How could something so small shake him so profoundly? Those hands shouldn’t have the power to do anything to him and yet they made him hot and gave him a comfort that defied his best abilities to name.
He shook his head.
She lifted his hand to her lips and kissed his knuckles, making his body roar to life with a vicious demand for hers. “I’ll make sure no one disturbs you.”
She got up, leaned over and placed a kiss on his cheek. He savored the feel of her lips on his skin. And it took all his strength not to pull her into the bed with him and make love to her.
Instead, he just let the kindness of her seep into him. The warmth of her lips touch the ragged edges of a heart that was just beginning to beat.
He heard her leave the room and close the door. Aching with regret, he balled his hand in the fur cover.
Why had she been given to him when the very saints above knew there was no chance for them to have a life together?
But then, he knew.
Henry wanted peace and he was willing to sacrifice anything for it. Though Sin liked to pretend otherwise, he knew the truth of their relationship. When all was said and done, he was nothing more than a pawn to Henry. A servant and should he ever fail to be useful to Henry, his life would be worthless.
Hours later, Callie stood on the castle steps as the men of her clan gathered round. She’d had her servants prepare food and drink for the men in hopes of placating them.
To her complete and utter non-surprise, it didn’t work. The air around them was rife with hostility. They all knew something wasn’t right for them to be summoned here. They just didn’t know what that something was.
“Caledonia, my sweet.”
She turned at Fraser’s voice. He stood just an inch taller than she and had bright blue eyes and dark blond hair. His smile was always easy and he had a pleasant and open manner that she had often found soothing.
Before she had been captured by Henry, he had asked Aster for permission to court her. Though they had plenty in common and shared similar temperaments, she’d never felt particularly inclined romantically toward him. He was like an older brother to her.
She offered him a genuine, if somewhat cool, smile. “Fraser, how are you?”
“Much better now that I know you are well. You’ve no idea how many times I urged your uncle to let us head to London to reclaim you. But he wouldn’t hear of it.”
A chill went up her spine at the underlying tone of his voice and the peculiar gleam in his eye. He was hiding something in that glib statement.
Could he be the rebel leader?
Like her father, he was a passionate hater of the English and he did have the demeanor of a man comfortable with ordering others about. It was possible. Not to mention he and Dermot were friends.
The sound of the crowd drew instantly silent.
Frowning, Callie looked around to see what had happened. She followed the gaze of the men to find her husband standing in the doorway.
Sin’s long, black hair spilled over his shoulders, vanishing into the blackness of his English surcoat and mail. He stood tall and proud with one gauntlet-covered hand on his sword hilt. Those piercing black eyes that could make her feel so deeply took in the entire scene at once and he bore an aura of such power and lethal grace that it sent a shiver over her.
It was obvious to all, this was a man in authority. A man who saw more than just what was before him. And the men around her reacted to him like a group of restless predators who knew their leadership and territory was being threatened just by this man’s presence.
“Bloody hell, what’s that Sassenach doing here?”
She didn’t know the owner of that voice, but the sentiment was echoed all around her.
Her heart pounded in fear of what her clansmen would do. Most of them had yet to hear of her marriage and she wondered why Aster wasn’t there to help.
The insults grew as Sin stood there in silence, sizing them up, one by one. It was eerie to watch him, for she knew what he was doing. He was making a mental note of every man there, of his behavior and words. This was the Sin who held the king’s ear. The knight no one had ever defeated in battle.
And the longer he stood there watching them while they insulted him, the angrier the clansmen became at his stoic silence.
“Where’s the MacNeely?” one of the men shouted at Sin. “What have you done with him?”
Like a raging tide, the men were getting ready to attack Sin, who didn’t seem the least bit concerned by their anger or animosity.
