Highland Master (34 page)

A brief glance, however, provided an explanation for his neglect.

Rothesay, on his other side, was holding forth about something. After his recent behavior, she suspected that he was trying to make more mischief.

Someone, she decided, should have thoroughly acquainted Davy Stewart with a good stiff leather tawse during his childhood, to teach him better manners.

No sooner had she nodded to a gillie that he could clear her place than her grandfather stood and raised a goblet. “We’ll be drinking to the bride and groom now, if ye please. They’ll want to be getting on with the grandest duty of marriage.”

Delighted laughter greeted his announcement. Goblets were filled and raised and the toasting soon over—too soon to suit Catriona. Worse, she had drunk some wine with each toast and could tell that she had had more than she should.

“Come now, into the inner chamber with ye,” the Mackintosh said, putting one hand on Fin’s shoulder and the other on Catriona’s. “Ye can take the service stair up to your bedchamber from there, so ye’ll have nae need to pass this way again. Our lads be already taking your things across the loch and loading the ponies. So everyone can go straight outside to see ye off after ye’ve dressed.”

As Catriona followed him into the inner chamber, she could feel Fin’s presence beside her as if he were touching her. Still irritated, she wondered what he was thinking and decided that he’d better be kicking himself for not being more forthcoming about his close connection to Tor Castle.

Wondering what the Mackintosh wanted with them, Fin followed Catriona, enjoying the enticing sway of her hips
as she passed her grandfather into the chamber but trying to measure, too, just how upset she was.

Inside, Mackintosh shut the door and crossed to his table, from which he took a foolscap document. An inkpot and a sharpened quill lay nearby.

Turning to Fin, he said, “I’ll not take long with this, lad, for I ken fine that ye’re impatient to claim your bride. Also, we both know that James and Morag be champing at their bits to be off the island and away.”

“James promised to wait, sir,” Fin said.

“Aye, sure. Now this be the charter for Raitt Castle. I have signed it over to ye for your lifetime as a wedding gift. I’d be fain to see it go next to your heir, but I ken fine that ye’ll never change your name to Mackintosh, nor should ye. Not after nearly giving your life for Clan Cameron.”

“You are right, sir,” Fin said.

“Mayhap, though, if ye’ll choose to live much of each year at Raitt and one of your sons would agree to take the name, Shaw can arrange for it to pass to him. Sithee, he agrees to the notion. If aught happens to ye afore ye have a son, Raitt will revert to Catriona unless she remarries to an outlander. Agreed?”

Fin did not hesitate. “You do me great honor, my lord. I will agree, aye.”

“Good, then. Sign right there at the bottom,” the Mackintosh said, dipping the quill and handing it to him. “Nae one has lived there for a time, but ’tis a sturdy place and can soon be made comfortable for a family.”

Fin signed, received yet another goblet of whisky, and drank with his new kinsman to their agreement. Catriona stood nearby, and other than hugging her grandfather and thanking him, she remained silent.

“The door’s yonder, lad,” Mackintosh said. “Ye’ve nae reason now to tarry.”

Putting a hand to Catriona’s elbow, Fin urged her toward the door and ahead of him up the narrow stairway. He was thankful that they would have privacy.

Many weddings, as he knew, ended in a raucous bedding ceremony that was highly entertaining for the company but rarely so for the couple. He was sure that, under the circumstances, having to endure such a ceremony would
not
be helpful.

When they were safely in her bedchamber, she turned to face him. “Do you still think we must bed at once, sir, after what Rothesay said below?”

“I do, aye,” he said. “We have a duty to consummate our marriage, and you are as aware as I am that James and Morag are waiting for us. We can fratch later.”

“But I don’t understand why you never told me.”

Taking a step toward her, looking right into her eyes as he did, he said, “I should have told you, but we can discuss the matter as we travel, lass. We will not discuss it now. Not with everyone waiting downstairs to bid us farewell.”

She stepped back.

Annoyance stirred, but he knew that she had cause to feel as she did. However, such discussions took time, and he did not believe that the people waiting below in the hall and in the yard would be patient. He glanced at the door to the main stairway. “Does that door have a bolt?”

“Nay,” she said. “I have never needed one.”

“Aye, well, beddings often become public affairs, lass. The reason your grandfather sent us up the service stair was to give us privacy. But if we do not go down soon, they will come up. I don’t think you will like that.”

Her face paled. “Then perhaps you should go down and tell them…”

“Tell them what?” he asked when she paused uncertainly.

When she did not answer, he took another step, saying gently, “We are the same two people we were earlier. The only difference is that now we are married. We can still talk to each other, and we will. Now, come here to me, sweetheart.”

She turned away.

“Catriona…” His patience was ebbing.

Catriona recognized the warning tone. Turning, she saw that his lips had formed a straight line hard enough to make a tiny muscle twitch in one cheek. Recalling Lady Annis’s warning, she felt an odd little thrill dance up her spine.

“We have made vows to each other, Catriona,” he said evenly. “I will keep mine, and I expect you to keep yours.”

“What will you do if I don’t? Ravish me or beat me?” But her heart was pounding, and the way he looked at her now made her want to touch him.

“You know that I would not hurt you or force you,” he said, clearly keeping his temper in check.

The tension in the room had increased tenfold, much of it within her own body. Her anger had ebbed with that tension, too, as if she could not contain two strong emotions at once.

He was determined, and that determination stirred indescribable feelings inside her. From her tingling skin
to the core of her body, every nerve had come alive. When he took yet another step toward her, they vibrated as if someone had plucked a harp with strings attached to every part of her.

He reached for her.

She licked her lips, eyeing him warily but without fear. Anticipation of what he might do warred with her own desire to touch him, to let him know how she felt deep inside. Then he touched her cheek, the palm of his hand warm against it but making it ache a little, too, reminding her of her father’s fury the night before and how Fin had responded to it.

“We can deal better than this, lass,” he said, his voice low-pitched and husky. “I promise you, we will discuss whatever you like for as long as you like whilst we travel. James said that Morag seeks privacy with him, too, so they will leave us to ourselves. Now, unless you want me to have to tell them that we have failed to consummate our marriage…” He paused.

She certainly did not want that. “Would you really tell them?” she asked, although she knew what he would say.

“I will not lie to them,” he said. “Nor, I think, would you. Forbye, they will examine the sheets.”

Experiencing a sense of relief just to know that she had judged him aright, she felt the warmer sensations increase.

The hand on her cheek shifted to her left shoulder, and when she did not object, both of his hands moved to her laces. When one of them chanced to brush across the tip of a breast, the feeling it caused made her gasp.

Lingering warmth from the wine she had drunk enhanced the feeling. She felt as if it spread its heat all through her.

He opened her bodice, stroking the tawny velvet as he did. The cool air in the room made her tremble as he untied her shift ribbons and bared her breasts.

“Ah, lassie,” he murmured, “how beautiful you are. I wish we could take our time, so that I might show you how pleasant this can be. But I fear…”

“… that someone will come, I know,” she said. “I do know something of what must be done, because Grandame did tell me. But
can
it be done so swiftly?”

The question alone was answer enough for Fin’s willing body, which leaped mightily at the vision she produced in his mind. But he did not want to hurt or frighten her, so he said, “It can be done, sweetheart. But I’d liefer have your dress off first, for you will be more comfortable so.”

She reached for her gold-linked girdle, unclasping it and setting it atop a kist. He helped her slip off her velvet tunic, its matching skirt, and her red flannel underskirt. Standing before him in only her shift, its top still agape to reveal her firm, rosy-tipped breasts, she was even more magnificent than he had imagined.

Stripping off her shift and casting it aside, he picked her up and carried her naked to the bed, which the women had turned down to reveal the pristine sheet. Laying her down, he took off his shoes, hose, and netherstocks. His cock was ready for her, and he saw her eyes widen when she saw it, but she did not protest.

“You did not say if your grandame warned you that the first time may be painful for you,” he said. “But I’ll do all I can to make it easier, especially since we have a long ride ahead of us. We need only couple, though, no more, so—”

“Aye, sure, I know that,” she said as if she wondered why he would say something so obvious.

“Ah, but there
is
more to this than you may be thinking after we’ve finished. So you should know before we start that to do what I mean to do will deny me much pleasure. That denial will weigh heavily on me until I can ease its weight, which,” he added, grinning now, “I mean to do before we rest tonight.”