Tyler, Lynn - For Her Honor [For Her] (Siren Publishing Classic) (22 page)

“You are laird here, Robbie,” Jamie said. “It will be as you wish it. But I do not want to be near you when you tell Jocelyn she is to have guards restricting her freedom,” Jamie turned to the men who had started to gather around them, explaining the situation in detail.

Robbie considered Jamie’s solution, but deep in his heart, he knew he would never forgive himself if something happened to Jocelyn. He knew in that moment he would do whatever he had to do to protect her.

He listened with half an ear as Jamie divided the men into shifts and assigned each to duties, including keeping watch over the cattle and the crops.

Robbie looked over the assembled men appraisingly and chose the two most skilled swordsmen. “Neil, James, there is a special favor I need of you. Jocelyn’s life has been threatened. Until such time as the threat is no longer an issue, I need the two of you to be Jocelyn’s shadows when I am not with her.”

The two men nodded and turned to head back into the keep. “Wait,” Robbie called. “She does not yet know of the threat, and I doubt she will take kindly to having a set of guards. Just stay outside of Will’s rooms for now and guard the door until I can speak with her.”

He watched as the two men tried to hide their smirks behind their hands. Robbie sighed for what felt like the fiftieth time that day. It would soon be common knowledge how deeply felt his emotions were for his wife. It would not do for Henry to realize how much he cared for Jocelyn. It would only serve to inflame him even further.

The thought of his wife brought the ache back into his loins, and he followed his men inside, trying to determine how to best tell Jocelyn of his plans. Perhaps it would be best to have her spent from passion when he told her.

Robbie dismissed the two men, who had only been guarding the door for mere minutes, and entered Will’s rooms. The sight that greeted him took his breath away and lightened his heart immensely.

Will was propped up in a chair, leaning weakly against the side as Jocelyn and Sarah changed the bedding. He was wrapped in a thick blanket and seemed to be gazing blankly at Sarah. The sweat on his brow and the damp linens that had been piled in a heap near the door told Robbie that Will’s fever had finally broken.

Robbie paused at his wife’s side to kiss her forehead before heading to kneel at his brother’s side. “It is good to see you awake, brother,” he said quietly, laying his hand on Will’s forearm.

Robbie looked closely into Will’s eyes. They were still blurry with pain, but he seemed more lucid with every passing second. “Aye, ’twas your dulcet voice I heard first as you roared about the bailey,” he joked faintly.

“When you are well, I will tell you what Jocelyn said to me about that,” Robbie promised.

“Ah,” Will said softly, as if still unable to raise his voice much over a whisper. “Your Jocelyn surely is an angel. That salve she mixed is heaven-sent. Already the skin looks as if it is healing.”

“Yes,” Robbie agreed. “My Jocelyn is an angel.”

He felt her warm hand on his shoulder and looked up into her smiling eyes. “Will should get back in the bed now,” she said softly.

He bent to lift his brother awkwardly, stopping when Will laid a hand on his chest and pushed weakly. “I would go on my feet.”

“Are you sure that is wise?” he asked, still bent over so he could hear Will’s faint voice.

Will’s face broke into a slight, ironic smile. “She has been helping me piss, Robbie,” he said, nodding weakly toward Sarah. “At least allow me some dignity.”

Robbie’s jaw tightened but knew he would have asked Will for the same thing. He helped his brother to his feet and held him up as they staggered to the bed. Pale and clammy with pain, Will groaned as he lowered himself onto the mattress. “The pain lets me know I am alive,” Will said as he waved the cup of laudanum away.

Robbie shook his head, wishing his brother would take the sleeping potion but understood because it was something he would have done himself. “I need to speak with Jocelyn. You will be all right with Sarah?” he asked.

“Aye, we will be fine, Sarah and I,” Will responded, though his eyes held little enthusiasm.

Robbie once again reminded himself to speak with Will about his attitude toward Sarah. He wondered what was going on. Will was not usually this ambivalent. In fact, he was the one all the women sighed about how sensitive and kind, if not a little brooding, he was. He could put some of his attitude down to his suffering but he didn’t seem to treat anyone else with such apathy.

Robbie caught Jocelyn’s hand and led her out of the room. As soon as they were in the hall, he looked around carefully before lowering his head to capture her lips. The kiss quickly became heated, and he sucked in his breath as her hands caressed his belly. Robbie was so lost in the kiss he jumped when he heard a man clear his throat.

“Ahem, Robbie?” Jamie inquired, looking delighted to once again be interrupting them.

Robbie sighed and leaned so he could whisper in his wife’s ear. “Meet me in our bedchamber.”

She ran her hands once more across his chest before moving down the hall, casting an annoyed look at Jamie as she went, her hips swaying seductively.

“I see you have not told her yet,” Jamie said, his smirk still in place.

“How do you know?” Robbie asked, irritated that Jamie seemed to know so much.

“The keep is still standing,” Jamie joked, punching his brother on the arm.

“Go and joke with Will. His fever has broken, and he is awake for the moment,” Robbie ordered, desperate to get back to his wife. Aside from the fact that he couldn’t wait to get her in the bed, he had sent her to wait unguarded.

“Ah, perhaps I will tell him of Jocelyn’s rant and how she left you with your mouth hanging open,” Jamie teased mischievously.

Robbie cuffed him on the head. “Lad, I thought you grew out of your mischief years ago,” he joked.

“Do not tell the lasses that,” he replied. “They like to think they are getting involved with a dangerous man.”

“The watches have been set?” Robbie asked, changing the subject to a more serious one.

“Aye, all is set.”

He grinned at Jamie and sprinted down the hall, pausing only to open the door of his bedchamber. He nearly cried at the sight he found. Jocelyn stood, gloriously naked, in the glow from the open window. Her hair was floating around her face, a slight breeze stirring it around her delicate cheekbones.

Her breasts stood proud, her nipples already taut with desire. She reached out and wordlessly asked him to come to her.

He did just so, moving across the floor to sweep her into his arms. She sighed into his mouth as he carried her to their bed. He placed her on her stomach and laughed as she squirmed, trying to twist around to lie on her back. He tickled her ribs until she was panting.

Her beautiful bottom was in the air, and he suddenly realized he wanted to be in her. Now. He wanted to forget his brother’s accident. He wanted to forget the lean winter to come. He wanted to forget Jocelyn was in danger.

Robbie jerked her hips up and brought her to her hands and knees. He was poised to enter her when he realized she could not be ready for him. Running his hand over her bottom and trailing his finger along her core, he shivered when he found how wet she already was for him. “Imp, what is this? I have not made you ready yet.”

Panting with desire, Jocelyn glanced over her shoulder and rolled her hips seductively. “Please, Robbie. Come into me…”

The headboard slammed against the wall when he plunged into her, groaning as he buried himself to the hilt. “Oh, Jocelyn…”

He leaned forward and bit her shoulder. The urge to move was overwhelming, and he shoved himself into her over and over until he felt his balls pull close to his body. His whole body throbbed, and he spilled inside her, pulling her as close to him as possible.

Robbie flipped her over and kissed his way down her soft belly, stopping to dip his tongue into her belly button. The sheets bunched in her fists as he sucked gently on the skin of her inner thigh, blowing over the mark he had made.

“Robbie, do not tease me,” she demanded, arching her back off the bed.

“As you wish, loving,” he said gruffly before fastening his mouth over her small, straining clit. He didn’t move until she gripped his hair and bucked against him. He chuckled against her hot flesh and slid one finger deep inside her. She was wet from both his seed and her own desire. He curled his finger forward and found her hidden spot as he increased the suction on her pearl. The bed creaked as she jerked toward him, her small inner muscles convulsing strongly around his invading finger.

He climbed up her body and held her as she calmed, her head cradled against his shoulder. “Your ass pleases me,” he mumbled drowsily.

Still exhausted from the events of the previous days and their vigorous lovemaking, he relaxed into the mattress and fell asleep to the sound of her gentle breathing.

* * * *

Jocelyn grumbled when the afternoon light hit her eyes, and she rolled over, nuzzling her face into Robbie’s powerful upper arm. She resigned herself to getting up. It was, after all, the middle of the day. She gazed out the window and judged from the position of the sun they had missed the afternoon meal.

She wondered briefly if anyone had come to fetch them but decided she had taken more pleasure in making love with her husband than she would if she had eaten with the rest of the keep’s occupants. She couldn’t believe how much she enjoyed his body. It was so different from hers, and yet it seemed to be made for her pleasure.

“What are you thinking?” her husband asked.

She looked up and met his sleepy eyes, smiling softly. “We have missed the midday meal,” she said, sliding her arm across his abdomen and resting her head on his chest.

“Ah. There was a knock on the door a while ago. You slept right through it. I ignored it. Mayhap they left us something to refresh ourselves,” he replied, smiling back at her.

She rose and wrapped the fur around her nude body as she walked to the door. Sure enough, a tray of food was sitting in the hall. She carried it back to the bed and settled next to him, allowing the fur to fall from her shoulders.

Raising his arms over his head, Robbie stretched like a giant cat and sat up, pulling the cloth off the serving dish. Cheese, cold meat and soft bread waited to be consumed and goblets of ale bubbled, ready to drink.

Jocelyn looked at the ale and back at Robbie doubtfully, remembering the last time he had indulged in drink. “I can handle one cup of the brew,” he said with contrition. “’Tis the whisky that I cannot tolerate.”

They ate quietly, enjoying each other’s company. Jocelyn couldn’t help but think that Robbie was gathering his courage to tell her something she wouldn’t like.

Sure enough, as soon as the last scrap of cheese had been eaten, he set the tray aside and faced her. “Eileen’s father has died,” he said without preamble. “Her brother, Henry, has become laird, and he does not look upon me with kindness.”

“What clan?” she asked curiously.

“Campbell,” he said. “Why?”

She scrunched up her nose as she thought back to one of her last days in her father’s home. “Henry Campbell? He was another of my suitors. You were not the only one who did not believe the rumors I started about myself. My father chose you over him,” she informed him.

Colin had already told him this, of course, but Jocelyn had just confirmed the rumor. He looked away from her and swallowed compulsively, before turning back to face her. She was oblivious to his concern as she continued speaking. “He is not a nice man, Robbie. He was always trying to corner me and put me in compromising positions. And the things he does to his bedmates…” She shuddered and pulled her face into a disgusted expression.

“He has taken responsibility for the raids and the destruction of our crops.” Robbie twisted his fingers together, trying to figure out the best way to inform her of his decision for assigning guards to her. Now that he knew Henry had already tried to defile her, he was twice as determined to keep her safe.

“So, Will’s injury is on his head, then,” she interrupted.

“Aye, but there is more. He has made a threat on your life.” He swallowed again, as if he was trying to force down a bitter potion.

She understood with a start the idea of losing her was painful for him. Perhaps there was more to Will’s comments on how much he cared for her than she had originally thought.

“I will be careful,” she said, stroking his arm reassuringly. “I will carry my dagger.” She leaned forward to kiss his chin. “All will be well, husband, I will be safe.”

“You will be safe, Jocelyn, because you will not go anywhere without a guard,” he said firmly.

She stared at him with confusion. “Robbie, you are laird here. You cannot spend every waking hour with me, escorting me to my duties,” she said reasonably.

“I know, imp. I have assigned two men to guard you when I am not able to be with you.” His tone warned her not argue.

Jocelyn frowned when she heard this. She understood his position, but she was more than capable of defending herself. “Robbie, I am able to protect myself. I held off those attackers for quite a while, if you would well remember.”

“Jocelyn, I cannot take chances with you. Even now, you may carry my heir,” he replied.