She wanted that. Very much. So why did he turn away?
‘Why are you not touching me?’ She sat and released the quilt so she could feel the ridges of his abdomen, the narrow trail of dark hair. The way his—
He grabbed her wrist, which pleased her. He tried to stop her, but she’d felt his response to her touch and knew he was as affected as she. Now they could join and bind their marriage to make their vows to each other and their clans complete.
She lay down again and stretched her limbs. Since Rory kept hold of her wrist, he had no choice but to turn just that bit to see how she lay before him. To see how much she wanted him.
Like this she felt vulnerable and powerful as his deep brown eyes caressed her legs, her hips and breasts and down again. Slowly, she took his hand and laid it on her stomach and felt the warmth, the heat seep down deep into her. ‘Come lie with me now. I want you to.’
‘Ailsa, you don’t know what your words do... I can’t...’ A hiss and his fingers curled. It sent shivers through her and she wanted him more. ‘You keep...surprising me,’ he said, sounding puzzled. She wanted to ease his concerns.
‘You keep doing that to me as well.’ Something in her bubbled to the surface. They were strangers, but there was some connection between them. All would be well. ‘Come lie withme. Let’s complete our marriage vows. After all, it’s not every day I get married to the man who vowed to kill me.’
It was a mistake. Any confusion or heat in Rory’s eyes disappeared. Almost flinging her wrist, he launched himself off the bed. Chilled, she yanked the quilt around her.
‘Rory?’
‘Don’t,’ he bit out. ‘I need to see Paiden.’
If he checked on Paiden, she would remain a virgin. He couldn’t want that. Surely, after all she felt? All that he felt, too.
‘Don’t you want to...?’ She gestured around the bed and patted the space beside her.
Grabbing his tunic, he shoved it over his head.
He wasn’t understanding. Taking a breath, she continued, ‘I may be an innocent, but I know we aren’t finished.’ She paused. ‘I know you’re not finished.’
Carrying his boots, he sat in a chair. ‘You found pleasure.’
‘Except you—’
He looked up at her at that and something naked and raw surfaced before he shut it down. ‘It was pleasurable for me as well.’
‘You’re leaving the room’
He shoved his boots on. ‘Yes.’
‘Do you not intend to honour this marriage?Tonight they’ll expect...’ She clutched the bedsheets closer to her. ‘There’s no seed or blood.’
‘I vow I’ve never heard a woman talk as you.’
Ailsa bit back her retort. Arguing the benefits of an intelligent and verbal wife wasn’t the issue. The fact that if he walked out of this room without taking her maidenhead was.
‘You married me so that no blood would be spilled. I’m holding you to that.’ His eyes were almost murderous.
And she felt it, felt as if she’d been murdered, but she wouldn’t stand for it. ‘What of your political alliance?’
‘Maybe I would care for my alliance if my friend wasn’t poisoned mere moments after the announcement of our marriage.’
‘You insisted that we marry. Why are you doing this?’ And then she knew. ‘You agreed to marry me knowing this would be our wedding night. You never intended to make this a marriage in truth.’
‘Not right now,’ he said.
‘Maybe not ever?’ she said.
At his silence, Ailsa wanted to gut him with a thousand shears. His friend was poisoned and could be dying, and there was still a part of her warning her to give him leniency. But she had lost Magnus and still married the enemy of herclan, expecting to make a true marriage. She was willing to make a true sacrifice for her clan, when he hadn’t intended to at all.
Because now she realised everything depended on who had poisoned his friend and whether he lived or died. Her friend had been trampled. Many other McCrieffs had died since then. If they didn’t make this a true marriage, then her vows to Rory, and her lying in his bed tainted all the loss and pain in her past. She wouldn’t allow him to do this to her.
