“Ye’re an obstinate warrior,” he said with mock chastisement.
“Ye like that about me.”
He grinned. “Aye, I do.” His gaze skimmed down her face, then back up. “But I canna have ye seducing me.”
A smile pulled at her lips. “If I promise not to?”
He issued forth a dramatic sigh. “Verra well. If ye turn round and go to sleep, I’ll stay with ye tonight.”
She glanced down once more where his prick strained against his trews and pursed her lips with regret. After all, her maidenhead was of little consequence. She didn’t anticipate a noble match as her sister Faye’s had been.
Kinsey didn’t want marriage or children or anything having to do with the lot of it. What she did with her maidenhead would be her own decision.
She turned away from him, and his arm fell over her once more, warm and protective.
“Sleep well, my lass,” he whispered in her ear.
In all honesty, she’d meant to break her promise. Her intention had been to stay awake until he slept, then nudge back against the thickness of his arousal jutting at her bottom.
Except in the time that she waited for him, locked in the safety of his embrace, sated by the intimacy they’d shared, the pull of sleep was more than she could resist.
It would have to be morning then when she broke her promise. As she fully intended to do.
13
William had difficulty sleeping through the night. Not because he was uncomfortable, but quite the opposite.
Kinsey slept soundly in his arms, her face relaxed in peace, beautiful and still with only the steady rise and fall of her lovely bosom. Her hair splashed over the pillow like silken fire, and she was warm where she fit perfectly against him, their bodies cradled together.
He seldom fell asleep with women and never like this, never with her nestled against him. It gave him a sense of vulnerability. Not only him, but both of them.
She trusted him.
Mayhap that trust was part of the reason he kept sleep at bay. He wanted to ensure he woke early enough that no one would see him leave her room. He would have no one thinking ill of her for their time together, not when the night had been so poignant.
It was with great reluctance that he finally pulled his arm free from where it curled against her. He rose carefully from the bed, so as not to disturb her. Kinsey pouted in her sleep, giving a little whimper of protest as she reached for him.
God, how he wanted to kiss the softness of her sleep-warm skin, to hold her in his arms and stay with her all morning. Memories of her coming undone as he brought her to climax echoed in his mind. It had been exquisite to see her pleasure, to drink it in as his own. How he longed to hear such sounds again soon, to give her such enjoyment.
But not now.
He glanced at her on the bed one final time and slipped regretfully from her room. The dim light of the hall was dove gray with the dawn of a new day. The chill in the air was a startling contrast from the warmth of the bed they’d shared.
A figure moved down the hall.
William tensed, immediately on high alert.
Reid stepped from the shadows. Damn him for always getting up too bloody early.
He glanced at Kinsey’s door and lifted a brow.
William frowned at his friend and shook his head to indicate he hadn’t lain with Kinsey, as least, not in the way obviously expected.
Reid’s other brow raised as well, so they both were flexed upward in surprise.
William smirked and returned to his own room to make ready for the day ahead. There would be many preparations to get underway before leaving the following morning for Newcastle upon Tyne, where the king intended to lay siege. At least William’s army wouldn’t be involved in the raids leading up to it.
A shiver of apprehension wound down his spine.
That apprehension was only further exacerbated when William met with his father that morning and was informed that they would be leaving for Newcastle immediately with the overeager king and several other trusted men.
There was only time to pack and give final orders to Reid quickly. William summoned his friend to his room while he assembled his belongings.
“I’ll ensure we arrive posthaste,” Reid said sincerely.
“I dinna doubt it.” William tossed his friend a grateful smile and reached for a stack of freshly laundered leines, thanks to the maids of the tavern.
Reid folded his arms and watched as William shoved the rest of his clothes into a wax-sealed sack. “Did ye hear how Edinburgh Castle was reclaimed?”
William paused in his task, searching his memory. “By Sir William Douglas, aye?”
“Aye, but did ye hear how?”
William shook his head and surveyed the small room one final time to ensure he hadn’t forgotten anything. Not that it seemed likely, when there was little more to the room than a bed, a table with an ewer and a shuttered window.
“Sir William and his men dressed as merchants hauling hay into the castle,” Reid explained. “Once they were allowed inside, they leapt from the wagon and took the castle.”
William went still. “Mabrick.”
Reid nodded slowly. “’Twas my first thought too. I knew it’d be yers as well.”
The hardest part of taking a castle was breaching the walls. If they could get inside, William had enough confidence in his men to know they could overpower the Englishmen.
“Newcastle is only two days ride from Mabrick,” William said to himself.
Reid gave a rare smile, evidently well aware of this fact.
William slapped him on the shoulder. “Nicely done.”
“Best be offering yer farewells. At least to one soldier in particular.” Reid winked and slipped from the room.
William chuckled, knowing exactly who Reid referred to. And indeed, William had made sure to spare a moment to at least offer Kinsey a farewell.
He cinched up the pack, tying it tightly so nothing gaped open. No doubt, there would be rain along the way, and
