“I am right? Ye did no’ use that on Lady Innes, did ye?” Aulay asked now as he stopped before him.
“Nay, o’ course not,” Geordie growled with disgust. “She’s a lady, no’ a lightskirt.”
“Aye. I’m glad ye did no’ forget that,” Aulay said. “But I gather ye’re finding yerself more interested in her than ye realized?”
Geordie merely turned to walk deeper into the trees, contemplating his question. Oh, aye, he was interested, all right, and his aching cock was proof of that. In truth, Geordie had never met a woman who could set him to aching like she did . . . and he had no idea why she affected him so. Dwyn wasn’t especially pretty. She wasn’t plain though, as she seemed to think. But she was no raving beauty. And while she had large breasts, they weren’t the first large breasts he’d encountered. He’d held and fondled many a set of fine bosoms, but had never been as enthralled by them as he was with Dwyn’s. In truth, her breasts not only made him want to lick and suckle her there, they made him want to explore every inch of her with his mouth and tongue. He wanted to kiss and taste the backs of her knees, the inside of her thighs, and he wanted to lick her—
“Well?” Aulay asked, interrupting another round of his tormenting himself. “Are ye interested in her or no’? Because if ye are, ye’d best do something about it ere Uncle Acair beats ye to it.”
“She’s no’ interested in Uncle Acair,” he said with certainty, knowing she couldn’t shiver and moan in his arms if her interest were elsewhere. Quite sure he was right about that, Geordie dropped to sit on the ground in the spot where he’d slept the night before and spread out to lie on his side, hoping Aulay would take the hint and go away.
Instead, his brother crossed his arms, eyed him from above and pointed out, “It does no’ matter what her interests are if Uncle Acair goes to her father and negotiates a marriage contract. She’ll marry who her father says as every lass must.”
Geordie sat up abruptly at that, alarm coursing through him. “Did Uncle Acair say he planned to talk to her father?”
Aulay hesitated but then grudgingly said, “No’ yet. But that is the next step if he’s truly interested in wedding the lass and gaining a keep.”
Geordie scowled with irritation at that. “Dwyn is a fine woman. She deserves more from a husband than an old man whose only interest is in her father’s keep.”
“Uncle Acair would hardly tell her that,” Aulay pointed out dryly. “He’s a good man. He’ll treat her kindly and keep her busy with bairns. She’d be . . . content.”
Geordie snorted at that. Content. How could a woman as passionate as Dwyn be content with an old man interested only in her keep? She was a smart lass. She’d sense that right quick if she hadn’t already. But, he acknowledged, Dwyn wouldn’t have a choice if his uncle negotiated a contract with her father. She’d have to marry him, and then Geordie was quite sure she’d make the best of things and become one of those pleasant, meek women who fade into their husbands’ shadow, always doing their duty, never complaining and never really smiling or even frowning, just moving through life untouched by any real emotion.
It was where she was already headed, Geordie realized now. She hid away in trees or his room, reading. At least, that was what she’d done today. Uncle Acair had asked where she was when they’d returned from swimming at the loch, and Jetta had said Dwyn had asked to borrow one of the books from Aulay’s study and had slipped away to her room to read.
Aye. Left to her own devices, Dwyn would fade away to a shadow, and the very thought made him angry. That would be a crying shame. The lass was a bundle of passion, ready to explode under the right touch, and he was quite sure his uncle wasn’t the proper man to bring that about. She needed a younger man, someone with a matching passion. Someone like him.
But did he want to be the one to do it? In truth, Geordie did, and if Dwyn weren’t a lady, he already would have. But she was a lady. Now he had to sort out if he wanted her enough to marry her. His aching cock was saying aye, but his mind was not so sure. He barely knew the lass. Besides, he really had looked forward to going out drinking and wenching with Alick when he came home. Neither of which seemed very interesting to him next to tumbling Dwyn just at the moment, he realized, and shook his head at the vagaries of his own mind.
Irritated with his own confusion, he dropped back to lie down again and said, “I’m tired, brother. I got little sleep last night and need to rest before thinking on things like this. Go away.”
“As ye wish, brother,” Aulay said solemnly, and then added, “Although I would suggest ye might like to visit the garderobe ere ye do. The great hall is so full o’ bodies at night right now ye’ll never get across to use it later should ye wake up with a need.”
“Damn,” Geordie growled, and sat up again, then lunged to his feet. When he saw that Aulay had started away, he said, “Wait and I shall walk back with ye.”
“As ye wish, brother,” Aulay said mildly, pausing to wait for him.
“There ye are! I should have known this is where ye snuck off to when ye left the table.”
Dwyn lowered the book she’d just picked up, and merely smiled at her sisters, not daring to tell them the truth and that she’d only just returned to the room to read.
“Ye’re never going to get a husband this way,” Aileen said, approaching the bed to sit next to her.
Dwyn shrugged at that. “It seems to me no’ a single Buchanan was at the table when I left. Did they return after I slipped away?”
“Nay. Well, aye, Laird Buchanan and his uncle did, but Geordie stayed away, so I suppose ’twas better ye stayed away too,” Aileen said.
“Aye,” Una agreed grimly, and then announced, “Da does no’ want ye encouraging the uncle. He says he wants one o’ the younger men as laird at Innes. He’ll no’ give up being clan chief for someone his own age, so do no’ even think about it.”
“I was no’ thinking about it,” Dwyn said defensively. “Besides, I think Geordie’s uncle was just being kind. I highly doubt he’s interested in me for a wife.”
“Oh, he’s interested,” Una said dryly. “The man could no’ take his eyes off yer bosom the whole time he sat beside ye.”
Dwyn frowned at this news, but then waved the subject away. “Aye. Well, I shall try to avoid him in future,” she assured them, and then raised her eyebrows in question. “Are ye ready to sleep, then? Shall I put me book away?”
“There seems little else to do,” Aileen said with a shrug, and then announced, “Lady Jetta mentioned that she received word today that Rory and Alick will be back the day after tomorrow so ye should rest up as much as ye can so ye look yer best when they get here.”
“Oh,” Dwyn murmured as her sister stood and began to undo her lacings, but she was wondering what the other two men would be like. Geordie was the older of the three—she knew that—so in her mind she imagined two younger versions of him, but she had no idea what they would be like in personality. She hadn’t really discussed Geordie’s brothers with him beyond how Rory became interested in healing. She would have to ask him about them tomorrow, Dwyn decided.