Page 95 of My Brave Highlander

A half hour after Isobel left Dirk's chamber, a knock sounded at her bedchamber door. Her heart vaulted into her throat. Could it be Dirk?

When she opened the door, she found Dirk's sister waiting there, wide-eyed.

"Isobel, the servants are gossiping," Jessie whispered.

Isobel dragged her friend into the room and closed the door. "About what?" she asked, glad Beitris had gone to the kitchen for a small meal for her since she'd missed breakfast. And, of course, Beitris had had plenty to say about why Isobel had missed the meal.

"They are saying you didn't leave my brother's bedchamber all night," Jessie said.

Isobel's face heated. "He is injured and required someone to stay with him." Although she considered Jessie a new friend, she couldn't confess all to her.

Jessie raised an auburn brow. "What are you not telling me?"

"Naught."

"Come now, Isobel. I'm not a naïve and innocent lass. I was in a temporary marriage for a year and a day."

"Aye." Isobel remembered what Jessie had told her earlier.

"And you're a widow. We both ken what goes on betwixt a man and a woman in the bedchamber."

"Indeed." Did she ever! She would never be the same after experiencing such passion and intensity. Now she knew who had all the fun. Wanton women. No wonder they always looked so smug and happy.

"Well?" Jessie prompted.

"That is to say… I ken now… for a certainty."

Jessie frowned. "What does that mean?"

"My former husband and I didn't… have relations. He was unable." Isobel held up a hand. "Before you say anything, I wanted to know what it was like. I had to know, truly, what happened during the coupling. I'm five-and-twenty, after all."

Jessie gaped. "Last night was the first time for you?"

"Aye."

"But Dirk is injured."

"Do you think that matters to a man? He dragged me into bed with him."

Jessie sucked in a quick breath, her blue gaze sharpening, so like her brother's. "How dare he!"

"Nay, I did not wish to object." Isobel smiled as heat washed over her.

"You enjoyed it?" Jessie asked in a skeptical tone.

"Aye, 'twas far more amazing than I could've ever imagined."

"Amazing? I would never call it amazing." Jessie grimaced as she paced back and forth.

"Your experiences were not good?"

"Nay. My husband—if you can call him that—in my temporary marriage was annoying."

"Why did you enter into a temporary marriage?" Isobel knew they were commonplace in the Highlands, but rarely did they benefit the woman.

"My father arranged it with a prominent chief to the southeast. As you ken, such a marriage is for a year and a day. If the woman is with child at the end of that time, the couple will most likely wed in truth. If there is no child, the couple can either marry or part ways. I was not with child, so we both chose to part ways. A chief must always have an heir. If the woman is barren, he can send her back to her family and find a more fertile wife. But we only had relations three times during that year. I'm thinking that was not enough." She shrugged. "Not that I wanted him to bed me more than that."

"But you are a beautiful woman. How could he only want you three times?"