He sniffed and rubbed his jaw. “I appreciate it.” He bowed and slid in next to her.
She’d thought there was plenty of room, but once her large husband was settled, there wasn’t much space left between them. While his shoulders and chest were immense, his waist was narrow. She was able to sleep on her side and curl her knees into the void left there.
“I hope ye sleep better now. But if you do have another bad dream. I’m right here to help.” He patted her hand and she responded by lacing her fingers through his and holding tight. He let out a breath but didn’t pull away.
In Cameron’s shirt and with his warmth next to her, she thought she would drift off immediately. But despite being more comfortable than she’d ever been before, she wasn’t able to sleep.
“Do you wish me to go back to the floor, lass?” he said into the darkness, startling her. She’d thought he was asleep long ago.
“No. I’m sorry. It’s just…I’ve never slept with a man before.”
He shifted to his side as if to look at her, but the darkness made that impossible.
“You never shared a bed with your husband? He just…and left?”
She nodded, and he let out an unpleasant huff. His question had been vague and her answer misleading, but she said nothing further.
He squeezed her hand. “Well, since it seems sleep has abandoned us, mayhap we could talk.”
She smiled into the darkness as a tear ran down her cheek.
This night was so different from her first wedding night. There was no pain here with her new husband. Only comfort and understanding. Kenna had promised she would be happy, and it was already clear she was right. Marian had never been so content.
Maybe this marriage would work out, after all.
…
Cam wasn’t sure if Mari truly wanted to talk, but he knew it was the only chance they had to better know one another. He went first, telling her stories of his youth. She laughed and gasped at the appropriate parts of his tales.
He made sure to tell the humiliating ones as much as the flattering ones so as not to make her think he was prideful. Besides, he might have run out of stories if he’d only told the favorable ones.
Occasionally she fell silent, and he thought she might have finally drifted off, but when he was quiet for too long, she would ask a question to get him talking again.
She fell asleep after what felt like hours. Her hand went slack in his and her breathing evened out. He lay there a while longer, drawing in the scent of her and stroking the soft skin of her hand with his thumb. She was so small, he worried of rolling over and smothering her.
Before that worry got too far developed, the lass shifted right up against him until he had no room to move. Her face pressed against his shoulder, where her warm breath feathered across his neck. Her knee slid over his thigh, resting inches away from his stirring cock.
Good God. How would he ever find sleep like this? With his wife entwined around him like vines on rocks?
She hadn’t shared much of herself. She’d told a few stories he already knew from hearing Kenna’s tales. Though it was interesting hearing them from Mari’s perspective.
His new wife was not as reckless as Kenna. She’d been worried anew to tell the account of Kenna standing on her horse’s back. Her indulgent laughter spoke of her love for her younger sister. In that moment, Cam had thought she’d make a wonderful mother.
Not that he hoped for such a thing.
Earlier in the day he’d planned not to bed her so he’d not get her with child. But then she’d come to the meal all cleaned up and looking like an angel, and he’d felt his body respond.
As it was doing now.
Damn. He’d need to be stronger.
He was a war chief, in control at all times.
Instead of remembering her soft curves pressed against him, or her warm breath, he thought of drills with his warriors.
Now that he was wed to someone who wasn’t a McCurdy, he had a chance to convince Lach into a takeover. If the laird allowed him to go to other clans to recruit more men, he’d have a large enough army to guarantee success. There was still time for them to get things in place before the McCurdy found out their alliance was over. The man would see Cam’s marriage as an insult.
While Cam had never met Dorie McCurdy, he had made arrangements to take her to wife. But instead he’d married a total stranger. Mari.
Mari snuggled closer against him and made a soft sound that roused him once more.
Despite his discomfort, he must have managed to fall asleep, because he woke in his bed.
His room was empty, and for a moment it was easy to believe everything from the day before had been a dream. Except his bed still smelled of Mari.
She was real. And she’d just slipped out the door.
He dressed quickly and hurried to catch her. When he got to the corridor, he found her hovering by the stairs. He stepped closer and understood what had caused her to pause. Lachlan and Kenna were arguing in quiet hisses.
“I’m just saying I have a responsibility to keep the clan safe, and your sister being here may bring down a battle with the bloody English.”
“She is my sister. You canna turn her out. She has nowhere else to go.”
“We can give her funds.”
“Funds are not the same as having a home and family.”
“I’m merely considering all of our options.”
“Well, you can discard any options that end with sending Marian away. I’ll not have it, Lachlan MacKinlay. If you put her out, I’m going with her. And I’m taking my boys with me.”
“They are our boys, and you’re not going anywhere. We’ll
