Every Heart Has Its Day (25 page)

“Remember, lass, my son fell in love with yer fire. Fear not its rekindling.”

Her hands trembled as she opened a flask and splashed a bit of its contents into his goblet.

Caedmon took the cup and drank the potion. He grabbed his throat. “Och, lassie! Be ye trying to poison me?”

“If ye think that be bad, wait until ye get a whiff of this.” She opened a pouch and held it under his nose.

Caedmon gagged. “If ye think to force that down my gullet, ye better gather an army.”

Kasey laughed. “I fear my intentions be worse, sir. Unlace yer tunic, please.”

Caedmon’s eyes widened. “Lady Mackintosh, many others have tried to cure this persistent hack and failed. Do ye honestly believe that foul muck will work?”

“If yer cough gets no better in two days, I shall find another cure.” She held her breath as she squeezed the pouch’s contents onto her hand and reached for his chest.

He caught her wrist. “If ye be sure this will help, I shall argue not, but remember I shall be sitting next to ye at this evening’s meal.”

Kasey gave the old man a hug, then slathered his chest with the fetid salve. “Mayhap we can stuff linen up our noses.”

“Coward.”

She raised a brow.

“I noticed ye hugged me afore ye applied the stench.”

“What in blazes reeks in here?”

“I do, and the fault be hers.” Caedmon pointed to Kasey and chuckled without a cough.

Connor shook his head. “Forgive me for interrupting, but Lady Mackintosh has a meeting.”

“I do?” Kasey asked innocently despite the gleam in her husband’s eyes.

“Aye. An urgent matter demands yer attention.” Connor took Kasey’s elbow and led her abovestairs into their chamber. “Me.”

He leaned down to kiss her, but backed away. “How can I say this without offending ye?”

“Worry not. I ken my hands reek.” She poured water into a basin and washed. “I wish to know why ye involved Lady Shaw.”

“Years ago my heart chose ye, but I knew yer laird would never grant a betrothal. I should have thanked Randall for attacking me, for without his aid, I may never have gotten close enough to act upon my yearnings.”

Her heart leapt.

“Do ye remember the night the king celebrated the newly gilded ballroom?”

“Aye.” She could not forget. She had foreseen the festivity and the man with golden eyes a hundred times before she arrived at Inverness.

“Ye twice danced with young Laird Shaw.”

“His large feet never missed my toes. I gave thanks when he failed to return as he had threatened.”

“Did ye see him the next day?”

“Aye. His eye looked blacker than night.”

Connor winked.

“Ye dinna.” After he nodded she asked, “Why?”

“Ye belonged to me.” He raised her hand to his lips and kissed it.

Heat raced from her hand to her heart. “We had met not yet, milord.”

“Hunter, remember?”

His simple declaration reminded her of the oft-told tales behind the epithet. Tears welled in her eyes. “How could ye be so certain of yer feelings?”

“I canna say. I know only that from the first time I laid eyes on ye, I felt complete.” He sat on the bed. “Listen to yer heart. Dinna ye feel aught?”

“When we be together, I can think of naught save ye.” She sat next to him. “My trouble begins when others come around. I see beautiful women, lasses who would give ye not a moment’s trouble, and I wonder what ye see in me.”

“Ye be more beautiful than ye ken, and I confess, I despise boredom.”

“Though I mean not to hurt ye, I canna stop. Will ye grow weary of the trials?”

“They will lessen over time, but if not, all will be well as long as we find comfort in each others arms.”

She brushed her lips across his.

He leaned back on his elbows.

“My boldness displeases ye?”

“I await yer next touch.”

She unlaced his tunic, trailed a finger over the exposed skin and wanted more. “Sit up.”

As soon as he obeyed, she tugged the garment over his head. She recalled the thrill of his lips on her breasts and wondered if he would experience the same bliss. She leaned forward and suckled at his nipple.

He threaded his fingers through her hair.

She suckled harder, then trailed her lips across his chest. The nub hardening in her mouth excited her. She trailed her hand down to rub his swelling shaft. She pulled away. “Stand up, husband.”

She raised her gaze to his as her trembling fingers fumbled with the laces of his trews. Caressing his legs, she edged the garment off. Still watching his face, she kissed the tip of his sex.

He collapsed onto the bed.

She knelt between his legs, licked his tip, then engulfed him.

“Kasey.”

Unable to tell if his strained voice resulted from pleasure or pain, she lifted her head. “Connor?”

“More.” He guided her back.

She wrapped her lips around him. His staff grew bigger, harder. Heat pooled in her core. Her breasts grew taut.

His lifted her onto the bed. After he freed her of her garments, he shifted around and licked her folds. She returned the pleasure he gave. When she could stand no more, she raised her head. “I need ye.”

“Turn around, love.”

She brought her lips to his and tasted her dew.

He guided her hips over his and broke the kiss. “Straddle me.”

“Like a horse?”

“Aye.”

As she lowered her hips, he guided his arousal into her. Like the correct key in a lock, he filled her completely. He lifted and lowered her, pulling himself nearly out, then thrusting in. She placed her breast at his mouth. He thumbed her other nipple as he suckled. The heat within built. She raised and lowered her hips faster. He pulled her lips to his. His tongue, in time with his shaft, darted in and out. Embers flared to a blaze.

“Come apart with me, love.”

A few strokes later, the force of his final thrust, the warmth of his seed, sent her over the edge.

After her breathing slowed, she tried to roll to his side.

He stilled her. “Ye be my favorite blanket.”

“Should I apologize?”

“Why?”

“I enjoyed taking the reins.”

“I look forward to ceding to ye agin and agin.”

“And I to ye.” Kasey stroked her husband’s cheek. She had never imagined she would meet a man who completed her so. The many obstacles they had overcome and still faced mattered not when she lay in his embrace. “I love ye, Connor Mackintosh.”

“I love ye, Kasey Mackintosh.”

“Forever?”

“Forever.”

Epilogue

“Be my memory clouded, Mackintosh, or did ye once promise to never agin inflict pain on me?” Kasey grabbed her husband’s tunic. “I have endured this torture thrice before. I warn ye, husband, I shall never suffer so agin!”

Connor chuckled. She had threatened the same during the birthing of each of their three sons. Kasey reminded him to temper his joy by moving her hand from his collar to his neck. “I swear, my love, if ye gift our family with a daughter we will have no more bairns.”

She tightened her hold. “We will still share a bed.”

“I canna live without yer touch, my sweet.”

“Remember that, my dear.”

He removed her hand from his throat and turned toward noise in the corridor. “Just in time, milady.”

“I may waddle, Laird Mackintosh, but I would not miss this any more than I have missed the others.” Evonne grinned as she rubbed her protruding belly. “Has she threatened to unsheathe her daggers yet?”

“Nay, and I would like to escape afore she does.”

Connor kissed his wife’s forehead, then quit the room. In the corridor he clapped Gavin’s back. “All goes well, milord?”

Gavin shook his head. “The Camerons be a stubborn lot. After I decreed any man who beat a woman would suffer my wrath, many warriors left. Thank ye for sending Ingram to aid in the training of replacements.”

“Ye be welcome. Yer fields have been cleared?”

“Aye. My warriors gained strength just as we did during our service in the royal guard. We expect a bountiful harvest this year, and the walls now be strong.”

“The king made a wise decision when he awarded ye the lairdship.”

“I wonder. If he had bestowed the honor upon Dillon, things might be different.”

“Have ye received word from him?”

“Nay. Do ye think he will ever recover?”

“He loved Ciara more than life itself. Losing her and their first child, too,” Connor bowed his head. “I canna imagine the depths of his sorrow. I hope he returns before aught happens to da.”

“Have ye seen our father? He and Broderick be belowstairs acting like mounts for our wee warriors. The old man has more energy than I.”

“My sons keep them young.”

“I canna understand why Broderick declined the lairdship of the Cameron manor.”

“A title mattered little to him and less now that Brietta lies dead and Kasey be well cared for.” Connor raised a brow. “Speaking of Brietta, have ye attended that duty?”

“She rests forevermore in consecrated grounds.”

“Did ye find a stonemason?”

“Aye. Her grave has a fitting memorial.”

Connor’s heart leapt at the creaking of the door. His gaze flew to Evonne’s smiling face.

“Yer ladies await ye, brother.”

“My ladies? I have a daughter?”

Evonne nodded.

Tears welled in Connor’s eyes as he rushed to Kasey’s side. He knelt and brushed his lips on the little one’s head, then soundly kissed his wife. “Thank ye.”

“No more.”

“Little Brietta canna hold off three brothers by herself.”

“Mayhap one more.”

Evonne sat by Kasey’s side. “Who would have thought so much happiness awaited us?”

Kasey smiled. “Ye did. As ye so often proclaimed—every heart has its day.”

A word about the author…

Lynda Lukow, a Pennsylvania wife and mother of six, has reveled in writing since she could hold a crayon. She honed her craft as a reviewer and columnist at MyShelf.com and as a community leader at iVillage.com’s Writing Exercise Board. Her previous occupations, as a bartender and a mental health aide, revealed glimpses into the human psyche. She hopes her characters inspire readers to live, love, and follow their dreams.

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