Chapter Eight

Eagan held Tessa against his body, her face curled into his side as she slept. 'Twas dark now, and no one had come to her cottage. Did Grissell know he was inside with her? Had their roars and moans of climax been heard? He ran his free hand down his face.

"You wish you hadn't visited?" Her whisper stilled him. She looked up to meet his eyes without moving her head. The firelight reflected in their depths. They were piercing as if looking deep within his soul. 'Twas a bit unnerving.

He dropped his hand from his face and rolled toward her, pulling her closer into his arms. "Just thinking about the repercussions."

Her head slid onto her pillow so she could reconnect with his gaze. "You withdrew so I shouldn't become with child."

He nodded, his head brushing against a pillow. "Not a guarantee but that's not what I was thinking."

"What then?"

He slid one rough finger along her chin. "How ye would think of me, lusting for ye so quickly," he said. "We met two days ago."

Her expression was a mix of shadow and flamelight. "How do you think of me ?" she asked, repeating his question. "Lusting for you so quickly?"

He stroked her cheek. "I think ye are…adventurous and passionate and the loveliest woman I've ever met."

She smiled from her position. "Those are good thoughts. I'm not too…forward, too lustful for you, Highlander?"

"Nay." His brows rose slightly. Even though they hadn't engaged in other positions or pleasured each other in different ways, her confidence exposed her experience. Although she'd never tried to hide it. "Ye weren't a maiden."

She shook her head, her smile tighter. "I have only been with one other man."

Eagan instantly hated the other man but knew his thought was unfounded. How many women had he bedded before? Quite a number yet he doubted Tessa would have such a reaction at the thought of him with another.

"A husband?" He caught the gold birdcage in his fingers. "Someone who gave ye this?"

She shook her head, catching the delicate locket. "This was my mother's, and I've had no husband."

"A lover then?"

She shook her head again, and a cold blade of fury slid through him, almost cleaving him in two. Perhaps he would kill the man. Unclenching his fist, he concentrated on keeping his hand gentle as he laid his palm against her cheek. "Did a man assault ye, Tessa?"

She shook her head, and he released a breath, his eyes shutting for a moment. "Taing Dhia," he murmured.

Tessa took his hand from her face, holding it. "He was hired by my mother to teach me."

"Teach ye?" His brows lowered. He'd heard of fathers taking their sons to brothels to gain experience but never a mother.

She nodded. "Everything a knowledgeable man should do to give pleasure to a woman, and then what I can do to bring pleasure in my partner. 'Tis best if both end the session satisfied."

Eagan stared at her perfectly aligned features. A straight nose sloped gently to a generous bow of a mouth. Thin, dark brows arched over her large eyes, and the shadows accented her high cheekbones. She watched him, and he kept his expression neutral despite swirls of scenarios playing through his flying thoughts.

Was her mother preparing her to be a mistress? A whore? A wife? Had the man been a tutor in educational subjects and convinced her that she should also learn how to give a man pleasure? I will kill him.

"Yer mother wanted ye to learn pleasure from a man?"

Tessa snaked her hand under the blanket covering their naked bodies. Eagan's cock jumped back to life as soon as she found him, sliding from his base to the tip and back again. "And how to give pleasure," she said.

"Why?" The word came out on a growl as his hand curved behind her hip to palm her sweet arse.

Tipping her head back, he saw blooming passion in her eyes. "Pleasure is a gift," she said, her lips remaining parted. One of her hands gripped him while the other moved under the covers. Was she touching herself? The thought spiraled more heat within Eagan.

He pulled the blanket downward and saw that she was indeed rubbing her mound. Reaching forward, he replaced her hand with his. "'Tis a gift," he said. "I like that." So many lasses were taught to feel shame in the light of their own pleasure.

She worked him faster, teasing his aching stiffness. "She wanted to make sure that if I was to devote myself to a man, I should either make sure he was knowledgeable about giving and taking pleasure or be prepared to teach him."

With the blankets pulled back, Tessa slid her body down farther into the bed. With a small smile, she hovered her mouth over his straining jack. "Let me wash first, Tessa." With the agility honed by battle training and quickened by his lust, Eagan rolled from the bed. Tessa rose up on an elbow to watch him as he dipped a rag he found by the hearth into the pitcher for washing and quickly washed his growing erection.

"Now," he said, capturing her hand to kiss her palm as he slid back into bed. "What was that ye were saying?"

She chuckled and slid down his body. His eyes rolled back into his head as her warm mouth descended over him.

She knew exactly what to do with her tongue and lips, and the bloody suction nearly drove him mad. His body tightened as she sucked for several minutes, but before he released, she pulled her lips away and straddled him. Hands braced on his shoulders, she sat slowly down upon him, impaling herself with a long, low moan.

Looking up at her wavy dark hair cascaded over her straight shoulders, her full, pale breasts peaked and begging to be sucked, Eagan knew he'd never seen a more beautiful sight. She moved slowly, stretching out the pleasure that threatened to spill into completion. Eagan groaned, his face taut with restraint.

She leaned down, their lips meeting, their breaths mixing as their bodies moved as one. In that moment, Eagan felt he'd never been close to anyone in the world until then. And he didn't want to let go.

His hands moved to her churning hips, helping her move faster as he released her mouth to reach his lips to her nipple. He sucked, tugging on it, reveling in the sound of her soft mews as she rubbed herself against him, and he imagined creating friction against her sensitive nub. Faster they moved toward a common goal of searing pleasure. And then…Eagan groaned, the wave of pure pleasure rolling through him. He exploded inside her quickly shifting body, flooding her.

He heard her higher-pitched moan over him as she rode her own wave before collapsing across his chest.

…

Morning began as usual with the cat, Sia, touching her nose to Tessa's. Without opening her eyes, her hand slid up to stroke the soft fur of the six-toed cat who had come to Wolf Isle with Lia, the wife of the fourth Macquarie brother. Since Lia was deathly allergic to the cat, Grissell had taken her in like she took in every other creature without a home.

As Tessa shifted in the bed, she felt the warmth and heavy form of Eagan beside her. Thoughts of their afternoon and night together spiraled through her, and her eyes flashed open. How had Sia gotten inside her cottage?

The answers stood inside the doorway in the form of two children, Bann and Grace. They smiled. Orphy, her fawn, nudged her way between them to skip on spindly legs, the small, pointed hooves tapping on the floorboards.

"Bann? Grace? Is something wrong?" Tessa asked, sitting up in the bed, remembering to yank the blanket up high over her breasts.

They shook their heads, Grace smiling and Bann frowning. "You had a sleepover party and didn't invite us?" Bann asked.

Tessa glanced over at Eagan, whose eyes were open, wide awake. Although he remained flat on the bed as if not sure if he should act like he was actually another quilt.

"Orphy stayed with us last night," Grace said. "Grissell said we weren't to let her in or knock on your door until this morn and only if we didn't hear any noises from inside."

Eagan's large hand slid down his face. "Bloody hell," he murmured.

"Thank you," Tessa said to the little girl, who stared curiously at the pile of clothes dropped in heaps on the floor. "I'll come by once we're ready for the day."

Bann, who was a year older than the five-year-old girl, tugged her arm. "They need to be alone to get dressed. Come along."

Grace waved. "We'll be breaking our fast out in the clearing where Charlotte said she found a fairy ring, and the golden leaves have blanketed the ground."

When the door clicked shut, Eagan released a small groan. Tessa rolled away from Sia and across Eagan's broad chest. Ignored, Sia jumped down to follow Orphy to the bowl of water in the corner.

"You're embarrassed," she whispered and gasped with a laugh as Eagan rolled her over, bracing himself above her. She could feel his arousal against her, and it sent another wave of heat through her.

He looked down into her eyes, and she reached up to catch a lock of blond hair that fell over his eye and brushed it back. His eyes were a clear blue like the water of a lake she saw in the Alps once. "I don't want ye to think I only came here to… I don't want people to talk about ye." He looked sincere.

"You're a man who doesn't brag about his conquests," she said with a little nod of approval.

The space between his brows cleaved downward. "No honorable man does."

"Ah," she said with knowing inflection. "I suppose kings aren't honorable then, or do they fall into another category?"

He rolled off her. "I know little of kings, but I assume they do whatever the hell they want without fear of condemnation."

She followed him and rubbed her finger across the lines of his forehead. "The children won't speak of this, nor will Grissell. She might narrow her eyes at us but won't interfere."

"I have experience with quiet condemnation. My Aunt Ida judges as fiercely as the pope."

Tessa rolled from the bed and felt his gaze on her as she walked naked over to a trunk to pull out a clean smock and stockings. She turned toward him, bending forward to slide each stocking on up over her knee and securing each with a ribbon. Her breasts hung before her, nipples peaked from the cold and his gaze. She gave him a wicked smile and then threw the smock over herself.

He sighed, and she felt her own smile fade. With the morning light, reality pressed in on them. They were not two lovers without responsibilities. She was waiting for her father to take her back to France, and Eagan was planning to leave for mainland Scotland and far-off adventures. Whatever had sprouted between them was temporary. She'd have to lap up all the deliciousness that could be had with Eagan before they parted.

…

Eagan squeezed Tessa's hand. "Someone will ask me where I was all night," he said as they walked through the portcullis of Gylin Castle. "Probably Lark."

"Shall I tell them you spent the night loving me well?" she whispered.

He laughed. Tessa was like no lass he'd ever met. Confident in herself, whether it was birthing a bairn or teasing pleasure out of him without remorse. "They will call the priest to wed us before the moon rises."

"We could run away to France together."

Was she serious? He turned to study her face in profile, the slender nose and smooth skin. Would living a life with her be terrible? Would she demand he marry her?

"Eagan!" Drostan called, jogging out of the castle.

Mo chreach!

His brothers and their wives hurried out after him. "We're headed to Mull," Adam said, his hand on the handle of his sheathed sword. He looked ready to charge to war.

"What's going on?" Eagan asked, his gaze falling on Tor Maclean's war coordinator, Keir Mackinnon, who walked with Tor's brother-in-law, Alec MacNeil from Barra Isle. Both fierce men looked ready to lop heads off.

They turned to stride toward the ferry. "Do we need our mounts?" Eagan asked.

"Nay," Keir said, "she hasn't been taken off Mull."

"She?" Tessa asked, breaking into a jog to keep up.

Lark looked from her to Eagan. Any suspicion about their whereabouts and activities last night was squashed by true concern. "Walter Gleeb, the witch hunter, has arrested Aunt Ida, accusing her of witchcraft. He wants her tried and hanged as soon as possible."