hear them. "I love you, too, sweetheart, more than life. I didn't know that I could love anyone so much."

Her sigh expressed her contentment. Then, still drowsily, she said, "I hope Jake finds someone to love, too, don't you? I

think he admires your cousin Alyson."

"I hope not," Ivor said. "Alyson is betrothed and will marry in June."

"Do you think a wee detail like that would defeat Jake?"

"If he values his hide, it will," Ivor said, putting sternness in his voice.

"You are gey fierce, sir, but I doubt that you would murder Jake. Forbye, but you will be too busy looking after Cargill.

I want to see Rothiemurchus, too."

"When Fin and Catriona return to Loch-an-Eilein, we'll go with them. My family will want to see us married by a priest, I'm

thinking, documents or none."

"Life is going to be much more interesting with you than it was at Turnberry."

Knowing that he had made a powerful enemy in Albany, Ivor hoped that his future would be delightfully tame.

A fortnight later, he received a message from Bishop Wardlaw.

Bishop William Traill, Primate of Scotland, had died at St. Andrews, and the Duke of Albany had arrested Davy Stewart, heir

to Scotland's throne.