“Yes?”
“Finlay,” she said. “You really must stop jumping to conclusions about me. You always think the worst before you consider any other options, and you must understand that is not the case. I am your wife now, and I need you to know that even if I disagree with you, I will have your back. I expect the same from you.”
He nodded, and then finally allowed a smile to emerge. He had always had his family to rely on, but to have one person who would be there for him no matter what came their way, who would even stand up to others in the family for him… it felt incredible.
“Finlay,” she said breathily.
“Yes?”
“Try smiling more often. It suits you.”
As her lips turned into the easy grin she so often wore, he smiled one more time before leaning in and cupping her face in his hands. He looked at her, studying her face that was already etched upon his mind from years of knowing her, wanting her, needing her.
“Aye, wife,” he said softly, rubbing his thumb along her jawline. “If that is what you command, then so be it…. you have freckles on your nose.” Apparently he could still be surprised by her. “I never realized that until seeing you this close.”
She laughed at that, but then drew in a quick breath as he leaned in and gently took her lips, nibbling on first the bottom and then the top. Her pliancy sent a thrill through him, and he leaned in and hungrily took more.
When they had made love the first time, it was fire and passion and all of the pent-up lust finally released. Tonight was different. It was the coming together of the partnership they had initially agreed upon, and the fondness they had developed for one another.
It led to a tender loving, one in which they explored one another, with eyes, mouths, and fingertips. They showed one another the depth of their feeling through the way they caressed each other, and it was a gentle loving, more giving than taking for each of them.
When they lay together afterward in silence, Finlay realized something had changed that night, although he was unsure how to put it into words. Apparently Kyla felt the same, for she was strangely silent. Instead, she curled up into his warm body, and they both fell into a deep sleep.
Finally, on this night, Finlay put the cares and the worries behind him—for a time, at least—and let himself find the rest he had so desperately sought, but had always been quite unsure how to find.
16
Kyla soon found out one thing that had changed in her relationship with Finlay that both shocked and delighted her. When he rose from the breakfast table the next morning to spend his obligatory couple of hours at his desk, he asked her to join him.
She looked at him, taken aback for a moment, but upon finding his face open and waiting, she nodded in agreement and followed him into the study that he still shared with his father. Finlay sat down behind the desk after moving a chair next to his and patting it in an invitation for her to sit. As she did, she gave him a sideways glance, unable to resist taking a closer look at his profile, his jaw strong and set as he concentrated on the pages below him.
“These are our ledgers for the past year,” he explained, pointing to the leather-bound volumes before him. “Perhaps they do need a fresh pair of eyes to look for what else can be done.”
She leaned back and looked at him in astonishment for a moment.
“You want me to review them?” she asked.
“That’s what I asked, is it not?”
“Well, yes, but you didna seem quite so keen on the idea previously,” she said quickly. She didn’t want to miss out on the opportunity, but she was keen to know what had caused the sudden shift.
“I’ve changed my mind.”
She nodded once, not saying anything further. For Finlay, this was quite a step forward in terms of divesting some of his responsibilities—especially when they were to her, a MacTavish—and she knew better than to question it any further.
They spent most of the morning huddled together over the books. Kyla made suggestions where she saw them, and Finlay would nod in agreement, or provide his argument for why he disagreed. She was shocked he was listening to her—really listening, not just nodding his head to placate her, as her father often did when she tried to make suggestions to him that he didn’t agree with.
Warmth bloomed through her chest. She enjoyed being spoken to like an equal, in terms of more than what was going to be had for supper that evening or when she was going to begin washing the clothes.
They moved to the maps, and Kyla began to outline with her finger what she was envisioning. Instead of taking exception, he seemed to be actually watching the lines she drew and contemplating what she was saying. When she’d finished, he suggested that they take a ride together and he would show her some of the land division they had discussed.
“It’s better when you can picture it,” he said, though Kyla was unsure of what would be better—how to divide the land, or whether or not they should—but she always enjoyed a ride.
She agreed in earnest, and after she packed a bag of food from the kitchens, they went to the stables, prepared their horses, and then led them outside to mount.
“Going somewhere?” Roderick drawled as he came out of the castle and leaned his large frame forward onto the fence.
Finlay stared at him, his anger just contained below the surface. “Is that really any of your concern?” he asked tersely.
“Come now, Fin,” Roderick said imploringly. “You know I love this place as much as you, but I love my family more,”
