Epilogue

They were married two fortnights later in the courtyard of Ross's home because the night they arrived there, Ross had awoken from a dream in which he had been playing in the courtyard with his siblings.

"Tell me again," Grace said as he closed the door to what was now their bedchamber. She looked at him as he paused and gave her a wolfish smile.

"Lass, I have other things on my mind besides telling ye of my dream again," he replied, picking her up by the waist and gently tossing her onto the bed.

He crawled on top of her, and his weight settled over her like a heavy blanket, his body pressed down the length of hers, and his arms, came to either side of her, bent so that he rested on his forearms as he looked down at her. A lock of his thick dark hair fell over his forehead and covered one eye, but in the other eye, his desire burned bright.

"I want ye," he said, not mincing words. "We leave tomorrow for the king's court, and I'll be damned if our first time joining is going to be on the hard ground surrounded by our men in shelters so close that I'll have to cover yer mouth when ye scream from the pleasure I'm giving ye."

She cocked an eyebrow as she struggled not to grin.

"There it is," he said, running his finger over her cheek. "That smile that has been missing all these weeks."

"I'm sorry," she replied, shivering as his fingers traced over her collarbone and along the edge of her bodice. This was the first private moment they'd had since they'd left her uncle's home. When they'd been traveling, they'd been surrounded by men, and her sister had been plagued with nightmares after her experience at the hands of the MacLeans. Then, when they got to Ross's new home, he'd had a problem to deal with every night, keeping him up until the wee hours, and they had decided together to wait to share a bedchamber, to share their bodies, until they were wed.

"I am nae looking for an apology," he murmured while pressing kisses across her collarbone, then tugging her gown down to shower kisses on her breasts. Her belly tightened, and heat radiated between her thighs. He came up once more to look at her, and the tenderness in his gaze, the love, was everything she could hope for and more. "I missed yer smile, and I'm glad to see it returned."

"Did ye think it would nae?" she asked as he trailed a hand down her leg. He lifted her gown, those same fingers inching their way up the inside of her thigh until he brushed them ever so softly against the front of her underclothing where her bits were hidden. She gasped at the bolt of pleasure that shot through her, and her eyes widened. She was not naive. She knew of the spot between her legs. She'd found it herself, and she understood the way touching it could make her feel, but his touch there... "I think mayhap the way ye touch me is better than the way I touch myself."

His eyes widened at her admission, and a slow, wolfish smile turned up the corners of his mouth. "I would hope so, or what use am I to ye?"

She pressed her lips to his, giving him a long, slow kiss. When she pulled back, she said, "Ye give me strength, ye make me feel safe, and ye make me smile and feel hope, even in a time when so much has been lost to me," she said.

"I kinnae imagine the pain ye feel having lost yer da as ye have, but I hope ye ken in yer heart that I am nae happy about it."

"I ken ye are nae, even though ye of all people would have every right to be. And that is but one more reason I love ye."

He rose to his knees then, scooted off the bed, and quickly divested himself of all his clothing. She watched in fascination and lust as his muscles rolled fluidly with every movement he made. He was beautiful, inside and out. He was hers, and she was his. Together, they were going to make a family, lavish their children with love, and teach them to be good, honorable people as her mother had been, as his father and mother had been, and as her father had once been before he lost his way.

Ross crawled back onto the bed, slid his hands under her back, and slowly took off her clothing as he told her of his dream again. "Graeme fell in the water, and he could nae swim." He paused as he slipped her undergarment off one shoulder and then the next to expose her breasts. The raw hunger in his eyes made her feel seen and powerful and appreciated. "I jumped in, pulled him out, and showed him how to swim. Graeme has light hair to my dark," he said, leaning down to lavish attention first on one nipple and then the other.

Her breast grew heavy, and a tingle filled her from where his mouth pulled at her to every part of her body. She drew in a sharp breath, trying to slow her pulse, to savor the moment, but it was no use. Her desire would not be tamped down. He flicked his tongue against her and sucked in long pulls and she moaned. He flicked his tongue over her nipple, and she arched her back toward him and brought her hands to his shoulders to hold him in place. With his mouth on one nipple working magic and his fingers coming to the other to gently rub the tip with circles, the desire in her built and built until she spread her thighs for him and tried to tug him into her.

"Nae yet," he said, resisting, his voice rough and a sheen of sweat on his brow. "First, I will give ye pleasure, then I'll take it and hopefully bring ye more. The first time sometimes hurts for a lass."

She nodded. "Aye, I heard the kitchen maids talk of it. I trust ye."

He smiled at that, even as he lowered himself between her legs and parted her sensitive flesh. She wasn't certain of what he was doing, but when his tongue slid down the center of her core, she gasped in utter delight. Waves of bliss moved through her body as he licked and sucked, nipped and flicked, in a manner that made all the blood in her body go to the tiny spot between her secret folds. The faster his tongue moved, the more the pressure built inside her until she dug her nails into his shoulders and said, "If ye dunnae join with me right now, I will nae ever forgive ye!"

"Yer pleasure first," he said as he came up to look at her.

"Nay," she gasped. "We'll find it together. Trust me," she added on a pant.

He smiled then and rose, opening her thighs wider as he came between her legs until the tip of his manhood nudged against her hot center. "Together," he said, his voice low and throbbing with need. "Because I trust ye."

And with that, he slid into her slowly, giving her time to become accustomed to him. It did hurt for a moment, but then he began to move slowly and the pleasure built once more until the slide of his body in and out of hers was all she could think of, all she could feel. She heard only his hard, fast breathing in her ear, and she was acutely aware of the hot slickness of his skin, the hardness of his staff.

She was climbing toward some pinnacle, and when she opened her eyes and found his closed and his brow puckered, she knew he was climbing toward it as well. His movements grew even faster and harder, and she was shocked at herself that she returned what he gave, tightening her legs around his body and digging her nails into his skin until he hissed. And when he drove more fully into her than before, it was more than she could take. She splintered into a thousand magnificent pieces, and he groaned on top of her, stilling and then collapsing on her.

They lay there, his breath fanning her neck, his warm flesh sticking to hers, and their hearts pounding as one. They were one. He brought his hands to the hollow of her back, and for a long time, he traced her spine and then her bottom, and she relished the simple moment and the way he made her feel so totally and utterly complete and loved. He rolled off her after awhile, and when he did, the cool air of the room made her shiver.

"Dunnae fear," he said, going to the fire and stoking it to life. "I've got ye." He then went to the washbasin and came back with a rag he'd wrung. He held it up. "May I?" he asked, nodding toward her private area.

"Ye want to clean me?" she asked, surprised.

He nodded and settled between her legs once more. "I want to care for ye always and forever, and this is part of caring for ye. Trust me?"

"Completely," she replied, and the truth of it filled her with joy.

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