Before she could respond, his fingers found her ribs and began tickling mercilessly.Fiona screamed with laughter, trying to escape his grasp, but he was relentless.
"Connor!Stop!"she gasped between fits of giggles, squirming in his arms.
"Never!"he declared, continuing his assault until she was breathless with laughter.
What followed was a playful tussle between the sheets, both of them laughing like children as they wrestled and tickled each other.The bed linens became hopelessly tangled around them as Fiona tried to retaliate, her own fingers seeking out his most ticklish spots.
Finally, breathless, they collapsed in each other's arms, sharing soft kisses between their giggles.When their laughter finally subsided, Connor pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead.
He pulled her close, wrapping his arms around her as they settled back into the bed.They lay in comfortable silence, watching the fire dance in the hearth, simply enjoying each other's company and the peaceful aftermath of their union.
"I was so angry about this betrothal," Connor said quietly, his voice thoughtful in the darkness.
"Tell me," she said softly, tracing lazy patterns on his chest.
"I felt like my choices were being taken away from me," he continued, his hand stroking her back."I've always prided myself on being my own man, despite everything.Ewan and I had a rough life growing up.Our father was...brutal.Demanding.Nothing we did was ever good enough.He ruled through fear and violence."
Fiona pressed closer, offering silent comfort.
"After he died and Ewan became laird, I thought I was finally free to make my own choices.When this marriage was arranged..."He paused, his jaw tightening with old anger."I felt like I was being sold off like a prize bull."
"And now?"she asked gently.
"Now I see that sometimes fate kens better than we do," he said, pressing a kiss to her lips."I was given exactly what I needed, even if I was too proud to see it at first."
They were quiet for a moment before Connor's fingers found the scar on her thigh, tracing it gently."Tell me about this, love.How did it happen?"
Fiona drew a shaky breath."I was fifteen, out gathering herbs near our lands.I thought I was safe.It was daylight, and I wasn't far from home.But someone shot me from the trees with an arrow and left me there to die.A farmer found me, or I would have bled to death."
Connor's jaw clenched with barely controlled rage."They never found who did it?"
"Never.Father searched for weeks, along with Horas, but there were no tracks, no witnesses.It could have been anyone.Border raiders, enemies of the clan, someone with a personal grudge."She shrugged, but he could feel the tension in her body."The healer said if the arrow had struck a few inches higher, I would have surely died."
Connor's arms tightened protectively around her, a deep frown creasing his brow.The thought of someone trying to kill his wife—even before she was his wife—filled him with cold fury.That the attacker was never caught meant they could still be out there, still a threat.
They talked well into the night until exhausted, Fiona eventually fell asleep.Connor got out of bed, blew out all the candles and added a log to the fire before rejoining her.As her breathing deepened and her body relaxed against him, Connor lay awake, one hand gently stroking her back while his mind turned over what Fiona had told him.Someone had tried to kill his wife, and they were still free.The thought made him hold her a little tighter, his protective instincts fully awakened.
But those dark thoughts gradually gave way to wonder at what had happened between them tonight.He had expected duty.He had not expected this deep contentment, this feeling of completeness that settled in his chest like a warm hearth fire.
As sleep finally claimed him, Connor MacNeil smiled into the darkness, his arms secure around the woman who had already begun to transform his life in ways he was only beginning to understand.
***
