Chapter 7 #3
“Pardon me, milady,” Aelfa whispered. “But his lordship is waiting below to start your journey to Scotland.”
Callie sat up quickly, then gasped as more pain hit her. She was married.
And she was going home!
Callie looked around the room, but there was no sign her husband had ever been here. Fuzzy memories tangled in her mind as she tried to recall the night before.
She remembered Sin looking angry and vaguely recalled him carrying her to the room. The last clear memory she had was the feel of his chest under her hand.
Aelfa came forward with a towel. “I had them draw a bath for you in the antechamber, milady. I thought you’d like to bathe this morning before you head out on your long trip.”
“Thank you, Aelfa,” she whispered, pushing the covers back.
Her heart stopped as she saw the bloody sheets.
Aelfa gasped at the sight and crossed herself. “Baby Jesus, Joseph and Mary, milady, are you all right? Gor, but I never saw such like that in all my life. Is it your time of the month?”
Callie shook her head. Nay, she was mid-cycle and even so, she’d never bled like this. Her thighs were completely coated.
“You best be moving slowly, milady.” Aelfa helped her stand. “Are you feeling all right? Sore?”
“I feel fine except for this ache in my head.” Callie wrapped her plaid about herself and headed toward the tub in the next room. The blood in the bed concerned her. What had caused it?
Nothing seemed to be hurting her. She wasn’t so naive as to think women bled like that every time they were with their husbands.
It made no sense whatsoever to her. Whatever could have happened?
How very, very strange.
Sin frowned as he made his way through the great hall. Everyone was staring at him rather oddly. Even more oddly than normal.
He couldn’t fathom their stares until Simon joined him.
“What did you do to Caledonia last night?” Simon asked.
Sin grabbed a raw apple from a platter on one of the tables, then led Simon toward the stairs. “Nothing.”
“You didn’t murder her in her bed?”
He paused mid step and glared at his friend. “What sort of question is that?”
“Don’t be angry at me. That’s the story everyone is bantering about this morning. It seems Henry ordered Aelfa to bring him your bed sheets. Now everyone believes you must have cut her head off for there to have been so much blood on them.”
Sin set his jaw, and said nothing in response. He’d never taken a virgin before so in an effort to make it appear he had slept with his wife, he’d cut his own arm and used his blood for the sheets. Apparently, he’d used too much.
“So what happened?” Simon prompted.
He ignored Simon as he gazed up the stairs to see Callie and Jamie coming down them. She wore her plaid around her saffron kirtle again. Her hair was plaited down both sides of her face and her cheeks and eyes were bright this morning.
The woman took his breath away and made him ache to finish what the two of them had started the night before.
When she saw him, she smiled a smile that made him instantly hot. Hard. One that reminded him all too well she’d fallen asleep before he had found any peace whatsoever.
“Good morning, my husband.”
His stomach clenched at the word. “My lady. How do you feel?”
“Still a bit of an ache in my head, but fine otherwise. You?”
He looked around at the courtiers who gawked at her as if she were a ghost. “Never better, my lady.”
Her smile widened.
Jamie ran past him to show Simon a handful of string.
“Are we leaving now?” Callie asked.
“I thought you would want to.”
“Aye. The sooner, the better.”
“Then come. We’re all packed and ready.”
Callie reached to take his arm, but he pulled away. Disheartened, but far from daunted, she took a deep breath and followed him through the hall toward the door.
Henry met them outside the hall, his face grim. “You be careful,” he said to Sin. “I don’t want your head to come back to me in a sennight.”
Sin nodded, then helped her to mount her horse.
As he reached for Jamie, the king stopped him. “The boy stays here as guarantee that no harm will befall you.”
Jamie screeched out a denial.
Callie opened her mouth to respond, but before she could, Sin spoke. “The boy goes with us.”
“Are you mad?” Henry demanded. “Without the child, there’s no guarantee of your safety.”
“The boy goes with us.” The sharpness of Sin’s tone amazed her. She doubted if Henry would allow any man, save her husband, to use that tone without putting irons on him.
“I assure you,” Sin said more calmly, “I can handle myself even against the devil himself, but I will not leave an innocent boy here with no protector.”
Henry stiffened. “You insult us if you think we would allow a ward of ours to—”
“I was once one of your wards, Sire.” Sin gazed at Henry, his face expressionless.
Guilt flashed in Henry’s eyes before he recovered himself. “Fine, then. Take him if you must.”
Without another word, Sin picked Jamie up. The lad threw his arms around his neck and held him tight. She saw the confusion in Sin’s eyes.
“I like you even if you are an English dog,” Jamie announced, pulling back to pat Sin’s head. “You’re my favorite one. Well, you and Simon.”
Sin gave a crooked smile. “Then I thank you, I think.”
Jamie grinned as Sin put Jamie on a horse of his own. Without another comment, Sin pulled himself up into his saddle.
Henry took the bridle of Sin’s mount and looked up at him. “We want word the minute you arrive at the MacNeely’s castle and a note for every week thereafter. Should we not receive it, we will send an army to determine your well-being.”
Sin looked much less than amused. “I will be fine.”
Henry nodded a farewell and then they were off.
Sin led the group while Simon and Jamie rode abreast of Callie. Luckily, they traveled light. She and Jamie had brought very little with them in the first place, and Simon and Sin seemed to need nothing more than the clothes on their backs.
But then she had already learned her husband wasn’t the typical Englishman who needed an entire entourage with him at all times with trunks and trunks of clothes. He was a man of very simple needs.
They rode well into the afternoon before stopping for a small repast.
As soon as they dismounted, Jamie bounded off into the woods to heed nature’s call while Callie set about unpacking some of the foodstuffs Aelfa had gathered for them.
They had left London behind hours ago, and all she could do was look forward to when she would be home again.
Closing her eyes, she swore she could almost feel her crisp, heather-scented highlands seeping into her weary bones. She’d been gone far too long, but then even a week away from home seemed an eternity.
Jamie came bounding back out of the woods at the speed of a dodging hare and accidentally ran into Sin as he fed the horses. The grain spilled all over Sin’s boots and made a huge mess.
Callie held her breath, half expecting Sin to strike out or at the very least shout at the lad’s clumsiness. He didn’t. Instead, he picked the lad up and made sure he was unhurt, then brushed Jamie off and sent him on his way with a hushed warning to be more careful lest he hurt himself.
Once Jamie was hurtling toward Simon, Sin dropped to his knees and silently cleaned up the mess Jamie had made.
His gentleness amazed her. The other Englishmen had never once hesitated to cuff the lad for such carelessness. Even her Uncle Aster and Dermot were quite intolerant of Jamie’s clumsy ways. Sin said nothing more about it. Not even when he had to remove his right boot and dump grain out of it.
As Simon and Jamie ran past him, Sin caught the lad up in his arms and tossed him up over his shoulder to dangle down his back as he walked. Jamie squealed with laughter as Sin toted him to where she sat with the food.
“Put me down!” Jamie said, his voice broken by laughter.
“You need to eat if you’re to grow to any size.” Sin flipped him over his shoulder and laid him gently on the ground by Callie’s side.
Jamie scrambled up, but before he could run again, Sin caught him. “Must I tie you down?”
Jamie laughed, then dropped to the ground and sat with his legs crossed while Simon joined them.
“Will we camp outside the entire way?” She handed Jamie some bread and chicken.
Sin shook his head. “There should be inns most of the way and Simon’s brother lives farther north as well. Two days hence, we’ll stop on his lands. So, you’ll have a bed every night until we reach Scotland.”
Heat descended over her face as a memory of last night flared. She remembered standing naked with her husband and holding him in her hand.
It pained her that she couldn’t remember exactly what they’d done.
She’d overheard many women through the years talking about what went on with men and women in the night.
And once her friends had started marrying, she’d heard even more details about it.
She’d never dared tell anyone how many nights she’d lain awake in her bed wondering if she’d ever experience it herself, and now that she had. ..
Well, it was quite unfair to have no memory of it.
Biting her lip, she wondered if he would claim her again tonight. Heat rushed over her face as she considered him lying beside her. Of his hardness deep inside her.
She glanced to her husband, then quickly looked away.
Sin saw the blush in her cheeks and wondered what caused it. His gaze dropped to her lap and in his mind he saw the ripe curves of her inner thighs. Felt the softness of her skin as he had rubbed his own blood over her to disguise what he had yet to do.
Touching her last night without easing the desire of his body had been the hardest thing he had ever done.
Even now he could remember the feel of her supple skin under his palm. The lavender smell of her hair. Taste of her lips.
How he wanted her. Ached for her. He shifted slightly, trying to alleviate the tightness of his chausses against the part of him that demanded her most.