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Chapter Nineteen
The click of the bedchamber door stirred Averill from the bored doze she had fallen into.
It had been three days since Domnall had died. He and Brodie had been laid to rest, Brodie in the family crypt with a priest to see him on his way, and Domnall without religious rites and away from the keep. Everything had settled down at Stewart since then. Kade's father was no longer moaning about being sure he was dying but had begun to dress and clean himself up and make appearances below stairs at the table for meals. He and Gawain were still not drinking, much to her relief, and while she knew they might slip back to their old habits, she and Kade would do what they could to prevent it. Ian was recovering nicely from the wound Domnall had given him and talking about returning to find the little English miss who had mended him. Will was making noises about taking his men and heading home and perhaps collecting his own betrothed and settling down, and most of the servants had come back to Stewart and were returning the castle to its former glory.
At least, that was what Averill had been told. She knew none of this for sure herself because she had been stuck in the bedchamber she and Kade shared...healing. Averill rolled her eyes with disgust at the thought. Kade was an even more stubborn nursemaid than she and insisted she needed to remain in bed after the wound she'd taken and the stitches Bess had placed in her throat. She had spent the last three days bored to tears, with only Laddie and Bess and the occasional visit from her brother or the other men to keep her company through the day. Kade came to sit with her in the evenings and read to her as she had once done for him, his deep voice rolling over her in soothing waves. However, Averill was heartily sick of the enforced rest and had planned all day to talk to Kade when he arrived that night and insist he let her up on the morrow.
Recalling that intent, she watched as he began to strip away his clothes. At first Averill was so distracted by the sight that she quite lost the thread of what she'd wished to speak to him about, then she noted the slump to his shoulders and the grimness on his face and frowned. The man was terribly depressed and had been since the night Domnall had died. At first, she hadn't been able to understand what was causing it. She herself was relieved he was dead, or at least, that the threat to her husband was over. However, then Averill had recalled that Domnall was his cousin and had once been a friend and comrade of Kade's and, despite his murderous behavior in the end, her husband was probably mourning his loss.
Averill waited until he had finished undressing and slid into bed beside her before broaching the subject, then said gently, "I am sorry, husband. I know that Domnall was once a friend to you. You must grieve for him no matter that he turned in the end."
Kade turned an askance glance on her. "Are ye mad? He killed Angus and tried to kill Ian and you." He shook his head. "Nay. I'm no sorry he's dead. It saves me ha'ing to kill him meself. But the bloody bastard went and killed hisself ere I could beat the whereabouts o' the chest out o' him. He must be sitting in hell laughin' himself silly at bestin' me like that." Kade ground his teeth together at the thought, and added bitterly, "The worst part is the ones who'll pay for it are the people o' Stewart. I counted on the chest to help get them through the winter this year."
Averill's eyes widened as she suddenly recalled the chest he and Domnall had seemed to find so important. It had not come up as a topic these few days, but now that it had, she had good news for him. Averill opened her mouth to tell him where it was, but curiosity made her ask instead, "What is in the chest that is so important that Domnall killed two men and would have killed you for?"
"Coin," Kade said simply.
Averill frowned, and muttered, "It must hold a lot of coin, for 'twas bloody heavy. I could not even lift it when Domnall ordered me to."
"What?" He peered at her sharply.
She smiled faintly, and announced, "'Tis in the secret passage, in an alcove by the entrance into Brodie's room. You probably walked right past it--"
Averill fell silent. Her husband wasn't listening anyway. He had launched himself from the bed and crossed the room. Kade was out the door before she could shout out to remind him that he was naked. Shaking her head, she tugged the linens out from under the furs and wrapped the soft cloth around herself over the thin chemise she wore as she got up to follow. She was at the door before thinking to grab her husband's plaid to cover him.
Muttering under her breath with irritation, Averill scoured the shadowy floor for the discarded item, then grabbed it up when she spotted it and headed for the door once more, only to have to struggle with it, trying to open it without losing her hold on either the linen wrapped around her or the plaid. She managed it with some time and effort, then stepped out into the hall in time to see Kade returning.
He strode toward her, a completely changed man from the slump-shouldered one who had entered the room moments ago. Kade was still naked as a babe, the chest the only thing covering his groin, but his shoulders were back, his stride confident, and a smile split his lips as he carried the chest toward her...as if the bloody thing weighed nothing, Averill noted, impressed with the strength he was exhibiting.
When he had nearly reached her, Averill stepped aside for him to enter the room ahead of her, noting as she did that Morag and Bess were at the top of the stairs, gaping after him like a couple of fools.
Shaking her head, Averill followed her husband into their room and closed the door.
Kade was already on the bed when she crossed the room. He sat cross-legged, the chest before him, and was fiddling with the latch to open it. She heard the click as it gave, then he threw the lid open, revealing the contents.
Averill came to an abrupt halt at the sight of the coin inside. The chest was full to the top, some even spilling out on the uneven surface of the bed.
"You are rich," she gasped with amazement.
"Aye," he said with a grin. "We are."
"But how--?" Averill asked with bewilderment.
Kade shrugged. "As soon as I earned me spurs I started workin' as a mercenary. A hired sword to help out any who could pay." He grinned. "Desperate men pay well."
When Averill glanced at him with surprise, he shrugged again.
"I had nothin' better to do. Mother wanted me nowhere near Stewart and me father...and Uncle Simon didna need me help, so I gathered a small army of men together, and we worked for coin." He peered back to the chest as he added, "The men often spent theirs on women and drink, but I'm no' a drinker, and I've never had to pay for women, so I saved most o' mine. Plus I got an extra fee fer arrangin' everythin'." His eyes ran over the coins, and he said, "I always planned to use it to better Stewart. I just didna realize how much it would be needed."
Averill sank onto the bed, asking with bewilderment. "But if you are rich, why did you marry me?"
"What?" Kade turned to her with surprise. He frowned at her bewildered expression. "Why diya think I married ye, Averill?"
"For my dower," she admitted.
He snorted. "That piddlin' amount?"
She flushed hotly. "'Twas quite generous."
"Aye," Kade said soothingly, and leaned to press a kiss to her cheek, then straightened again and scooped up a handful of the coins and let them rain back in. "But 'tis naught next to this."
Averill gazed at the chest as well and had to admit that he was right, her dower had been nowhere near this rich.
"Ye thought I married ye for yer dower?" he asked, distracting her.
Averill flushed but nodded. "Well, aye, that and because I am Will's sister."
Kade laughed at that. "By that reckoning, I'd as well have married yer father."
She smiled automatically, but then frowned, and asked, "But then why did you marry me, husband?"
"Avy," he said seriously, "why would I not? I liked ye from the start, enjoyed yer company, thought yer hair beautiful and yer birthmark adorable...and I soon came to love ye. Mayhap e'en before we married. I craved yer company every minute we were apart."
Averill stare
d at him with bewilderment, then pointed out, "But I stammer like an idiot."
"No' an idiot," Kade said at once, almost sounding angry. "Ye stammer when yer nervous, is all." He clucked his tongue with irritation, and asked, "Ye doona think Laddie an idiot, do ye?"
"Nay, of course not. And I know I am not one either, but others think me an idiot when I stammer, and--"
"Why do ye care what others think?" he asked with a shrug. "I'm yer husband, and I ken yer clever."
Her eyebrows rose, and she asked uncertainly, "And you do not mind that I am clever?"
"Why would I mind?" he asked with amusement.
Averill shrugged unhappily. "Most men do not care for clever wives."
"I'm no' most men," Kade said dryly. "And nay, I doona mind. In fact, I'd have it no other way. I love yer cleverness, Avy. I love you."
Averill bit her lip, then admitted, "And I love you, too, husband, and suspect I have done so since before the wedding, too. I could not help it. Will filled my head with so many stories of your honor and courage that I was half in love with you before you even awoke."
The smile that broke out on his face then was bright enough to light up the darkest night, but Averill got little chance to enjoy it. Kade suddenly leaned forward and kissed her, his mouth covering hers in a passionate kiss as if to seal the deal, and Averill suspected that was all he had intended it to be, but as always happened when he kissed her, their passion flared, burning bright and hot between them. Within moments, Kade was breaking the kiss, but only to remove the chest from the bed. He urged her to her feet, removed the linen wrapped around her, then her chemise, and ushered her back into bed. He followed, pulling her against his chest to kiss her again.
Kade's body pressed against hers as they kissed, one leg sliding between both of hers as he gathered her closer, so that his hands could slide up and down her back and cup her behind. And then he broke the kiss abruptly, and muttered, "Yer neck."
"'Tis fine," she assured him quickly, reaching down between them to clasp his erection encouragingly. "'Tis healing. Bess says she will remove the stitches in a few days."
Averill grimaced even as she said the words, for receiving them had been an ordeal she would not soon forget. She had only managed to keep from weeping and screaming in pain because she'd had so many there looking on worriedly.
Kade's creeping hands distracted her from the unpleasant memory, and she sighed as one closed over a breast, squeezing and kneading the orb, then plucking at the nipple until she moaned at the excitement building in her. When he then pressed her onto her back, Averill closed her eyes and went willingly until he announced, "We must be careful. Yer no to move."
Her eyes popped open at the order, and she unthinkingly started to raise her head to peer down at him as he slid down her body, but a pulling of the stitches in her neck made her pause. Averill forced herself back to lie flat, remonstrating with herself to stay still, then clutched at the linens and gasped as he took one erect nipple into his mouth and began to lave and suckle it. Staying still soon become a challenge as his wandering lips and tongue left her breast to move lower, exploring her belly button, a hipbone, an inner thigh. By the time he urged her legs apart and dipped between them to kiss her there, Averill was atremble with so much excitement and pleasure that it was becoming impossible to control herself. Her body wanted to move, her head needing to shift and twist back and forth on the pillow.
"Husband, I prithee," Averill gasped when she could stand it no more. "Do you not stop that and make love to me, I shall surely start thrashing my head about and rip my stitches."
Kade paused at once and lifted his head to look at her. Apparently deciding she was not jesting, he crawled back up her body. He paused then, holding himself still, his hips resting between hers and arms holding his weight as he peered down into her face.
"Raise yer knees for me," he growled.
