Page 46 of A Temptress in Tartan

“I had to.”

Silence fell between them again until she said, “Your brothers-in-arms were all here. Reid and Quinn remain, but the others have dispersed to gather everyone who has given testimony against you. Within a day or two, all the evidence we need to free you will be here in Haddington. My father will no longer be able to maintain his falsehoods about what happened, and you will be set free.” Tears came to her eyes. “Soon we will take back control of the situation. My father will not get the best of either of us.”

“Thank you for all you did to make that happen.” His touch softened as he leisurely stroked his thumb back and forth across the sensitive flesh of her palm. Her pulse accelerated.

“I didn’t do much. Reid and Quinn had the same idea as I did about finding some way to disprove my father’s lies. Your brothers-in-arms are the ones who deserve the credit for heading in four different directions to gather everything quickly.” She could not look away as her heart beat faster and the blood quickened in her veins.

“Have you seen your father since my arrest?”

She shook her head. “He was angry after I refused to return home with him. But I will need to confront him sooner or later.”

“Make sure Reid or Quinn are with you when you do.” He leaned closer until his lips were mere inches from hers.

She could see the pulse drumming in his temple. The warmth of his breath caressed her throat, causing her to tremble. He’d said it to her when they’d first married, that there would be a time when she would ask him, beg him to touch her, to kiss her, to make love to her.

Those thoughts filled her mind now as she brought her lips to his and the fire that had been smoldering between them for days leapt to life, and she wanted more. To her immense relief, so did he. He made no secret of his desire as his hands moved to her shoulders, then her back, hauling her deeper into his arms. He pressed against her and invited her in. There was nothing to prevent them from indulging the passion that flared so hotly, so powerfully, between them.

She felt the beating of his heart against her chest, echoing her own as he took charge of the kiss in that moment. He kissed her with unleashed passion, his tongue tangling with hers, then plunging and slowly retreating in some wildly exciting, forbidden rhythm that made the blood roar in her ears.

Her hand came up to rest against his chest, before she jerked it back, longing to touch him, but knowing she should not, not until he was more fully healed. She wanted to explore the man in her arms, to quench the tension that curled tauter, tighter in her belly . . . That moment would come after she’d had an examination by the king’s physician on the morrow.

At the remembrance, she broke the kiss suddenly.

“Not yet,” he whispered against her lips.

“We must stop,” she said on a tortured breath. “I have an examination by the king’s physician tomorrow to prove you did not harm me at Ravenscraig Castle. If you kiss me again, I’m not certain I will have the will to resist you.”

His smile held sadness as well as sweetness. “You do not have to put yourself through all that for me. I know it was important for you to convince others our marriage was consummated when it was not. What’s changed?”

She didn’t look at him. “I’ve changed. You’ve changed. Our situation has changed.”

With a finger beneath her chin, he brought her gaze back to his. “Change is an inevitable part of life. If you are not changing, then you are not living fully.”

“There has been too much change for you lately. I need to see the physician because I need to believe there is some justice in this world or nothing makes sense.” She glanced down at his bandaged chest. “If you, or I, suffer like this again, it will be because we believe what we are suffering for is worth the cost of the pain, not because of something my father orchestrated.”

“Agreed,” he said with a smile in his voice. He shifted his body to the side of the bed, and patted the now empty space beside him. “Come, sit by me, let me hold you in my arms.”

“But your injuries—”

“Are feeling much better thanks to that tincture and your intoxicating kisses.”

She moved beside him. He put his arm around her and pulled her closer until she laid her cheek against his shoulder. “Do you want to talk about what that man did to you? Will that help ease your suffering, to share it with me?”

“Nay!” His voice was harsh, strained. “I would never wish for you to know the horrors one human can inflict upon another. My memories will fade in time, especially with you at my side. Let us talk of something else.”

Elizabeth felt an irrational rush of relief. She would have listened if he needed to talk, but the hideous memory of the hangings still lingered in her own mind. It was not her suffering, but a reminder as he’d said of what one person could legally do to another in these troublesome times. “You are one of the king’s own men. Do you like being a soldier?” she asked, hoping to send the conversation in a different direction.

He shrugged. “I knew nothing else from the time I was a boy and sent to live with my cousins. My uncle and cousins seemed pleased with my skills.”

“So, you took up the sword for the king?”

He made a face. “In these trying times, it seemed an appropriate profession. All of the seven grew rich from our efforts, not necessarily from the king’s coffers, but from defeating our enemies and benefiting from the spoils of war.”

“Did you like it?” she asked again.

“Nay. I’ve always found peace far more appealing than war.”

“You are a landowner now, with fertile fields that stretch as far as the eye can see.”