Page 24 of A Plaid Case of Loving Ye
She saw his frustration, and his surprise that she’d kept such an important secret from him.
St. Crystal’s sacred earlobe, what was she supposed to do? Announce his identity as soon as she’d met him?
Aye, mayhap she should have.
Shaking her head, she climbed the stairs, her legs feeling heavy. She longed for a bath, but at the convent there were no servants to help heat and carry the water—no tub either, for that matter. She’d make do with a cloth and bar of soap like every other evening.
She couldn’t have told Ramsay his name when she’d met him. For one thing, as she’d mentioned to him, it could be dangerous, blurting it out like that. She’d taken a chance this morning, when she’d found him looking so lost. For another thing…
Beware the Oliphants.
She had no idea what mission he’d been on for the King, or why he’d left that message for his fellow Hunters. But ‘twas obvious he had reason to suspect her clan of wrongdoing, and that meant they were enemies.
Didn’t it?
But now he knew he was a McIlvain—the son of the laird!—and that he had a place.
Aye, she’d taken a chance, announcing his identity. But it had been the right thing.
Hadn’t it?
With a sigh, she propped her shoulder against the stone wall of the corridor and pinched the bridge of her nose.
He’d taken responsibility for Relic. Now he knew he had someplace to take the bairn.
Ye took responsibility too.
Bah, she didn’t want to remember that. For certes, the bairn was an angel, a joy to be around. But she’d left Oliphant Castle because she didn’twantto spend the rest of her life beholden to one person. Isn’t that what a baby was? A lifetime of responsibility?
Bah! It was all jumbled up in her mind.
What she needed was…
What she needed was…
Well, besides a hot bath, and possibly a swig of a bit of medicinal whisky…she needed a release. She needed—needed—that bone-melting sensation which came after she, well,came.
Her lips tugged reluctantly into a smile, and she pushed herself upright once more. Years ago she’d learned that an orgasm had a way of clearing away the cobwebs surrounding her mind. When faced with a problem she couldn’t solve, or an injury she couldn’t fix, she knew she could sneak a peek at Wynda’sA Harlot’s Guide, then lie down in bed and touch herself.
The familiar gathering sensation, the quickening in her blood, never failed to draw all her issues to one place. And then, and then—when at last her passion released, bursting free across her fingers… Well, that was when the problems disappeared as well.
In that one, crystalline moment, so much made sense. There was so much clarity in her mind after an orgasm.
That was what she needed now. To make sense of today. Last night, she’d tried to capture the sensations of his kiss. It hadn’t worked, but the release had been blissful.
Even now, as she stumbled along the corridor toward the small chamber she’d been given, she could feel the warmth building in her core, the tightening and pulsing which said she needed another release. Her chest felt tight, her breathing coming faster in anticipation of what was coming.
But to her astonishment, when she looked up, she wasn’t standing in front of her chamber…but the infirmary.
Her feet had brought her back here. Why?
To check on Ramsay? He is healed, and only staying here—alone now—because there was nae other chamber for him.
Nay.
There was a thought, flitting just out of reach, and Nicola held her breath, trying to coax it closer, afraid ‘twould float away again.
Nay…
