“But Lilas is a healer.”
“I assure ye, it is no’ healing I require.”
“I—” Anya took one look at his face and held her tongue. “It will be an honor to tend ye, my lord.”
Together they passed through the hall, greeting the worried clansmen and women as they made their way to the stairwell.
“Everyone is so happy to see ye,” whispered Anya. “Ought ye announce a feast?”
“Later,” he growled, needing her to himself. As soon as they arrived at his bedchamber, he pulled her inside, he kicked the door closed, and wrapped her in his arms.
Within the beat of his heart, he claimed her mouth, their kiss more impassioned, more deliberate, more intense than ever before. Every fiber in his body came alive as he tasted her, showing this woman exactly how much she had come to mean to him.
Angus’ hands kneaded her back, urging her against his body, wishing she could remain in his arms for the rest of their days. “I never should have let ye go.”
“I’ve chided myself over and over because I did not plead with ye allow me to stay.”
“Can ye find it in your heart to forgive me?”
“After all ye have done? Angus Og MacDonald, I love ye from the depths of my heart. And if ye ever try to send me away again, I swear I’ll skewer ye to within an inch of your life.”
A knock came at the door. “I’ve the warm water, m’lord.”
He let the servants in. “Place the tub beside the hearth, pour the water in, then let it be known I am not to be disturbed.”
Freya entered as well with a trencher laden with food. “I thought ye might care for a wee bite to eat.”
“My thanks,” Anya replied, blushing and giving the maid a friendly smile.
On her way out, Freya grasped the lass’ hands. “It is ever so good to have ye back, miss.”
Angus chuckled to himself. With what he was planning, by dawn the lass would no longer be referred to as miss.
When the servants had taken their leave, he locked the latch to ensure they would not be bothered. “I have the stench of Ulster’s gaol upon my person.”
“’Tisn’t so bad after your swim in the Firth of Solway.” The lass stepped forward and tapped the brooch at his shoulder. “Nonetheless, my mother always said there is nothing as refreshing as a tub, especially after a hard day’s work or, in your case, a horrific ordeal.” She scraped her teeth over her bottom lip as she glanced toward the door. “Shall I take my leave?”
Unable to help himself, he pulled her into his embrace. “I never want ye to leave my side again.”
Anya wrapped her arms around him, placing her hands on his back, but when he drew in a sharp breath, she hopped away. “Goodness! Forgive me.”
Sauntering toward her, he tugged her back into his arms. “There is nothing to forgive. When your hands are upon me, I barely feel a thing.”
Lowering his lips to hers, he once again claimed her mouth, taking time to savor her.
Sighing, Anya caressed his cheek. “Ye’d best bathe whilst the water is still warm. Did ye not say piping hot?”
“Perhaps, but there’s something I must do first.”
“Oh?”
Taking her hand between his palms, Angus lowered himself to one knee. “I went to Carrickfergus to ask for your hand and was told I was too late. In that moment, I thought I’d lost ye forever. It was the darkest hour of my life. Ulster may have ordered the lash to be taken to my hide, but I did not feel the pain because my heart was bleeding for you and only you.”
Tears welled in Anya’s eyes.
“I love ye more than I love anything of this earth and I wish for ye to marry me here and now in the Highland way, between us, with God as our witness.”
Anya squeezed his hand, her bottom lip trembling while a tear glistened, streaming down her cheek. “Yes, I will marry ye, Angus. I’m here because Finovola told me of your declaration of love in the hall. Nothing in this world would have stopped me from finding your arms.”
Pulling him up, she again held him, this time careful to keep her hands away from his wounds. “I’m so happy.”
Angus brushed his lips across her forehead as he unfastened her cloak, sending it to the floorboards with a swoosh.
Anya drew her fists beneath her chin as if bashful. “Truly, I should step out and allow ye to wash, my lord.”
“I rather hoped ye would…” He unfastened his brooch and slid the brechan from his shoulder.
The lass turned scarlet as her gaze meandered to the tub of steaming water. “I would…?”
“Stay.”
Anya’s tongue slipped to the corner of her mouth. “But will ye not need to disrobe?”
“Aye,” he replied in a low growl. “I want to see ye bare as well.”
“Me?”
“Do ye ken what happens in a Highland marriage, lass?”
“I-I think so.”
“Allow me to explain.” Angus released his belt and let his brechan drop. “I intend to take ye as my wife, to bed ye, and do my best to plant a bairn in your belly.”
“I-I-I reckoned that was what ye meant. Ah…but what will Friar Jo say?”
“He’s ordained as a deacon and will want to marry us in the chapel.”
“He will not banish us?”
“Och, lass, if he banished everyone who invoked a Highland bond first, there would be but a handful of parishioners attending his Sunday mass.”
Her gaze raked down his body as she slowly untied the bow securing her bodice laces. “Well then, what would ye have me do?”
“I reckon the tub is large enough for the both of us.”
“Both?”
“Aye,” he said, his voice cracking as he pushed the kirtle from her shoulders. Angus wanted her so badly, he didn’t know if he’d be able to wait. But then again, he did not want to claim his bride until he washed away all the lingering remnants of that damned rat-infested gaol. “Please?”
With a nod, Anya tugged up the hem of her shift and exposed her ankles.
Angus’ breath caught as upward it went, giving him an eyeful of shapely calves, of silky knees, of feminine thighs plump enough to make her soft as down-filled pillows. “Take it completely off.”
The adorable imp waggled her eyebrows. “Now?”
“Aye.”
In one motion, she whisked the linen garment over her head and sent it sailing. Seeming to realize she was naked, Anya crouched and crossed her arms over her breasts, though not before Angus spied pure perfection. Untouched by the sun, her skin was like fresh cream, her breasts tipped by pink roses, the arc of her waist incredibly small, flaring into glorious hips.
Instantly hard, he removed his shirt and grasped her wrists, tugging her arms away ever so gently. “Ye must never hide from me, for in my eyes ye are the bonniest woman in all of Christendom.”
Again, she raked her gaze down his body, gasping when she saw him standing as erect as a stallion. “Astonishing,” she whispered.
“This is what ye do to me, lass.”
In a heartbeat, he drew her into his body and kissed her. God on the cross, she felt so heavenly he never wanted to release this woman. Unable to drink in enough of his Anya, he slid his hands downward, pulling those luscious hips against his cock.