Chapter 15
The days that followed their wedding were trying.
While the couple came together in new and exciting ways in the privacy of their chambers, there was still the clan to win over and that started with the Keep’s staff.
Hunter knew that he couldn’t force them to accept her, as it would only garner resistance, and he still had to oversee the clan affairs.
And so, during the day, he entrusted Kira to Edine.
Edine was close with the maids and cooks, and so it was the best place he could think of to start.
Three days later, Hunter had holed himself away in his study to try to come up with a plan for their next steps. He had sent word to Fairbairn of their union and it was only a matter of time until her father’s response came—whether it be in writing or retaliation.
It was past dinnertime and he was still without a solid plan.
He sat at his desk sipping a bit of whisky as he mindlessly packed a clay pipe with tobacco leaves.
He had never been much of a smoker, but when his mind was really struggling with a concept, he found himself reaching for it.
Likely because his father always had a pipe in hand when thinking or reading, and it left the impression on his young mind that it somehow made you more clever.
A small knock came at the door and he called over permission to enter.
Peering up, he found his mood immediately lightened at the sight of Kira pattering in.
When she sat across from him, he could feel the corners of his lips curving upward at the sight of flour splashed across the skirt of her dress.
“What have ye been up to?” he queried.
“Edine and I have spent the day with the cooks. It was really quite something,” she said. “We even went to help with the bread for tomorrow, after supper. We just finished up.”
“Hard at work all day, goodness me,” he commented in a lightly teasing manner.
But he truly admired her for it, the work she was putting in to become one with the Keep. She hadn’t been told to, she had sought it out on her own. All he had done was push her toward Edine, and she had taken the honest initiative.
No longer was she making herself small and shifting her eyes all around to assess the danger.
She was smiling and tender and simply flourishing during that short time since their wedding day.
He wondered if such a difference could be made in mere days, just exactly who she would be in a year’s time.
“It’s very different,” Kira admitted. “But it’s nice. The cooks seemed reluctant at first, and the head cook is a bit gruff, but she told me my bread would ‘make do’. I think I’m winning her over.”
“That is good to hear,” he said, relaxing back in his seat. He placed the mouthpiece of the pipe between his lips, though he didn’t light it.
“Ye missed dinner,” Kira commented. “How come?”
He chewed on the mouthpiece, eyeing her carefully before deciding it was best to come out with it plainly. “I sent word to yer faither. It should be any time now that we hear of his response and if he intends to retaliate.”
Her posture stiffened but she gave a small nod.
Hunter wasn’t under any illusions. No matter how strained and difficult her relationship with her father might be, it was difficult to face the fact that her own blood was the enemy.
He watched her carefully as she took a deep breath while maintaining eye contact.
“What will ye do if he does nae back down?” she queried.
Violent images that were more familiar than any other memory or fantasy flashed across the forefront of his mind. His hands around Laird Fairbairn’s throat as he dangled him from his study balcony, fear finally gleaming in his blue eyes. He blinked them away, though, and looked back at his wife.
A wife who was more dear and precious to him than she had any right to be. One that he would gladly spend every night with for the rest of his life, and one he would kill for again and again—but he doubted that giving up his pursuit of her father was something he could do.
So he spoke honestly. “I want to break that man, Kira. More than I want to live, even.”
He watched her face and something warm took over his chest. The gleam in her icy eyes wasn’t sorrow or compassion for her father, it was worry for Hunter.
He could tell by the way her eyes searched his, the little crease that formed between her brows.
She had never had more than cold contempt dimming her glow whenever they spoke of her father.
Her loyalty truly belonged to Hunter, and that was the sweetest, most satisfying feeling that he may have ever known.
And then he was faced with his next words and what they meant. If Fairbairn wouldn’t back down, he knew that it would mean war. Fairbairn wasn’t the kind of man that would come to face Hunter head-on, man to man. No, he would rally forces, declare war on Galbraith to retrieve back his property.
“I dinnae want war, Kira,” he said, his voice deep and gravelly. “It is likely what will happen. And I thought I was prepared, that it was something I wanted… But I dinnae.”
He swallowed a lump that was forming in his throat. Destiny was cruel for landing him right back into the all too alluring web that was Kira Fairbairn—Kira Galbraith. Just knowing that was her name made tingles course through his being.
“I dinnae want to risk losing ye,” he confessed at last, his voice barely a whisper.
How humbling their union had been for him. He never thought he would live to see the day that he would say such words to her. How could it be that just weeks ago, she was in the palm of his hand and now he was wrapped around her finger?
Was this what love made a man? Illogical, mad, emotional? How could anyone ever want this? And how could he ever picture his life without it, moving forward?
Kira leaned forward and placed a hand on the desk, reaching for him. Slowly, he laid a hand over hers and her thin fingers wrapped around it. “I’m nae going anywhere, Hunter. I’m yers.”
To say those exact words so casually was madness to him. Want started to cloud his mind but he tried to stay focused. She continued, “War is nae a solution, though. I do hope we can find another way. Perhaps we could scare him? Call alliances of our own for support.”
Hunter had been a lone wolf of a laird since the moment he took power.
While he had maintained good relationships in business, he hadn’t called upon old favors nor beseeched support in the name of his father.
It had always felt sinful. That he shouldn’t invoke the name of his father unless it was something dire, something that his father would want him to find help with.
And looking at his bride, he thought perhaps this could be such an occasion.
That he had found something important and dire enough that he would finally ask for help instead of shouldering everything alone.
He withdrew his hand and gave his lap a pat. She eyed him curiously as she stood and moved around the desk, perching on his lap. “My, my. My wife is hardworking, loyal, and clever,” he praised. “A lucky man, am I not?”
Kira stroked his cheek and smiled fondly. “Dinnae boast so much, M’Laird. I’ve only just begun.”
“I hope so,” he purred.
Something new and wicked flashed across her expression in response.
She then turned gracefully and skillfully so that she was straddling his lap, her legs nestled on each side of him, her legs exposed as her dress bunched around her hips, leaving little to his imagination.
His hands raked over the smooth skin and gave her a hooded glare as her hands rested on his shoulders.
“Where did ye learn such tricks?” he queried. “To sit on me so, with such ease when ye blush at the slightest bit of affection… Makes me think it’s a practiced skill.”
“There was much idle time at Clan Barclay,” she sighed.
Her fingertips trailed along his collarbone and his manhood swelled. It made him feel alive, grounded, and invincible all at once. Though her words made his eyes narrow to slits.
“And the library there is stocked with any book ye can imagine. Scandalously enough, some of those books even have drawings within them.” Her face drew near and her hands were gently stroking his jaw.
“I always wondered if I would use such knowledge one day. How lucky am I to share it with ye rather than anyone else.”
“Temptuous thing,” he murmured.
Their lips crashed into one another’s, and he took possessive hold of her hips.
Others might frown upon his truth, but it didn’t make it any less so.
No matter how at war his thoughts could be over Kira, when they came together as man and woman, he could physically feel how connected they were.
And her lips on his cleared his heart of its clouded confusion.
At his core, Hunter had always wanted her, craved her, loved her.
She had never been his enemy, though. He knew that now. And he would shower her with all the love lost between the years that had separated them.
Kissing and biting at her pale neck was as close as he could get to devouring her like he so longed to do. He relished the sensation of her skin against his teeth and the raspy moans that escaped her mouth. Reaching for the hem of her skirt, he hiked it up further to expose her sex.
She gasped into his ear. “What if someone comes in?”
“Best give them a show to remember then,” he smirked.
Kira laughed, and it was a real laugh. And to think, she couldn’t make a prettier sound than moaning his name.
Had he ever heard her laugh like this? He savored the sound, memorizing the notes and melody of it whilst he kissed along her neck some more, pulling the fabric of her dress down off her shoulder.
Her laughter turned to breathy moans as he kissed her shoulder and petted between her legs.
He thought her need for propriety would win, that she would shove him away and call him a beast before luring him to her bedchamber. To his surprise, however, she was reaching for the fasteners of his breeches. Could there have ever been a woman more perfect for him than this one?
She freed his manhood and her soft hand wrapped around its base, stroking him lightly. And then she guided his tip to her center, pressing into him until their bodies became one. Her core was warm, slick with want, and all his.
Hunter stared up at her as she slowly began to ride him, her hips gentle and slow with each movement. “Good lass,” he purred as his hands cupped her ass. “Keep going.”
He watched with hungry eyes as she became more and more confident with her movements.
He craved her too badly, needing to ravish her until her body was spent and heavy against his.
This was new and exciting, and he relaxed back in his chair, watching her as she explored this little taste of control.
Kira’s cheeks were flushed and her teeth were biting down on her lower lip.
She busied her hands, undoing the buttons of his blouse until her hands rested on his bare chest. The thought of stripping them both naked and having her right on top of his desk was tempting, but he wanted to let her explore him.
For the first time in his life, he wanted to submit.
Because submitting in that moment was giving her freedom.
She brought her lips to his again as her movements sped up, the chair creaking underneath them. “Hunter,” she breathed.
He could feel the tightness of her sex and the way her nails slightly dug into the skin of his shoulders. She was closing in on her release already, but he wasn’t anywhere near done with her.
Taking hold of her hips, he bucked into her thrusts, sending himself deeper into her with each flick. “Keep going, my Lady. Use me,” he breathed into her lips.
The franticness of her motion made him feel frenzied. Her body rocked into his again and again, her leg muscles clenching and her fingers knotting in his hair. His hands were pressed to the small of her back for support as she writhed and groaned, and he peppered her face with light kisses.
She leaned against him and focused on catching her breath, his manhood still alert and pressed into her. “I want… more,” she whispered into his ear.
He didn’t need any more encouragement than that. Scooping her up, he kept their bodies together and placed her atop his desk. “Yer wish is my command, my Lady,” he purred against the skin of his neck as he thrust into her.