Highland Lover: Book 3 Scottish Knights Trilogy (23 page)

A
lyson sensed Jake’s anger and knew that it arose from something she had said. He did not seem angry with her, though. Wanting to be sure of that, she said, “What is it? If there is more that I should know, I wish you would tell me.”

“The issue is likely moot now,” he said soberly. “But I suspect that you are right, and your marriage was not all that a marriage might be. One does not like to pry too deeply—”

“Say what you will,” she said. “I want to know how it
should
have been.”

“Sithee, the time you spent with your husband should have been pleasurable. You must have done
some
things in bed together besides sleeping—things that made you feel closer and gave you both pleasure. Did you not?”

Frustrated, she said, “You will have to be plainer, sir. I will say that it was more pleasurable to sleep
with
Niall in my bed than without him. But I do not know if that is what you mean about its being pleasurable. I think it was likely more
comfortable
to sleep with him than with a husband I had not known since childhood. Other than that…”

She paused when she realized that the feelings in her dream must be the sort of pleasurable things he meant. The thought sent a flush of heat through her cheeks that made it hard to meet his steady, probing gaze. She nearly shut her eyes.

Jake noted her blushes and the way her eyelids drooped. He noticed whenever anything prevented him from gazing into her beautiful eyes. But he also sensed that she was concealing something. As always, such behavior stirred his deepest curiosity.

“What is it?” he demanded. “Don’t keep things from me if you want my help with this. Relations between a man and his wife are ever a delicate subject that neither ought to share with a mere acquaintance, or indeed, with
any
one else. I will admit, though, that your current situation is difficult.”

Looking remorseful, she said, “I do not mean to be difficult. It is just that I
have
felt things in my dreams that were most pleasurable. But—”

“You cannot be talking about that nightmare you suffered last night. Tell me about these other dreams.”

Her gaze dropped, and her flush deepened until it looked painful.

Annoyed with himself for such clumsiness, he said, “Never mind that. You were doubtless dreaming of your husband—”

“But I wasn’t. I’ve never dreamed about Niall.” Nibbling her lip in that tantalizing way she often did, she added, “In troth, I rarely recall my dreams. But I am sure…” Pausing, she looked up, and he detected a rueful
twinkle in her eyes. “This is much more difficult than I thought it would be. Perhaps we should not—”

“Look here,” Jake blurted. “If you want me to explain what married people do in bed, I will. ’Tis plain that, although you may have some small knowledge of how two people couple to create a child, you are trying to discuss something of which you know next to nowt.”

“That is exactly how it is,” she said, relief strong in her voice.

Wishing one moment that he could shut the door against possible intrusion and hoping fervently the next that neither Ivor Mackintosh nor Fin Cameron would
ever
learn of this conversation…

With a near groan, he blinked away the image he’d stirred of the two teasing him mercilessly and collected his thoughts. Then, taking care to spare her sensibilities as much as he could by speaking frankly and drawing on what little she knew about the behavior of farm animals, he described the act of coupling.

When he finished, she gazed at him thoughtfully but silently until he began to wonder if she had understood.

Alyson was trying to imagine Jake doing the things he had described. Surely, she thought, he must have had more than a little practice to describe such behavior so glibly. He had, however, provided absolute clarity on one point.

“Niall did sometimes put his arm around me and I would lie close to him and rest my head on his shoulder,” she said at last. “But I don’t think we ever did anything even similar to what you’ve just described.”

“Then you did not,” Jake said. Although he did not laugh, she detected a strong note of amusement in his voice. “I’m sure you’d remember.”

She could not help smiling at the understatement. “I would, aye.”

“Usually, a married couple consummates their union soon after they wed,” he said. “In many places, especially where great inheritances are at stake, witnesses watch them to be sure they
have
coupled.”

“Mercy, but I’d have disliked that!”

“Even so, I’m surprised that your father did not encourage an immediate consummation.”

“But I’ve told you, sir, neither of my parents takes sufficient interest in the lives of others in the house even to suggest that we behave in a particular way. They have not done so these five years and more.”

“Since your brothers’ deaths,” he said. “I know that you said as much. But in the case of a marriage, consummation is vital. One couples, after all, to produce offspring. Surely, Clyne wants children, and so do you.”

“Niall did say that he wanted sons and lots of them,” she said. “But he also said he wanted to improve his position with Orkney before we began a family.”

“Sakes, Orkney is wealthy beyond most people’s dreams, certainly wealthier than anyone in the royal family. He pays his people well, too, and looks after their interests. Your Niall could easily have supported a family.”

“Do you
do
things like that?”

“What? Pay my men well and look after them? Aye, sure, I do.”

“I… I didn’t mean that,” she said. “I meant…” She
stopped, blushing again. “I do know, after all, that you have not yet married, sir.”

Feeling sudden heat in his own cheeks, Jake said, “When you asked me about women before, I admitted I’m no saint, lass. It is not a bad thing for a man to gain experience before he weds, however.”

“I should not have asked you that. I wondered only because you must spend so much time with just men. But I suppose all warriors do that, and I do apologize. Mayhap Niall knew no more about such things than I did.”

“Perhaps,” Jake said, but he doubted it. Lads talked about lasses and women from the time they first observed differences between the sexes. Moreover, as he had learned the first time his cock reacted to a lass strongly enough to make him want to kiss her, things usually progressed naturally from that point, if only experimentally. The fact was that one experimented until one’s partner either took a hand herself or used hers in a good swift slap to deter her would-be swain.

“Did Niall not kiss you often?” he asked.

“Aye, sure, whenever we met. And if he was with me at home, he’d always kiss me goodnight and good morning.”

“Did you not feel things then?”

She licked her lips and looked away as if the answer to his question might be floating outside the open door. Then she turned back with renewed determination.

“In troth, I don’t recall feeling anything except friendly warmth toward Niall, as I always have. However,” she added before he could probe further, “in those dreams I mentioned earlier, I did feel things whilst kissing.”

“So, if he kissed you at home, you felt nowt. But, in dreams, you do feel things. What sorts of things?”

“I would call the sensations different forms of tingling,” she said. After some thought, she added, “And heat. I felt warm, then hot all over.”

“So, he could make you feel—Nay, wait, you said you’ve never dreamed about Clyne, so who—”

“It was… was someone else.”

“I see,” Jake said. Hearing the edge in his voice, he felt no surprise when she nibbled that kissable lower lip again. He did wish she’d stop doing that. “I won’t ask you who it was, lass. ’Tis no business of mine.”

Rather than looking relieved, he thought she looked annoyed.

“I will say one thing more,” he said. “From what you tell me, I begin to fear that Clyne lacked a passionate nature. I also suspect that you do
not
lack passion. How deeply did you miss him whilst he was away?”

“It was as it always had been,” she said with a shrug. “Sithee, with the house full as it has been these past months—since before Christmas until I escaped with Niall to board the
Maryenknyght
—I scarcely had time to miss anyone. But I’m used to seeing him rarely. So it seemed as usual.”

Her elusive dimple suddenly appeared, and she added, “I suspect Great-Aunt Beatha was right when she said that I’m fond of telling everyone else what to do. I had a husband who never interfered, but he might have if he had been more often at home. I rarely miss men who persist in telling me what to do, rather than discussing the options that might exist.”

Jake grinned. “As I recall, your aunt also recom
mended learning to practice wifely obedience. Were you disobedient?”

“Nay, how could I be? Niall was the gentlest creature and never the least bit decisive. But I don’t want you to think I admired that trait in him, either, for I did not. Although I can be willful about things and may be fond of having my say, I prefer decisive men to indecisive ones. To my sorrow, however, I have found myself of late surrounded by the latter sort. Even when I’d find a chance to request Niall’s advice, he would say he was sure that I knew best. My father refuses to make decisions, and Ranald makes poor ones when he makes any.”

“That is not surprising,” Jake said. “If Farigaig is indecisive, he could scarcely have taught Ranald to be otherwise. Were your older brothers the same?”

“Nay, for before Eamon and Artan died, Father was not indecisive. His ability to order others about seemed to die with them. It was as if he withdrew inside himself. In troth, I think Eamon’s death alone would have had that effect.”

“He was the elder?”

“Aye.” She met his gaze. “Eamon did not like Niall. He said he was a fool.”

Jake felt sudden kinship to Eamon and sorrow that the man would never know that his opinion of Niall Clyne matched Jake’s own.

How Clyne could have kept his hands off a wife as lovely and desirable as Alyson, Jake could not imagine. Every time she licked or nibbled that lower lip of hers, or met his gaze with her extraordinary black-lashed, changeable eyes, his heart either thudded like a war drum or seemed to stop beating altogether.

She glanced out the open doorway again.

He knew they had stayed longer than they should. And she had not eaten a bite of food. He reached for an apple and handed it to her.

“You should break your fast,” he said. “If you’d like to sit at that wee table yonder, you may. I’m going out on deck.”

“Thank you, but I’d liefer sit in the sunlight. We’ve seen so little sun of late that I yearn to bask in it.”

“Sit on that bench outside your cabin,” he said. “It is sheltered from the wind, and you’ll be more comfortable. My lads won’t disturb you.”

“Your lads, as you call them, don’t trouble me at all, sir. I ken fine that I can trust them as much as I trust you.”

“You can trust them more than you can trust me,” Jake said, knowing that he spoke the truth and that he ought to warn her. He was only human, and the more he saw of her, the more he wanted to do things he had no business doing.

Her eyes smiled then, and he realized that that was exactly the right word for what they did from time to time. It was not that
she
had smiled, nor did she show real amusement. Her eyes twinkled when she was amused. What they did on their own was different. Perhaps it was just that her eyelids curved up at the ends, and her long black lashes exaggerated the curve. Whatever it was, it made her eyes smile.