Page 52 of Her Reluctant Highlander Husband

A smile came to her lips. “I’m sorry for my delay. I assure you, you’re wrong. I haven’t always been kind in my grief.”

“Ye clever minx.” He laughed, and the sound touched her heart. He rested his forehead against hers and closed his eyes. “Can you forgive me, Dorie? It was just…holding Lizzy.”

“It made you think of your Isabel.”

When he nodded, her head moved with his since they were still touching.

“It is not fair to Lizzy to be deprived of her kin’s love.”

“She’s not deprived of it. I would lay down my life to protect her.”

“But until there’s a need for such a thing—and I hope there never is—she will not know.”

“Are you nagging me, wife?” His eyes were soft and his mouth was pulled up on one side.

“Aye. ’Tis my duty, and I’ve been lax in it thus far,” she teased, liking that they’d worked through their problems without him shutting her out. It was a step in the right direction.

“Perhaps ye can wait to start until after I take you home and make you scream.”

She felt the heat of her skin in the cool night breeze. “We should say goodbye to our hosts and thank them.”

He nodded, not looking happy about the task. She took his hand and gave it a squeeze.

“Thank you,” he said as they went back to the house.

She didn’t know exactly why he was thanking her, but she leaned up on her toes and kissed his chin.

She’d thought lying with Bryce in the marriage bed made her his wife, but she realized now it was moments like these.

Chapter Seventeen

Bryce was fortunate to have Dorie. Not just because she warmed his bed and gave him such pleasure he thought he might lose his mind, but for her steady patience that supported him when he thought he might crumble under the weight of his sorrow.

She stood by him when even he would rather walk away from his stupidity. And she encouraged him to be better than he’d been for years.

For all those reasons, he picked up his pace as he headed toward the castle to find her. When he didn’t see her in the hall or the kitchen, he went to the solar. She was sitting with Kenna and Mari, her hound at her feet. The children sat scattered on the floor. Except wee Aiden, who was in the cradle by his mother.

It was a pleasant scene. One that had been repeated for generations before and would be again in those to come.

“Dorie, do you have a moment?” he asked.

She nodded and slipped out of the room after patting Douglas on the head.

He took her hand and led her to their chamber. When she stopped still a few feet from the door, he thought perhaps she was still worried about being trapped in a room.

But it was a different concern that bothered her today. “I told you, we canna keep running off to bed in the middle of the day. People talk.”

He smiled at her rosy cheeks. It was so easy to bring a pretty blush to her lovely skin.

“Are ye saying you don’t want me? Even if I do that thing you like with my tongue on your—”

“Shhh. Someone will hear your naughty talk.” With that she grabbed his arm and dragged him into their room. With the door shut, she stretched up to kiss him, at the same time reaching for his belt.

This truly wasn’t the reason he’d brought her here, but when she moaned as he covered her breasts with his hands, he decided to let it play out. He’d share the real reason for his visit after they were both satisfied.

He stripped her down, kissing her in strategic places to make gooseflesh rise on her creamy skin. For someone who was adamant they weren’t to be sneaking off to bed, she was the first to be naked and in their bed.

He’d certainly never complain. In fact, he might keep coming up with reasons to take her to their room.