Highland Vengeance (26 page)

“
I love you too Camden. I
promise not to argue about this anymore. I do have one request
though,” she said.

“
What is that my
love?”

Olivia dropped her plaid and revealed
her bare body to her husband. “Keep me warm.”

Laird Sinclair granted her request and
wrapped his large arms around Olivia as his mouth covered hers. His
hands gently rubbed every inch of her back and then he cupped her
from behind, lifting Olivia to straddle his waist. Camden moved to
the bed without letting his lips leave hers and then he lay back on
the bed with Olivia’s breasts pressing against his
chest.

She loved to tease him by moving her
body against his and Lady Sinclair knew how to drive her husband
almost to insanity as she used her mouth to taunt him. When he
could take her assault no more, Camden rolled his wife to her back
and returned the sweet agony. His fingers were magical and he
always took his time to prepare Olivia’s body to reach its peak of
ecstasy before fulfilling her need with his own. Camden’s mouth
returned to hers and his tongue mimicked the movement of his body.
The lovers finally surrendered as their climax together flooded
their senses.

Camden rolled to his side and pulled
his wife close to him. She nestled against his chest and sighed
softly in the dark. The Highland warrior ran his fingers gently
through Olivia’s hair and he prayed silently to God that they would
live a long a happy life together. He had never been more content
and once the nuisance of Malcolm MacKay was gone, they could truly
begin to live.

“
Did I take care of your
request?” He asked.

“
You did more than keep me
warm my laird, you set me on fire,” she smiled.

“
Aye, I did and I plan to do
so every night Olivia, now go to sleep, we are leaving at first
light.”

“
I love you Camden,” she
whispered.

“
I love you too
Olivia.”

Laird Sinclair made his wife stay
inside the holding while the others prepared the horses. They would
have left earlier but without the morning sun, Camden was afraid
Olivia would freeze to death while they traveled through the
Highlands. As they said their goodbyes, Broderick spoke with Camden
and Olivia watched the two men as they nodded to another before her
husband turned to leave.

“
Was that your goodbye to
Broderick? You two just nod to one another and that is it?” She
asked Camden as he approached her.

“
We are warriors not women,”
he answered.

“
Excuse me a moment my
laird,” she said before running towards Broderick.

Olivia threw her arms around the giant
man. “Thank you for taking care of the Sinclairs Broderick. It is
most appreciated and I believe my husband has forgotten his
manners,” she smiled.

“
M’lady, do not hurry home
because from the look on your husband’s face, he plans on killing
me for hugging you,” Broderick replied.

“
Don’t be silly, I was only
saying goodbye.”

“
Goodbye m’lady and God be
with you,” Broderick smiled.

“
And you Laird Kincaid,” she
laughed.

Olivia turned to see her husband’s
glare and for a moment, she thought Broderick may have been right.
Camden looked as if he wanted to kill someone and she laughed at
the thought of his jealousy. Liam, Stephan, Keith and Calum were
all prepared to leave and Camden stood by his stallion waiting for
Olivia. She noticed her horse was tied to her husband’s and she
wondered what the purpose for that was.

“
M’laird, why are our horses
tied to one another?”

“
You are riding with me wife
until we get to lower ground,” he answered.

“
And why is that may I
asked,” she said with a bit of offense.

“
I believe it was your
request, you did ask me to keep you warm, remember?” He
smiled.

Olivia quickly blushed and moved closer
to her husband. The Sinclair soldiers all tried not to smile at her
embarrassment as they avoided looking at Olivia.

“
My laird, I will be fine
without you. If we ride together, it will only slow us down
further,” she insisted.

The countess untied her horse and
mounted it quickly. She glared at her husband and waited for him to
take the lead.

“
Do I need to follow Liam or
will you be leading my laird?” She asked.

“
I will give you one hour,
if you have stayed warm for that long then you may ride by
yourself.”

The six of them headed down the snowy
path and all of them expertly maneuvered their horses through the
difficult terrain. The men worried about Olivia as the wind began
to blow and caused the chilly air to turn bitter cold. They had not
been riding for more than a half hour when Camden noticed his
wife’s teeth chattering. She rode her horse behind him and the
noise from her shivering was loud enough for everyone to
hear.

“
M’lady, are you getting
cold?” Liam asked.

“
I am just fine Liam, thank
you,” she replied with a shaky voice.

“
Lord, you are stubborn
wife,” Camden said as he slowed his horse and rode along side
Olivia.

“
I am not so cold, it is
just the wind,” she admitted.

Camden took hold of Olivia’s waist and
pulled her to his lap. He grabbed an extra plaid from his satchel
and wrapped it around him and his wife. She instantly welcomed his
heat and curled closer to his chest. Camden shivered as her cold
hands touched his body and then realized he should have made Olivia
ride with him from the beginning. Her chill drained his warmth and
it took a few minutes for them to begin to warm again.

The group traveled as fast as possible
through the snow taking caution the check the depth of the soft
powder before letting their horses travel into it. If their
stallions stepped into a hallow pocket of snow they could easily
break a leg and none of them would take the risk of losing their
valuable steeds. Camden was anxious to reach their first
destination for the evening because he had a surprise waiting for
his wife. They had traveled most of the day only stopping twice to
rest the horses and they finally made it to the Sutherland clan’s
holding.

“
We will stay here for the
night and then leave again in the morning,” Camden
explained.

“
Where are we my laird?”
Olivia asked.

“
You will know in a moment,
I have a surprise for you,” he whispered in her ear.

Laird Sinclair slid from his horse and
then helped his wife down to the ground. Olivia stretched her legs
and excused herself for some privacy in the woods. She had noticed
that it was already much warmer here than higher up where the
Sinclairs lived. Once Olivia came back from the woods, she noticed
someone speaking with her husband but she could not quite see who
it was. When the countess recognized the Sinclair guard, she ran to
him as quickly as she could.

“
Travis!” She
yelled.

“
M’lady, I am so glad you
are well. I heard about your injury and fever and I am grateful you
have recovered,” Travis said with a smile.

Olivia wrapped her arms around the big
soldier and hugged the young man that she had left injured before
the battle at the Sinclair holding.

“
I am fine and I take it
that you are well also,” she said.

“
I have been well for a
while and sent word to Laird Sinclair but he told me to stay here
until the heavy snow passes. Now I will be traveling with you to
Edinburgh and England.”

“
That is wonderful,” Olivia
smiled and turned to Camden. “Was this my surprise?”

“
Yes but if I had known you
were going to hug the man like that I would have kept him hidden,”
Camden grunted with displeasure.

Olivia laughed and then squeezed
Travis’s hand. “I have so much to tell you.”

The group sat around the hearth and
told their own version of all that had transpired in the past few
weeks. Travis had only heard small bits of what had happened from
the Sutherland soldiers that had returned from the battle. The
youngest Sinclair guard was shocked to hear that Maggie lived and
that Malcolm still threatened Lady Sinclair. The Sutherland laird
gave a private room to Camden and Olivia for the night and the rest
of the group slept by the hearth.

Before the sun had come up, Laird
Sinclair went over his plans with his warriors. He reminded the men
that they would be entering the lowlands soon and they needed to be
extra aware of their surroundings. Olivia’s safety was at stake and
Camden would let nothing happen to his beautiful wife. The group
continued on their journey to Edinburgh and now that they were out
of the harshest weather, they could ride faster on the cleared
paths.

Olivia rode her own horse and they made
good time traveling hard for the next two days. It was late in the
afternoon when they reached the outer edges of Edinburgh. The king
was expecting him and Olivia but Camden wanted his guards with them
too. He did not feel comfortable entering the city without his
warriors at his side to help him protect Olivia. Laird Sinclair was
sure that word had spread quickly about his arrival and he knew it
would not be long before Malcolm knew they were there.

The king’s stable master took their
horses to the stalls to have them looked after while the stewards
escorted Camden, Olivia and the warriors inside the castle. Camden
watched to see Olivia’s reaction to the king’s castle because it
certainly was paltry compared to the English king’s castle. He was
pleased to see that his wife put no faith in finery and she did not
seem to even notice the difference between the two
castles.

“
I am anxious to see my
cousin Princess Margaret. It has been such a long time, I believe
we were both young girls when we saw each other last,” Olivia
said.

“
Aye, King James is married
to your cousin but I believe she is still a young girl, was she not
a child bride?” Camden asked.

“
She is not so young , I am
only two years older than she is.”

“
Yes, but you are different
wife, most women of your young age do not lead armies into battle,”
Camden smiled.

The herald announced Laird and Lady
Sinclair to King James IV and Princess Margaret. Olivia felt like a
mess and she was sure she looked like one after traveling for the
past three days on horse. She was not prepared to greet the king or
her cousin but there wasn’t anything she could do about it now. The
Highland laird and his wife came before the royal couple and the
princess immediately smiled at her cousin that she had not seen for
some time. Olivia was shocked to see that the king was much older
than her cousin was. The Scottish king looked to be in his thirties
with Margaret being only sixteen.

“
Laird Sinclair it is good
of you to come. I have been anxious to meet the English bride you
begged me for, you are lucky, she is quite beautiful. Also, my wife
has wanted to see her cousin since she has been here in Scotland,”
King James said.

Olivia elegantly curtsied to the king
and introduced herself. “I am Lady Sinclair it is wonderful to meet
you, Your Majesty. Forgive my husband, it seems he has forgotten
his manners.”

The warriors behind Camden gasped at
her bowing to the king, for the Highlanders did not truly honor him
as their king. They assumed Lady Sinclair had not known this and
they quickly forgave the woman for her mistake. Camden was
irritated but he did respect the king enough to bow his head
slightly before he spoke.

“
I wish you were meeting my
wife on better terms King James. I am afraid my problem with
Malcolm MacKay has now become everyone’s problem,” Camden
replied.

“
Yes, it is unfortunate that
the man is baiting you to kill him but by the looks of you and your
men, I am sure you will have no problems in doing so. So far, my
soldiers have not been able to capture the man and punish him for
what he has done in the lowlands. I want to hear from you directly
what took place at the MacKay holding.”

Olivia was hardly paying any attention
to what they were talking about because she was still thinking
about what the king had just said. Camden had begged King James to
be able to marry her. That time seemed so long ago to her, when
they had only known one another for mere moments before they were
married. She was thinking of how much her life had changed in such
a short time and she was grateful to God for every minute of
it.

“
Perhaps we could excuse the
women so that they may reunite while I fill you in on all that has
happened since we last spoke,” Camden said.

“
Yes, that seems
appropriate,” the king agreed.

As Princess Margaret and Olivia went to
the solar room next to the large keep, Camden had Liam and Stephan
follow her to stand guard by his wife. King James watched as the
men left to protect Lady Sinclair and he knew that the Highland
laird must be worried about his wife.

“
Do you think that my
soldiers cannot look after our wives?” The king asked.