Page 48 of Anice’s Bargain

“Did I hurt ye?” he asked.

She shook her head. “Nay.” She rolled her hips and a little shiver of pleasure rippled through her. “I’d like to do it again.”

“Now?” He gave her an incredulous stare.

The leisurely relaxation of her limbs and the giddiness tickling through her veins pulled a languid smile from her. “Mayhap a bit later…”

He smoothed the hair from her brow. “Ach, later for certes, mo leannan.” His mouth brushed against hers.

She parted her lips and swept her tongue against his. Her hands slid up the chiseled lines of his body. Had anyone ever been as powerful and impossibly strong as her husband?

She wanted to touch every part of him, savor the steely muscle beneath surprisingly soft skin.

James lifted his head from hers, breaking the kiss. “Luath,” he groaned.

Later.

He eased himself from between her thighs and pushed himself to his feet. He padded softly to the ewer and he swiftly washed himself. He then wet a second length of linen and carried it to the bed.

Anice merely laid in bed and observed James’s body as he moved, the play and flex of muscles she had not known one could possess. He turned to make his way to the bed, and again she noted the massive scar marring his chest, though he held the linen in an obvious attempt to shield it.

This time, she was not so distracted. “What happened?”

“I’m going to clean ye.” He settled on the bed beside her and let his fingertips trail over the sensitive line of her inner thigh.

A wonderful tingle followed in the wake of his touch. She widened her legs. “The scar on your chest.” The cloth swept over the heat of her sex, cool and refreshing. She leaned her head back in pleasure as it stroked over her once more. “From battle?”

“Aye.” His ministrations were gentle and done with obvious care.

“What happened?”

Another sweep of the linen. The soothing circular motion was pulling her attention back to the idea of coupling once more. Abruptly, James got to his feet and returned to the ewer.

“An injury,” came his simple reply.

“Will you tell me about it?”

He pulled the covers back and first tucked her beneath them, then crawled onto the bed beside her. “It isna a story for lasses.”

“I’m no ordinary lass.” She glanced up at him with a grin.

He chuckled, a warm, deep sound that rumbled in his broad chest. “Nay, ye’re no’.” His expression turned serious and he pressed his lips together. “I generally dinna talk about it.”

“Will you?” Anice danced her fingertips over one of his large shoulders, marveling at how firm his body was beneath. “With me? Please?”

He was quiet for a long moment. And she was on the edge of thinking he’d decline, when he finally nodded his head. “Aye.” He stroked a hand down her face. “Then mayhap we can both truly know one another.”

It was her turn to be hesitant. Her confession to him about no one ever truly knowing her had been foolish and dramatic. She had hoped he had forgotten it, but evidently it had stuck fast in his memory.

At least now, she would get to know him.

* * *

James had never toldanyone what had happened the day death came for him. He’d mentioned part of it to his da, but it was not the whole story. Even now, the temptation was there to only regale Anice with what she was expecting. Except Leila’s warning had stuck with him as surely as Anice’s confession had that day he’d given her the dried venison.

This marriage could not be a failure, not for Anice’s people, not for his people who wanted a better life, and not for James and Anice. Not when their souls were bound together for all eternity. They would not fail.

And honesty would be the first difficult step.