Born in Sin (12 page)

“I don’t plan on it.” He frowned at her. “Why would you think that?”

“Aelfa said it would hurt when you stick your…um…male piece into me.”

Sin arched a brow at her choice of words. He always had the oddest conversations with this woman. “I’ll try and take care, then, not to hurt you.”

She laughed at that. “So, you
are
going to stick your—”

“Please, Callie, have mercy on me.”

Biting her lip so that he saw her little dimple, she slid her hands down his chest in innocent exploration of his body. Sin struggled to breathe as he fought the urge to take her wildly. He would have to be gentle with her. Careful. The last thing he ever wanted was to hurt this gentle lady.

“Such strength,” she whispered, running her hands over his chest. She fumbled with the laces of his tunic until she bared part of his chest to her eager eyes. She peeled the edges of the collar back to see as much of his body as the tunic would allow. Sin stood perfectly still, afraid to move lest it frighten her. He would let her get used to him first, then…then she would be his.

“I like the way your skin looks. Can I touch it?”

“Madame, you may touch anything on me you like.”

She smiled at that. “Really?”

He nodded.

Callie untucked his undertunic and ran her hand over the hard planes of his muscles. Oh, the man felt good beneath her hands. She pulled his tunic off, wanting to see more of him. She touched the scars along his ribs, then traced the one that lashed across his right nipple.

She frowned at all she saw. They were everywhere. So much pain. So much strength.

Suddenly she wanted to see all of him. She dropped his tunic to the floor, then reached for the laces of his chausses.

Oh, she liked this man even when he made her mad. She ran her hands through his hair, delighting in the feel of it as she tasted the heavenly heat of his mouth. Moaning, she surrendered all her weight to him and clung to his broad shoulders.

She felt his hands roaming her back, pulling at the laces of her gown. A shiver ran over her as she thought of what he was going to do to her tonight. He was going to see her in ways no man had ever seen her before. Touch her in places no one had before and do things with her she had only vaguely dreamed of.

The very thought made her blush.

Sin held his breath as her fingers flicked against his lower abdomen while she undid his chausses. As soon as she untied the tabs, the heavy chain-mail breeches sank to the floor, exposing him to her.

Callie swallowed at the sight of his swollen shaft nestled among the dark hairs. He was huge! Surely such a thing would cleave her in two. No wonder Aelfa had warned her of pain.

She’d never seen anything like it before.

Quite curious, she moved her hand slowly to touch him. As soon as her fingers brushed his velvety tip, he hissed and his shaft jerked, arching toward her hand.

She pulled back. “Did I hurt you?”

“Nay, love,” he said raggedly. He took her hand into his and led it back to his shaft.

She shivered at the velvety, hard feel of him in her hand as she curled her fingers around him. She stared, in awe of the pleasure on his face. Aye, she liked giving him pleasure. Liked the way he stared at her as if he wanted to devour her.

With his hand on hers, he showed her how to ca
ress him. How to run her hand up and down his shaft, then down to the soft sac below. Callie bit her lip at the power it gave her over him. She loved the way he felt in her hand.

Emboldened by his pleased look, she ran her hand down to gently cup his sac. He growled and hissed, then took her face into his hands and kissed her deeply.

Callie moaned at the taste of him as she gently kneaded him in her hand. He ran his hands through her hair, then down her back to the laces of her gown. Her heart pounded in sweet expectation.

In a matter of heartbeats, her gown sank to the floor and they stood bare skin to bare skin. She trembled at the sensation of his hot body against hers.

On fire, she clung to him.

Sin pulled back only long enough to look at her. His eyes blazed at her. Picking her up, he carried her to the bed.

Callie sighed as soon as she sank into the feather mattress. A sudden wave of dizziness assailed her and the room spun about crazily. Suddenly everything went black.

Sin dipped his head down to kiss her, then froze.

“Caledonia?”

She didn’t move.

He shook her gently. “Callie?”

Again, no response. She was out cold.

Cursing, Sin pulled back, his groin burning like the fires of hell.

Aggravated, he watched her skin gleaming and taunting him. If not for his raging body that demanded hers so rawly, he would laugh at this. But
there was nothing funny about the pain of his unspent lust.

“It’s just as well,” he said, pulling the blanket over her. He took this night as a sign. He had no right to her. Not really.

She deserved an honorable champion. A man like Simon. Someone who could love her and give her the children she wanted so much. His heart ached at the knowledge that he could never be that carefree man who could laugh with her and share her peaceful life.

So be it. He would heed this omen and content himself with just seeing her home to her family and bringing the Scottish rebels out into the light to be punished.

Still, as he watched her sleeping, a bitter ache settled deep in his heart, making him wish he were a different man. A better man.

Sin lay down beside her and pulled her into his arms. He would just hold her for a little while. Pretend that they had a future together. Pretend he had something to offer her that was worth having.

Callie came awake to a ferocious pounding in her head. Moaning, she blinked her eyes open and flinched at the bright daylight streaming through the room.

The door opened, sending spikes of pain through her skull. “Och, now, please walk softly,” she breathed.

“Pardon me, milady,” Aelfa whispered. “But his lordship is waiting below to start your journey to Scotland.”

Callie sat up quickly, then gasped as more pain hit her. She was married.

And she was going home!

She looked around the room, but there was no sign her husband had ever been here. Fuzzy memories tangled in her mind as she tried to recall the night before.

She remembered Sin looking angry and vaguely recalled him carrying her to the room. The last clear memory she had was the feel of his chest under her hand.

Aelfa came forward with a towel. “I had them draw a bath for you in the antechamber, milady. I thought you’d like to bathe this morning before you head out on your long trip.”

“Thank you, Aelfa,” she whispered, pushing the covers back.

Her heart stopped as she saw the bloody sheets.

Aelfa gasped at the sight and crossed herself. “Baby Jesus, Joseph and Mary, milady, are you all right? Gor, but I never saw such like that in all my life. Is it your time of the month?”

Callie shook her head. Nay, she was midcycle, and even so, she’d never bled like this. Her thighs were completely coated.

“You best be moving slowly, milady.” Aelfa helped her stand. “Are you feeling all right? Sore?”

“I feel fine except for this ache in my head.” Callie wrapped her plaid about herself and headed toward the tub in the next room. The blood in the bed concerned her. What had caused it?

Nothing seemed to be hurting her. She wasn’t so naive as to think women bled like that every time they were with their husbands.

Whatever could have happened?

How very, very strange.

Sin frowned as he made his way through the great hall. Everyone was staring at him rather oddly. Even more oddly than normal.

He couldn’t fathom their stares until Simon joined him.

“What did you do to Caledonia last night?” Simon asked.

Sin grabbed a raw apple from a platter on one of the tables, then led Simon toward the stairs. “Nothing.”

“You didn’t murder her in her bed?”

He paused midstep and glared at his friend. “What sort of question is that?”

“Don’t be angry at me. That’s the story everyone is bantering about this morning. It seems Henry ordered Aelfa to bring him your bedsheets. Now everyone believes you must have cut her head off for there to have been so much blood on them.”

Sin set his jaw and said nothing in response. He’d never taken a virgin before, so in an effort to make it appear he had slept with his wife, he’d cut his own arm and used his blood for the sheets. Apparently he’d used too much.

“So what happened?” Simon prompted.

He ignored Simon as he gazed up the stairs to see Callie and Jamie coming down them. She wore her plaid around her saffron kirtle again. Her hair was plaited down both sides of her face, and her cheeks and eyes were bright this morning.

The woman took his breath away and made him ache to finish what the two of them had started the night before.

When she saw him, she smiled a smile that made
him instantly hot. Hard. One that reminded him all too well she’d fallen asleep before he had found any comfort whatsoever.

“Good morning, my husband.”

His stomach clenched at the word. “My lady. How do you feel?”

“Still a bit of an ache in my head, but fine otherwise. You?”

He looked around at the courtiers, who gawked at her as if she were a ghost. “Never better, my lady.”

Her smile widened.

Jamie ran past him to show Simon a handful of string.

“Are we leaving now?” Callie asked.

“I thought you would want to.”

“Aye. The sooner, the better.”

“Then come. We’re all packed and ready.”

Callie reached to take his arm, but he pulled away. Disheartened but far from daunted, she took a deep breath and followed him through the hall toward the door.

Henry met them outside the hall, his face grim. “You be careful,” he said to Sin. “I don’t want your head to come back to me in a sennight.”

Sin nodded, then helped her to mount her horse.

As he reached for Jamie, the king stopped him. “The boy stays here as guarantee that no harm will befall you.”

Jamie screeched out a denial.

Callie opened her mouth to respond, but before she could, Sin spoke. “The boy goes with us.”

“Are you mad?” Henry demanded. “Without the child, there’s no guarantee of your safety.”

“The boy goes with us.” The sharpness of Sin’s voice surprised her. She doubted if Henry would allow any man save her husband to use that tone without putting irons on him.

“I assure you,” Sin said more calmly, “I can handle myself even against the devil himself, but I will not leave an innocent boy here with no protector.”

Henry stiffened. “You insult us if you think we would allow a ward of ours to—”

“I was once one of your wards, Sire.” Sin gazed at Henry, his face expressionless.

Guilt flashed in Henry’s eyes before he recovered himself. “Fine, then. Take him if you must.”

Without another word, Sin picked Jamie up. The lad threw his arms around his neck and held him tight. She saw the confusion in Sin’s eyes.

“I like you even if you are an English dog,” Jamie announced, pulling back to pat Sin’s head. “You’re my favorite one. Well, you and Simon.”

Sin gave a crooked smile. “Then I thank you, I think.”

Jamie grinned as Sin put him on his horse. Without another comment, Sin pulled himself up into his saddle.

Henry took the bridle of Sin’s mount and looked up at him. “We want word the minute you arrive at the MacNeely’s castle and a note for every week thereafter. Should we not receive it, we will send an army to determine your well-being.”

Sin looked much less than amused. “I will be fine.”

Henry nodded a farewell and then they were off.

Sin led the group while Simon and Jamie rode abreast of Callie. Luckily, they traveled light. She and
Jamie had packed very little for their trip to their aunt’s, and Simon and Sin seemed to need nothing more than the clothes on their backs.

But then, she had already learned her husband wasn’t the typical Englishman who needed an entire entourage with him at all times.

They rode well into the afternoon before stopping for a small repast.

As soon as they dismounted, Jamie ran off into the woods to heed nature’s call, while Callie set about unpacking some of the foodstuffs Aelfa had gathered for them.

They had left London behind hours ago, and all she could do was look forward to when she would be home again.

Closing her eyes, she swore she could almost feel her crisp, heather-scented Highlands seeping into her weary bones. She’d been gone far too long; but then, even a week away from home seemed an eternity.

Jamie came bounding back out of the woods at the speed of a dodging hare and accidentally ran into Sin as he fed the horses. The grain spilled all over Sin’s boots and made a huge mess.

Callie held her breath, half expecting Sin to strike out or at the very least shout at the lad’s clumsiness. He didn’t. Instead, he picked the lad up and made sure he was unhurt, then brushed Jamie off and sent him on his way with a hushed warning to be more careful lest he hurt himself. Once Jamie was hurtling toward Simon, Sin dropped to his knees and silently cleaned up the mess Jamie had made.

His gentleness amazed her. The other Englishmen
had never once hesitated to cuff the lad for such carelessness. Even her Uncle Aster and Dermot were quite intolerant of Jamie’s clumsy ways. Sin said nothing more about it. Not even when he had to remove his right boot and dump grain out of it.

As Simon and Jamie ran past him, Sin caught the lad up in his arms and tossed him up over his shoulder to dangle down his back as he walked. Jamie squealed with laughter as Sin toted him to where she sat with the food.

“Put me down!” Jamie said, his voice broken by laughter.

“You need to eat if you’re to grow to any size.” Sin flipped him over his shoulder and laid him gently on the ground by Callie’s side.

Jamie scrambled up, but before he could run again, Sin caught him. “Must I tie you down?”

Jamie laughed, then dropped to the ground and sat with his legs crossed while Simon joined them.