Page 65 of Moon Craving

"Aye. But not you."

"She's nervous about the marriage bed."

"You claimed her last night. Every Chrechte warrior here could smell it. Hell, even

a human soldier probably would have."

Just as he'd meant it to be. "Not completely."

"What are you waiting for?" Niall frowned. "You aren't going to try to annul the

marriage?"

"You think she is a fitting mate for your laird?"

"Before we met her, I would have said no. She was English."

"Now?"

"She hasn't likened you to a goat yet."

"There is that."

"So, you will keep her?"

"She is mine."

"Yet you wait to claim her."

"I will not perform the Chrechte mating rite on any land but my own."

Understanding dawned in Niall's eyes. "So, that's why we're riding so damn fast.

We didn't keep this pace on the way to the MacDonald holding."

"I want to get home," Talorc growled.

Abigail shifted in his arms and tilted her head back so she could see his face. "Did

I sleep long?" she whispered.

"Aye."

She blushed but didn't say anything else.

"You can talk," he told her.

"We're off your rival's land?"

"Yes."

"My father's soldiers said nothing of having to pass through enemy territory when

they were in Scotland escorting Emily."

"The whole time they were out of England they were in his enemy's domain."

"But our kings are allies."