out a low groan as soon as she moved. She was horribly tender. Her eyes flew open. The memory of what had happened last night made her cheeks burn with embarrassment.
God help her, she was never going to be able to look him in the eye again. She had behaved like a complete wanton. She did tell him to stop, she reminded herself, but the man was bent on having his way. She was going to stay under his plaid for the rest of the day, she decided, when she admitted she'd also insisted, rather vehemently, that he not stop.
Still, he did seem to like what they were doing. Jamie pushed the blanket away from her face then. She saw Alec immediately. He was standing on the other side of the clearing, between their mounts. The horses, she noticed, had already been saddled in readiness for the day's ride.
Wildfire was acting like a lovesick female. She kept nudging Alec's hand for another pat of affection.
Jamie suddenly wanted a pat of affection, too. She thought she might have pleased him last night. Unfortunately, she'd fallen asleep before he had a chance to tell her so.
She was going to have to bluster through her embarrassment. Since he wasn't paying her any attention, she stood up, unwrapped his plaid, and quickly put her chemise back on. She knew her attire was immodest, but she was determined not to show any shyness in front of him. He would take it as weakness, she guessed.
Alec didn't even glance her way. She gathered her clothes and walked to the pond with as much dignity as her sore thighs would allow. She washed and dressed in a pale blue gown, then braided her hair. Her mood was vastly improved when she walked back to camp. It was a new day, after all, and certainly a new beginning.
Besides, she'd done her duty as his wife. She had let him bed her.
Did she think he was made of iron? Alec asked himself that question as soon as his wife walked away from him.
No other woman had ever enticed him this way. He'd never known such fierce desire before. Bed them and forget them, that had always been his attitude in the past. She was different, though. God help him, she was beginning to matter to him. She wasn't the forgetting kind, either. White-hot desire had claimed him the minute she stood up and faced him. Her hair was in wild, curly disarray. He remembered the silky feel of it when he'd held the strands up for the wind to dry. Jamie had slept through his ministrations. He hadn't been able to quit stroking her skin after he'd made love to her. She'd slept through that, too.
He hadn't slept at all. Her hips had cushioned his hardness. Every time she moved, he wanted to take her again. The only reason he held back was that she wouldn't be able to walk for a week if he did all the things he wanted to do to her. It was too soon for her. She needed time for the soreness to ease. He'd made the decision not to touch her again until they reached his home. And he was already regretting it.
He wasn't made of iron. His innocent little wife didn't understand that yet. She wouldn't have stood there so scantily clad if she'd had any idea of what was going on inside his mind. Perhaps she did know, he considered.
Could she be trying to get him to make love to her again without actually asking him outright? Alec debated that possibility a long minute, then decided she was simply too naive to realize how easily she could arouse him.
He would, of course, enlighten her as soon as they reached his home.
'Alec? Thank you for loaning me your plaid.'
He turned at the sound of her voice and found her staring at his boots.
'It's yours to keep, Jamie.'
'A wedding present?'
She wouldn't look at him. Though her head was bent, he could still see how red her cheeks were. Her embarrassment was terribly obvious. And vastly amusing.
Hell, the woman had been a wildcat in his arms. He had the marks to prove it.
Now she acted as if the wrong word might send her into a swoon.
'You may call it such,' he announced with a shrug. He took her satchel and turned to secure it on Wildfire's back.
'I've eleven shillings, Alec.'
She waited for him to turn back to her. He didn't respond to her announcement.
Jamie wasn't deterred. 'Do you have a priest in your Highlands?'
That question did get his notice. He half turned to look at her. She immediately lowered her gaze. She was getting a bit more courage back, for she now stared at his chest instead of his boots. 'We do have a priest,' he answered. 'Why do you ask?'
'I want to use one of my shillings to buy you an indulgence,' Jamie announced.
She tucked the plaid under her arm and folded her hands together.
'A what?'
'An indulgence,' Jamie explained. 'It's my wedding gift to you.'
'I see,' he replied, trying not to laugh. He wanted to ask her if she thought his soul was in need of aid, but the seriousness in her tone made him once again consider her tender feelings.
He was going to have to get over this ridiculous affliction, he told himself.
Her feelings shouldn't matter to him at all.
'Does that please you?' she asked, hoping for a kind word in reply.
He shrugged his answer.
'I thought it would be an appropriate gift because you accidentally killed a man yesterday. The indulgence will halve your time in purgatory. That's what Father Charles says.'
'It wasn't accidental, Jamie, and you killed one man yourself.'
'I didn't.'
'Aye, you did.'
'You needn't sound so cheerful about it,' Jamie muttered. 'And if I did kill the man, well, he needed killing, so I don't have to buy an indulgence for myself.'
'So it's only my soul that concerns you?'
Jamie nodded. He didn't know whether to be insulted or amused. He had to shake his head when he thought about all the coins Father Murdock was going to be collecting in future if his wife continued to buy him an indulgence every time he killed a man. The priest would end up richer than England's king by year's end.
Alec certainly wasn't the appreciative sort, Jamie decided. He still hadn't offered her a word of gratitude. 'Do you have a blacksmith as well?'
He nodded, then waited for her next remark. God only knew what was going on inside her mind now. Odd, but he found himself eager to hear what she was thinking. Another affliction, he told himself. He'd have to work on that flaw as well.
'Then I'll use my remaining shillings to buy you a second wedding gift,' she said.
She saw she'd captured his full attention when she glanced up to see his reaction. 'I've thought of just the gift for you. I know you'll be pleased.'
'And what might that be?' he asked, finding her enthusiasm as captivating as her smile. He didn't have the heart to tell her no one used shillings as payment for anything in the Highlands. He knew she'd find out soon enough.
'A sword.'
She thought he looked quite stunned by her gift. She nodded to let him know she meant what she promised, then turned her gaze to the ground again.
He couldn't believe he'd heard her correctly. 'A what?'
'A sword, Alec. It's a good gift, isn't it? Every warrior should carry one at his side. I noticed you were lacking in such equipment when the outcasts attacked us. I considered that highly unusual, for it did seem to me that all warriors would have need of such a handy weapon. Then I considered the fact that you're a Scotsman, after all, and mayhap your training didn't include… Alec, why are you looking at me like that?'
He couldn't answer her.
'Does my gift please you?' she asked.
She sounded worried now. Alec managed a brisk nod. It was the best he could do.
Jamie smiled with relief. 'I knew you'd be pleased,' she told him.
He nodded again, then had to turn away from her.
For the first time in his life, Alec Kincaid was speechless.
