Chapter 19

A lex took a seat beside Sarah on the settee and she tried to calm her frantically beating heart as he began his tale.

“The MacIvors of Rannoch and Campbells of Tays have long been rivals,” he said, his expression wry. “Reiving each other’s cattle. The odd skirmish here and there over adjacent territory. My father and Malcolm’s, Angus, the former Earl of Tay, were involved in a legal dispute over a parcel of land about seventeen years ago. And I’d had the dubious pleasure of meeting Malcolm, about a year before the Rebellion broke out. We played several rounds of faro at a club in Edinburgh, and he was none too pleased when I trounced him.” A sardonic smile twisted Alex’s mouth. “In fact, he threatened to call me out for cheating, but I didn’t take the bait. I had better things to do than fight a preening coxcomb like him. He’d recently inherited his father’s title and was full of bluster and bravado. I suppose it was inevitable that we would be on opposite sides of the Rebellion.”

“Did you fight against Malcolm?” Sarah asked quietly.

“No, I never met him on the battlefield. Although I wished to God I had. Then he wouldn’t have...” Alex swallowed and pinched the bridge of his nose

The anguish in his voice sent a frisson of apprehension through Sarah. “Then he wouldn’t have what?”

Alex raised his head and met her gaze. “Have you heard about the Battle of Culloden? On Drumossie Moor.”

“Yes. Your side was defeated.”

“We were slaughtered,” said Alex, his tone rough with both anger and grief.

Sarah touched a hand to her throat. “You were there?” she whispered.

“Aye.”

“I can’t even begin to fathom what that must have been like.” From what she’d heard, it was a miracle anyone had survived. The English, under the command of “Butcher” Cumberland, had crushed the Jacobite army in the space of an hour. It wasn’t a battle. It was a massacre.

Alex wiped a hand down his face before continuing. “My father, Lachlan MacIvor, the sixth Baron Rannoch and our chief, led out the clan after Charles Edward Stuart raised the standard at Glenfinnan. Two hundred and ten men strong we were. We joined the Jacobite army on the eve of the Battle of Gladsmuir. By the time the Jacobite forces gathered to fight at Drumossie Moor, our contingent of Clan MacIvor men had been reduced to less than half that. After Culloden, I was the only man from our clan left standing.”

“Oh, my God, Alex. All those men... And your father, he was killed too?”

“Aye. He was shot... And so was I. In the thigh.” Alex rubbed his right leg and stared off into the fire. A muscle worked in his jaw. “I really don’t know how I managed to get away, but somehow I did... God, it was awful.”

Sarah wanted to reach out and touch him, to offer comfort, but he seemed so tense and withdrawn, she wasn’t sure how he would respond. Instead, she waited, sipping her sherry, trying to ignore the knots in her belly and the odd flutter of her heart.

Eventually Alex continued. “As I mentioned, I didn’t meet Malcolm Campbell on the battlefield, but I knew the Campbells of Tay were present at Culloden. At any rate, after I escaped the horrors of Drumossie Moor, I made my way back here to Blackloch. You see, my mother, my younger sister, and my fiancée were here. I thought they might need me. With most of the clansmen gone, they’d been left to fend for themselves.”

“You…you were engaged?” whispered Sarah. “To be married?”

“Aye.” Alex’s mouth curved into a bittersweet smile. “To a sweet lass named Maggie Stewart. She came to live at Blackloch when she was sixteen and I was eighteen. She was pretty and lively and I was thoroughly enchanted by her. Her father, Lord Comyn, was a distant cousin on my father’s side. When Lord Comyn passed away, she became my father’s ward. I proposed to her right before we left to join the Jacobite army. If I hadn’t gone...” He shook his head as though lanced by so much unspeakable pain he couldn’t go on.

“You weren’t to know the Jacobite cause would fail. Or that Culloden would be a rout. And how could you not support your father?”

“Aye. You speak sense but it doesn’t ease the guilt.” Alex sighed and rubbed his thigh again as though it still pained him. “My leg injury slowed me down so it took me well over a week to ride the ninety miles from Culloden to Blackloch. There were times when I’d had to lie low to avoid being captured by patrolling dragoons, or make a detour through remote countryside. There were times when I could barely sit in the saddle. To be honest, most of that period is a nightmarish blur. But somehow, I made it back home. Only…only when I got here, it was to discover that Lord Tay and his men, en route to Taymoor Castle, had arrived first.”

Oh, no. Oh, dear God no.

Alex’s eyes met hers. “Sarah, I don’t know if you’ve heard much about the reprisals disloyal clans suffered after Culloden, but Cumberland encouraged his men and those clans loyal to King George to give no quarter to any Jacobite, or to any folk who’d supported the cause. The abuses were widespread. The acts committed, reprehensible...barbaric. And I’m afraid Lord Tay was more than happy to lend a hand.”

“What did he do?” Sarah’s voice was little more than a whisper.

“Aileen has told me that she was with my mother when Lord Tay and his men arrived to subdue the ‘traitorous and troublesome MacIvors’ once and for all. She’d been settling a dispute between two clanswomen in the Great Hall. Apparently my ten-year-old sister, Anne, was with Maggie in the garden behind the castle, picking roses. My mother believed she could reason with Lord Tay—after all, she was Lady Rannoch, a baroness.”

“She sounds like a remarkable woman,” murmured Sarah.

Alex gave a decided nod. “Aye, she was indeed. Fearless and intelligent, she’d been acting as clan chief and managing the estate in my father’s absence. She…she was selfless to the very last. Before Tay entered the Hall, she ordered the clanswomen and Aileen, who was Blackloch’s housekeeper, to take Isla—only nine years old at the time—to hide in the priest hole below the main staircase. She sent one of the male servants out to the gardens to find Anne and Maggie.”

“I had no idea Aileen had been in your service for such a long time.”

“Dobson too. He and Aileen are married. Isla is his daughter.”

Sarah blinked in genuine surprise. “Oh, I didn’t know that either,” she said. “But, please go on. I’ve interrupted you.”

Alex reached for her hand and the sense of foreboding that gripped Sarah made the hair rise on the back of her neck.

“Aileen said that my mother...” Alex paused and blew out a breath. “My mother ordered Lord Tay to leave but he merely laughed. And then Aileen heard her scream and beg for mercy. But he didn’t heed her. He—” Alex wiped a tear from the corner of his eye. “He raped my mother. And when he was done with her, he ran her through with his sword.”

“Oh, my God.” A wave of horror washed through Sarah. Her stomach roiled as her hand fluttered to her face. “How could he? That’s...that’s appalling. Abominable.”

Alex’s mouth twisted. “Aye.”

Sarah’s eyes swam with tears. What could one say to such a horrifying yet heartbreaking tale? “Oh, Alex. I am so, so sorry.”

“’Tis not your fault, lass. The problem with blood lust is that once it rampages through a man’s veins, it’s hard to stem the flow. I cannot say for sure, but I think Tay got a taste for inflicting pain and killing on the battlefield, and once he was given permission by Cumberland to run amuck, he couldn’t stop.”

Not wanting to hear the rest, but knowing she would not be satisfied until she knew everything, Sarah asked in a shaky whisper, “What else did he do, Alex? If you can bear to tell me. This must be so difficult for you. To talk about this.”

Alex’s mouth twisted with a grim smile. “I can stand it, Sarah. The telling is not as bad as living through it.”

Sarah nodded, but her heart clenched with anguish all the same.

“So...” Alex threw back the rest of his whisky and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. A hand that shook. “Aileen tells me she hid in the priest hole for well over an hour, perhaps two, covering Isla’s ears. Although, poor woman, she heard everything that went on. Apparently, Tay gave his men carte blanche to do whatever they wanted to with the servants, both men and women. And then eventually, she smelled smoke. She thinks it was about that time I stumbled upon the scene.”

“Oh, Alex.”

“Before I even saw Blackloch, I knew something was wrong because I smelled smoke in the air too. Tay had set the castle on fire. The east wing. I dismounted in the woods not far from the edge of the loch and skirted the edge of the trees. My injured leg slowed me down but there wasn’t much I could do about it. As I approached, I could hear screams and cries. But worse than that, the sound of men laughing and shouting as…as if they were making merry. It was the sound of hell.”

Sarah held her breath. While she dreaded to hear the rest, she would listen to whatever Alex disclosed. “I can’t even imagine what you witnessed,” she murmured. “Or how you managed to survive.”

Alex bent his head as though the weight of his nightmarish memories was too much. “I don’t know either. I still have no idea how many of Tay’s men were there. Too many, at any rate. And I was just one man. A wounded man. But the blood lust took hold of me too. I’d lost my musket on the battlefield but I still had my sword and my dirk. I cut my way through as many bastards as I could until I reached the Great Hall and…and my mother.”

Alex closed his eyes. His shoulders heaved with emotion and Sarah watched his furious expression bleed into grief. “When I saw her...just lying there on the flagstones with her eyes open but unseeing...the gaping wound in her belly, I couldn’t move, Sarah. And then like the Devil himself, Tay appeared out of the smoke, heading for the door. Heading toward me . Blackloch’s main wing was also burning by then, and he was coughing, but as soon as he laid eyes on me, despite my putrid state, he knew me. I lunged toward him, but I hadn’t seen the pistol in his hand. And he shot me. In the shoulder. I don’t remember much after that… When I fell, I hit my head on the flagstones and was knocked out cold.”

Tears misted Sarah’s eyes. How could she have ever fancied herself in love with Malcolm? He was an evil, depraved man. “You’re lucky you weren’t killed,” she whispered.

Alex nodded. “Aileen told me later that she’d recognized my voice—apparently I’d shouted at Tay, though I have no memory of it. After she heard the shot, then nothing else, she waited another five, perhaps ten minutes before emerging from the priest’s hole. Tay and his men had gone so she was able to get Isla out safely, and then she and the clanswomen pulled me out of the Great Hall before it began to burn.”

“Blackloch still stands, though. How was it saved?”

“Heaven must have taken pity at long last,” said Alex, “as rain began to pour down, extinguishing most of the blaze so some of the castle was spared. The west wing and some sections of the main keep. After I had established myself as Alexander Price, I was able to purchase the forfeited estate. Over the past five years, I’ve had the castle rebuilt.”

Sarah’s throat tightened with a surge of overwhelming emotion—a potent mixture of sorrow and admiration and aching tenderness. “You’ve accomplished so much in the face of such tragedy and terrible loss, Alex. I’m in awe.”

His mouth twitched with the ghost of a smile. “Thank you. Although, I will not lie, lass. It hasn’t been easy.”

Drawing a shaky breath, Sarah asked the question she knew would perhaps give this remarkable man the most pain. But she had to know. “At the risk of upsetting you further, may I ask what became of your sister...and Maggie, your fiancée ?”

With an abruptness that startled her, Alex stood and strode over to the drinks cabinet to pour himself another measure of whisky.

Guilt cramped Sarah’s heart. “I’m sorry. I ask too much of you.”

“No. It’s all right.” Alex returned to his seat. “You have a right to know all this, too. I hesitate because of the pain you must feel, Sarah. It must be harrowing indeed to hear the man you were to wed is capable of such horrific things.”

“It…it is. But I think it’s important I learn the truth,” said Sarah. She clenched her fists, bracing herself to hear the rest of Alex’s horrifying, heartbreaking history. “No matter how terrible.”

“Aye.” A crease appeared between Alex’s brows and his gray eyes glistened. “My poor little sister, my bonnie Anne, she’d been run through too. Dobson—he’d been conducting business in the village of Kinloch, about ten miles away, when everything happened—he found her in the rose garden later on. Alone.”

Sarah could hardly make her lips move. “And Maggie?”

Alex’s throat worked in an audible swallow. “Tay’s men had dragged her into a copse of trees and had…had used her. I don’t know how many, or if Tay participated in her brutalization, but when they were done with her, someone slit her throat.”

“Oh, dear God.” Bile rose in Sarah’s throat; horror and grief and anger coursed through her veins, made her heart pound so hard, she could hear the beat of it in her ears. How could I not have known... Could I not have seen Malcolm for who he truly is?

A monster in truth.

The Devil himself.

Those hands that had touched her, they had committed acts too foul and unjust to think of. Those lips that had whispered sweet words of wooing, lips that had kissed her, had issued depraved orders, commanding men to defile and murder innocents.

She reached out and clasped Alex’s hand. “Words cannot express what I feel right now,” she whispered in a voice choked with tears. “No wonder you hate him so. I hate him too.”

Alex cupped her cheek and gently brushed her tears away with his thumb. “I know I could have come to you at Linden Hall months ago to tell you all this, instead of kidnapping you, and ransoming you to hurt Tay. But I didn’t know if you would believe me. Not only that, because I’m a wanted man, I couldn’t risk sharing my past with you—not until I knew you’d understand what was at stake.”

Sarah covered his hand with hers. “You can trust me, Alex. I won’t betray your secrets.”

His gaze grew dark. Troubled. He withdrew his hand. “You have every right to condemn me, Sarah. I’ve been consumed with dark, bloody anger for so long, I’m afraid I’ve become that which I despise.”

“No.” Sarah shook her head in denial. “No, you are not like Malcolm. Don’t you dare think it. Not for a minute.”

Anguish flashed in Alex’s eyes. “But in the process of exacting my pound of flesh, I’ve hurt you.”

“I will heal. And I completely understand your need to avenge those you loved. I forgive you, Alexander MacIvor,” said Sarah, her voice firm with conviction. “With all my heart, I forgive you.”

Alex’s wide mouth curved into a soft smile. “God knows, I don’t deserve your forgiveness, but I thank you.”

Sarah’s pulse began to race. Perhaps it was the effect of Alex’s smile. Perhaps it was because his firm leg was pressed against hers and they were both barely dressed. Perhaps it was because his warm gaze made her feel cherished. Whatever the reason, she couldn’t deny what was in her heart any longer. Not to herself, and most definitely not to him. “You said earlier that once I’d heard the truth, you’d set me free and I could choose what would happen next.”

“Yes, I did.” Alex focused his attention on her mouth before his gaze returned to meet hers. “And what is that, Sarah Lambert? What do you choose?”

The flare of heat in his eyes gave Sarah courage. His invitation was clear. Raising her hand, she brushed her fingertips along Alex’s strong jaw before leaning closer. Her mouth hovered a breath away from his. “I choose this,” she whispered. “I choose you.” And then she kissed him.

As her lips touched Alex’s, he growled deep in his throat and captured Sarah’s face with his hands. Tilting her head, he angled his mouth over hers, claiming her as his own. His hot, hungry tongue swept over her lips and she opened for him, inviting him to delve inside with a beckoning flicker of her own tongue.

With a groan, Alex tasted her completely and the flavor of whisky filled her mouth, intoxicating her, scattering all thought. Nothing existed, nothing except the silken slide of Alex’s lips and the velvet, swirling caress of his tongue. Desire heated her blood, made her bold, and Sarah slipped her hands inside Alex’s robe seeking the sleek, hard flesh beneath. Her fingers splayed over his heavy pectoral muscles and she felt his nipples pebble beneath her palms. A maddening pulse, low in her belly, had her shifting uneasily in her seat.

Perhaps sensing her need, Alex slid her onto his lap and she felt the welcome evidence of his own arousal; his silk robe had fallen open and the press of his thick member against her thigh couldn’t be concealed by his linen smallclothes. Curious, she boldly slid her hand downwards to cup the hot, hard length of him, and he sucked in a breath, breaking the kiss.

“You are not at all shy, my sweet,” he murmured thickly.

She bit her lip, suddenly uncertain that she’d gone too far, that she’d shocked him. “Does that bother you?’

Alex’s smile was pure lust. “Not at all. I love how fearless you are. How wild. I have another secret to confess.” He pressed his lips to her ear. “You are driving me wild too.”

He pushed the blue velvet robe off her shoulders then buried his face in her neck, his mouth nuzzling and nipping, his rough stubble grazing her flesh. Hot shivers danced over Sarah’s skin as his tongue traced along the line of her collarbone. When his lips fastened around one of her nipples and he suckled her through the cambric of his nightshirt, molten pleasure blasted through her.

Breathless with want, barely able to speak, Sarah tugged on the silky black tresses of his unbound hair. “Alex.”

He mistook her desperate plea for more as uncertainty, immediately raising his head. “How far do you want to take this, Sarah?” he said, his voice low and rough as his eyes, a dark burning gray, searched hers. “We can stop at any time.”

“No. I don’t want to stop.” She swallowed, her mouth suddenly dry. Her bravado was faltering. “I want...” Dare she admit what she truly wanted? How she really felt? What if he didn’t believe her? What if he thought her feelings weren’t genuine? They’d been at this point before and he’d rejected her. She didn’t think she could bear it if he did so again; not when her heart pounded for him. Not when her body ached for him.

Alex seemed to recognize the reason for her hesitation. “I’ve made you doubt me.” He stroked the hair back from her face. “And I’m to blame.” He tilted her chin up, trapping her gaze. “Would it help if I told you I’m mad for you? That I think I have been since the moment I first saw you at Kenmuir House? But what I feel now, it’s more than lust. Being the blind fool that I am, I didn’t realize it until I almost lost you today. I’ve…I’ve fallen hopelessly in love with you, Sarah. And even though it’s unlikely that you could possibly feel the same?—”

Sarah pressed a finger to his lips. Tears filled her eyes and joy flooded her heart. “But I do. I love you too.”

Alex’s voice was a shocked whisper. “Truly?”

Sarah smiled through her tears. This is what love is meant to feel like. “Yes. Truly.”

“Say you’ll be mine, Sarah Lambert.”

“Alexander MacIvor, I’m yours.”

With a triumphant growl, Alex lifted her and crossed the room to the bed. After laying her on the pillows, he swiftly shed his robe and undergarments and stood before her in all his naked glory.

Sarah’s gaze traveled over him, noting the pucker of angry red scars on his left shoulder and on his right thigh—but they did nothing to mar his rampant male beauty. He was lean and well-muscled, and her fingers itched to explore every inch of his hard flesh—including his impressively erect member rising proudly from a tangled nest of black hair. She supposed she should have found the sight of his fearsome cockstand intimidating, but she didn’t. If anything, the heavy ache to have him between her thighs, filling her, intensified.

She reached out a hand. “Come to bed,” she whispered but Alex shook his head.

“Not until you are naked too, my sweet.”

A strange nervous thrill skittered through Sarah as she rose to her knees and shrugged off Alex’s robe. She’d never been naked in front of a man before, but whilst the maidenly part of her quailed, the reckless, wanton part of her wanted to do this. As she grasped the hem of the nightshirt, and lifted it to her waist, she could have sworn Alex held his breath. And then she closed her eyes and wrenched it off.

When Sarah ventured a glance at Alex again, this time she felt nothing but a deep thrill of satisfaction. His eyes, heavy-lidded and dark with need, raked over her, devouring her. Such a heady sensation, to feel so desired, so treasured.

Before she could utter a word, Alex pushed her onto the bed and slid over her, hovering on his forearms, the thick cords of muscles in his arms tense and bulging. The furnace like heat of his body set her own skin aflame. The hard heavy length of his manhood pressing against her lower belly sent her need spiraling.

“I want to touch you.” Sarah’s hands grasped his biceps and wrapped around the bunched muscles. Her fingertips traveled over the hard planes of his chest, exploring the light whorls of dark hair. His tight bronze nipples. She ventured lower, tracing along the line of a rib. The ridges of muscle along his abdomen.

Alex watched her the whole time she played, an indulgent yet hungry wolf. Until her fingers curled around the rigid yet velvet smooth shaft of his cockstand...then a sharp hiss escaped him. “Careful, lass. If you keep touching me like that, you’ll make me come off too soon.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean?—"

He hushed her with a searing kiss. “It’s all right. I just want to pleasure you first, before seeking my release.”

“Pleasure me? That sounds positively wonderful and wicked at the same time.”

His mouth kicked into a sinful smile as his hand found one of her breasts. “Aye. It is. Just you wait and see.”

Alex lowered his head and flicked his tongue over her nipple, and she gasped, arching into him. His mouth curved into a smile before he swirled his tongue around and around the tight peak then gently surrounded it with his lips, suckling delicately. All the while, he plucked and rolled her other nipple with his fingers. Delicious tremors shot through her, all the way to her most secret place—the place that now throbbed with sharp arousal and was slick with desire.

Brimming with restless energy, Sarah parted her legs beneath Alex and instinctively tilted her hips so her sex brushed against his shaft. A low growl vibrated in Alex’s throat and he transferred his mouth to her other breast. His wicked ministrations were maddening and it wasn’t long before Sarah was writhing beneath him.

“Please,” she whispered, as she scraped her nails down Alex’s strong back. She didn’t know what she wanted exactly but she was sure Alex could give her what she craved.

He kissed her mouth again and rolled alongside her. At the same time, his hand skimmed down her belly and ruffled the curls hiding her mound before slipping between her thighs. “Is this want you want, Sarah?” he whispered as one of his long fingers caressed the damp seam of her sex. “Do you want me to touch you here?”

“Yes.” She parted her legs and pushed against his questing finger. “Yes please.” Desperation made her bold.

“Your wish is my command, sweetheart.” Alex slid his finger between her wet folds and pressed against something—a small nub she’d barely ever noticed—that made her gasp with pleasure.

“Oh,” she whispered, head spinning.

“Oh indeed.” Alex lay on his side, his weight on one elbow, watching her face. His finger teased the same exquisitely sensitive spot, circling, stroking, mercilessly flicking, fanning the flames of her desire. Closing her eyes, she clutched at Alex’s shoulder and rocked against his hand, panting, craving, wanting something wonderful that just lay out of reach.

Alex’s mouth covered hers and as he kissed her, everything inside her pulled tight...and a bright burst of pulsating pleasure swept through her, carrying her away on a glorious wave to a place of blissful satisfaction the like of which she’d never known before.

When she opened her eyes, Alex was smiling down at her, his gray eyes soft and warm. “So, was it both wonderful and wicked?’

Sarah smiled back. “Yes. You know it was.”

“Good.” Alex moved over her. Taking his weight on his forearms, he settled himself between her parted thighs. “Let’s see if we can find pleasure together.”

Sarah brushed the tousled hair back from his brow. “I would love that,” she whispered.

A surge of tenderness flooded Alex’s heart. Even though his cock pulsated with need, and he would like nothing more than to bury himself to the balls in Sarah’s liquid heat, he wanted to make sure her first time was enjoyable. “I’m afraid this will hurt at first, lass,” he warned as he used one hand to position himself between her drenched folds.

“I can bear it. I want you inside me. I want to be yours in truth.”

Alex groaned. Dear God, her words would have him spending before he’d even entered her. He dropped a kiss on her sweet lips. “I want that too, my love. I will be as gentle as I can.”

A small crease appeared between Sarah’s brows as the head of his cock pressed against her entrance. She closed her eyes as he tilted his hips forward and pushed farther in. She was so very tight, and hot and wet. As he rocked forward again, her breath caught and her frown deepened. Her fingernails dug into his back.

“I’m sorry,” Alex whispered, withdrawing a fraction.

She opened her eyes and offered a reassuring smile. “I’m fine. It’s not pain as such. I…I just felt a burning pinch and then…very full.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

“All right then.” Gritting his teeth against the overwhelming urge to pound into her mindlessly, Alex surged forward again then groaned with pleasure as the satiny heat of Sarah’s sex completely enveloped him. Beneath him, Sarah’s body tensed, but as he rained gentle kisses across her brow and her cheeks, she released a soft sigh.

“Ready for more, lass?”

She slid her hands to his tightly bunched buttocks. “Yes please.”

Alex slid out ever so slowly then on a smooth glide, thrust back into her welcoming warmth. The tight clasp of her inner sheath about his throbbing length was indescribable. Lowering his head, he plundered her mouth with a ravenous kiss.

A delicious moan slipped from Sarah as he set up a gentle rhythm. Her legs wrapped around his and she began to rock her pelvis, meeting him thrust for thrust, and it wasn’t long before he succumbed to the urge to increase the pace. The pressure, the need for release was piling up inside him like an approaching storm. But he wanted to make sure Sarah achieved satisfaction again.

Taking his weight on one arm, he slid his hand between them and caressed the sensitive nub at the apex of her quim. Almost immediately she cried out and clutched his shoulders, her sex clenching and rippling around him, her body quaking with the force of her climax.

He couldn’t hold on. His blood roaring, his control fraying, Alex frantically pounded into Sarah, losing himself in her lusciously tight warmth, hurtling headlong toward beautiful oblivion. With an almighty groan of elation, his balls tightened, his body bucked, and a cataclysmic release threw him heavenward.

Sweet Jesus. Had sexual congress ever felt so sublime?

He didn’t think so. His breath sawing, his heart pounding, he pushed himself up and gazed down at the beautiful angel in his arms.

His voice was no more than a hoarse whisper when he was able to speak. “My beautiful, Sarah. God, how I love you.” Knowing he was being a brute for demanding more of her, but unable to resist temptation, he swooped down and seized her mouth in an ardent kiss.

Sarah’s fingers speared into his hair and she kissed him back with equal ferocity. “I love you too, Alexander,” she whispered when he drew back.

“You know, under Scots law, we’re as good as wed now.”

Sarah’s eyebrows rose. “Really?”

“Yes, really. We’ve exchanged vows of commitment and consummated our union. Now we’re handfasted.”

She pouted prettily. “Well, you might have warned me.”

“What?” Alex couldn’t help but laugh. “You don’t wish to be wed to me?”

Mirth sparkled in her blue eyes. “A proposal would have been nice. And a wedding before God in a church.”

“You’re right.” Buried deep inside her, his body humming with pleasure, Alex couldn’t think of a more perfect way to offer for her hand. “Sarah Lambert, would you do me the untold honor of consenting to be my wife?”

“And who shall I be marrying?” She arched an elegant brow but her eyes twinkled with mischief. “Mr. Price or Lord Rannoch?”

Alex frowned. She was right. “Does it matter?” He held his breath, waiting for her answer.

“Of course not,” she said, stroking his cheek. “Not to me. Only it might matter when we have children.”

“Yes…” Children. In his heart of hearts, Alex had always longed to be a father. And he would love nothing more than to create a family with Sarah. But she was right…

“I’ve made you upset,” she murmured.

“No. Don’t even think it.” Alex kissed her again before adding, “I know someone who might be able to help me reclaim my title.”

“You do?” A smile lit Sarah’s eyes. “That’s wonderful.”

“Yes. Only...” How to tell her the next part, the woman he loved. “There’s always the risk that I might not be granted a pardon. That things might go wrong.” Such as being arrested and tried for treason... Being executed...

“Oh...” A deep furrow appeared between Sarah’s brows.

“Do not fret, my love. I’m sure everything will work out.” God, Alex hoped so.

“I believe you. And whatever you decide, I’ll be there by your side, as Sarah Price, Sarah MacIvor, or even Sarah Black.”

“So is that an unqualified yes?”

Sarah’s smile was a balm for his blighted soul. “Yes, Alexander. Indeed it is.”

“Thank you, my love.” Alex cupped her face and brushed his lips across hers, savoring her sweetness. “You’ve made me happier than you’ll ever know.”

Gathering her into his arms, he tucked her head beneath his chin. “Sleep now, my sweet, Sarah,” he whispered. “We shall work out where we go from here tomorrow.”