Bound by Wish and Mistletoe (Highland Legends, Book 1.5) (13 page)

The bed’s enormous size amazed her; she’d been relegated to a tiny cot her whole life, her Mama given a narrow bed. This bed was three of each put together. The bedchamber itself was a palace compared to the cramped quarters they’d had to live in.

With the aromatic banquet Robert had brought, the luxurious bed with its silken sheets, and accommodations fit for a king, she felt spoiled. In the company of a man like she’d never in all her life expected, she felt blessed.

Robert pulled back the coverings, and she climbed under, the crisp coolness of the sheets shooting chills through her body. He removed his plaid and joined her under the covers.

“What’re your favorite foods, Susanna? I dinna know what to bring, so I stole a wee bit of everythin’.”

She grinned wide. “You brought all of this for
me
?”

Robert leaned over, staring into her eyes before kissing her tenderly. His lips brushed along her jaw up to her ear. He murmured, “Aye, love. I’d slay a dragon if you wanted just one scale.”

“Mmm...” She leaned into his enchanting touch.

As he shifted toward the foot of the bed, she scanned over her choices. The end of a fragrant loaf of braided rosemary bread lay on one end, and she pulled off a small piece and popped the herbed morsel into her mouth.

Two kinds of cheeses, one hard and the other softer, sat beside a bowl of dark stewed cherries. He’d also brought a plum and a pear.

“What is this one?” She pointed to a pale orange, pear-shaped fruit.

“Quince.” He halved the soft fruit with a dagger, sliced the inside into sections, and speared a piece, offering it to her.

She pulled the bite-sized piece off the blade and tried it. It had a mild, barely sweet flavor.

“And those?” She pointed to dark-brown, wrinkled fruits.

“Dates. A delicacy that tradin’
...and raidin’...brought us from the Middle East.” He plucked one up and held it before her. She wrapped her lips around the date, glancing at him as he watched her reaction with interest. Its unique nutty-sweet flavor filled her mouth.

“Where is the
Middle East?” she asked as she chewed.

“’Tis a country far away, across the sea, in another part of the world. Crusaders brought back dates from their battles and travels. We had
...an encounter...with them.” He smirked. “We relieved them of many precious things that day.”

She picked up another date between her fingers and offered it to him in the same manner.

He shook his head and scrunched his nose. “I doona like dates. Too sweet.”

She tilted her head, examining a man she knew intimately, and yet, knew very little about. “Tell me what other things you doona like.”

He picked up the wooden bowl full of stewed cherries, dragged his fingers through them, and held the tart fruit to her lips. She opened her mouth and wrapped her lips around his two fingers, sucking and licking them clean. He growled low, a look of mischief and desire flickering in his eyes.

“I can only think of everythin’ I do like. Above all things I like and desire, one has risen to the top. You.”

She blushed and looked away, the intensity of his gaze heating her insides. She tore off and consumed another bite of bread, barely chewing, finding herself hungrier than she’d realized. He chuckled softly and picked up a wineskin, pulled out its cork, and handed it to her.

As she swallowed down the tart wine, Robert stifled a yawn. Unable to help herself, she pulled the flask from her lips, yawning unabashedly.

“Lie back, Susanna. Rest. We’ve had a long and eventful couple of days.”

She slid further down on the bed and rested her head on one of the feathered pillows while Robert stood and transferred all the food to the table by the hearth. Her eyelids drifted closed as he settled beside her and tugged gently at her shoulder. She turned toward him on a sigh, nestling into his side, reveling in his immense warmth.

“And one incredible night,” she murmured.

She drifted off to the feel of him pressing his lips to the top of her head as he whispered a tantalizing promise.

“’Tis the first in a lifetime of nights yet to come, my love.”

Yet even in the warm protection of his embrace, menacing shadows hunted her in her dreams
...

Sticky webs tasting of fear and malice sucked her under until she gasped for air, for freedom. Her father’s maniacal bellow resonated into the nothingness, and she clamped her hands over her ears, terrified. Afraid to close her eyes, she stared as a foreboding silhouette materialized up a bleak stone wall, the snarling profile of a furious man seeking retribution.

Dougal.

His twisted shadow stretched taller, creeping onto the ceiling until it hovered over her, a specter threatening the nightmare of a torture worse than death.

She ran.

CHAPTER
ELEVEN

Robert awoke to a constricting feeling. His eyelids popped open, and he launched away from something clutching his neck. But as he took in the foreign surroundings, he exhaled all the air in his lungs at a wonderful sight.

Sitting upright, an ivory sheet drifting off the curves of her breasts, was the most beautiful woman.
His
woman. Her hair was mussed from sleep, her cheeks were pinked, and her heavily lashed eyelids fluttered open then drifted shut again, as if the effort to see was too great.

“Robert? Is somethin’ amiss?” she asked in a soft, sleepy voice.

“Nay. Not a thing.” He smiled, and crawled beneath the covers once again. Susanna curled up into his side, yawning against his chest.

“I dinna sleep well. I had bad dreams I canna seem to remember.” She tightened the arm she’d stretched across his chest for
a brief moment before relaxing.

He rubbed his hand up and down her back, soothing her. The gentle creature he held in his arms may have had a dark past, but he swore her present and future would be filled with light. To carry out his endeavor, he needed to learn more about her.

“Susanna, tell me about your mother,” he said, cringing as he heard the words, hoping the topic wouldn’t change her sleepy, pliable demeanor.

Instead, she pressed closer against him, wrapping an arm around his chest and holding him tight. He sighed, thrilling over her possessiveness.

“Mama was the gentlest of souls. Givin’, no matter who received what she offered. Forgivin’ and lovin’,” she said, her voice growing softer.

“She’s no longer
...
here
...is she.” What started as a question fell flat into a statement. He knew. The fighter beneath her delicate exterior never would’ve left behind her beloved mother, the one person in the world, it seemed, who’d shown her kindness and love.

“Nay.” Susanna’s voice cracked.

Warm tears fell onto his chest and tracked down the side of his ribs. He made no move to stop the flow, only squeezed her shoulder in support.

“I doona know all that happened. Only that
...he...called for her in the middle of the night. He did so often. She’d always returned before sunrise. That time...she never returned.

“When I demanded to see her, he led me down to the chapel. Dressed in a gown of white I’d never seen before, she lay upon a long table as if sleepin’. Her eyes were closed and her hands had been folded across her chest.

“Everythin’ I’d held dear and sacred in my world vanished the moment Mama left this Earth. She knew it would happen. Although he never lifted a hand to me, he did to her. He’d made certain no marks showed, but she’d come back battered and bruised beneath her clothin’.”

Robert exhaled a puff of air, disgusted by the knowledge that anyone would treat another soul with such hatred and disregard. “Susanna, I’m verra sorry.” He tightened his grip on her.

She took a deep breath. “She made me promise that when she died—
not if, but when
—I was to leave the verra same night. I followed her instructions, takin’ nothin’ with me but a horse from the stables and enough food to make it to safety, wherever and however far away that happened to be.”

“You nearly ran me down, gettin’ there,” he quipped, smirking.

She gave a soft laugh and sniffled. “I dinna mean to, and yet, it turned out to be the most wonderful thing that ever happened to me.”

Staying within his embrace, she shifted onto an elbow and gazed up at him. Her cheeks were shiny from her tears, her dark lashes stuck together from the wetness. “You are a wish I made. The verra thing I’d prayed for.”

Robert smiled and leaned forward. With tender care, he kissed away the salty tears from her lashes as she fluttered them shut. He brushed back a few strands of hair that had stuck to her wet cheek and, with gentle reverence, did his best to kiss all her pain away.

“Thank you for nearly tramplin’ me, threatenin’ my life, and for bein’ a feisty
guest
of ours. Were it not for your impossible nature, I might not have fallen for you.”

“Guest?” she said, pulling her head back. “Doona you mean to say ‘prisoner’?”

He laughed, kissing her luscious lips. He murmured against them between lazy kisses. “Nay, no matter who was the one bound, ’twas I who’d been captured.”

She pulled back, staring into his eyes with great intensity. “Robert, I canna stop worryin’ about my father and Dougal. They will come after me. You and your clan are at risk as long as I remain here. And
...”

Robert swallowed hard, wanting to ease her suffering, but forcing himself to wait and listen to her needs. Her fear was justified and existed because, in the heat of battle, he’d chosen to protect her first and bring the fight to Dougal another time. On his terms. Without Susanna. He accepted the responsibility of easing her fears and worries until he killed Dougal.
And
her abusing, tyrannical father.

She slid her quivering fingers across his cheeks. “I’m tryin’ desperately to trust you. Trust this.
Us.
Mama told me things. Made me believe things that I’m now fightin’ against.”

“What kind of things did she tell you, Susanna?”

“Horrible things about men.
All
men. I’ve grown up fearin’ and hatin’ men. I hated you the moment I met you. I knew no other way.”

He turned his head, placing a gentle kiss in the palm of her hand. “And now?”

“Now I feel something verra different than hate for you, no matter my struggles with it.”

His soft laugh brought a small smile to her lips. “Your bravery and strength is admirable after all you’ve been through. That you fight your demons and try to trust somethin’ you never imagined possible is enough for now.” He smiled at her. “I’m a verra patient man.”

Susanna threaded her fingers through the hair at his nape and pulled him closer. He wrapped his arms around her, holding his new wife—his life.

* * *

Robert spent the entire morning in Susanna’s bed, holding and reassuring her, but also talking with her and learning about little things, like the secret hikes she’d taken alone and the colorful wildflowers she’d discovered while on them. The moment springtime arrived, he planned to share many new small adventures with her.

The castle’s daily activities were well underway by the time he ventured downstairs to replenish their food and drink. Maids were already clearing dishes from the day’s first meal off the tables and tossing scraps to the hounds as he bounded down the stairs. He stepped into the cool space of the larder to refill their wineskin.

When he passed back by the kitchen, Iain called out to him. “Robert! Look at you, hale and well rested.” A huge grin stretched across his face.

Robert narrowed his eyes, wary of Iain’s sudden jovial demeanor. “Iain, you’ve been heavily drinkin’ the ale already?”

“Nay.” Iain held up the aromatic brew of what he and Isobel drank. They called it coffee.

Iain continued to stare at him with a devilish smirk on his face.

Robert growled low. “What’s got you so
happy
today?”

He arched a brow. “I’ve called the priest. We heard you took a wife last night, and Father John
will
be givin’ you God’s blessin’.”

Robert snorted. “You heard?”

“I doona think even the mice were spared Susanna’s screams in the night. Damn, Robert. The walls are made of thick stone. I’d ask what you did to the poor lass, but it looks like she marked you in return.” Iain clapped him hard on the shoulder and left the room.

Robert grabbed a silver tray and held it up by the light of the fire. Small bruises dotted the side of his neck from his shoulder to his jaw. He slowly smiled.

“Aye,” he said aloud in the empty kitchen. “She marked me. Straight through to my heart.”

His grin faltered as he stared at the irrefutable image of who he was: a warrior who’d stolen a bride from another man—a man who would die by the blade of his claymore. And he might be Susanna’s husband by law, but he needed to explain the magick within their castle and how it affected their lives. He believed nothing should be kept secret between a husband and wife.

His dark brow furrowed in the reflection, and his jaw tensed as he replaced the platter on the table. After everything had been dealt with, and all had been revealed, he hoped she’d want to stay with him, be a part of Clan Brodie.

The celebrating would be tempered until he’d earned the right to keep her.