“Damn,” Conran breathed with a frown, and then muttered, “Where the hell did he go?”
“The best we could come up with is that he slipped out before the men got to the clearing, or that he managed to hide himself until they gave up and left the area.” Geordie said, and then added, “But Laird Maclean and Aulay went down and locked the outer entrance from inside when they got back. He’ll no’ get back in the keep that way.”
“Well, that’s something anyway,” Conran murmured, and then asked, “Did he have any idea who it might be?”
“They all seem to be going with the idea that ’twas the bandit who got away after attacking ye and Evina outside the bailey,” Geordie said with a shrug.
“Aye, but why?” Conran asked grimly. “Bandits generally stick to attacking travelers or people caught outside the gates. They don’t take the risk of following their victims in the castle. And if they did get in the castle, you’d think they’d steal something and sneak back out, no’ try to drown the lady of the house and leave empty-handed.”
“That’s true,” Geordie agreed, a frown now curving his lips too. “’Tis odd behavior at best.”
“Aye,” Conran murmured. They were both silent for a moment, considering that, and then Conran asked, “How did I end up in Evina’s bed? I thought I was to take a pallet in her room?”
“Ye were awake for that part, were ye?” Geordie asked with amusement, and then explained, “There was no pallet there when Rory finished working on you. No one thought to bring one up. The bed was big, and Evina wasn’t taking up more than a quarter of the one side, so we just put yer shirt back on ye and tucked ye in on the other side.”
Conran arched an eyebrow. “Does Laird Maclean ken?”
“Aye,” Geordie assured him. “He was pleased to ken ye’re in there in case of another attack.”
A footfall caught his ear then and Conran glanced toward the stairs to see Alick just stepping onto the landing carrying a tray of food and drink. It looked to be enough for two, he noted.
As they watched him approach, Geordie murmured, “Aulay said to tell ye that Dougall and Murine arrived today in case ye hadn’t heard that. He also said to tell ye that he expects Niels and Edith to arrive tomorrow, so he hopes ye’ve completed that project ye were working on.”
Conran glanced to him sharply, opened his mouth, closed it again and sighed. He knew exactly what project Aulay was referring to—bedding Evina so she knew it wasn’t the painful ordeal her first time had been. Unfortunately, he hadn’t got that far.
“He also said to tell ye if ye haven’t, then to get to it. He does no’ wish to see ye left at the altar by a runaway bride,” Geordie added.
Conran cursed under his breath, and turned to take the tray from Alick as he reached them.
“I got enough food for Evina too, and I got her mead and, you, ale,” Alick announced as he gave up the tray.
“Thank ye,” Conran said with sincerity, and turned to the door as Geordie opened it for him.
“Good luck, brother,” Geordie said as he pulled the door closed behind him.
Conran took several steps into the room with the food and then stopped, his gaze sliding from the bed to the table by the fire. There was already a tray on the table, he noted, and vaguely recalled Tildy bringing it in while Rory was working on him. It didn’t look like it had been touched and he supposed that meant that Evina hadn’t eaten anything either since his injury. Actually, he realized, while he’d broken his fast, she’d not even done that ere she was attacked. It was probably why she was still sleeping, he thought, and headed for the bed.
Conran set the tray on the bedside table and then eased to sit on the bed next to the pile of furs and considered the mound of coverings briefly before starting to remove them. Once down to just the linen, he paused. Evina was visible now. The linen started just below her chin and draped over her body, outlining her curves. Conran swallowed, and then grimaced as he was recalled to one of the other needs he’d become aware of when he woke. Thirst. Turning, he grabbed the nearest mug off the tray and raised it to his mouth. It was the ale, so he gulped a good amount of it down, and released a little sigh as he set the mug back.
He turned to peer at Evina again. She was quite lovely in sleep, Conran noted. Her stubborn little chin was more relaxed, and there was no sign of anger, impatience or fear shadowing her features. Although a lot of that had eased from her expression this last week since he’d started his wooing anyway. It hadn’t completely left her though. There had still been a hint of wariness about her and the occasional troubled look that had made him suspect she hadn’t quite resigned herself to marrying him.
Although, in truth, Conran didn’t want her resigned to the fact that she had to marry him. The more he got to know her, the more he found he actually wanted to marry Evina, and the more he wanted her to want to marry him. She fired his blood. The few lessons he’d managed regarding the bedding had left him aching and wanting, and he was eager to progress to the actual joining. He knew without a doubt that it would be good this time and that their marriage bed could be a place of pleasure.
But it was more than that. Conran actually liked the woman. He’d enjoyed the talks they’d had while playing games here in her room as she healed, and he’d come to admire her. She was smart, and brave, with a quirky sense of humor that he appreciated, and Conran had quickly concluded that they would deal well together once he got her past the fear of the marriage bed that their first time had created. It had quickly become clear to him that Evina threw herself into everything she did with passion and pleasure. That was part of the reason their first time in the clearing had been such a debacle. She’d been uninhibited, and responded eagerly to him, and he’d assumed that was a result of her experience rather than her nature and gone too quickly. But that passion and eagerness would serve them well in the marriage bed once he proved to her that the pain she’d experienced was just the breaching, a one-time thing. He felt sure her resistance and wariness regarding their marrying would fall away once he showed her that the joining could be as pleasurable as the other lessons he’d taught her.
Conran glanced to the mead Alick had put on the tray and back to Evina, debating whether to wake her with kisses and caresses and seduce her, or to just wake her to eat and drink, and then try to seduce her. The latter option was probably what he should do, he thought, but it would give her a chance to raise her guards again and she looked so soft and open in sleep . . .
Evina sighed sleepily and turned onto her back, her body stretching under the caressing hand moving along her side and down her hip. At first, she thought she was still asleep and dreaming, but then that hand moved back up her body to tug her gown and tunic off one shoulder and down her arm, baring her uninjured breast. When a hand then closed over what had been revealed, the last of sleep’s grip slipped away and Evina opened her eyes on a small gasp, her body instinctively arching upward into the caress.
“Ye’re so damned beautiful.”
She blinked at those softly whispered words and focused on Conran. He was seated next to her on the bed, clad in only his shirt, she noted, and it seemed the most natural thing in the world that he should be. At least her body seemed to think so as it hummed under his attention.