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‘We will feast and drink and sleep in feather beds, and my family will welcome you and give you a home. You will be safe, Kenna, I promise.’
The thunder sounded directly overhead, and he squeezed his arms tighter around her, pulling her even closer. Sinful thoughts filled her head, and so as not to give herself away, she said, ‘Tell me about your family.’
‘Well, my father is Laird of Dunslair. His old uncle Hugh died a few years ago with no issue, so the clan and lands fell to my father. He is a warrior, a man of great reputation, respected in the Highlands and beyond. Did you never hear of him?’
‘No, my father preferred me ignorant. And your mother?’
‘She is very beautiful and strong-willed and keeps my father in line. They love each other, but it was not always so. You see, the Clan Campbell was once at odds with hers, Clan MacLeod, and they overcame them in a battle. My parents married to secure a peace between the two clans, and my mother was none too happy about it at first. She didn’t want to be the spoils of war, and she didn’t want my father, but he won her round with his charm. I have inherited that from him.’
‘I’m not so sure about that.’ Kenna laughed and bid him continue.
‘My older sister, Ilene, is kind but bossy, and she is married to my brother Murray. Now there is a fearsome fighter, and I admire him greatly, though I must confess I was a little afraid of him when he first came back from war some years ago. Don’t ever ask him about the scar on his face. He is very prickly about it.’
‘Wait, your sister married your brother, but that’s…?’
‘Incest, no, heavens no, Murray was adopted as a lad when Ilene was but a babe. He left for many years, and when he returned, my sister had grown up, and he fell for her.’
‘I see. Who else is there in your family?’
‘Jasper, my younger brother.’
‘Does he look like you?’
‘He’s dark like me, but he’s just a long streak of gristle. There’s no meat on him at all. He’s younger by a few years, so maybe he will fill out soon. Everyone is waiting for him to. I am fond of him of course, but I don’t understand him at all. Jasper is clever, always got his head stuck in a dusty, old book, a planner, a thinker. He knows just what to say and when to say it. He’ll end up in Parliament one day, and I think he would love that. But God, he’s dull. I swear he’s never been drunk in his life, and he doesn’t know what girls are for.’
‘And what is that?’ Kenna said smiling, as her body thawed and her mind relaxed.
‘I can’t say for I would shock you, and if Father Boyle could see me now, he’d make me spend a month on my knees doing penance for my depravity.’
‘Who is he?’
‘The family priest at Dunslair and a fat old fool, always telling me how I fall short of expectations, how the devil has a hold on me, and how I shall burn for all eternity for my sins if I don’t mend my ways.’
‘And what sins are they?’
‘Oh, trust me, you don’t want to know.’
‘Yes, I do,’ Kenna said, though she was not sure she would like the answer.
‘Well, there’s drinking myself to a stupor on many nights and vomiting in the kirk the morning afterwards, during mass. Brawling in taverns and, oh what is his word for it, ah yes, fornicating with fallen women.’
‘Oh.’
‘Aye, though why he considers them fallen is beyond me. They like it, and I like it, so what’s the harm. I see no sin in making a woman happy and her returning the favour. Though I suppose I haven’t behaved well and there have been a few too many women but then I have always loved them. I love their softness under my hands. I love that they are smooth and rounded like ripe fruit. I love their sweet smell, their long hair, running my fingers through it, all silky and shiny. I love the warmth of their mouths, their sighs when I pleasure them, the way they coil their bodies around me. Love-making is one of life’s greatest joys. It’s wonderful, Kenna.’
‘Why is it wonderful?’
After a long pause, Conall breathed the words into her hair. ‘Would you like me to show you?’
She risked looking up at him. There was tenderness in his face, and what a handsome one it was, so fine and strong with the firelight flickering over it and his dark, dangerous eyes fixed on her.
‘Conall…I…isn’t it a sin?’
‘We are running for our lives. What’s a little sinning against that?’
He smiled gently and brought his hand round her throat, tilting her head up, and then he kissed her. Oh, her heart was going to explode, she was sure of it, as his lips, warm, gentle, slid over hers ever so slowly. An astonishing surge of emotions ran through her as if she had too much feeling for her body to contain. Everything fell away, her past, her future, her fears, and there was just Conall’s mouth on hers and this moment, when everything was beautiful, when he was completely hers. She would never forget the taste of that kiss, the warmth of it, the rudeness of it, the sheer joy of it and how alive it made her feel.
She hadn’t done a very good job of shaving him as his face was rough, but it didn’t matter a bit. His tongue gently invaded her mouth as he pulled her against him, and she felt his manhood hard against her legs. Excitement and longing drove the cold from her bones as she touched her tongue with his. Conall lifted himself on top of her, and his kiss grew urgent, harder, and so did hers as she gasped into his mouth and dug her hands into his chest. His hands were buried in her hair, pulling her mouth to his, their legs and feet became entwined.
