He appreciated how willingly she wriggled up to curl into his side. Sliding an arm around her, he kissed her with all the weary joy that glowed in his heart.
She was warm and loose-limbed in his embrace. Lazy pleasure swirled in his blood as he recalled the unparalleled bliss of pumping into her. He’d been so young the last time they’d lain together. The experience had been marvelous enough to set the pattern for the rest of his life. But in the blind fever of first love, he’d imagined he could look forward to Rhona in his bed for years. His older self knew better than to take anything for granted.
“So you’re mine for a little while longer yet.”
She smiled without a trace of the wariness that had marked her dealings with him since he’d arrived yesterday afternoon. “At some stage, I need to check the animals and turn the goose in the oven.”
“But not now.”
“No, not now.” She laid her head on his chest and placed her hand flat on the heart that spoke her name with every beat.
How appropriate that Malcolm found his beloved at Christmas, the time of miracles. The sweetness of this quiet moment smoothed a balm over the wounds he’d suffered so long ago. He had his love in his arms, and for once, the world seemed to be on his side.
There was still so much he and Rhona had to work out, so much he needed to persuade her to accept. But he refused to think beyond this heavenly ease. Rhona was here. She’d given herself to him with a fervent passion that had humbled him, and she showed no inclination to leave.
This might be a temporary paradise, but after all his years in hell, he meant to linger in Eden as long as he could.
Malcolm didn’t know how long he drifted in perfect contentment. He might have even dropped off into a fleeting doze. But at some stage, he became aware of Rhona’s hand stroking his bare chest.
With a soft growl of approval, he opened his eyes. “What are you doing to me?”
“Becoming reacquainted with the beauty sites I visited as a girl,” she said.
He smiled, enchanted anew. It seemed the whimsical humor that had been such a charming characteristic of her younger self hadn’t vanished altogether.
“Beauty sites? I’m a raddled old wreck these days.”
She raised her face until she met his eyes, while that devilish disturbing stroking continued. Now she was touching his belly, with predictable results. He was surprised at the speed of his recovery. In that fiery consummation, he’d given her everything he had. He wouldn’t have thought he retained such stamina.
Apparently love had its own magic. Love, and long abstinence.
“You were a beautiful boy, Malcolm. I used to look at you and go quite weak at the knees, even before I knew what you could do with your lips and hands and body.” She leaned far enough away to conduct a thorough inspection of his chest. It turned out that her eyes could work their own magic.
It was a good thing Patrick was away. Malcolm started to weave some interesting ideas of how he and Rhona might occupy the next little while.
The smile that curved her voluptuous mouth, red after his kisses, expressed unashamed hunger. “You’re still beautiful, despite a few extra lines and the odd bit of silver in your hair.”
His lips quirked in wry disagreement. “The odd bit of silver? I’m almost as gray as Old Father Time.”
“You must know you’re still an attractive man, Malcolm.”
He liked that she found him pleasing to look at. “As long as you find me attractive, that’s all that matters.”
He was disappointed when a slight frown dimmed her smile. How he loved to see her smile. Every time she smiled at him, she set another star in the sky. His sky had been lifeless and dark too long.
“I can’t be the only woman in all this time who has fallen under the spell of the brooding Laird of Dun Carron, who carries his secret sorrow like a badge of honor.”
He shrugged. “I have no idea. If you’re asking if I’ve taken other lovers to my bed, the answer is no. I told you – I know what real love is. I wasn’t going to accept a tawdry facsimile. And I pledged you my faith. I’m a man of my word.”
Horror darkened her gaze. To his regret, she sat up and stopped caressing him. “Oh, Malcolm, you can’t have slept alone all these years.”
His mouth tightened. “I can, and I have.”
Moisture filled her eyes, and she cupped his jaw with a tenderness that sliced a jagged rift across his aching heart. “I’m so sorry I mistrusted you. I already knew you were remarkable when I loved you at Dun Carron. I had no idea how remarkable, though. Not a man in a million would keep true to a woman he thought was so long dead.”
Her awestruck admiration made him uncomfortable, and he shifted against the rumpled sheets. “It’s not so remarkable. You spoiled me for other women, Rhona. After what we were to each other, how could I replace you with an inadequate substitute?” He paused. “It wouldn’t be fair on the substitute anyway.”
Rhona stretched up and kissed him softly on the lips. During this last hour, they’d kissed often. Greedy, inflammatory kisses that fed their hunger for each other. This kiss spoke of sweetness and gratitude, perhaps even love. It cut deeper into his soul than the others.
This kiss told him that she’d never forgotten him either.
“I wasn’t so faithful,” she whispered. “I’m sorry.”
Appalled, Malcolm pulled away to stare into her tear-filled eyes. “Never apologize for marrying Samuel. I can’t deny that I was jealous at first. I still envy him the chance he had to see you blossom into this superb woman. I only saw the rose when she was a beautiful bud. Samuel saw you flower into your full promise. But he kept you safe. He kept Patrick safe. If he hadn’t, I would never have found you. I’d gladly live through the last eighteen years again, if I had the promise of finding you at the end.”
“Oh, Malcolm…” she said in a husky murmur and gave him another of those devastating kisses that spoke of the love he knew she was still a long way from confessing in words. “I’m not worthy of you.”
He smiled and spoke the truth that lived in his heart. “Of course you are, mo chridhe.”
She shook her head. “You’re deluded, but I won’t argue if you’re so determined to see me as a paragon.”
He gave a brief laugh. He’d laughed more in these short hours with her than he had in years. Only now from the cozy sanctuary of Rhona’s bed did he realize quite how grim and joyless his years of searching had been. He hoped to Hades that this warmth was more than a temporary reprieve. It would be unbearable if he caught a whiff of hope for something better and fate ripped everything away from him again.
“Very wise.”
She sobered. “But I wasn’t talking about what I did with Samuel when I said I was unfaithful to you. There was a greater betrayal.”
“That you didn’t trust me enough to know I’d never scheme to send you away.”
That had hurt. By heaven, that had felt like someone ripping out his guts with red-hot pincers.
“Yes.” Guilt and regret weighted her peridot gaze. “I hope you can forgive me.”
He frowned as he thought about what she said. “Of course I forgive you. You recognized the truth fast enough when I presented it to you.”