“Oh,” Claray breathed with wonder at the thoughtfulness.
“In the meantime, me aunt and Kenna have offered to loan ye anything ye need that I did no’ think o’.” He scowled slightly before admitting, “I asked what I might ha’e forgot, but they just said ‘women’s things,’ so I’ve no idea what they’re on about, but they’re happy to supply it, and MacKay is only half a day’s ride away, so if ye need something, say so and we’ll make the trip.”
Claray managed a tremulous smile at the offer.
“As fer linens and such,” he said now, “yer da said that fer years ere her death, yer mother had been preparing chests o’ goods fer ye to take when ye eventually married me and moved to MacDonald. He had no idea what she’d put in them other than linens and such, but she’d known that things would be hard at first, and had wanted to help as much as she could so he suspects ’twill be useful whatever ’tis.”
“Oh,” Claray breathed, and felt tears fill her eyes. Her mother was still making her life better, even now she was gone.
Conall brushed a thumb under her eye, to wipe away a tear that had escaped, and added, “He also said he would be sending on yer bed, and the other furniture from yer room and a few other things fer us. So, there will be that at least within the week.” He smiled crookedly. “But in the meantime, I decided that with three hundred men and all the wood here, I should set a couple dozen o’ the handier soldiers to making trestle tables, and benches and such, so the great hall will no’ be empty and we’ll all have a place to eat together.”
Claray smiled as she felt some more of the panic she’d been experiencing earlier falling away, and then he knocked another problem off the list she’d given him by saying, “As for food, that is what we men are for. I’ll take out a hunting party every day if I have to, to fetch back meat enough to feed all. But I doubt daily hunts’ll be necessary. These forests have no’ been hunted for nearly twenty years except by the occasional passing traveler. They’re probably teeming with animals. I suspect we’ll only have to hunt every third or fourth day.”
Claray managed a smile at that, but was thinking she’d have to raid the garden to find her own meals, or perhaps forage in the forest, and then Conall was suddenly standing and pulling her to her feet.
“Come,” he said quietly. “I’ve something to show ye.”
Curious, Claray let him lead her toward the back of the orchards, but then paused and glanced around with a frown. “Where did Lovey and Stubborn Bastard go?”
While the wolf had stuck close to her as she’d toured the gardens and orchards with Lady MacKay and Kenna, Stubborn Bastard had wandered away a bit to eat grass and leaves. Both were gone now though, as were the two MacKay ladies, she realized.
“Me aunt and cousin took them back to the bailey so we could talk,” Conall answered, and gave her hand a tug. “Come. Ye’ll like me surprise.”
Eyebrows rising, Claray started moving again, following him out of the orchard onto an overgrown area around a huge pond that had to be more than two hundred feet long and fifty feet wide. It ran the entire length of the back curtain wall around the castle.
“A pond?” she asked, walking to the edge. Unlike the moat, the water here was surprisingly clear.
“A fish pond,” Conall announced. “Me mother preferred fish to meat like you, and we had a natural spring here that would supply fresh water, so me da had this built and filled with tench, pickerel, bream and carp.” He stared over the water briefly and then added, “O’ course, while he did it partially fer Mother, it came in handy in the winter when food was scarce. Our people never went hungry.”
“Do ye think there are still fish living in there?” Claray had barely finished the question when the sound of something slapping the water caught her ear. Glancing toward the sound, she saw a spreading circle on the surface of the pond from where a fish had jumped.
“I’m thinking so,” Conall said with a smile.
Grinning, Claray threw her arms around him in a spontaneous hug. He hadn’t solved every one of the problems she’d moaned about, but he’d solved a hell of a lot of them. She would find a way to deal with the rest. She’d talk to Lady Mac—Aunt Annabel, she corrected herself. She’d talk to her for some ideas on how to find servants to help with the cleanup and day to day. She’d figure out something, she thought, and pulled back to beam a smile at her husband.
“Ye’re a wonderful man fer taking the time to soothe me worries,” she told him. “And I’m a lucky woman to have ye to husband.”
Conall stared at her silently, his gaze intense, and then he kissed her. It started out slow and sweet, his lips nipping and plucking and sucking at hers, and then his tongue ran along the seam of her lips and pushed between them. Moaning, Claray tried to edge closer, but his hands were between them. His knuckles brushed and rubbed against her breasts, but she was too wrapped up in his kisses to realize he was undoing her dress until he caught her hands and lowered them out of the way.
Claray shivered as the cloth of her gown slid down her arms, and when he released her hands to claim her breasts through her chemise, she tried to put her arms around his neck, but found the cloth caught at her wrists, hampering her. She didn’t even think, just pulled her hands free of the material and then clutched at his shoulders as Conall kneaded her breasts and thrust his tongue into her mouth. When Claray moaned in response and pressed closer, her head tilting to a better angle, his hands left her breasts to push her gown off over her hips, sending another shiver through her body as a light breeze caressed her naked legs and arms.
Caught in the web of his kisses, Claray felt his knuckles brush her belly and the muscles there quivered in response. She only realized he had been removing his belt when she heard a soft thud and broke their kiss in surprise to glance down. The belt and sword were now on the ground beside them. He undid the pin at his shoulder then, and his heavy plaid slithered to the ground to join her gown.
Conall started to remove his shirt then, pulling it up and over his head, and Claray started to raise her eyes again, but her gaze got caught on the appendage jutting out from between his legs. It looked much bigger than she remembered it being when she’d seen him bathing in the lake, she thought as he tossed his shirt aside.
Claray glanced up quickly when he caught her hand in his. Conall didn’t say anything, just gave her a gentle kiss, his lips brushing fleetingly over hers. Then he straightened and drew her along the edge of the pond to a large low boulder. It wasn’t until they got to it that she noticed that it jutted out into the water. There were three small steps hewn into the side that faced land, and several more leading down into the water.
Claray followed when he led her up onto the boulder and then down the steps into the pond. She was surprised to find the water was cool, but not ice cold as it lapped over her ankles, knees, hips. A little gasp slid from her lips when it crested her breasts as she followed him off the last step and Conall turned to her, a smile crossing his lips briefly as he took in the now transparent cloth clinging to the round globes. When he then released her hand to brush his knuckles over one hard nipple pushing at the damp material, Claray gasped and curled her toes into the soft bottom of the pond.