‘You, however, are clothed,’ he said.
‘Of course I am, this gown has laces,’ she said, pressing light kisses along his jaw and down his neck.
‘Not for much longer.’
Chapter Fifteen
With Ailsa curled up next to him, Rory could want for nothing more. Everything about this moment, about this woman, was right. As for the rest, his family be damned—by her side was where he needed to be.
‘Are your feet cold?’ he asked, aware that she kept sliding one foot down his leg and then back up again. Every time, the movement slightly dislodged her from his hold so he curled her tighter into him.
A muted laugh. ‘I was wondering if our feet could touch like this. You’ve a considerable size to you if you hadn’t noticed.’
He’d wondered when his size would bother her. It hadn’t taken long. Shifting, he tried to give her room so she could extricate herself. In response, Ailsa dug her nails into his arm and curled closer.
‘You don’t like it that you’re taller than most?’ she asked.
He couldn’t get much past his observational wife. ‘It is something I have been both pleased and ungrateful for my entire life.’
‘Like the colour of my hair.’
He twirled a lock between his fingers. ‘Never disparage your hair.’
‘So stop leaning against walls to make yourself look smaller.’
It was his turn to laugh. ‘That’s not why I do that.’
‘Then why?’
‘It’s because none of the furniture at home fitted me.’
She gave a slight hum before answering. ‘Hamish’s furniture fits you.’
‘Hamish’s furniture? Maybe I should have measurements done for Lochmore’s castle.’
‘I never thought of that,’ she said. ‘Where we would live.’
Rory loosened his hold enough to look at her. ‘After everything, did you think we would live here?’
‘I suppose with Hamish here, you wouldn’t want to stay.’
‘It’s not Hamish. Your Chief will soon die, but your father is well and has many years left.It is right that he rules and takes proper control of his clan.’
‘With fewer Lochmores to poison,’ she said. ‘I don’t know if Hannah knows enough.’
Her clan would be without a healer. That was something he had not thought of, but it was the right decision to return to Lochmore land. ‘You can travel back and forth, it is not very far. Your family is here and they will want to see you.’
Ailsa pressed her palms to his chest to look down at him. What she could see of him in the darkness, he didn’t know. Yet she looked at him for so long, he almost wanted to joke like Paiden, but her expression was serious.
‘While you remain on Lochmore land?’ she finally said.
There was no satisfactory answer to that. It would cause more problems for her clan if he remained on McCrieff land. His own personal reasons why he didn’t want to return to Lochmore were inconsequential.
At his silence, Ailsa laid down again. ‘You seem...reluctant to return home. What was it about the box, Rory?’
Blunt tongue and too observant despite the darkness. ‘We can think more on where we live. And do not worry about the box, the contents are yours.’
‘That is for the better, I already have plans to carve out the stones and melt the silver so that I could share it with my sisters.’ She patted him. ‘Your mother won’t care, would she? Maybe we should go to Lochmore Castle to ask her.’
