Chapter 10
Sloane didn’t see Lachlan before dinner. Shaw’s cruel gaze haunted her all afternoon and she spent hours pacing from one side of the keep to the other until her legs threatened to give out. Then she was summoned to dinner.
Would Father Shaw be in attendance? Would he throw false accusations at her in front of everyone?
As she walked into the great hall, Sloane scanned the dining hall and was relieved to find no one glaring at her. There was no Father Shaw. Her husband was missing as well.
“Sloane?” Maggie hurried over to her. “What are ye doing here?”
Confused, she looked around. “I was told to join Lachlan for dinner, but I doona see him.”
“He’s not dining with us this evening,” Smiling, Maggie squeezed her hand. “I think he wanted a private dinner with ye this evening. Ye will find him at the family table.”
He wanted to dine with her in private? Her stomach fluttered and she clasped her hands together. “He is angry with me,” she muttered.
“He is a wee bit annoyed, but ’tis only because he is worried about ye. Half the keep told him where ye were,” she said in amusement.
“Thank ye. Tomorrow, I would like to speak with ye. Do ye think that ye can find some time for me?”
“Of course, my dear. Come find me after ye break yer fast and we will get to know each other better.”
Pleased to get to know Maggie better, Sloane felt more confident as she left the dining hall and headed to the private dining room. Lachlan sat at the head of the table with his head resting in his hands and his fingers tapping on the table. There was an annoyed look on his face.
Split between her eagerness to put Elspeth’s advice to use and her apprehension at his anger, Sloane approached the table slowly. “I apologize for keeping ye waiting. I wasna told that ye were not in the great hall.”
“’Tis not why I am unhappy and ye know it. I told ye last night that I wanted to speak with ye this morning and ye were gone when I got to yer chambers.”
Pulling out the chair, Sloane sat primly in it and folded a linen in her lap.
“I am sorry about that. Since I didna get a chance to see Elspeth yesterday, I thought I would try again this morning. I did come back to the keep this afternoon to speak with ye, but ye were not available.” She left out the part about seeing Father Shaw.
She didn’t want to rehash the vile visit.
“I had a busy day which is why I asked to speak with ye this morning. No matter. I have decided how to fix the issue.”
Not sure which issue he was talking about, she cocked her head and studied him. He calmly reached for his glass of wine and sipped it.
“Ye have?” she prompted.
“Aye. To be sure that I can speak with ye in the mornings, ye will be spending yer nights in my chambers.”
Considering his solution carefully, she nodded. “Aye. That sounds wise.” And it meant sharing a bed which was exactly where she wanted to be.
Lachlan narrowed his eyes as he watched her. “Ye are so agreeable today when yesterday, ye were railing against me. Why did ye have to see Elspeth so urgently?”
“’Twas not urgent. Ye and Freya both mentioned that we might be friends and I have to agree.
I believe that we will be great friends.
” She was interrupted when a woman entered to serve them their plates of dinner.
Enthusiastically, she dug into her dinner only to nearly spit it out and cough violently when she found it once again salted.
Across the table, the woman gave her a hateful smile and a glare that dared her to say something. Instead, she met the gaze challengingly and took another bite.
“Thank ye, Marie,” Lachlan muttered as he waved his hands. The woman scurried away but not before smirking at her. It broke her heart to know that she was so hated, but she was determined to change that. “So ye are telling me that ye deliberately went against my wishes to make a friend?”
It was all Sloane could do not to smile. She saw the dilemma in her husband, and it proved that he was a good man. Lachlan was obviously still furious with her.
“Ye were the one who suggested that Elspeth and I might be friends. I was just doing as ye wished.”
“Wife, ye are giving me a headache.”
Loud shouts of laughter filtered from the great dining hall, but Lachlan didn’t even flicker his eyes.
She wanted to ask him if he preferred to be with his men rather than dining with her, but she remembered Elspeth’s words of advice.
Make the moment all about them and not let her insecurities get in the way.
Easier said than done.
She was too hungry to care about the salty food and if Lachlan noticed how much water she was drinking with her meal, he didn’t say anything.
He didn’t bring up that morning again, for which she was grateful, and she chatted endlessly about the people that she’d met yesterday and that day without mentioning that they all seemed to hate her.
The plates were cleared and she stared at him nervously. The more she tried to push her insecurities away, the more Sloane couldn’t help but focus on them.
Slowly, she pushed her chair back and stood. “Thank ye for sharing dinner with me. I am going to retire to my chambers if ye want to spend some time with the others.”
“My chambers, Sloane,” Lachlan said in a low voice as he stood. “And I think I will escort ye there myself to make sure you do as I wish.”
Her heart skipped a beat and she smiled in triumph when she turned away from him.
She needed him alone and in private to work some of the magic that Elspeth had told her to try.
Tonight, she wanted to be a true wife in every sense of the word and that terrified her a little.
She’d never felt such powerful emotions than when she was with him and she needed to know what they meant.
It was time to stop hiding and start figuring out what her new life meant.
“Do ye want to stop by yer room first and get a few things?” he asked when she walked right by her door.
“No.” Stopping at his, she took a deep breath and reached for the handle. “I doona think that I will be needing anything.” Before she could talk herself out of it, she pulled the door open and walked through.
Pausing at the doorway, Lachlan narrowed his eyes and watched her intently. “Sloane, are ye all right?”
“Aye.” Turning away from him, she reached for the buttons on her dress. “Before ye go, I wanted to thank ye. I know ye could have barged in on Elspeth’s cottage and dragged me back to the keep, but ye didna. That was kind of ye and I needed to speak to her.”
“Ye are welcome,” he said slowly. His voice had taken on a husky tone. Without turning around, she heard the door click shut. “I am not planning on leaving just yet.”
“Oh, in that case, could ye help me? I’m not used to dresses with all these buttons and I cannae reach them all.”
He didn’t respond right away and her heart beat wildly. He wouldn’t reject her when she was openly inviting him to touch her, would he?
For those terrifying few seconds, Sloane held her breath until she felt the air warm around her and shift.
Then his fingers were on her back as they skimmed up the fabric to the nape of her neck.
Lachlan fingered the top button and slipped it out of its hole.
Wordlessly, he worked his way down her back.
“Thank ye,” she murmured hoarsely.
Before she could step away, he grabbed her arms. “I am not finished.”
Lachlan slid his hands up her arms and curved them up her bare skin before he reached for the pins in her hair and pulled them out. Her hair tumbled down her back and he moved the strands over her shoulder and softly pressed his lips to the side of her neck.
“What do ye think is going to happen here, Sloane?”
A shiver of pleasure raced down her spine and she turned in his arms and lifted her chin.
“Ye were the one who demanded I spend the evening in yer bed. What did ye think was going to happen?” Feeling brave, she pressed her hands to his chest and felt for his heartbeat.
It was strong and steady. “Ye started teaching me about pleasure, Lachlan. I want ye to continue the lesson.”
“Pleasure, Sloane?” Bending down, he nipped at her lower lip. “Have ye been thinking about my touch?”
More like aching for him. “Aye. I cannae stop thinking about it. Will ye touch me tonight? If I am to be in yer bed, ye can show me all those naughty things ye whispered in my ear.”
“Och, Sloane.” Pulling back, he stared at her through a dark fringe of lashes. “What am I to do with ye? When I think I have ye figured out, ye change directions.”
Tugging the loose dress down, he pressed a kiss to her bare shoulders.
Trembling, Sloane stood as still as possible while he continued to pull the dress down her arms and her waist until it pooled at her feet.
Dressed only in the thin shift that, in the firelight, showed off her naked body beneath, she was astounded by the strange desire building inside of her.
She would shatter before they’d even gotten started.
Elspeth had told her that men liked to be touched, grasped, and stroked, but she could barely move as his hands teased her over the flimsy material.
“Ye are beautiful,” he whispered in a hoarse voice. “Bloody hell, Sloane. I’d meant to play with ye and tease ye tonight, but I doona think I can stop there. If ye are not sure that ye are ready…”
He was going to leave her. In a panic, she pulled at the shift and lifted it over her head. His breath rattled as he gasped and she closed her eyes while she stood completely naked before him.
“I want it all,” she assured him. “Please, Lachlan. Make me yer wife.”