She took a long, shuddering breath. “My brother conspired to kill the king with Bellecote and possibly my sister, as well. Yet, even knowing this, I was going to wed Bellecote to protect my sister! See now!” she cried out and buried her head against his chest, openly sobbing now. “Ye hate me, as well ye should. Yer family will hate me, too. I belong to a family of at least one traitor, maybe two, but I can nae hate my siblings so greatly that I allow them to die. I will likely lose my castle when the council learns what my family did, so ye will nae get that, either.”
“Maggie.” He kissed the top of her head, his heart pounding, then he cupped her chin and raised her tear-streaked face to look at him. “I don’t want you for your castle. I’ve had more money than anyone could spend in a lifetime, and it did not bring me happiness. I want you for you. I love you.” She looked so utterly disbelieving that he smiled and kissed her lips gently. “I love you,” he repeated. “Time doesn’t matter. What your brother has done, and your sister—” he would tell her what Dermot had told him of her sister and brother later—“has no bearing on my love for you. We’ll figure it out together, I promise—if you want me, if you’ll have me. I don’t have much to offer, but—”
She pressed a finger to his lips. “Ye just offered me the world, Rhys. Ye just offered me the world.”
Chapter Sixteen
I love thee, I love but thee,
with a love that shall not die
till the sun grows cold, and the stars grow old.
~ Bayard Taylor, “Bedouin Song”
This time, when Maggie stood in front of Father Andrew, it was with a heart full of love for the man she would wed. She and Rhys faced each other, and she drank in the details of the moment, though she was still deeply afraid that he would change his mind about leaving when he was reunited with his mother and she reminded him of all he was sacrificing for Maggie.
Candles flickered in the chapel and danced across Rhys’s ruggedly handsome face. The smell of candlewax drifted in the air, and the hair at the nape of his neck curled ever so slightly. It had gotten longer in the days he had been in her time. He was cut and bruised, and she wanted nothing more than to run her fingers over his wounds, following with her lips.
As he gave their vows, their hands interlaced, it felt as though she had been waiting a lifetime to find Rhys. “When the sun no longer warms,” he began, “and when the stars no longer light the way, our love will melt the ice caps of the mountains and be a beacon in the darkness, breath of mine, heart of mine, love of mine.”
Her heart pounded as she said her vows in return. Rhys smiled at her, love beaming from his gaze. The priest looked at them and pronounced them wed, and then shockingly encouraged them to make use of the small guest cottage to consummate their union. Rhys took her hand, and she let him lead her out of the chapel, past his grinning uncle, and to the cottage in the distance.
Behind them, Dermot shouted, “Make haste, if it pleases ye,” with a chuckle, to which Rhys grumbled about his uncle’s lack of couth.
“What doescouthmean?” she asked as Rhys opened the door to the small cottage.
“Refinement,” he replied, closing the door. “Dermot has no refinement. Plus, it sure as hell does not please me to have to hurry our wedding night, Maggie.”
She smiled up at him, and rising on tiptoe, she ran her hands through his hair. “It pleases me to hear ye say that, but we will have a lifetime together of many slow, enjoyable nights. Will we nae?” she asked, trying not to let her worry show.
God above, it was hard not to worry. But once he was reunited with his mother and learned if it was even possible to return home, then truly chose to stay, she would feel much better. Safer. Surer.
“Yes,” he said, brushing a gentle kiss across her forehead. “But—” he continued kissing the tip of her nose, then feathering kisses down one side of her neck and coming back up the other to find her mouth once more “—there aren’t enough nights left in this lifetime with you to satisfy me.”
Falling silent, he covered her lips hungrily, then parted them with his tongue to delve inside. When he withdrew, her lips burned in the aftermath of his fiery possession, and the aching need she recalled from the night before pulsed low between her legs and in the pit of her stomach.
“Next time we are together,” he said, backing her to the bed, “I promise to give you the attention you deserve.” With that, he slipped her gown off one shoulder while pressing kisses to it, and then did the same on the other shoulder. As her gown dropped to the floor, he skimmed his hands over her breasts, which grew immediately heavy, and down her belly, which quivered at his touch. Then he bent for one breath, catching the edge of her léine in his hands, and he drew the material up her legs and over her body, murmuring to her all the while.
“God, you’re beautiful, Maggie,” he said, his breath fanning her neck right before his mouth closed over one of her breasts, and he drew in the peak with a long, slow stroke that made her feel dizzy with need. Her body tightened with each touch, each caress, each pull of his mouth on her breast. She began to roam her hands over his back, willing him to give her the same satisfaction he’d provided before.
He kissed a path down her belly, sending currents of desire through her. And then he was kneeling before her, pressing her down and back so that she lay gently on the bed. His hands came to the bend behind her knees, and he slid her to the edge of the bed. He parted her thighs with fingers that searched for, and found, her pleasure points. She gasped, her breasts tingling, her pulse racing, her core tightening. One hand stayed between her thighs, working magic on her flesh, while the other came to her nipple, circling it and making it harden more. Pressure built within her, and she could do nothing but grip his shoulders and moan.
Her body clenched within, and a warmness filled her, followed by wave after pulsing wave of ecstasy. Just as the feelings started to ebb away, making her long for more, he stood, deftly removed his clothing, and slid her along the bed until she was fully upon it. He hovered above her for a moment, lines of strain visible on his face and in the tight muscles of his arms, and then he parted her thighs with his knees. “It will hurt, but hopefully just for a minute.”
She nodded, trusting him to do what he could to ease the pain, and when he pushed up against her still-throbbing core, she thought she would die from the yearning that gripped her. “Take me,” she demanded, not caring if she sounded wanton, and when he smiled approvingly, triumph fluttered through her heart. He loved her. He did. Selfishly, she prayed it would be enough to keep him with her.
His hard chest brushed her sensitive breasts, so when he entered her slowly, stretching her and filling her, they were completely flesh to flesh, melding together to fill her world with only him.
It did sting at first, and she wondered for a moment if this part of it would simply not feel good, but she relaxed and he whispered his love for her. They found a rhythm that seemed as natural as when he held her hand. Heat rippled under her skin making her desire grow and the yearning build, and when his entire body tensed, her own body responded to his pleasure. Passion and love flowed through her as she was gripped once more in mindless need, and she could do no more than abandon herself to the whirlwind of sensations.
She couldn’t say when she stopped spinning, but the room was quiet except for their labored breathing. Rhys’s slick body lay heavy, comforting, over the length of hers. He rose up on his forearms. Looking down at her, he said, “We belong to each other now.”
“Forever?” she blurted, her fear getting the best of her tongue.
He lowered his lips and pressed the whisper of a kiss to her neck. “There was never a chance it could be anything but forever with us, sweet wife of mine.
Rhys had thought he had felt protective of Maggie before, but as he looked into her eyes, and knew he had to tell her what Dermot had told him about her sister giving his mom the letter to take to the king and about her brother trying to kill his mom, he would have given just about anything to spare her the pain. But in the end, he told her quickly, thinking it best.
