Gavin shook his head. 'They'd gone for their nooning meal.'
'Someone must have seen-'
'Alec, the hill was all but deserted,' Gavin interrupted. 'Why don't you want to tell Jamie?'
'I don't want her to worry,' Alec admitted.
'She needs to be on her guard.'
'No, we'll be on our guard for her. Once we've found out who it was, then I'll tell her. She isn't going to be left alone again. When I can't be by her side, either you or Marcus will be.'
Gavin nodded. 'I don't want her frightened, either,' he whispered. 'She has come to mean a great deal to me,' he admitted. 'I cannot believe this treachery.'
'It's one of our own,' Alec stated. 'And when I find him…'
Jamie's voice reached the men then. She was singing to herself while she had her bath, a rather bawdy English ballad it was, which drew smiles and raised eyebrows from her appreciative audience. 'She acts as though nothing out of the ordinary has taken place,' Alec remarked, shaking his head over that odd fact.
'I understand why she wants her bedroom upstairs,' Gavin said.' 'Tis the truth, milord, you can hear every little sound.'
Alec nodded. 'Keep everyone outside the hall,' he ordered. He moved away from the hearth.
'Where are you going, Alec?'
'To bed.'
'To bed?' Gavin repeated, looking incredulous. 'It isn't even noon yet.'
Alec turned around and gave his second-in-command a most exasperated look.
'See that I'm not disturbed,' Alec stated.
Gavin finally understood. The soldier grinned as he walked toward the entrance.
His intent was to stand guard in front of the double doors. 'Have a fair rest, Alec,' he called out, the laughter in his voice quite obvious.
Jamie had finished her bath and had just stood up in the tub when Alec came strolling around the screen. As soon as she saw him, she let out a loud gasp and sat back down. She tried to cover her breasts by bringing her knees up and leaning forward.
'I don't have any clothes on,' she informed him, stating the obvious.
He never paused in his stride. Jamie suddenly found herself hauled up against his chest. He turned with her in his arms. Before she could even think to ask him what in heaven's name he was doing, he had her flat on the bed. She didn't have time to blush. Alec trapped her hands above her head and covered her with his body.
He didn't kiss her but seemed content to grin down at her with that rascal's look on his face.
Her breasts were warmed by his bare chest, her thighs heated by his own heavy ones, and she couldn't seem to stop rubbing her toes against his bare legs.
He'd taken his boots off. That thought registered in her befuddled mind just as the realization he might want to make love to her hit. 'Alec, are you thinking what I think you're thinking?'
'You're wearing my plaid now,' he countered. 'That's what I'm thinking.'
'I'm not wearing anything,' she whispered.
'Aye, you are. Your back is covered by the plaid blanket and I'm covering your front with my plaid. Yes, you're wearing my plaid all right.'
She couldn't fault that reasoning. 'Is this how you think to get me to rest, husband?' she asked, a teasing lilt in her voice.
He nodded. Her disappointment couldn't have been more obvious.
'You will rest,' he told her.
'I'm not at all tired.'
'You will be.' He nudged her legs apart and settled himself between her thighs.
'You'll be very tired when I've finished with you. I promise.'
He was looking a little too arrogant, to her way of thinking. She pulled her hands away from his easy grip and put them around his neck. 'You'll be just as tired, husband, when I've finished with you. I promise.'
He might have managed a smile, but the passion in her was already affecting him.
Her eyes had turned a deep violet. Her legs were moving restlessly against him.
When she moved so she could keep him pressed more intimately against her, he let out a low growl of desire.
He nibbled at her lips, just to make her frustrated, then slowly drew her full lower lip inside his mouth. She sighed, telling him without words how much she liked what he was doing to her. His hands moved to cup the sides of her face to keep her just where he wanted her while he took his sweet time ravishing her. He was going to make slow love to her, no matter how much she provoked him.
Her lips were so soft, so pliant, and when his tongue finally sank deep inside her warm mouth, she started to make those sexy little whimpers in the back of her throat. He stroked, plundered, gave, and took, until Jamie was pulling on his hair with her demand for more.
The sounds she gave him made him forget his good intentions. The sleek thrusts of his tongue made her bolder. He placed wet, hot kisses along her neck, drawing shivers from her. She caressed his shoulders, his back, his buttocks, drawing tremors from him.
They both took his clothes off. Then Jamie pushed him onto his back and stretched out on top of him. He trapped her legs between his own as soon as she started rubbing against him. She leaned up on her elbows, shivering again when she saw the hot look of desire in his eyes. 'I want to touch you the way you touch me,' she whispered. 'Please, Alec? Your body belongs to me as much as my body belongs to you, doesn't it?'
He was in wholehearted agreement. Yet he couldn't find his voice to tell her she was right, his body did belong to her. She must have decided she had his permission, however, for she got a most mischievous look in her eyes.
He understood her intent when she lowered her head and began to rain hot kisses down his chest. He made a hissing sound when her tongue circled his right nipple. Her fingers were magical, scorching. And her mouth… dear God, her mouth made him forget to breathe. She kept edging down, lower, lower still, until she had reached the object of her quest. She bit the inside of his thigh when he tried to stop her. His hands fell to his sides then in total, blissful surrender.
She was awkward at first, but her enthusiasm made her innocence all the more arousing. And when she finally took him into her mouth, Alec closed his eyes and let her fire consume him. It was agony. It was heaven. Only when he knew he was about to spill his seed did he finally take control of her. He knew he wasn't being very gentle. Yet his need to fill her completely, to try to give her fulfillment before he found his own made him all the rougher.
She didn't seem to mind. In truth, she was as rough as he was in her own demands. Her nails dug into his backside, and she arched up against him so forcefully that he was fully imbedded inside her before they'd rolled all the way over. They lay on their sides facing each other, each watching the passion in the other's gaze. Their breathing was shallow, their skin slick with sweat.
The wonderful scent of their lovemaking filled the air between them.
'I love the taste of you,' she whispered. 'Did you like-'
'Oh, God, yes, I liked…' He let out a low groan when she draped her leg over his hip. 'Don't move, not just… don't…'
She wanted to tell him she was trying not to move, but it felt so incredibly good when she did move that she couldn't seem to stop herself. His hand moved down between their joined bodies, and he touched her just where her body needed his touch so desperately.
They both started moving together then. Their mating was wild, primitive, overwhelming.
And filled with love.
Alec didn't have the strength to wait any longer. He felt her tighten around him, felt the first spasms of her surrender, and immediately poured his seed into her.
It took him a long while before he could move. Then he rolled onto his back again, keeping her against him.
He sure as hell hoped he hadn't just killed her with his passion. He smiled over that rather arrogant notion, admitting to himself that his lusty wife had very nearly killed him.
