Chapter 12

Catreena leapt up off Tad. Grunting a little at her absence, he had to adjust the bedclothes across his hips. Having Catreena so close had made him as hard as stone again.

“Come,” Catreena said, racing toward the door.

“Cat. Cat, where are ye going?” he called after her, intent on having her back. She reached for the door, looked back, and winked, then flung the door open.

Tad could have growled at her for leaving him so fast. All he wanted was for her to stay, for the two of them to be in his bed all night. Strangely, he would have been happy just to sleep, as they had done that night at the inn. All he wanted was her company, her scent, the knowledge that Catreena was beside him.

“I came tae see how ye are,” Callum’s voice sounded as he stepped into the room.

“Then I’ll leave him tae yer care,” Catreena said swiftly and darted from the room. “Goodnight tae ye both.” Then she was gone, leaving Tad staring jealously after her.

“Shall we talk?” Callum suggested and moved into the room. Apparently finding Tad’s bandage was a little ruffled, he adjusted it for him.

“Thank ye,” Tad said woodenly. He looked at Callum as his friend and advisor sat beside him, his gut twisting with a strange mix of feelings. The jealousy towards Callum was still there, though he knew it was mad after what Catreena had shared with him that afternoon on this very bed.

“The scouts will come tae yer council meeting tomorrow,” Callum said with an easy smile. “They have news fer us, about who started the fire.”

“Good.” Tad nodded, holding a hand over his suddenly sore shoulder. “Callum, there is something ye need tae ken. It’s about…” He trailed off, his eyes moving to the door through which Catreena had not long left.

“Catreena?” Callum suggested. “Well, I suspected I was wrong tae ask tae see her more in the first place.” He chuckled. “Have ye two spoken at last then? Will ye court?”

Tad jerked his head around and stared at Callum in alarm.

“Ye kenned?” Tad said in amazement. “I barely understand this meself. How could ye possibly ken?”

“I’m yer advisor.” Callum shrugged humbly. “It’s me job tae ken everything about ye and the way ye think. I’ve kenned ye fer so long, I ken how ye think and what ye’re going tae dae, sometimes even before ye dae.” He laughed. “Ye make a good pair, Tad. She’ll certainly make a fierce lady of the clan, but kenning ye, ye wouldnae have it any other way, would ye?”

Tad laughed with him, stunned at the words. He was right. Catreena would make one hell of a Lady of the MacBeans.

“Her braithers may never allow it,” he said, the laughter suddenly dying on his tongue.

“Maybe nae, but if it is any consolation, I am sure she is in love with ye.”

Love?

Tad hadn’t thought of it in those words before. All he’d thought of was this pull, this draw, this all-consuming need to be near Catreena and for no other man to take her but him.

Is that what she feels fer me? What she felt today on this bed?

“Every time I have seen her this last week, she has been more concerned with asking where ye are than spending time with me.” Callum smiled with the words. “Ye ask me, me friend, I think ye have a very devoted woman there.”

“If only her braithers would let me anywhere near her.”

“Are ye sure about this?” Bran asked as Tad dismissed the council meeting. Callum sat on his other side as most of the men filtered out of the room. “Sending most of the men away.”

“It has tae be done,” Tad said in a low tone. “Bran, what else can I dae? We now ken it was Cillian’s soldiers, as we feared.” He glanced briefly at the men now following the councilors out of the room. The mix of soldiers and spies were disappearing fast, their heads bowed with purpose. They had unmistakably seen who had started the fire. “Cillian’s men will attack all the villages, kenning his vicious nature. We need tae station men everywhere.”

“It will leave the castle less protected,” Bran said, slumping down into the other chair beside him.

“We are here. There are plenty of soldiers here too.” Tad leveled a firm gaze at his friend. “Trust me, Bran. Nothing will happen tae ye or our families here.”

Bran nodded, but he looked uneasy. It wasn’t long after that he left, muttering something about going to find Ilyssa. Tad waited until Callum had parted too, talking about checking on the scouts. Once he was alone, Tad snatched up the note from his pocket which he had written that morning.

He checked the wording another time. It was for Catreena, asking her to come and meet him in the old healer’s rooms. The healer, now retired, once dominated one turret of this castle. He created rooms full of herbs and medicines, some so powerful that one or two people had whispered about the possibility of sorcery. Tad was sure Catreena would love seeing that place.

He stood, leaving the council and the matter of politics behind as he tracked down a maid to deliver his message.

Catreena turned the door in the turret and stepped up onto a spiral staircase. She knew this was an isolated part of the castle, a place where hardly anyone came, but knowing Tad had asked to meet her here, made her even more excited. She raced up the spiral staircase, a trembling in her gut that made a wetness pool between her legs.

We are tae be alone, arenae we?

The thought he might talk again about courtship, maybe take her hip in his grasp as he had done the night before drove her mad.

At the top of the staircase, she took hold of another door handle and turned. Stepping into a tall room, her lips fell open in amazement. The white-stone walls were full of alcoves, and each nook was topped high with freshly growing herbs and flowers. Each one could be dried out or distilled for a medical purpose. Even from the ceiling, trailing from a chain, were air plants and herbs hung upside down to dry out in the air. The light basking through one large window made everything glisten.

“I thought ye would like it here.” Tad’s deep voice sounded from the edge of the circular room.

She turned to face him, stunned she had not seen him amongst all this greenery. He was leaning against a table pressed into the side of the room. There were blankets in one nook behind him, and on the table, chemical apparatus.

He smiled at her in the most tempting way.

“We are alone?” she asked.

“Completely. I had tae see ye.”

She hastened toward him, just as he stepped away from the table and went to meet her. His hands slid across her back as she fell into him, and they embraced.

“How are ye?” she asked, her lips pressed into his chest as he held her tight.

“I’m fine.”

“Aye, because all burns are fine just a day after ye get them!” she said with thick irony, leaning back from him.

“A little sore, then.” A mischievous smile was on his lips. “But ye dinnae need tae worry about me, Cat.”

She couldn’t resist him. She raised herself on her toes and pressed her lips to his. The kiss was gentle at first, but she supposed the knowledge that they were completely alone was the thing that led them both to something more. One of his hands snaked up to bury in her hair then angle her head to him. She parted her lips, allowing him to dominate her tongue with his own. She arched her body into his, making him growl into their kiss, as their hips brushed each other.

“We cannae,” he said suddenly, pulling back sharply.

“What?” Her stomach knotted tight. “Changed yer mind already?”

“What? Nay!” he snapped surprisingly harshly. She couldn’t help smiling at this. “I have nae spoken tae yer braithers yet.”

“Tad.” She moved her hands to her hips, releasing him. “I am in charge of me body and what I dae with it. Nae me braithers.”

“Yer body, eh?” His eyebrows lifted high. “Dinnae talk tae me like that, Cat.”

“I’ll talk tae ye however the hell I like about me body.”

“Dinnae,” he ordered, his voice deeper as he reached for her waist. His fingers splayed across her hips, then he reached down and grabbed her rear too. “Because when ye talk like that, it makes me want tae throw every rule I have given meself out the window.”

“Rules? Pah! I was nae aware ye had rules when it came tae this.” She leaned away from him, pretending to be offended. She could see it did something to him. His expression darkened the more she leaned away. “Well, if ye dinnae wish tae be alone with me. Fine.” She shrugged and stepped back, out of his hold, but she didn’t get far. He grabbed her arm and jerked her back toward him. She fell into his chest. “Release me,” she ordered.

“Ye intend tae leave so fast? Where are ye going?”

“I thought I might go and see yer friend Callum. He seems tae like me company, after all –”

“Dinnae speak of Callum again,” he said in a firm growl.

Her game had worked much better than she had even anticipated. His lips crashed against her own in a sudden heated kiss. His hands took hold of her possessively and he drew her back toward him, brushing their hips together.

“Tad–”

“Nae talking of him ever again,” he said, pulling back sharply from their kiss.

“Why?” she asked with innocence. “Dae ye nae like the idea of me speaking with him?”

He moved his head to the crook of her neck. He placed such an open-mouthed kiss there that she grew weak at the knees, practically curling her whole weight into him, just so he would keep kissing her.

“I dinnae like the idea of ye daeing anything with him.” He moved his lips up her neck, finding a sweet spot just beneath her ear that drove her mad. “Ye’re mine, Cat.”

She knew she should have been furious. To be told she was his property was not right, yet her insides trembled with excitement.

“I’m nae yers,” she murmured. “Nae yet.”

The words worked as if they were casting a spell over him. Catreena found herself backed up against the table. He took hold of her waist and then lifted her onto the desk, parting her legs in one swift movement.

“Ye can be as loud as ye want today,” he whispered against her skin, kissing his way down her neck. “Nay one is close enough tae hear ye scream me name.”

She shivered with delight, leaning back and arching her body as he moved his head down towards her legs. She ended up resting back on the table on her elbows as he lifted her legs up around his hips, rocking into her once, then moving his lips down and dragging her dress up higher.

“Dinnae stop, Tad,” she begged, “dinnae stop.”

“I told ye that ye’d beg me,” he said hoarsely against the bare skin of her hip as he bundled the dress around her waist.

“Arrogant man!” she threw at him.

He chuckled against her skin, the vibration coursing through her body.

“Tell me what ye want me tae dae tae ye,” he whispered, huskily, his right hand now trailing a searing path up the inside of her thigh. He caught her knee, held it firmly wide, opening herself up to him. When she was completely exposed, she caught his eye, watching the hungry look in his expression. He stared at her as if she was somehow beautiful in this position. “What dae ye want?” he asked again.

“Touch me, Tad,” she pleaded. Reaching up a hand, she traced her fingers across his lips. He caught it and bit it playfully. “Please.”

“As ye wish.” Then he bent down between her legs.