Chapter 20
Callum rode back to the castle more slowly, mindful of Margot’s injury. He made her sit in front of him so that she could lay her head against his chest, but also because he could lean his chin against her hair and smell its sweet scent, and that of her skin. It was intoxicating.
Callum had known almost from the first few days that he met her that he loved Margot, but it was not until she had nearly been taken away from him that he realised how much.
Now he felt a surge of fierce protectiveness rise inside him, but at the same time he knew that he must strive not to become too possessive.
Of course, his love for her would overcome that, but he also knew that Margot herself would not put up with such a thing, and he smiled as he thought of her reaction if he tried to rein in her wild spirit.
There would be hell to pay, but her wildness was part of what made him love her. He would not change a thing about her.
Margot was going over in her mind what had happened in the last few hours, and her heartbeat began to speed up as she realised how close she had come to dying.
If it were not for the wonderful man seated behind her, she would likely be going back to the castle in a shroud, and she shuddered at the thought.
Callum felt it, and said anxiously, “Are you all right, Margot?”
Margot shivered again. “I think so, but I was so very frightened. I cannot stop thinking about what could have happened if you had not been there.”
Callum kissed the top of Margot’s head. “I was there, and I will keep you safe from now on, Margot, because you are my life.” His voice grew husky at the thought of losing her.
Eventually, they rode into the courtyard, and the first person they saw was Eileen, who came rushing out to meet them. As soon as Margot dismounted Eileen threw her arms around her and held on to her so tightly that Margot found it difficult to breathe.
“Oh god, Margot,” she breathed. “I thought you had been taken from us. I’m so glad you are alive, my friend.”
“I’m glad to be alive and here with you, Eileen.” Margot put her away a little to look at her, then smiled.
The two of them laughed and hugged again, while Callum looked on indulgently. The two most important women in his life had formed a firm friendship, and he was happy for them, but his heart was warm with joy because he finally knew his love for Margot was returned.
He lifted her into his arms again.
“I can walk, Callum!” she protested.
“I know,” he replied, smiling. “But I like carrying you.”
Margot sighed contentedly. She loved being in Callum’s arms, even if it was only for a short journey to the sickroom.
“It isnae serious,” the healer said. “But I will give ye a salve tae put on it, mistress, an’ ye must come back in a few days so I can look at it again. Ye were very lucky, mistress.”
Margot shivered as she heard the words, but Callum squeezed her hand and kissed it. “I am here,” he said tenderly, and suddenly the world seemed much brighter.
When they emerged from the sick room a short while later, Margot’s shallow wound had stopped throbbing, and she insisted on walking instead of allowing Callum to carry her.
“I am not an invalid,” she said firmly.
Callum caught her hand and kissed it again, laughing. They walked into the small comfortable parlour where a bright fire was burning, filling the room with warmth and golden light. Eileen was waiting for them, standing by the window, and she smiled as they entered.
“Are you well now?” she asked.
“Yes.” Margot looked up at Callum. “I am so well that I managed to walk back on my own!”
Eileen laughed and hugged her again. “Ronan will be here in a moment,” she said, suddenly looking a little more subdued.
Callum sighed. He knew what Ronan was coming to tell her, and he suspected that Eileen did too, but he said nothing as he went to pour them each a glass of wine.
A moment later there was a firm knock at the door, and Callum went to open it. Ronan looked shocked, since he was unaccustomed to Lairds opening doors for him. He was still wearing his livery, and he saluted Callum as he entered, then bowed to the ladies.
Ronan approached Eileen and looked down at her with an unfathomable expression on his face. “Your brother is dead, my lady,” he announced, his voice trembling slightly. “I killed him, he attacked me with a gun an’ it was either him or me. Please forgive me.”
For a few seconds, Eileen looked utterly shocked and grief-stricken, remembering the little boy she had loved while they had grown up together.
However, she could not mourn the hateful specimen of humanity he had become.
Yet while Lachlan had still been her brother, she loved Ronan infinitely more, and she hastened to reassure him.
Eileen stood up and took one of his hands in hers.
“There is nothing to forgive, my love,” she murmured.
“I know he was my brother, and I will mourn his loss, but he had become an evil man and the world is better off without him.” She looked up at Ronan and a tear slipped from her eye, but she was smiling. “Now I am free.”
Ronan’s blue eyes lit up, and he smiled down at her in an expression of pure joy. He took her hand in his and turned to Callum. “M’Laird, may I ask for Lady Eileen’s hand in marriage?”
“Ask her, not me,” Callum replied, smiling.
Ronan went down on one knee in front of Eileen and took both her hands in his. “Will ye marry me, Eileen?”
“Yes!” she cried. “A hundred times yes!”
Ronan stood up and kissed her passionately, not caring that the others were watching.
Callum knelt down in front of Margot. “My lovely Sassenach,” he said softly, “will you marry me?”
Margot could not speak, but the nod and the smile she gave Callum said everything. He kissed her tenderly, then turned to Margot and Ronan again.
“In two weeks we will have a double wedding,” he said, with a wide smile. “And celebrate our love with the whole of Kilmuir.”
Despite her rather half-hearted objections, Margot was carried to his chamber by Callum, who refused to take “no” for an answer. He set her down on the floor and immediately ordered a bath to be brought.
“I will be your maid tonight,” he suggested, smiling down at her. He poured her a glass of wine while they waited, and sat beside the fire in comfortable silence.
When the hot water was delivered, Callum tenderly removed Margot’s clothing, trying to ignore his body’s stiffening desire as he unveiled her luscious body. He frowned when he saw the cut, which was not deep, but had a few flecks of dirt clinging to it.
He lifted Margot up once again and placed her gently in the bath, and she sighed with pleasure as the water enveloped her in its warm embrace. Then, with infinite tenderness, Callum washed the dried blood and mud from her skin.
Margot watched the expression of gentle concentration on his handsome face as he tended to her, and her love for him swelled within her so much that she felt she might burst with it.
Callum frowned as he touched her wound, but his touch was so gentle that Margot felt no pain, and as she felt his hands, so big but so tender, she experienced only surging desire.
It was so strong that her whole body throbbed with it, and when she finally stood up and Callum began to dry her, she could resist him no longer.
“Callum, make love to me,” she begged as he moved the cloth over her breast. “I almost died today, but you saved me. I want you.”
“Gladly, my love,” he replied.
She saw his deep brown eyes darken even further as he looked into her face, and knew that his need matched her own. When she moved closer to him, her body pressed against the long hard ridge of his erection.
Callum groaned and pulled her into his arms. He could not have denied her if his life depended on it, and now he lifted Margot again and placed her on the bed.
He did not take his eyes off her as he stripped off his clothes, then climbed onto the bed to lie beside her and draw her into his embrace, loving the feel of her warm moist flesh against his.
He kissed her all over her breasts, tiny, soft ticklish kisses that caused Margot to sigh with delight. He paused only to lick and suckle her nipples as he had done before, and Margot plunged her hands into the thick mass of Callum’s hair, desperate for something to hold on to.
This was what she had dreamt of almost every moment when she was not by his side because he was taking her into a paradise she had never dreamt existed on earth.
Callum kissed his way down to the thatch of hair at the top of Margot’s thighs, then he stopped and moved up her body to kiss her lips tenderly. At the same time he plunged two fingers into her entrance, moving them in and out until she was almost screaming with pleasure.
He looked into her eyes for a moment because he loved to see the helplessness in them. She was a slave to the delight he was giving her, and he felt triumphant that he could do this to her and make her submit to him in the most wonderful way possible.
“I love you,” he whispered.
“I love you too,” she replied, with a breathless moan.
Callum kissed Margot all the way down her body again.
He felt her tense as his mouth approached her sweetest, most sensitive spot, then he caught both of her hands in one of his and held them above her head.
Now she was trapped in his embrace, but she made no move to escape—she had not the least desire to do so.
He looked up again and met Margot’s eyes. The expression in them was almost one of fear, but he knew what that look meant. He was going to torture her in the sweetest way possible, and she was experiencing something akin to terrible pleasure.
Callum had lain with many women, and he knew that look, but he had never been in love before, and had never felt such joy in seeing it. He lowered his head and tasted her with his tongue, finding her hot, wet, and completely ready for him, but he was not finished with her yet.
Margot writhed on the bed, moaning and whimpering with delight as Callum worked his magic on her. She had felt pain before, and expected to feel it again, but it had been fleeting, and the discomfort had been worth it because of the utter bliss afterwards.
Was it going to be the same again? Would she feel heaven on earth once more? Surely not. Something so wonderful could not happen twice, could it?
She felt Callum’s tongue moving to her bud, and she cried out and arched her hips as a jolt of pure pleasure shot through her. He was still holding her hands, but Margot loved the feeling of being at his mercy, and was happy to submit to him because she knew that he would never harm her.
Presently, Callum raised his head and smiled at her. “Are you ready for me?” he asked huskily.
“Oh, yes,” she whispered. “Yes, Callum.”
She felt him enter her, this time with one swift thrust, and tensed, waiting for the pain, but there was none. Margot drew in a breath of relief and when Callum kissed her again she tasted her own womanly juices on his lips.
She wrapped her legs around his hips to pull him further inside her, and he gave a grunt of pleasure and let go of her hands.
“I have never loved anyone as I love you,” he whispered.
“And I never dreamt I could feel anything like this,” Margot replied. “I love you more than my life, Callum.”
Then she abandoned herself to the rhythm of their bodies moving together, the sensual friction of flesh against flesh as she began to climb with Callum towards the peak of pleasure.
As she strove towards it, she heard Callum saying her name over and over again in rhythm with his thrusts. The sound of his voice drove her into the heart of the same storm of ecstasy that he had led her to before.
She heard Callum give a low growl as his climax hit him, and they lay, shuddering for a few moments as they descended to earth again and lay entwined together in the glorious afterglow of their lovemaking.
They kissed again, and Callum withdrew from her. It was the first time he had spent inside her, and Margot’s heart skipped a beat at the thought that she might have conceived a child.
“I know what you are thinking,” Callum said with a soft smile as he caressed her cheek. “Would you like to have my baby?”
“I would love to,” she breathed, smiling. “Oh, Callum, can you imagine it?”
“Yes,” he replied. “I can.”
“A big strong boy just like his father,” Margot breathed.
“And a beautiful daughter just like her mother,” Callum murmured, gathering her into his arms. He smiled at her tenderly, his dark eyes shining. “Shall we go to sleep and dream about them?”
“I would love that,” Margot whispered as she nestled into the shelter of Callum’s body.
She was warm, safe, and loved. She could wish for nothing more.