Chapter 26
Rhys sat by the hearth in the Great Hall alone. He had woken and not been able to return to sleep and so he had left his bed not wanting to disturb his wife. Sunrise was a couple of hours away so not a soul stirred in the keep, except for those guards he had posted that no one could see.
For the moment his wife was safe, but not for long.
Haidar was bent on revenge, nothing would stop him.
Rhys had known this time would come, though he had planned differently for it.
Haidar would have been seen to before he wed Heather, so that Haidar could not use her against him, but her betrothal to Rogan MacClennan had forced him to change his plan.
Her abduction had been necessary to prevent her from wedding MacClennan, and the unrest between the McLauds and Macinnes also altered his plans even more.
The time would come that he would see Haidar dead.
His concern was that the evil man would find a way to capture his wife and it might take Rhys time to reach her.
Minutes mattered with Haidar, for Rhys knew far too well the hell the evil man could put someone through in a very short time.
And he could not bear to think of what he would do to Heather.
Rhys shook his head as a smile surfaced.
Only Heather could break through his dark thoughts and make him smile, something he never thought he would do again.
But the one thing she did that had truly surprised him was that she had awakened his heart.
And damn if he was not feeling what it was like to love again.
He leaned forward on the bench, bracing his elbows on the tops of his bent knees and locking his fingers to rest his chin on. Truths could be painful and he did not want to hurt her, but he could not let her continue to believe that Quinn was alive.
It was in a dark, dank cell, the groans of dying men surrounding him and the stench so bad it made you want to die that Quinn took his last breath. He was gone; he would never return to Heather.
It was the Dragon who would protect her, make love to her, give her many children...love her. She had penetrated his darkness and to his surprise had infused it with light and love, an impossible feat, and yet she had managed to do it.
The sound of footfalls entering the room broke through his thoughts and he waited as they approached him quietly. He listened to her every movement and when she was close enough, he turned, his arm stretching out to snag his wife around the waist and hoist her over the table and onto his lap.
Heather laughed softly. “I thought for sure you had not heard me.”
“I will always hear you.” He kissed her briefly, though with strength that left her wanting more.
“You think that a kiss?” she chastised with a twinkle in her eyes. “Or perhaps the Dragon’s wife exhausted him last night and he is just not up to it.”
“I think my wife needs to be taught a lesson,” he said and flipped her over his knees so fast that she had no time to even gasp in shock.
She slipped out of his grasp just before his hand met her backside and she laughed as she danced away from him. “I will not let you take your hand to me.”
He laughed as well. “You think you can stop me?”
“I am swift on my feet.”
“Not swift enough to escape the Dragon.” He jumped toward her and she ran form the Great Hall laughing. He laughed himself, for no matter how swiftly she ran, he would always catch her.
He went after her and reached her when she got to the top of the stairs to their bedchamber and scooped her up, tossing her over his shoulder.
She squealed with laughter and playfully pounded his back. His hand came down on her backside, but much too softly and Heather smiled. It turned to a gasp when his hand found its way under her nightdress to caress her backside.
“You do not play fair,” she said.
“You are right, I do not play fair.”
This time it was a groan that hurried past her lips when he ran his finger down between her buttocks, to dip in between her legs and tease her with his finger.
Once inside their bedchamber, the door closed, he dropped her on her stomach on the bed and before she could turn over, he stretched out on top of her. He nipped playfully at the back of her neck, his teeth taking sharps bites that sent shivers through her.
“Stay as you are, wife, I am not done punishing you.” He felt her soft laughter ripple through her body, though he soon changed it to a shiver as he ripped her nightdress off her.
He kissed and nipped along every inch of her naked back and when he started to do the same to her backside, the shiver changed to a moan.
She was a delectable morsel, and he could taste her forever, but he was hard and aching and he wanted inside her. He stripped off his garments before yanking her up on her hands and knees and entered her with such a hard thrust that her whole body jolted.
He thought he had hurt her and it was the last thing he wanted to do. He was about to ease out of her when she pushed back against him, forcing him deeper inside her. He smiled. She was as hungry for this as he was, and he slammed against her.
He kept a firm hold on her backside as he plunged in and out of her, their bodies pounding against each other, their groans filling the room, and their climaxes building rapidly.
They climaxed together, Heather calling out his name and Rhys biting his tongue so the words would not spill out.
Good God, Heather, but I love you!
When they were both spent, Rhys took her in his arms and they lay wrapped around each other.
In minutes, Heather fell asleep, and Rhys followed soon after.
And surprisingly, he felt a tingle of something he had not felt in a very long time.
..fear. He feared losing his wife and her love, and he swore to himself he would never ever let that happen.
* * *
“What do you mean you do not know where Lady Heather is?” Rhys asked, bolting out of his chair and Pitt doing the same beside him.
Duff took a step back. “Lady Heather was right here in the Great Hall a minute ago. The warriors guarding the door did not see her. She did not pass Tam standing guard by the stairs. I looked in the kitchen, and she is not there. She just disappeared.”
Rhys slapped his hands down on the dais table. “People simple do not disappear.”
Pitt shook his head at the young warrior in warning. He knew exactly what he was going to say and it was the wrong thing at the wrong time. Rhys would not want to hear his warrior remind him that the Dragon was adapt at doing just that, being there one minute and gone the next.
“Nessa!” Rhys shouted and the servant lass jumped and hurried over to the Dragon. “Have you seen Lady Heather?”
“No, my lord, the last time I saw Lady Heather she was here in the Great Hall.”
“A room full of ghost warriors and my wife vanishes in front of them all.” Rhys shouted.
“That would include you too,” Pitt said with a smile.
“Perhaps I should have a pit dug just so I can toss you back into one.”
Pitt sobered his expression, though a smile still threatened to break free and he took a step closer to Rhys.
“It seems your wife has done what others could not...she has touched your heart,” he said for Rhys’ ears alone.
“Scowl if you will, but you cannot deny the truth.” He did not wait for a response, he turned and called out.
“Find Lady Heather now, she could not have gone far.”
Pitt walked around the dais to Nessa. “A thought on where she might be?”
Nessa felt more uncomfortable than ever around Pitt ever since the incident with Fife a few days ago.
She had made certain to avoid him as much as possible, but it had been difficult since he was around more often than not.
She had been grateful for his consoling embrace, but she also felt foolish for having been such a fool.
“She has been keeping close to the keep since the day she mistakenly found the secret passage. So, I do not believe she wandered off. She would stay close by.”
A servant entered with a tray of sweet cakes and followed behind Rhys as he went to speak with one of his warriors. “My lord,” he called out.
Rhys turned sharply and the young servant cringed and stumbled back away from him.
“What do you want?” Rhys snapped.
The servant kept his head bowed as he extended the tray out to him. “Lady Heather instructed me to see that you got a sweet cake or two.”
“Where is she?” Rhys snapped again.
“Lady Heather stepped outside the kitchen to see the new pups born a few weeks now to the kitchen dog.”
Rhys grabbed a sweet cake off the tray and said to Pitt as he passed, “Call the men back, I will get my wife.”
Pitt nodded and called out to the men and as he did, he reached out and stopped Nessa from leaving with a gentle touch to her shoulder. “How are you doing, Nessa?”
“I am well, sir.”
“Pitt. I have told you to call me Pitt.
She swallowed her pride and said, “Forgive me for not saying this sooner, but I am ever so grateful for your kindness to me the day—”
“Fife made himself known for the deceitful man he was. It was good that his reign of lies ended, and it is due to you that in the end we knew who he was, or you and Lady Heather could have lost your lives.”
Nessa shook her head. “Me?”
“Aye, I saw wherever you went so did Fife, and it troubled me that he seemed so taken with you, but he never attempted to kiss you. There had to be something wrong that he did not at least try to steal a kiss from a beautiful woman like you.”
Nessa felt her cheeks heat.
“Perhaps later when all is quiet, we can enjoy some sweet cakes together and talk. I am sure there are things that still trouble you and I am a good listener.”
Nessa felt too vulnerable to trust another man, especially one as handsome as Pitt.
Pitt held up his hand. “We will only talk; I will not try to kiss you,” —he smiled— “not yet at least.”
Nessa did not think her cheeks could get any hotter, but they felt on fire and embarrassment had her nodding and hurrying off, thinking of ways she could avoid the handsome warrior.
* * *
Rhys stood in the open doorway, finishing the sweet cake while he watched three little, black pups, except for one who had one white paw, scamper and climb all over his laughing wife.
She sat on the ground by a small shed that the dog no doubt had claimed for her home with the pups.
One pup was nipping at her fingers, another slept comfortably in her lap and the other slipped beneath the hem of her dress.
That did it for Rhys. That area was for him and him alone. He bent down, yanked the little pup out and dumped him on his bottom, ordering sharply, “Mine, stay out!”
The pup could not climb into Heather’s lap fast enough, stepping over the sleeping pup to plant himself as close to Heather as he could get.
The other pup, the one with the white paw, sensing something was amiss, hurried to drop himself against her thigh and drop his head down so he would not be seen, or so he thought.
“A brave little batch you have there,” Rhys said and sat down beside his wife. “And what are you doing leaving the keep without telling me?”
“I am sorry. I was distracted when one of the pups wandered into the kitchen while I was getting the sweet cakes for you.”
It dawned on Rhys then that Heather had told him that she would go fetch sweet cakes for them, but he had been so busy speaking with Pitt that it had slipped his mind. Still, though, she had stepped outside the keep.
“Stay in sight of a guard at all times,” he said.
“I assumed a guard follows me at all times.”
“One follows that you can see, the other you do not see, but the two work together, so do not make it more difficult for them.”
Her soothing strokes finally had the one pup settling down, nearly on top of the other pup in her lap.
“I was thinking,” Heather said, reaching out to slip her hand around his. “This is foreign land to Haidar. How is it that he seems familiar with it?”
Rhys squeezed her hand. “I can understand why your father sought your counsel. You often see what others fail to see. I thought the same myself and dispatched one of my men to see what he can find out. The more likely answer would be that Haidar promised someone riches in exchange for his help, though the only thing the person will see is the end of Haidar’s blade as he slices his throat. ”
“With Fife having been with you about a year, then that would mean Haidar had known all this time where you were. Why did he wait?”
“To see if I wed. It is important to him to repay me in kind. It makes his revenge that more satisfying and makes him more powerful in the eyes of his people. Besides, he would not want to take a chance of anything going wrong, so he would plan well.”
She smiled and gave a slight tilt of her head as she said, “And you would do the same...you would plan. You would leave nothing to chance.”
He loved it when she smiled. It was so natural, so heartwarming. “I am going to have to be careful with you, wife. I am not going to be able to keep secrets from you.”
Her smile spread. “The more I learn about you, the more I see who you truly are.”
The smile that had slowly worked its way to his mouth vanished. “Be very careful, wife, you may see something you do not like.”
Heather’s laughter drifted on the warm air, and she released his hand to rest hers between his legs. “I think I need to look more closely to know for sure.”
His smile sprang free. “You have looked extremely close on several occasions but do feel free to look as often as you would like.”
“I will do that.”
“And I encourage you to do so.”
The pup with the one white paw raised his head and yapped, being too young for it to sound like a bark.
Rhys was impressed, for just after the yap he heard the hurried footfalls. He just may have to train the pup.
Pitt was suddenly in front of them, and his intense look had Heather anxious.
“Word has arrived. Greer McLaud is not far from Macinnes keep. And besides Greer’s wife’s body being found on Macinnes land, a headless body has also been found there.”