33 AT YER SIDE
SNUGGLED IN THE hollow of Alec’s shoulder, Liza traced the smooth skin of his chest with a fingertip. They lay on a soft sheepskin before the glowing hearth. Despite that they were both naked now, she wasn’t cold, for the lump of peat threw out considerable heat. The sweat had dried on their bodies, and a languorous sense of well-being suffused her limbs.
“I was planning to leave, ye know,” Alec admitted then, breaking the peaceful silence between them. “I’d told myself it was for the best. This evening, I even asked Rae to carry word to Loch.”
Liza propped herself up on an elbow to meet his eye. Alec was looking up at her, his pale hair fanned out around him upon the sheepskin. His expression was sheepish.
“Without speaking to me first?”
He pulled a face then. “In truth, I thought ye’d be relieved.”
Her throat tightened. “Don’t ye like living here?”
“It’s not that,” he assured her, shaking his head. “I actually enjoy captaining the Guard … but after I kissed ye last night, I was sure I’d ruined things between us.”
“Where would ye have gone?”
“I’m not sure,” he replied, his lips lifting at the edges. “I hadn’t thought that far ahead.”
“Ye wouldn’t have tracked down The Blood Reiver then and asked them to take ye back?”
He snorted. “No … but I’d have survived. I always do.”
Her gaze roved his face. “I wondered if ye’d regret staying on here.”
His fingertips traced a lazy path up and down her spine. “I did initially, after The Reiver raised anchor,” he admitted. “But I had more reason to stay than go. Ye were here, after all.” His smile turned rueful. “And I was ready for a change, Liza. Even before I met ye, I’d grown weary of plundering the seas … it was only a matter of time before I chose a different path. Meeting ye was a new beginning for me.”
Warmth suffused her chest at these words. “I like hearing ye say that,” she admitted then.
“Do ye?” His fingers wove through her hair now.
Her mouth curved. “Aye … I’ve never had anyone look out for me the way ye do.”
Something moved in the depths of his eyes. “That’s because Leod had shit between his ears. Ye deserve to be cherished, lass … not abused.”
Her vision misted, her smile growing wobbly. “So, ye’ll stay with me, Alec?”
“Aye.” His expression turned tender. “Wherever the future takes us … I will remain at yer side. No one, not even Loch, will keep me from ye.”
His vow made her throat ache. Wordlessly, she reached out, her fingertips stroking his chiseled jaw. “Thank ye,” she whispered.
Their gazes held for a long moment before Alec favored her with a soft warm smile. He then gave a languid stretch. “The castle will be awakening soon … I suppose we should get dressed.”
“I suppose so,” Liza replied, reluctantly glancing toward the window, where the first glimmers of dawn were peeking around the edges of the sacking. How she wished she could push back the sunrise so they could spend more time alone. However, there was much to be done today.
Alec rolled lithely to his feet and retrieved their clothing, which lay scattered carelessly across the solar floor. When he handed Liza hers, a groove appeared between his eyebrows. “What happens now?” he asked. “Would ye prefer to keep this … us … secret?”
Holding her clothing to her breast, she considered his question. “I don’t want to sneak around,” she replied finally. “But I’ve been widowed less than three months and don’t wish to cause an even bigger scandal than I have already.”
Alec moved close and reached out, his fingers tracing the curve of her neck. Liza shivered under his touch. Lord, how she wanted to drag him into her bedchamber, turf poor Nettie out, and lock herself away with this man for the next two days, to have her fill of him. But it was a luxury she couldn’t afford.
“I can wait,” he assured her.
She huffed a sigh. “I know, but I don’t wish to. I want to shout from the walls that Alec Rankin has my heart.”
He grinned at this admission. “Let those closest to ye know then,” he suggested, his blue eyes twinkling. “And meanwhile, we can sneak around in secret … I promise that I shall keep my hands to myself unless we are alone.”
Neither of her sisters spoke for a few moments when Liza told them that Alec Rankin was her lover. Nonetheless, the look on both their faces was a picture indeed. It was mid-morning, and the three of them were returning from visiting the ruins of Lochbuie village.
The mist had cleared with the rising sun, the last of it burning away now.
Rae had joined them, his Highland collie trotting beside him, and the chieftain of Dounarwyse had pleased Liza by offering to send supplies to help the villagers. She’d thanked him, but he’d dropped behind the three sisters now, to have a word to Alec. After the Battle of Dounarwyse, he’d been faced with the epic task of rebuilding the village outside his broch, and he had some suggestions for her captain.
And as soon as she was alone with Kylie and Makenna, Liza had summoned her courage and made her announcement.
Kylie was the first to speak. “I thought ye’d decided to keep yer distance from him?”
Makenna cut Kylie a sharp look. “Ye knew about this?”
Kylie ignored her. She was too busy giving Liza a hard stare. “Ye are only recently widowed,” she pointed out, unnecessarily. “Ye should be more cautious.”
Liza snorted. “I’ve had enough of caution. Leod put me through six years of misery. There was never any love between us.” She paused then, her gaze narrowing as she stared down her sisters, who both walked to her left. “Are ye going to judge me?”
“No,” Makenna muttered, even as her cheeks grew pink. “Bed whomever ye wish, sister … it’s nothing to do with me.”
However, Kylie got that stubborn look she knew well. “Ye said ye would never marry again.”
“And I haven’t announced a wedding date, have I?” Liza shot back.
Her outburst shocked Kylie into silence. Both sisters regarded her warily now, as if afraid of what she might say next.
Huffing a sigh, Liza halted before glancing furtively over her shoulder to make sure that Alec and Rae were far enough away not to overhear her. Indeed, the two men appeared deep in conversation.
Perhaps Alec was telling Rae that he’d be staying on at Moy, after all. She hoped so.
“I once thought intimacy between a man and a woman only brought humiliation and pain … but Alec showed me otherwise,” she said after a pause, noting how a blush rose to both her sisters’ cheeks. For all her confidence, Makenna was a maid, and Kylie—like Liza—had found no pleasure in the marital bed. “But there’s more than just lust between us,” she continued. “There’s trust … and love.”
Silence followed this proclamation, and Liza’s pulse quickened.
She’d never spoken so frankly with either of her sisters and suddenly worried what they’d think of her. Eventually, Makenna cleared her throat. Her cheeks were still glowing with embarrassment. “Ye could have chosen worse than Rankin, I suppose.”
Meanwhile, Kylie’s gaze searched Liza’s face. Her eyes were wide, her expression startled, as if she were seeing her for the first time.
“I shall depart at dawn,” Rae Maclean announced as he lifted his cup of plum wine to Liza. “I’ve stayed here long enough … and Loch will be waiting to hear from me.”
Liza swallowed a mouthful of roast fowl and tried to ignore the nervous flutter in her gut. She’d known this moment was coming. Three days had passed since Bealtunn, and Rae had rolled up his sleeves and worked alongside Alec and the Guard to begin repairs on the village. She’d hoped he might stay longer still, to give her more time to impress him with her capability.
“Of course,” she said quietly. Around them, the rumble of voices ebbed and flowed through the hall of Moy Castle.
“And what will ye tell him?”
Alec’s blunt question made her flinch, and she shot him a warning look. However, her lover’s focus was on the chieftain of Dounarwyse. Rae had just met his eye.
Liza’s gaze flicked between the men’s faces. She wondered if Rae knew about their relationship; she certainly hadn’t said anything to the laird. Only her sisters knew that things had changed between her and Alec. And Nettie too—for Liza had taken to sleeping in her solar. Every eve, once everyone else had retired, Alec visited her there. Then, the door locked, they flew at each other.
No, she imagined Rae didn’t know—for surely, he’d disapprove. As Loch likely would.
“I will inform Loch that both the lady laird of Moy, and her captain, have settled into their roles with admirable dedication,” Rae replied finally, his mouth curving. “And I shall tell him he’d be a fool not to let ye both stay on.”