Total pages in book: 34
Estimated words: 32259 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 161(@200wpm)___ 129(@250wpm)___ 108(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 32259 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 161(@200wpm)___ 129(@250wpm)___ 108(@300wpm)
“So, marrying Lord Ballentyne tonight, are you?”
I bite at my lip. “Yes. And I’m sorry, are you part of the—”
“Has he told you about me?”
I freeze, my brow furrowing. “I beg your pardon?”
She sighs. “No, of course he hasn’t.” Her sour look deepened as her lips curl into a wicked smile.
“See, before he found you, I was his first choice.”
Something sharp twists inside of me, taking my breath away.
“What?”
Gwendolyn smiles thinly. “Yes, dear. Before you I had him,” her smile widens as my face goes white. “Oh, and trust me, I had him.”
The sharp thing twisting in my gut slices deeper—my head swimming as I try and process what she’s saying.
“I—”
“Didn’t know?” She laughs a brittle, joyless laugh. “Of course, you didn’t, you silly little girl. But here a warning. You’re his new little toy, for now. But trust me. Once he grows bored of a simple little country girl like you?” She laughs. “Well, you’ll be replaced. Maybe by me, maybe by a new plaything. Who knows.” She shrugs, her eyes mocking me as I stand there hollow and cold.
“Just telling you. As a friend, dear.”
Before I can utter a word, she’s whirled, her gown billowing around her as she gathers the hem and strolls back out of the garden.
Chapter 6
Hamish
“A toast, to our friend.”
Malcolm raises a flagon of the wine he’s poured for the three of us, pushing one my way as he grins.
“To settling down with a good woman. To staying put here in Scotland, and may we never set foot outside of this country ever again.”
I chuckle. The wars in the Holy Land were hell, and no man over there thought any different. But Malcolm in particular maintains a certain level of hatred for the places we fought. Again, none of us enjoyed ourselves over there, but the fighting wore on Malcolm more than Callum and I. That’s not at all due to cowardice either. It’s that Malcolm’s a man of the sea. He was born on the water and has commanded ships his whole life. Fighting in the dirt and deserts of Jerusalem and battling his way through the narrow, twisting stone hallways of those foreign palaces hit him especially hard.
But then, who am I kidding. It hit all of us hard.
Callum takes his flagon from the table, I take mine, and we raise a toast before bringing the wine to our lips. My brow shoots up as what is most certainly not wine hits my tongue.
“A bit early for whiskey, isn’t it, Mal?” Callum chuckles, taking a large swig of his drink.
Malcolm just grins. “Didn’t I say it was whiskey?”
“You said wine,” I grin. “But the whiskey will do just fine. Cheers.”
My friend chuckles as he clinks his glass to mine and takes a large pull from it.
The whiskey flames its way through me—a welcome burn on top of the turmoil racing through me. It’s been barely an hour since I left Una, and my every thought is still back there with her. Every part of me aches for her—wanting her again and wanting to take it all. My cock throbs beneath my kilt, my pulse racing like the wind across the cliffs. I’ve had one taste, and now?
Now I crave her, utterly and completely. I’ve wanted her since the moment I saw her, but this taste—and I can still taste her—has only turned my hunger into obsession.
There’s a part of me that truly marvels that I was able to walk away from her. That somehow, I pulled away instead of claiming her right there in the baths—pulling her into me, spreading those pretty thighs around my hips and sliding my swollen cock deep into sweet untouched cunt.
…A promise of what’s hers anytime she desires once we’re wed.
And yet, I didn’t. And yet, I walked away, my balls aching for release, and my cock hungry for a taste. But I will wait until we’re wed to take her. To claim her. And when I take her, it’ll be in our marriage bed. Because Una isn’t just some woman. She’s not a pretty little thing to ride my cock and warm my bed.
She’s to be my wife. And to me, that means everything. Just as she means the Heaven and Earth to me.
“To Una,” Callum growls, raising his whiskey. “To a good woman for a good man.”
I nod, clapping him on the back. “Thanks, my friend.”
Malcolm chuckles. “To Una, and to her very pretty friends.”
I arch a brow, shooting him a look. “To my knowledge, most of them are betrothed, Mal.” My brows knit. “And you will behave at my wedding.”
Malcolm grins. “Like you have?”
I scowl, muscles tensing, but my friend just grins wider.
“Don’t pretend I didn’t see you coming out of the bathing chambers earlier.”
The growl rumbles in my throat.
“It’s my bathhouse.”
“Even the women’s section I saw you leaving, I suppose?”