Chapter 21
The next morning, Drake awoke by first light. The lads still slumbered, which was fortunate, as it kept them from seeing how Drake had held Greer in his arms as they slept.
But he would not have let her go for anything. With her skin against his, at least he would be able to discern if her fever returned. Thankfully, she had remained cool all night, her breath soft and even where it fanned against his chest.
He withdrew his arms from around her, and she blinked her eyes open.
“How are ye feeling?” he asked.
Her brow furrowed. “Concerned.” She reached up for his face, touching her palm to his cheek in a caress he savored. “We shouldna have wasted so much time.”
“Greer?” A sleepy voice asked.
Drake regretfully pulled away, not wanting the lads to see them together.
“Greer,” Mac exclaimed as he bounded from his makeshift bed and ran over to her. “Are ye well?”
“Aye.” She laughed and shared a grin with Drake over her brother’s enthusiasm.
“We were worried about ye, but Drake said ye’d be fine,” Bean said.
“It takes more than a fever to keep me down.” Greer rose from her bedroll and tousled Bean’s hair.
Drake noticed she no longer favored her right side as she had before. She truly was feeling better. He breathed a sigh of relief. But it was short-lived as her words came back to him. She was concerned about their arrival into Dunfermline.
And she had every right to be.
Drake was concerned himself.
The worry did not abate as they broke their fast and prepared the cart for their journey. There were many ways their arrival into Dunfermline could be received, but most likely, it would not be with a welcome reception.
Likewise, there were many ways the king might react. But after inadvertently killing one of the crown’s most lucrative supporters, Drake anticipated his future to be bleak.
Prison, if he were lucky, but most likely, he would hang.
Certainly, any dreams of becoming a knight would never be realized. He’d be fortunate to escape with his life.
His gaze followed Greer as she moved about the cave, helping to pack their meager belongings. Though she smiled and jested with the lads, her concern was evident in the tension around her lips and the slight crease across her forehead.
Suddenly, a chilling thought jarred him.
They had coupled together. He had taken her maidenhead. A woman without experience would not know how to keep a babe from her womb. If he were to die, he would leave her with a bairn and no support.
She jostled him as she passed by. “Dinna look so serious.” Though she said it playfully, he could see the warning in her eyes to keep the blatant unease from his face for the sake of the younger two.
“Let me set up a pallet for ye in the cart.” Drake took the bedding from her.
“Ach, I couldna possibly lay down any longer.” She waved him off. “I’d like to sit on the bench for a while if that’s fine with ye.”
“Aye, I’d enjoy the company.” His heartbeat quickened. This would be the perfect opportunity to talk to her and convince her that they would have to marry before they arrived in Dunfermline.
For her sake. For the possibility of a bairn.
And because he loved her.
She gave him a genuine smile. “There’s something I want to speak with ye on.”
“I have something to say as well,” he replied.
Within minutes, the cart was secured to Drake’s destrier, and the boys settled in the back. They chattered like magpies and tossed hay at one another amid shared laughter. In truth, it was good to see them without thought to what lay in wait at the palace.
“Before we enter Dunfermline, we need to make a stop and assume disguises.” Greer nodded to herself, having already agreed in her mind to this ploy.
“Disguises?” Drake asked.
“Aye, so we can sneak into the palace and gain an audience with the king before ye can be arrested.”
Drake shook his head. “That is for ye and the lads to do, but no’ me.”
“Drake.” She gazed up at him, her eyes wide with fear. “They’ll capture ye.”
“I’m a warrior, Greer.” He squared his shoulders with the finality of his decision. “I’ll no’ run or hide.”
Those lovely green eyes filled with tears. “They could kill ye.”
“And that is what I wished to speak with ye about.” He looked away, unable to witness the terror and hurt in her stare. “If I am to die…” he glanced behind them to ensure the lads were not listening and lowered his voice. “What if ye are with child, Greer?”
She scoffed. “I dinna think I am.”
“But if ye are. And if I’m gone.” Pain resonated through him at the very thought. “I want to ensure ye’ll be cared for. I want to give ye my name so that whatever wealth not taken by the king will go to ye, and so that our child wouldna be born a bastard. Ye could go to Skye—”
“Ye’re no’ going to die.”
Drake turned his focus back to her and found her jaw locked tight.
“Dinna even say it,” she warned.
“I was serious when I told ye I wanted to marry ye.” He put his hand over hers. “No’ because of the possibility of a bairn, but because I love ye. I hope to God the king sees fit to allow me to live so that we might continue in life together. But if I am to die—”
“Dinna say that again.” She stared down at their hands in her lap. “I’m no’ worthy of ye, Drake. I’m a peasant, a thief. A no one.”
He gently caressed the back of her hand with his thumb. “Ye were a mother when there was none for yer brother. Ye’re a savior, no’ only of Mac, but me too.”
“Ye’re an honorable man.” Her voice trembled.
“I’ve no’ always been and may well die a criminal.” He drew in a deep breath at the reality looming over him. “But even if things were different—if I were receiving my knighthood and no’ being judged—ye are the only one I’d want by my side. A lass as bonny as she is honorable.”
She gave a short laugh. “Ye’d be the only person to describe me as such.”
“Ye’ve only stolen to put food in yer bellies and to save Mac.
That doesna make ye a criminal. It makes ye noble.
” He ran his thumb down her palm where the chapped skin had healed, leaving her skin pink.
“When given a choice, ye worked hard for yer living and would have continued to do so were ye no’ at the mercy of yer circumstances.
” He lifted his hand and gently tilted her face up at him.
“’Tis for that reason and so many more that I love ye and that I want ye to be my wife. ”
She pulled in a soft breath but said nothing.
“Will ye?” he asked. “Be my wife?”
Greer could scarcely breathe around the knot in her throat, let alone reply. She stared up at Drake, amazed at how he saw better of her than she deserved.
“Aye,” she said, finally able to speak again. “Aye, I’ll marry ye.”
“Ye’re going to be married?” Mac squealed excitedly from behind them.
A laugh erupted from Greer, free and giddy with immeasurable joy.
“When?” Bean asked as he scooted closer to them.
“Tonight,” Drake said. “And we’ll stay at an inn to celebrate.”
An icy chill of fear gripped Greer. “’Tis no’ safe.”
Drake shrugged. “They’re already at Dunfermline Palace if they’re anywhere. One night.” His warm hand atop hers squeezed lightly.
One night together. Most likely, their last.
Greer nodded and managed to keep the catch from her voice as she agreed, “Tonight.”
They rode on through the afternoon and arrived at a small kirk outside a village as dusk began to mute the brilliance of the sun. Drake pulled the cart to a stop, and Greer’s heart tripped over itself.
“Will here suit ye?” he asked, his hand extended, palm up to her.
She didn’t even look at the building, too preoccupied with the handsome man who had captured her wayward heart. The kirk could be a hole in the earth for all she cared. “Aye.”
He hopped down from his seat as the boys leapt from the cart and helped her to the ground. The wound at her side no longer pained her, as was evidenced by the lack of discomfort upon landing. Thanks be to God. She did not want to think of her injury and what it had cost them.
What they might still have to sacrifice.
“I want this night with ye,” she admitted softly. “I’m glad we are stopping at an inn.” She slid her hand into his. “To be alone.”
Drake swallowed. “Yer side…”
She shook her head to allay his fears, and together they made their way into the stone building. The priest within agreed to marry them, so as the moon took the place of the sun, Greer and Drake were wed with Bean and Mac as witnesses.
She wished she’d had more than a homespun cloth kirtle to wear, or had thought to pick a few flowers for her hair. But at the end of it all, what she cared about most was the man she was marrying and having her brother and Bean there with them.
Drake watched her through the ceremony with pride shining in his dark eyes, and when he was given permission to kiss his new wife, he leaned forward and gifted her with the sweetest, tenderest kiss any soul had ever tasted.
They located an inn within the town and secured two rooms, one for the lads and one for themselves, for a last night alone together.
Drake led her immediately upstairs and drew her into his arms as soon as the door closed behind them. Their mouths found each other, their tongues stroking. This time it was Drake who untied the leather knot of her kirtle, unthreading the lacing, and pulling her clothing from her body.
She was not at all shy to be in front of him now as she was before, knowing only desire and the need to be as close to him as possible for as long as she could.
They didn’t rush any part of their joining, taking the time to enjoy one another, teasing with tongues, nipping with gentle teeth, kissing, and loving in every way they could.
When at last they came together, their hands were interlocked, their gazes fixed on one another as Drake’s hardness pressed into her. She curled her legs around his waist to lock him against her, undulating with his measured pace.
They watched the pleasure play out over one another’s faces as they cherished the slow, sensual connection of their bodies, hearts, and souls.
As a flush warmed over Drake’s cheeks, Greer felt her own need intensify, pushing them together faster with friction that built in that now-familiar place at her core.
Drake’s hands tightened over Greer’s as they joined as one with panting breath and sighing moans until, at last, he gave one great, final thrust that sealed them completely. As her release shuddered through her, the telltale swell of him within her let her know he had climaxed at the same time.
The sensation of it was beautiful and wonderful. They clung to one another as their bodies rode over the lapping waves of bliss together until, at last, they drifted back to the awareness of the small bed at the inn, which they lay upon.
There they continued to embrace, each one reluctant to let go. Finally, he withdrew from her and lay at her side, one finger stroking up and down her arm
“I dinna want ye to go tomorrow.” Greer lifted her head. “We could slip away tonight with the lads. Go to another part of Scotland where no one need know where we are. Who we are.”
His brows flexed as though he was in pain at the very thought. “I canna do that.”
“Yer mum and yer sisters,” Greer said in chastisement of herself for having selfishly not thought of them.
Drake cupped her face and kissed her. “Forgive me, my love.”
“I dinna want tomorrow to come.” Her voice broke as she tried to hold back her tears.
He pulled her against him and wrapped his arms around her.
Cocooned by his strength, she allowed herself to break.
The tears began to fall then, for the love they had only begun to realize and the time together that had been too ephemeral and for the very real possibility that they would be forever wrenched apart.
She cried until her tears ran dry, and then she stayed in his arms longer still, enjoying those precious moments with him.
At some point, she finally gave way to the fatigue of her still-healing body, the wonderful relaxation remaining after their shared climax, and the exhaustion of her released emotions.
She fell into a deep sleep in the comfort of his arms and awoke to the light of a new day spilling into the small, rented room. Immediately unease churned in her stomach. She turned to Drake and found him still sleeping, his face relaxed in slumber.
In that quiet, peaceful moment, she studied his face and memorized every detail. How his dark lashes feathered over his high cheekbones, how the slight creases showed at the corners of his eyes even when he wasn’t smiling, the way the warm, masculine smell of him made her heart expand in her chest.
As much as she had not wanted the morning to arrive, it had, and the events would be faced together, side by side. She steeled herself for the battle she knew was coming and, for the first time in her life, wondered if she would be strong enough.