Page 42 of Savage Kilted Highlander

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

“Mmm, I swear this roast hog is the most delicious thing I think I have ever eaten,” she said, licking her greasy fingers with relish when they took a break and loaded their platters with the succulent meat.

“Aye, it makes a nice change from dried goat meat, I’ll nae deny that,” he joked. “I see ye dinnae mind eatin’ with yer fingers now.”

“I have discovered that things can taste a whole lot better when eaten with one’s fingers,” she said in her primmest English accent, her eyes full of mirth. “I suppose that is another thing I must thank you for teaching me.” She popped another chunk of meat into her mouth and grinned at him as she chewed. After they had finished eating, she said, “I still have a little money left from my crowns, and I would like to buy something to remember our time here. Can we take a walk into the market and look at the stalls?”

“Aye, if that is what ye’d like, why nae?” He offered her his arm and she took it. They walked down to the market and began wandering among the stalls, looking at the colorful merchandise. Bane’s eye was caught by a stall selling trinkets, amulets for good luck, charms, and other bits of folk jewelry.

“Let’s go over here,” he said, steering her towards it.

“Oh, yes, such pretty things,” she cooed, seemingly entranced by the colorful array of wares, picking up various pieces and inspecting them. Bane had a strong urge to buy her something to remember him by. While she was engaged looking through a selection of rings, his eye fell upon a tray of silver pendants. One in particular drew his attention. He picked it up to look at it more closely. The pendant was of a minutely sculpted wolf’s head hanging on a delicate chain. He decided it was perfect, and after inquiring from the seller as to the cost, handed over his money.

“Constance, I have a wee present fer ye,” he said, getting her attention. He held up the pendant, and she gasped and smiled, taking it gently between her fingers. “Why, it is a wolf,” she observed.

“Aye, a lone wolf.”

Her smile widened, and her eyes softened as she looked up at him. “It is you,” she said. “My lone wolf.”

His heart thumped in his chest, deeply touched that she had immediately recognized the meaning of his gift. “Aye, a lone wolf. Until I met ye.”

She blushed with obvious delight. “That is a very thoughtful gift,” she murmured, turning around and bending her head to reveal her slender, white neck. “Will you put it on for me?”

“I was hopin’ ye’d say that,” he admitted, placing the chain around her neck and fastening it so that the wolf’s head hung between her breasts. He could not resist placing his lips against her birthmark, to seal the gift of his heart. She smiled and held the wolf in her hand as she turned back to him and said with utter sincerity. “Thank you, Bane. I shall treasure it forever, along with my mother’s locket.” Then she stood on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek, setting it tingling.

She surprised him then by holding out her other hand. “And I have a gift for you.”

“A gift for me?” he was truly taken aback. “Och, what is it?” He bent to see what she held in her palm. It was a thin silver chain, and dangling from it was a tiny wildflower, delicately-wrought in silver. “Why, that’s awful pretty.”

“I hope you do not think it too pretty, for I want you to wear it around your neck, so you can always think of me.”

“I see why ye chose it,” he told her, instantly grasping the meaning of the flower. “’Tis a delicate bloom but wild.”

“Exactly. Now, if you would bend down a bit, I shall put it on for you.” He did so, and when she had hung it around his neck, she kissed him again and whispered, “Now, whatever happens, we have these in remembrance of each other for the rest of our lives.”

At that moment, Bane’s heart literally ached with love for her. “Thank ye, Constance, fer yer thoughtful gift.” For once in his life oblivious of anyone watching, he took her in his arms and kissed her on the lips, right in the middle of the market.

They wandered among the stalls for a little while longer until Constance stopped and said, “It is getting late, and I am growing tired. Shall we go and find somewhere to make camp for the night?”

“Nay, nae tonight,” he said, already having decided where they were to stay.

She looked puzzled. “Oh, why not? Where shall we sleep then?”

“At the inn. I figure it’ll be far safer than travellin’ in the dark.”

She beamed at him happily. “Wonderful. We shall be warm and cozy. Lead on, my darling Scottish savage.”

They were lucky to find rooms still available at the inn. It seemed that most of the people attending the festival were locals and would eventually find their way home to their beds.

“Well, this is very comfortable indeed. Not at all what I am used to,” Constance announced a half an hour later as they settled in a pleasant chamber, with a fire roaring in the grate and a large poster bed with thick curtains for keeping out the draft. She threw off her cloak, heeled off her boots, and collapsed on the bed with a contented sigh. “I am full of ale and roasted hog. Can any woman claim to be more contented than I?”

Bane smiled as he divested himself of his boots and sword belt, then hung his jerkin on the hook on the back of the door. “I can maybe think of somethin’ tae make ye even more content,” he said, quirking his brows suggestively. “That is, unless ye intend tae roll up the quilt and lay it between us again, like ye did last time.”

She leaned up on her elbow and smiled at him in a way that made his groin twitch.

“Do you not think we are a little beyond that now? You have ruined me already, so there’s seems little point in pretending otherwise.”

He grinned as he knelt on the bed next to her and leaned down to press a kiss to her lips. “Well, I didnae want tae take it fer granted, ye bein’ such a fine lady and all. But seein’ as ye brought it up, why d’ye nae let me help ye out of that dress?”