Chapter 17
“I
asked yer mither’s permission to woo ye, Ailsa,” were the first words Will said to her after scrambling to his feet, whipping his bonnet off his head, and making her a bow.
“She said ‘aye’ an’ that I must give ye time to consider.
I apologize if I spoke out o’ line before, but I cannae promise I’ll simply roll over an’ smile if another man presents himself to ye as a husband either! ”
Wee Willie looked from one grown-up to the other and seemed to get the gist of the discussion going on above his head.
“Woooooo,” the little boy said. He had not yet learned how to whistle, but the effect of his cheerfully speculative hooting was the same; Ailsa blushed, and Will bent to tousle the child’s head.
“Ye wee scamp,” Will said with avuncular tolerance.
Ailsa felt frozen to the spot but realized there was no escaping Will’s offer. The man was a force of nature in more ways than one.
“Will… I spoke out o’ turn as well. Ye’re right about a few things ye said. I’ve been allowed to rule me own roost for a good many years an’ am not sure if I’m ready to accept a man reining me in an’ holdin’ me bridle.”
He reached out for her but stopped when Wee Willie made another hoot. Will allowed his hand to drop to his side, saying, “I will give ye all the time ye need, lass, but only if ye promise me there is no one else who has caught yer eye.”
She hung her head. “There is no one else, Will. At least, no one who reigns supreme in me heart. But I do have suitors. I am a single woman, after all, who holds a position of importance in a castle full o’ men.”
She could see he was panicked by her words.
Will managed to keep a strong hold on his emotions and said in a calm voice, “I’m sure ye are free to make yer choice as ye see fit, lass.”
Ailsa watched his hands bunch into fists as he struggled to keep control over his gruff temper. She had to laugh.
“Och Will! Dinnae lie. At the first sign o’ some poor man attemptin’ to get down on one knee in front o’ me, ye’ll kick him down the stairs, won’t ye?”
They both laughed, and Wee Willie joined in too.
“I cannae wait for Master MacNair here to have a nap so I can give ye a wee coorie, lass.”
Will sat back down on the floor and went back to playing soldiers with his nephew.
Ailsa could see a lightness had come to his face as if a great weight had been lifted off his shoulders.
She forgave him the moment he stood up and apologized.
As far as proposals went, Ailsa acknowledged that Will’s offer had not been that bad for a rough Highlander’s first attempt.
Ailsa knew she had a bit of thinking ahead of her, and she must wait to tell Will what the problem was.
She would never leave her folk. The ladies of Auld MacTavish Castle (now MacNair Castle) were closely bonded, closer than any clan if that were at all possible.
They had been slaves or were the children of slaves.
They had a shared experience of surviving the evil with which Hamish MacTavish had poisoned his lands.
She belonged here as surely as if she were one of the cornerstones holding up the tower gates.
And Will came from the west Highland coasts.
Not only that, but he also held a grudge against the new laird of the castle.
Will would never abandon his foster father in the West, and Ailsa would never leave her foster mother on the East Coast. No man could make Ailsa change her mind on that.
She had her own money and position in the MacNair household, sure, but what kept her here was that little old lady sitting by her spinning wheel every day, whose eyes lit up with joy when her foster daughter ran through the door to give her a hug.
This was a problem. When Wee Willie’s nurse came back from supper, Ailsa beckoned Will to follow her.
He paused to kiss his nephew on the little boy’s forehead before joining her in the passage outside.
She could tell from the suppressed air of excitement he had that Will expected her to have an answer to his request they get married.
“Will, I’ll no’ hold out on ye. Ye have been so courteous to make me an offer, an’ I’ll no’ beat around the bush… Where will we be setting up house if I say aye?”
His eyes lit up when she said the word aye, but then a puzzled expression appeared on his face.
“Why, lass, we’ll live with me faither. I’ll have to add another room to the cottage.
Mayhap Faither will move to me auld sleeping quarters an’ we’ll take over me parents auld bedchamber.
It’s cozy enough, but the best part is waking up so close to the smithy every day. ”
He took her in his arms and swung her around twice before placing her feet back onto the floor gently. “Ye’ve made me the happiest man in the Highlands, lass! I care no’ what news m’brither brings back from that wench over in Skail.”
“Hush!”
Ailsa dragged him down the stairs to her bedchamber one floor above the kitchens; she had no desire to make a fuss when so many members of the household were still awake.
Her room was cozy and neat. Ailsa cleaned it herself, never asking the maids to do it for her because she knew how busy they were.
There was a narrow bed pushed against the varnished wooden wainscoting, a small stool for her lantern, and a little sewing basket for her silks.
Strangely enough, it was not the sight of her bed that caused Will’s mouth to drop open.
The entire side of one wall was covered with a loom.
Stretched over the loom was an intricately woven tapestry created out of brightly colored silk threads.
It was a masterpiece. The scene Ailsa had chosen for her tapestry was the mythical coupling of Ares, the Greek god of war, with Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love.
“Losh sakes, Ailsa!” Will forgot what they had been talking about. “Did ye do this? It’s the most beautiful tapestry I’ve ever seen in me life. All the ladies would fight to own this. When d’ye get the time to do it?”
Ailsa sighed. “Och Will, ye make me blush. I thought mither had told ye about what I was apprenticed to do down in Inverness. But weaving was what I was forced to do when I was a young girl…because I was nae allowed outside in case MacTavish laid eyes on me. The moment he was dead, ye ken, I associated weaving with enforcement, no’ pleasure.
But since comin’ back to the castle, I have come to fall in love with weavin’ again. ”
Will marveled at the tapestry strung across the loom as he walked from one side to the other. “I can see the goddess looks like ye, but ye have nae completed the man’s face yet.”
Ailsa shrugged. “That’s because I have no model to pose for me. I used me own face to sketch Aphrodite.”
He lost interest in the tapestry and came toward her.
“That’s only fitting, lass, because ye are the bonniest goddess of love in me eyes.
” Will raised her hand to his mouth and kissed the palm of her hand.
“Ailsa, lass, say ye’ll be mine. I will never let ye down.
I promise to keep ye safe an’ love ye forever.
Look at me and then tell me if ye don’t believe me. ”
She looked up at his face, and the intense emotion showing in his eyes made her lose track of all the objections she had to the match.
Will wanted her as much as she wanted him: to have and to hold all night for all nights, forever.
He swept her into his arms and crushed passionate kisses on her lips, eyelids, cheeks, neck… oh yes, that felt so good!
Ailsa inched her arms around his neck, pulling him down so he could feel how badly she wanted him.
The bed was there, and the image of his naked body in the river was in her mind.
The thought of that perfect male body lying beside her nearly made her knees buckle.
For too long, she had kept men at arm’s length, fearful that they would turn out to be MacTavish in another form.
In one pulsing moment, Will washed that repulsion away forever.
That man in the water, the man who had pulled her naked body against him and demanded kisses from her…
Ailsa wanted that man to heave himself on top of her and spread her legs wide open, and then do whatever he wanted with her.
She could hardly wait. This need inside her was so bad.
“Say ye’ll be mine, Ailsa,” Will murmured as he kissed her into a frenzy of desire and submission. “Say we can leave this place and set up our home together.”
She could not. Giving a small cry, Ailsa wrenched herself out of his arms. “Nay, Will! I cannae leave Mither! I love her too!”
But she was speaking to an empty room. Will Fearguson had gone.