Gifts of Desire (45 page)

             
“
Shut up
, Ethan
!
”,
Ceann
growled as he lifted
Ella
onto the back of his horse and swung up behind her before she could escape.  Wrapping his arms tightly around her, he kicked the stallion and they rode back to Tulloch.
 

             
The cry went out as they rode into the bailey, and people suddenly appeared from everywhere, some even cheering
Ella
’s safe return.  It warmed her heart that they had welcomed her so readily, and in that moment, she knew she was home,
truly, finally home
.
  But first she would have to settle things with the
laird
who had stolen her heart.

             
He swung
down from the horse and lifted
her gently out of
the saddle
.  Tossing
Fallon’s
reins to a stable boy, he immediately grabbed her elbow and steered her through the small crowd
that had gathered
.  He looked straight ahead, ignoring everyone, not even pausing. 
Ella
saw Maggie up ahead,
shoving on-lookers aside with her elbows,
frantically trying to reach her, concern etched on her face.  She squeezed Maggie’s arm as they passed by, and gave her a
warm
smile.

             
“I’m fine.”

             
“The bairn?”

             
“Fine as well.”

             
That was all she had the chance to say, before
Ceann
was dragging her
up the stairs to his chamber. 
He opened the door, led her inside, then closed and bolted it
behind them
. 
Ella
looked around, curious.  In all her weeks at Tulloch, she had never once seen his private chamber. 
He had never once brought her here.  She frowned
.  She was carrying this man’s child, yet never had she sp
ent an entire night with him
, or even shared his bed
.
  It would be a beautiful thing, to wake up every morning in his arms.
 

             
It was a man’s room, sparsely furnished
, masculine
and austere. 
The only
outward
signs of
wealth were the large
richly carved
wood
en
bed and the plush carpets on the floor. 
She glanced back at
Ceann
, who wore an expression somewhere between pain and fierce determination
, his arms folded over his chest
.  She
had already
mostly
forgive
n him
, but he did not need to know that yet.  There were things she needed to hear him say, first.

             
He took off his sword belt and placed the weapon carefully on a trunk against the wall.  Then he looked up at her. 
“I should not have doubted you”, he said.
  “My uncle… he knew… he knew about everything, and he didn’t tell me.”

             
She shook her head slightly. 
“You had reason to doubt me,
Ceann
,
I know that,
but perhaps you could have let me
try to
explain.”

             
“Aye.  I
let my anger overwhelm me
.  I wasn’t thinking straight.  You never deserved what I did to you.  I…
I just couldn’t bear the thought that I’d lost you, or
that I
never had you to begin with…”

             
“
W
hat will you do about Ross?
Now that you will have an heir;
he is a dangerous man,
Ceann
.  He wants Tulloch, and he wants you dead.
”

             
“I know.  M
y men found a parchment at
Rossmoor
.  It was a copy of the document my father once had
. 
Da
must have
burned
the original
, long ago,
because I never found it
.  I ha
d never seen the words
… or I might not have suffered for so long.
  My father tried to tell me, I think, not long before he died, but I was too stubborn to listen.
  I left then, just like I left you.
”
 
 

             
“No
Ceann
, your trials were part of it all.  We both had to go through everything we did in order to find each other.  It couldn’t have been any other way.  There never was a curse, was there?  At l
east not the way you thought.
”

             
“No, I only had to find my one
true love, to have all I ever wanted.”
  The corners of his mouth turned up a little.  “I admit, I was very impatient, waiting for you to come to me.”
 

             
Ella scoffed at him.  “You weren’t waiting for me when I got
here;
in fact you
spent much of your time trying to keep away from me!”  She crossed her arms over her chest and fixed him with a look.

             
His face lit in a roguish smile.  “Had I any idea lass, what I was so busy running from, you would have been flat on your back that first day I found you in the woods.  As it was, you have no idea how close you came to crawling out of that tent in the morning without your innocence.”

             
She
smiled
.  She would not tell him that he had been in almost as much peril himself.  Instead she
looked
him slowly up and down, her eyes roaming appreciatively over his body.  S
o proud, so strong.  A warrior whose hands had killed to protect, would kill again.  A gentle man, a fierce lover.  So handsome, with his deep blue
-green
eyes and
glossy
hair falling in disarray about his shoulders.
  His arms could cradle her or crush her, at his will.

             
She took a breath.
  It was time, they had both suffered enough.
  “Come to me, Ceann
.
”

             
He was across the room in two strides, his body pressed to hers
before her next heartbeat
.  He cupped her face in his hands and lowered his mouth, parting her lips with his
own
on a soft sigh.  He kissed her deeply and fully
, fighting to go slowly.  But when her hands began to
slide
over his body, his
kiss turned wild and desperate.

             
Ethan was right
,
Ella
thought, as she was crushed to
Ceann
’s chest, his hands seeking to rid her of her clothing. 
This man feels so deeply, has so much passion
.  She could feel him tremble as he struggled to contain all the power he held within.  She wanted a taste
of
that power,
the strength of his body,
so different from her own.  She pulled at his clothes,
barely
noticing her own were already gone beneath his skil
led hands.  With a final tug of his belt, his kilt fell away and she
had him naked before her
,
drawing
her hands over his broad chest.  She followed with her tongue, tasting the salt of his skin.  He moaned and tossed his head back.  She reached down and grasped the hard length of him, skimming her thumb over the tip.  He
looked
down
at her, his breath
coming fast and hard.  She still held him, pulling
him gently back towards the bed.  Wh
e
n they reached it,
he pushed her back, covering her with his body.

             
“You are mine now”, she said.

             
“Aye.”

             
He slid into her with a soft groan of pleasure, his mouth finding her nipple and suckling until she arched beneath him, urging him to move faster, trying to pull him even closer.  As she began to shudder, he rose up and looked down at her, his eyes dark with passion.

             
“I love you,
Ella
. 
Tha gaol agam ort
.”
  Then he stiffened in a moment of pure ecstasy, holding her tight to him as he poured into her.

             
After, he pulled her close in his arms, burying his face in her hair.  “Will
you
be my wife,
Ella
?” he asked softly, as if afraid of the answer.

             
She
gave a contented sigh
. 
He asked
a question she
had
never thought to hear
, before
.  After all, he had been an avowed bachelor when she met him.  Would she marry him? 
She thought about Malcolm and Duncan and Esme, and her old life at Mandaine. 
She missed them all terribly, but she could visit; they could visit.  It felt strange not to ask them what she should do, but she was a woman grown. 
They had always given her the freedom to choose her own way. 
To spend the rest of her life here with
Ceann
?  It could be no other way. 
I would do anything to keep him
.

             
Ceann
waited impatiently for her answer. 
What
is she thinking about?  Would it be so bad to be my wife? 
I will see her wed to me whether she wills it or no, I won’t lose her again
.  He moved to look down at her.  “
Ella
?”

             
“Aye,
Ceann
.”

             
“Aye what?”

             
“I will be your wife.”

             
A grin split his face, “We will be wed tomorrow.”

             
“Tomorrow?”

             
“Aye tomorrow.  I
don’t
want you to have time to change your mind.”

             
She smiled mischievously and slipped out of his arms, rising from the bed and reaching for her clothes.

             
“Where are you going?  Come ba
ck here now!
, I’m not nearly done with you.”

             
“I’m going to my own chamber tonight, Laird.  It’s bad luck to see your bride before the wedding.”  She laughed when his face fell like a disappointed child.  “Good night Ceann.”

Chapter 19

             
S
cant hour
s
later,
Ella
was being bathed and fussed over in her chamber.  There seemed to be women everywhere, and Maggie couldn’t stop sobbing.  Fiona said she would get tear stains all over
the lovely gown she had chosen for Ella.
  They
washed her with rose-scented soap,
dried her off and dressed her and put flowers in her hair and finally pronounced her ready to be married; most fit to be the bride of a great laird.
  Her wedding day.  Strange, but although she had always assumed she would marry one day, she had never once imagined her wedding.  Nor had she ever imagined she could be this happy.
 

             
As she went down to the great hall behind her entourage,
Ella
felt unaccountably nervous. 
It must be that everything is happening so fast
, she thought.  When she saw
Ceann
standing there, watching her, her heart did a flip.  He looked incredibly handsome, clad in a crisp w
hite shirt and
his best
dress plaid, and polished knee-high leather boots.
  His hair was combed back into a neat queue, but a few silky waves escaped to frame his face, giving him an appealing roguish look.  He stepped forward and
reverently
took her hand,
kissing it, then
leading her to stand before the priest, who smiled indulgently.  “I
don’t
know
if I’ve ever seen a young man so eager to be wed, but then not many a bride is as lovely as you, my dear.”