Epilogue

EPILOGUE

One Month Later

" M ay I announce the happy couple, my son, Murdoch, and his wife, Eloise!" Fergus's voice boomed across the great feasting chamber as Murdoch led Eloise into the room. With her on his arm, he kept looking down at her, finding it very hard to look away.

"Thank God ye didnae wear a veil," he whispered in her ear, practically brushing her skin with his lips as the whole room erupted in applause.

"I wouldnae have pulled that cruel trick on ye!" She laughed and smiled back up at him.

Murdoch's eyes wandered over her. He was quite intoxicated by the new gown she had chosen for the wedding. Made of deep red and luscious silk, it complimented her hair perfectly. It made his eyes wander to places that were reserved for after they had retired from the feast. He shifted his arm to hold her hand instead and walked into the room, having to tear his gaze away from all of her curves.

On all sides, people had gathered between the tables, applauding warmly as the pipers struck up their music. Murdoch led Eloise to the top table, where Fergus awaited them along with Clyde. Both Fergus and Clyde kissed Eloise on the cheek and congratulated her, as Murdoch turned to look at his friends close by.

As they'd taken the extra time to prepare ahead of the wedding, he was relieved to see more of their friends had made it in time for their ceremony, including Scarlett, Eloise's sister. She and Laird Noah Chattan sat at the head of the second table, with Aila and Ian on one side, and Callie and Avery on the other. Elliot had managed to make it too and was currently laughing loudly about some jest Ian had made as he quaffed a large flagon of ale. Fiadh sat close to her sister, Aila, a sweet smile on her features, though that smile seemed to dampen each time she glanced at Elliot.

"Aye, aye, let the celebrations begin!" Fergus lifted his flagon into the air at the top table and many men around the room followed suit, drinking ale and mead, as others took the cleared space in the middle of the feasting room, ready to dance.

Murdoch took Eloise's hand and drew her down to sit with him for a few minutes. They'd spent so long talking with people as they left the church that Murdoch's stomach was rumbling with hunger, and from the paleness in Eloise's cheeks, he judged her to be just as famished.

"Eat, quickly," he urged. "Before anyone else comes up tae congratulate us."

She laughed and delved into the pile of food in front of her, though her body was angled toward Murdoch the entire time. Distracted by her presence and the heat of that look, he soon broke off from his food and wrapped his arm around the back of her chair, taking the opportunity to brush his fingers across the back of her shoulder.

"Are ye happy?" he whispered, for her ears only.

"Aye, very happy indeed," she murmured softly, leaning toward him. "It's been an eventful few months, but I wouldnae change them."

"Nay? I would." He laughed, shaking his head. "I would take out the part where Harper had ye at the top of that cliff, threatening tae throw ye off."

"Aye, maybe I would take out that bit." Eloise laughed. "Tell me more about what her father said when he came tae see ye three." She nodded her head at Clyde and Fergus nearby, who were currently drinking and sharing in some jest together.

"He was heartbroken," Murdoch felt his voice deepening. It was a hard memory, one that would live with him to the end of his days. Harper's father had dropped to his knees and prayed to the heavens, but nothing would change the facts. One of his daughters had killed the other, and he blamed himself for not having discovered the truth alone. "I have nae seen a man more crushed. Yet because of it all, he has agreed tae an alliance without a marriage between the families. When Laird Douglas heard the clans were uniting their forces, strangely enough, all his attacks on our land stopped."

"He's afraid," Eloise murmured, her eyebrows lifting.

"Well, he always was more a child than a man, trying tae prove himself." Murdoch reached for his ale and lifted it to his lips, deep in thought for a moment. He'd seen Laird Douglas once since the attack on the castle. There had been a skirmish at the edge of his father's lands, before Laird Douglas saw the combined forces of two clans together. "He turned and ran from here like a lamb with his fluffy tail between his legs. Nay, I dinnae think we'll be seeing anymore of him."

"Thank God above for that." Eloise sighed and leaned back in the chair. Her movement meant she was enveloped more in the curve of his arm. Murdoch couldn't help leaning into her, pulling her a bit toward him, desperate to be that bit closer to her. She smiled knowingly, clearly sensing what he was doing. "Ye cannae resist, can ye?" she said playfully.

"Can ye blame me?" he said with a heated tone. "Since that day on the cliffs, Avery has kept a close eye on ye and has insisted we find a separate bedchamber for ye. Fortunately, after today, he can nay longer insist on such a mad thing."

"Indeed, he cannae." Her hand found his thigh under the table and his eyes shot down to that touch. It started as a slow brush of her fingers, but as it lifted up his thigh, it became a firmer touch, one that was tantalizingly close to his hip. A deep rumble escaped Murdoch's lips as a spiral of excitement coiled in his stomach.

"Ye cannae tempt me now," he whispered, moving his lips to her ear.

"Why nae? As ye said, we are married now."

"Because I am supposed tae be here fer the celebrations, and currently ye are just making me want tae retire tae our bedchamber already."

"We could come back downstairs again." The way Eloise smiled gave rise to too many pictures in Murdoch's head. She lifted her eyebrow, waiting for him to respond.

"Ye tempt me too much, wife."

"Wife," she repeated, her smile growing impossibly wider. When her hand tightened even more so close to his hip, he couldn't stop himself.

Murdoch reached down and took that hand, and lifting it and holding it tightly in his own, he drew her to her feet. He glanced back, expecting to come up with some excuse to his father and brother as to where they were going, but fortunately Fergus and Clyde were caught up too much in their own conversation to notice.

Murdoch led Eloise through the great hall, being careful to keep to the shadows between the candelabras so they didn't draw attention. Even Avery didn't notice their escape, but that might have had more to do with the fact that Callie was dragging him to dance, just as Elliot was encouraging Fiadh to dance with him, something she didn't seem particularly keen on doing.

"Quick, before they see," Eloise whispered and darted out of the door first with Murdoch following close behind.

Their path to the bedchamber was a blur to Murdoch. He remembered kissing Eloise for much of it, pressing her into alcoves and corners, needing to be closer to her. The ale that thrummed in his veins made him lightheaded, giddy for her, but what centered him most was the touch of her. It anchored his body to her, and when they ended up in their chamber, he kicked the door haphazardly shut behind them in his eagerness to be with her.

They moved toward the bed, with Murdoch reaching for her gown and lifting it around her hips.

"Ye dinnae want the gown off?" she asked with apparent innocence between their kisses. He kissed that innocent smile, then moved his way down her neck, murmuring against her skin.

"Later, I want it off, but I like it too much tae take it off now. I wish tae see it…" He urged her to sit down on the edge of the bed and bundled the skirt around her waist. "Like this."

She reached for him with a smile, pulling at his dress shirt and trying to tug it over his head. His clothes were removed haphazardly. Where he left her fully clothed apart from her shoes and her stockings that he threw over his shoulder, not glancing where they landed, he was completely bare.

When there was not a stich on him, he knelt in front of the bed and hitched one of her knees over his shoulder, intent on pleasuring her first.

"Murdoch – oh!" Whatever she had been about to say was cut off as he pressed his lips to her core, finding her pleasure spot with his tongue. He started slow and sensually, wishing to draw out each moment of tempting pleasure from her. He angled himself enough that he could look up at her.

With her hands bundled into the bed behind her, she leaned back a little, her back making the perfect arch as she threw back her head and moaned his name. A pinkness spread up her cheeks, one so strong that he was tempted to rip the dress off her after all, so he could see that pink hue spreading across her whole body.

When she started to quiver, he delved inside of her with a finger as he kept his tongue outside, pleasuring her as much as he could. Her knee shook over his shoulder and her moans grew faster, her chest rising and falling against the constraints of the bodice of her gown. Intoxicated by that sight, his eyes lingered on her chest, watching the curve of her breasts against that bodice and the way they kept rising.

He added a second finger, preparing her body for all of him, yet it seemed to topple her over the edge. Her head and body flung back on the bed, one of her knees lifting higher as she reached her climax. Just the feel of it had Murdoch gripped to her other knee, holding her to him so he could pleasure her through every last second of this pleasure.

"Murdoch…" She moaned his name repeatedly, her hands screwing up in the bedsheets beneath her. Such breathy sounds filled the air that Murdoch's body was hard and ready for her.

As he removed himself from her, he clambered up her body, lining his length up with her entrance. Her eyes shot open, and her legs lifted around his hips, her hands shooting to his chest. The way she prepared for his body, that needful look in her eyes, had him feeling impossibly harder.

Moving his body over hers, Murdoch found her lips with his own, needing to kiss her this time when he entered her. To his relief, when he slid inside of her, she made no sounds of pain. Her body adjusted to his size perfectly. Buried to the hilt, he paused for a minute anyway, wanting to make sure she was completely ready for him. Her body was so supple against, completely prepared, that he couldn't hold back for long. When her hands curled up around his shoulder blades and her nails dug in, urging him on, it broke his last restraint.

Murdoch moved fast into her. It was more rushed than last time, but he loved that heat. Planting his palms down on the bed either side of her head, he repeatedly drove their bodies together, listening to the way she moaned, breathily. Her hands explored him constantly, sometimes those splayed fingers spread across his chest, other times, they wandered down his abdomen and up around his hips, then curved across his back. She never stopped moving, not once, and he loved staring at her as they made love as much as he loved the feeling itself.

The pleasure started to coil deep within his stomach. He knew that sensation. It meant his end was near, but he was not ready to be done just yet. He paused their movements, chuckling when she made a frustrated sound and planted her hands into his chest.

"Dinnae stop," she begged.

The fact she wanted him so badly made him quiver with desire.

"Wish tae try a slightly different position, Eloise?" he whispered, bending over her and kissing her down her neck. Apparently, words were lost, for he just felt her nod in agreement.

Lifting his body up, he adjusted the two of them together. He took one of her legs and lifted it across his body, so both of her knees were hooked around one of his hips. With her body practically on one side, he entered her again, thrusting into her. Her eyes closed as her lips parted and she turned her head, burying it into the covers. He must have reached a new part of her, for those moans grew louder still.

Determined she would reach her end before he did his, he held himself back for as long as he could, his hands exploring her in this new position. Sometimes he held her thighs, other times her exposed hip, and even the bundled skirt of her gown. When she reached that end, it was music to his ears. She moaned his name, her body convulsing with pleasure. As her hands grasped hard onto the bed sheets, Murdoch couldn't hold back anymore. He found his end too, his whole body stilling as the pleasure erupted from deep within his body. It tingled up his spine, making him throw his head back and look at the ceiling. His body grew weak instantly as he fell over her, his hands landing in the bed either side of her head.

"That was…" He didn't have the words to describe it.

"I ken." She smiled, turning her body, so even though her legs were around one of his hips, she could still wrap her arms around his neck and hold him close. "Wow."

"Aye, wow indeed," he said with a laugh and moved his lips to hers, kissing her deeply.

Murdoch lost time with that kiss. Being here alone with Eloise, everything felt worth the trouble. She had gone through a lot just for him, even to the door of death itself, and managed to fight her way back. She had done more for him than he had ever expected of her.

I will love her forever because of that.

"We will have tae go downstairs again soon," she whispered, parting from his kiss and looking into his eyes.

"A few minutes more. There is something else I wish tae try first." He moved his lips to hers again, overjoyed when Eloise showed no sign of pulling away.