Faye sliced the bit of pheasant with her slender eating dagger. “Aye, Moiré was so kind to show me about.”
Ewan cut a piece of his own food. His gaze wandered down to the shapely calf, resting so close to his own. “Moiré said ye wrote a letter to yer family today.”
A smile flashed on her face, so bright, it dulled her eyes. “I did.”
“I know what ye’ve gone through must be difficult.” He speared a fig and took a bite.
She looked at her plate and said nothing.
“They’re always welcome to visit.” He poured some wine into her goblet, which she slowly took and drank. “And ye can travel to see them as well.”
“I’d like that.” She swallowed and looked away, evidently uncomfortable with the conversation.
“Ye can talk to me,” he said. “If ye like.”
“We’re talking now.” She gave him a flirtatious wink. “I was able to see all of the castle today. ’Tis perfect.” Despite her happy demeanor, she prodded at the meat on her plate.
“Change anything ye like. Ye’re mistress now.” He drank from his wine and set the goblet aside. “Did ye find yer chamber to yer liking?”
Faye sank her teeth into the pillowy softness of her lower lip. “I like yer chamber better.”
His hard cock lurched at the suggestion in her voice, at the memories of their shared passion. She must have been of a similar mindset, for her nipples pebbled beneath her shirt, making sharp points in the fabric.
“Ye can alter yers,” he offered. “To anything ye like.”
He wanted to get to know his wife, to be a man she could go to for whatever it was she needed. And yet, she wielded such a powerful sensuality that he could scarcely think around her, let alone carry on a decent conversation. Not when his cock was raging for release.
“How do ye enjoy passing yer evenings?” He asked, forcing the question from the haze of lust crowding his brain. “Needlepoint, mayhap? Or—”
Her naked leg curled around his and slowly slid up his calf. Though she didn’t say a word, the way she lowered her head and gazed coquettishly up at him was answer enough. He knew exactly how she planned to at least spend that evening.
8
Faye didn’t want to go through another round of questioning with Ewan. She didn’t care for him to know her any more than she cared to know him.
His strong leg tensed against hers. It was evident in how his stare flicked to the low gap between her breasts in his leine she wore, or how he would look down at her bare leg when she stretched it into his line of sight. He was interested in the same thing as she was.
“Or mayhap if ye dinna like, ehm, needlepoint…” He licked his lips and drank from his wine again, his strong throat flexing around the swallow. “Ye could try…ehm…”
Desire thrummed between her legs. Eager for how he’d made her feel the night before. Desperate to distract her thoughts with lust and passion. While it didn’t fill the void in her chest, it at least took her mind from the pain.
“How do ye enjoy passing the night?” She ran the pad of her middle finger down the low neckline of the leine, parting it to share a glimpse of her breast.
His stare settled on her. “I oft remain in the Great Hall after the evening meal to see to the clan.”
Faye tilted her head to the side and caressed her skin. Her fingers grazed her nipple, and a sigh of pleasure escaped her lips. “What do ye wish to do this eve?”
His eyes slid up to hers. “Get to know my wife.”
She shifted her foot on his leg, gliding upward to where his cock strained at his trews. The heat of his arousal was apparent through the leather. She closed her eyes in anticipation of the pleasure she knew he would bring her.
“I’ve thought of ye all day,” she confessed.
A muscle flexed in his strong jaw. “As I have of ye.”
“Is it wanton of me to want ye so?” She gave him a wide-eyed look, intentionally innocent, even as she rubbed her foot over the hard column of his desire.
He gripped the table and issued a low groan.
Faye touched her fingertip to her lower lip. “I want ye, Ewan.”
He stood so abruptly that the chair tipped and crashed to the floor. Neither of them paid it any mind. Faye remained where she sat, wanting him to come to her. And come to her, he did.
He drew her up from her seat and took her there against the wall with hard, fast thrusts that left them both crying out in pleasure. After, he’d hauled her into his arms and carried her to the bed where their intimacy was drawn out between tangled sheets, enjoyed to the point of exhaustion.
Ewan fell asleep immediately, an arm thrown protectively over her despite them both being slick with sweat. The previous evening, she’d been so exhausted from walking through the cold for hours that she’d fallen into a deep slumber immediately. This night she was not so fortunate.
The pleasant glow from a night of being thoroughly loved had quickly cooled, bringing with it a hollow emptiness. This was a different world, a different life. It was loneliness and absent familiarity and love.
The chasm widened in her chest, expanding to an agonizing cavern that she could easily fall into and become lost. Her eyes filled with tears and leaked in hot streaks down the sides of her face, silent as they bled into the pillow.
As though sensing her sorrow, the hand on her side tightened. He was turned toward her in his sleep, his face relaxed in a way that made him look younger.
It was so tempting to trust him. He seemed eager to make her happy. He and Moiré both. Even Gavina. She could have love here if she accepted it.
The thought
