DevilsHeart (21 page)

Soft chuckles escaped from both Brodie and Ros, driving her
to keep her apologetic response quiet.

Brodie stepped forward. “It is time for us to take our
leave.” He bowed his head before Leah. “Welcome home, Lady Sinclair.”

Within a few seconds, Ros joined his brother. “Yes, welcome,
my lady. Our wives are looking forward to meeting you. As soon as you are
settled, that is.”

Leah smiled and nodded. Of course, it would help if she
could converse in Gaelic with them.

The two men took their leave and Rathe motioned for her to
join him at the table. Two women carried in bowls of soup and bread, setting
them upon the table and curtseying before disappearing back into the corridor
leading to the kitchen.

“You have not yet eaten?” he asked, tearing a chunk of bread
from the loaf and buttering it before handing it to her.

She shook her head, fidgeting with her soup spoon as she
accepted his offering. “No, I was busy with the children.”

He nodded and dove into his soup. She took several small
bites, glancing at him out of the corner of her eyes. They were alone for once.
Well, as alone as anyone ever seemed to be in a thirteenth-century keep.
Questions tumbled through her head. Questions about Daniel, Màiri’s mother,
Rathe’s childhood. Anna had said he’d had a rough time growing up and he’d
already told her about his illegitimate birth, but Leah hadn’t yet dared ask
him more about it. She didn’t want to dredge up painful memories.

His spoon clattered at the bottom of his empty bowl and she
jumped.

“What do you wish to speak to me about?” he asked, his voice
full of ease and authority.

This new mind-reading thing was getting annoying. A nervous
heat rushed through her, shoving the words out of her mouth. “I know so little
about you.”

He shrugged. “What is there to know that is so much more
important than what you already know?”

Her lashes flicked upward in consternation at the cryptic
answer. “And what is it I already know about you?”

The corner of his mouth turned up in an infuriating, smug
grin. “You tell me.”

This time she rolled her eyes, drawing a pleasant, rumbling
chuckle from his chest.

“Well, you’re about as arrogant as the man I was supposed to
marry before you came along.” As soon as the words left her mouth, her eyes
widened and her hand flew upward to cover her lips. How could she let something
like that slip out? Okay, so maybe Simon was arrogant too, but they were
different men by far. It was an unfair comparison.

Rathe lifted his brows as he stared at her, shadows of
irritation and genuine surprise passing across his face. “Ouch,” he replied,
leaning forward and folding his arms on the table.

“Sorry,” she mumbled, looking back down at her soup. “That’s
not really true. Simon was arrogant, but in a different way. You’re…”

“I am what?”

She shrugged, swirling her spoon in the soup. “You’re
strong. Protective. Thoughtful.” She paused her fidgeting as several other
descriptive and sometimes contradictory words rolled through her head.
Sexy.
Kind. Rough. Gentle. Frightening. Warming. Safe.

“And smart enough to not toss you aside,” he added.

She glanced back up at him, catching the twinkle in his eyes
and her reserve thawed just a bit more. “Which you didn’t do to Daniel either.”

The twinkle vanished and he sat back, crossing his arms.
“What else was I to do? He was nothing but a helpless, mewling babe nursing at
the breast of a kindhearted clanswoman who had taken him in when his mother
went missing a couple of days before I arrived home.”

“Missing? I thought—”

“We found her lying on the beach. She had thrown herself
from the rocky cliffs above. There was no sign of a struggle. No one else was
with her.”

An image of little Daniel flashed through her mind and
sadness drew her shoulders into a slump. The poor little thing. She shook her
head. “It was good of you to keep him.”

He shrugged. “I could not send him away. I did not know how
her family would treat the bastard son of their daughter who had committed a
mortal sin by killing herself. Nor did I know who the boy’s father was, though
I eventually heard it might have been some Frenchman at court.”

Bastard.
That word made her cringe. He wasn’t being
derogatory in its usage, but it carried such a horrendous connotation it broke
her heart for the little, unwanted child. And for Rathe.

“Because you know what it’s like.” Her stomach sank as she
envisioned a young, dark-haired boy with flashing green eyes, alone and outcast
for something he couldn’t help.

His eyes remained expressionless. “It is no life for a boy.
He needs guidance, care.”

“Does Màiri know?”

“She knows he is not the little brother for which she has
been waiting. For now we treat him as a cousin. When he is older, he will
foster with another clan. Mayhap the MacAirths. Perhaps the MacBains or the
MacDonalds. But he will be treated well and will always have a place here,
should he choose it.”

Her heart softened as she stared at him. How many men would
be so thoughtful and kind as to care for the child of an unfaithful wife
without any benefit to himself? And to treat that child well no less. Rathe had
even smiled at Daniel and touched him with affection when they arrived in the
courtyard.

She took a deep breath. “What happened to you, Rathe? When
you were little, I mean.”

His jaw tensed and twitched. “My mother was given in
marriage to another man, but was already carrying me. He found out and she was
beaten for the rest of her life because of it. She cared for me as best she
could, but I was not allowed to be in my stepfather’s sight. My grandparents
would not take me in until she died in childbirth when I was five summers. My
father denied me until it was obvious he would have no other sons to succeed
him.”

His gaze scattered about the great hall with a mixture of
unease and vindication.

“I am sorry.” Tears stung her eyes. It was worse than she’d
imagined. Abuse. Outright neglect.

He leaned forward. “Hey now, lass.”

It wasn’t until his hand covered hers the tears fell onto
her cheeks. She whisked them away with the back of her hand. He must have felt
so lonely, so frightened. How horrible would it be for such a young child to
never know what it was like to feel wanted or loved?

He slid onto the bench next to her, pulling her hair away
from her face and kissing her along her hairline. “Ah, you have such a tender
heart, love.”

She shook her head, an automatic defensiveness stiffening
her spine. Her mother had often complained she was too sensitive. Too quick to
let the tears fall instead of sucking it up and marching on like a good little
soldier. Simon was much like Leah’s mother in that way and would even go so far
as to leave the room when she was upset, insisting that he could not reason
with her in such a state. Was it so much of a burden to let her express her
feelings? Was it too much for Rathe?

But then he whispered into her ear. “I fear I do not deserve
it.”

The words shocked her tears into ceasing and she turned to
him, eyes wide with amazement. Just last night he’d indicated to her he didn’t
deserve to go to heaven due to what he’d done in his life. But now to think he
didn’t deserve her tenderness or compassion?

She placed her hand along his jaw, the stubble tickling her
fingers. “What? Why would you say such a thing?”

A brief echo of vulnerability shadowed in his eyes, like
something deep and broken. She opened her mouth to speak, wanting to question,
to analyze until she could better understand it. But he captured her bottom lip
between his, giving it a gentle tug before covering her mouth with his.

Her fingers trembled along his jaw, her lips melting into
his. The weariness in her soul faded and she basked in the new, restorative joy
emanating from his touch. This man—this intimidating, sexy, rough, but
good-hearted man she’d never in a million years have ever met if it hadn’t been
for that damn stone—filled her heart with a lightness she’d never thought possible.
She smiled and the trembling of her hands stopped, replaced by a shivering
awareness of his nearness deep within her abdomen.

Just as she parted her lips, inviting his tongue inside, a
little giggle behind them broke the silence. Leah jumped back in surprise and
Rathe laughed as Màiri covered her mouth with her chubby little hands, her
green eyes glowing with delight.

Rathe said something in Gaelic and gave her a brief tickle
before pulling her into his arms and kissing the top of her head. Leah’s heart
warmed. Brief memories of sitting in her own father’s lap when he came home
from work floated to the surface. She’d forgotten about that—how gentle and
safe her father’s arms seemed. Of how she would wait all day long just to be
near him. But then one day he did not come back. Her mother never shed a tear.

But Leah did. For many, many nights. And when her mother
finally tired of it, Leah hid under the stairs in the basement just so her
mother wouldn’t find out and become irritated. She didn’t know then why he’d
left. Just that he was gone.

“You are so good with her,” she whispered, rubbing Màiri’s
back.

“As are you. She just told me how you tucked her and Daniel
in tonight.” He cocked his lips into a half-smile, his eyes glistening with
affection. “Thank you, lass.”

She dropped her gaze to the little girl, a bit bashful over
the praise. “It was nothing.”

“No, it was not. She needs a mother’s touch. I know I sprang
this on you. I should have warned you. Just give this a chance, love.”

She blinked several times in rapid succession, surprised by
the emotion catching in his voice. He loved his daughter. And he actually
seemed to
like
Leah and want her around. Her heart settled into an easy,
pleasant rhythm. She smiled and nodded.

He wasn’t forgetting he’d already given her the choice of
whether or not she stayed, but he was making it damn hard for her to choose.

God in heaven, he loved it when she did that.

Flipping her long, auburn hair over her shoulder, her hips
tilted to one side to support Daniel’s small body as he laid his weary head
against her. Smiling down at Màiri as she took his daughter’s hand. Her lashes
fluttering with shyness as she caught him staring at her once again.

It all made Rathe’s chest tighten. He’d always thought Leah
was a beautiful woman. But as their days together grew too numerous to bother
counting, she became stunning. To his surprise he even relished the familiarity
of her softness, her curves, the way her lips tasted. He set about his day
every morning looking forward to the end of it when he could lie in the
darkness with her wrapped in his arms.

For the first time in all of the years he had lived in the
Sinclair keep, it finally felt like home. And it was all because of her. She
brought a soft, steady quiet to the cold stone building. He had grown to rely
on it as an anchor at the end of a long day. A woman after his own heart, she
abhorred the idea of servants doing for her what she could do for herself. She
helped out where she could and was gentle and respectful toward everyone. Màiri
trailed behind Leah like a wee puppy every day, mimicking her new stepmother’s
facial expressions and wanting to help her with everything. Leah was always so
patient with her. And affectionate. His last wife had barely acknowledged his
daughter, let alone the servants. Leah had become the mother the little girl
had always craved. The one he had always wanted for her.

The one he wanted to carry his son. He loved the idea of her
belly growing large with his bairn and often rested his palm on her stomach at
night, hoping to detect a slight swelling.

Hoping it might convince her to stay. If not for him, then
at least for their child.

He crossed his arms, his eyes roving over her form as she
disappeared into the castle with the children. Naptime. Which, as of late,
seemed to include Leah as well. His brow furrowed. She had also become very
sleepy in the evenings around when the children would go to bed. With the
weather turning colder now that winter was fast approaching, he feared a
sickness had gotten hold of her.

Perhaps he should check on her. Maybe just feel her forehead
for a fever.

He instructed Brodie to carry on the training session for
the new young warriors and strode across the courtyard. Taking the stairs two
at a time, he entered the keep and made his way up to the third floor. The door
of the children’s chamber was ajar and he peeked inside, catching Leah’s gaze
as she settled Daniel next to a wiggling Màiri who was intent upon making Leah
understand in a very loud whisper she was getting too old for naps.

Leah spoke and one of the servants, Flora, appeared at
Màiri’s side. Leah patted the little girl on the leg moved toward the door.

He stepped back as she slipped out into the corridor,
closing the door behind her. Her upper lids were droopy again, a sure sign she
was thinking about another nap. She smiled though and stood on her tiptoes to
place a soft kiss upon his cheek. A soothing lightness filled his heart.

And then it hit him.

He loved her.

Damn it all, he was in love. With his
wife
. When the
hell had this happened?

With an awkward, jerking movement, he placed his palm on her
forehead. “Not feverish,” he grumbled in Gaelic.

She pulled his hand down, crinkling her brow. “That’s why
you came up here? Because you thought I was sick?”

He even loved the funny little accent she had when she spoke
his language. It was amazing how quickly she had picked it up over the past two
and a half months. “You have been sleeping a lot lately.”

She shrugged and slipped her fingers through his as she cast
her gaze down toward his feet. “I haven’t been sleeping well at night.”

Now she was lying. She had, in fact, been sleeping like the
dead. It used to be he would shift in the bed and she would stir, but as of
late she would just lie there like a rock. If fact, she had been so far gone
last night he dared not wake her despite the raging lust that had overtaken him
as he slipped into bed. There was something she was not telling him.

He pulled her down the hall and into their chamber, closing
the door behind them. “The truth, lass. Now.”

She sighed with more than a bit of drama. “Is it not okay
for a woman to be tired in her own home after a morning of taking care of small
children?”

His chest tightened. She was throwing back his response to
her when she’d asked him a similar question the first night after they’d
arrived home. But her eyes shooting up toward him alerted him to the deeper
meaning behind her words. A meaning she was either trying to keep hidden or was
only just now sinking into her own mind.

She had just called his keep “home”.

He held her gaze as her eyes widened in a mixture of
confusion and fear, ready to bolt like a hunted doe in the forest if he made
any sudden moves. When she got worked up like this, unwilling to confide in
him, there was only one way he had discovered so far to get her to relax.

He dropped his stare down her body and back up, the corner
of his mouth turning up in amusement as the tension melted from her limbs. But
he paused at her breasts. The fabric of her overdress stretched taut across
them. It was a garment she’d had ever since he’d known her, but it had never
looked as though it was too small before this.

He stepped toward her and she grabbed a fistful of his
leine, drawing him in. He chuckled and dropped his lips to the silken skin of
her neck. His cock hardened, aching against her soft abdomen as he pressed her
back to the wall.

“I waited for you last night,” she whispered in his ear,
nipping at his earlobe with her teeth.

Shivers coursed through his spine. He ran his tongue along
the sweet skin of her neck and she sighed. “You were sound asleep as soon as
your head hit the pillow, lass.”

She tensed. “No I wasn’t.”

He slipped his hands around her waist, hesitating. He knew
all of her curves, how they felt beneath his touch. But something seemed
different now.

“I was but a few moments behind you,” he murmured, kissing
her temple. He nudged her head to the side with his nose and flicked her neck
with his tongue before sinking his teeth into her flesh and giving her a gentle
bite.

A sweet little moan escaped her throat and he turned her
until she faced the wall. She pulled her hair over one shoulder, exposing her
neck to him again as he raked her skirts up her thighs. He laughed. He never
would have guessed his timid little wife liked it a bit rough, but he was
grateful for it. Quick and dirty, long and slow, he relished it all, especially
now it was with her.

He raked his teeth across her neck again, baring the
luscious round curves of her creamy backside to him as he shoved her skirts to
her waist. His shaft surged in a pleasureful pain, wanting to sink into her
folds right then.

She placed her palms on the wall, arching her back in
invitation. He groaned, sliding one palm down her hip, pressing his cock hard
against her ass, as his other hand smoothed forward across her abdomen. She
flexed her hips back, her breathing quickening. But once again he hesitated.

A swelling. Was he imagining it? He caressed her stomach
again, peppering kisses along her neck. No, it was there. Just barely. But it
was there. And it was new.

He stilled. Was she…

“Rathe?”

He pressed a quick kiss below her ear and gave her a light
smack on her backside. “Spread them.”

She threw a shy but flirty grin back at him, her eyes glowing
with an impish twinkle. She shifted her hips in a slow, back-and-forth motion
as she widened her stance. A grumble rumbled forth in his chest. Such a tease.

He grinned and shook his head in surrender. Damn, he loved
how confident she was of her allure to him. Of how much he wanted her at any
time of the day or night and how willing and eager she was to accommodate him.
Let him do whatever he wanted. Trusted him to bring her pleasure. His
wife
.
He would never have guessed it was possible after the two miserable messes of a
marriage he’d had before.

He smoothed his hands down the curves of her buttocks,
relishing the milky softness and enticing form as the flesh yielded to his
touch. He ripped off his belt, tossing it aside, and freed his cock. It
strained toward her and she arched her back, angling her slit up toward him.

Every muscle in his body tensed. He wanted to fuck her. Now.
But, damn it all, with the way his shaft was aching as though it had been two
weeks rather than two days since he had last slid into her welcoming flesh, it
would not be long before he spent inside her. It would not be long enough.

He could not resist though. Just a small taste. He spread
her ass cheeks and her slit glistened up at him with gathering moisture,
deepening in its rosy color. He grasped the base of his cock and slid the tip
down between her folds, drawing a shattering gasp from her lips. Her juices
coated him as he paused at her opening and then thrust into her, burying his
shaft to the hilt in one, fluid movement.

She panted as he held her impaled upon him. His cock
pulsated, sending vibrations of hot arousal through him. He pulled back and
drove into her hard once again, twisting another cry from her. He sank his
teeth into her neck, her slick pussy quivering around him, driving a dizziness
through his head.

She needed to come. Now before he lost control. He would
have to steel himself against the deep, animalistic urge to pound into her
until he spilled his seed.

He pressed her chest to the wall, keeping her hips tilted
back with one hand so his cock did not slip out of its tight, hot sleeve, and
slid his other hand around until a finger hit her engorged clit. She whimpered.
He licked the flesh he’d just bitten and kissed her ear as he kneaded her clit
in ever-tightening circles.

Their shared, quickening breaths broke through the silence
of the room. Her pussy shivered in erratic pulsations, sending intense surges
of pleasure through his cock. But soon the ripples of her mounting arousal
became rhythmic. Her core sucked on him, drawing him in deeper.

She swallowed hard and gasped for breath. With a deep moan,
she rocked her hips, pumping his cock in short, measured strokes. He gritted
his teeth, his shaft swelling with the onslaught. With a rough jerk, he pulled
her back and held her steady as he rubbed her clit in frenzied circles.

Her pussy clamped down hard all around him and she sucked in
a breath. The spasm vibrated around and down the length of his cock.

He stepped back and grabbed both of her hips. Lifting her up
to her toes, he pummeled into her, the flesh of her backside yielding to every
thrust. His balls tightened, sweat beading on his brow despite the chill of the
room. With one last, concentrated plunge into her, a hot, raging convulsion
radiated through his cock and he burst, pumping his seed into her hot,
welcoming depths.

She slumped forward and he followed, holding her up with his
body and pressing his cheek to the back of her head. Their breathing made a
slow retreat back to normal.

This. This
felt
right. She belonged with him. Here.
In this keep with his daughter and his clan. Even if she wasn’t carrying his
child now or ever did in the future, it did not matter. Leah belonged with him.

But she
was
with child. It all made perfect sense
now. The tiredness, the swelling of her breasts and stomach, however slight.
Was she aware of it or was she just not ready to tell him?

He let out a long, deep exhalation. Now was not the time to
confront her. He should probably let her get to her nap so she could be ready
for the children when they awakened. With some reluctance, he withdrew his
softening cock from her warm depths and eased away from her, pulling her skirts
back down over her hips.

She turned toward him with a sigh, a sleepy, satiated
expression playing across her features. She placed her hand along his jaw and
stood on tiptoes to kiss his cheek as he tucked his cock back into his
breeches. “Now I definitely need a nap.”

He smiled and stooped to retrieve his belt, allowing Leah to
help him secure it around his waist. He tilted her face up and pressed his lips
to hers in a tender kiss. He wanted to tell her how he felt and ask her about
the baby. But he did not want to frighten her or trigger the skittishness that
might cause her to shrink away from him.

He was not certain just how much of his language she knew or
if she could piece the words together before he made his escape, but he wanted
to tell her and let her come to terms with it in her own time.

He leaned forward and whispered into her ear. “
Tha gaol
agam ort.
”

I love you.

She pulled back and scrunched her brows.

He laughed and kissed her forehead. “Let me know when you
have it figured out.”

He threw her a wink and slipped out the door. As soon as he
turned in to the hallway, her gasp reached his ears through the door.

He grinned and strode toward the stairwell.