Page 115 of The Highlander's Auctioned Hellion
She squealed as the cold water covered her body, but the discomfort only lasted for a minute as his arms went round her like bands of fire.
“Where dae ye think ye are goin’ without me?” he asked, nuzzling at her neck with his nose.
“Am I not permitted to leave your side from now on?” she asked, enjoying the buoyancy his body afforded her. She felt as if she could float away and never have to return to dry land again.
“I would have ye close to me at all times so that I can keep an eye on ye, yes.”
Lydia laughed. “And that is because you do not trust that I can make my own way?”
“I think ye can dae whatever ye set yer mind to. Ye just have to dae it with me,” he said with a smirk, and Lydia chuckled as he lifted her, and her legs went around his body.
“Ye see?” Callum continued. “The water is warm once you’re in it. And look, the stars are out.”
Lydia leaned back, his big hands supporting her as she stared up at the sky. The gray, silvery wisps of clouds were dissipating, and the dark, deep blackness behind the stars was making itself known.
The rain had made way for a very clear night, and she inhaled deeply.
“It is so beautiful here. I never wish to be in a city again and miss the stars every night.”
“Well, that is good to hear, because I willnae allow ye to go to the city again.”
“Is that so?”
“Aye,” he growled, holding her close again. “Ye aremine,and I will keep ye with me.”
She looped one arm around his shoulders, leaning against him gently as she pointed upward.
“That is Venus,” she said. “The brightest star in the sky. Many believe it is a symbol of love.”
Lydia looked down at Callum, and the stars reflected in his deep blue eyes.
“Is that so? I can see why with a view like this,” he said gently, and allowed her body to slide down over his as he captured her lips with his own.
Lydia pulled back, laughing as he waggled his eyebrows at her, as her feet brushed against his bare backside.
“I cannot believe that you dragged me into this loch, Callum. The water is freezing.”
“Oh, I dinnae ken, it seems rather warm to me,” he said, hitching her up onto his body and walking up toward the bank.
It was warmer on the bank than she had expected, mainly because Callum lay down on top of her.
His big body was slick from the loch, and her hands moved over his skin, remembering every bump and crease as he lay down beside her. He leaned over, giving her a gentle kiss, his hand skimming over her stomach.
“Ye ken I love ye,” he murmured. “I would kill any man who ever tried to take ye away from me.”
“I know.” She lay back, looking up at him. “What happened with Moira?”
“I told her faither the truth. She has lied to her faither all her life, just like she has lied to everyone else. He kenned nothin’ of what Angus did to me, or her part in it. Once he read the letters she had written to me, he finally kenned the truth.”
Lydia’s stomach dropped. “You kept the letters?”
Callum’s eyes glinted down at her. “Nay, lass. I asked Alexander to see if me braither had kept them. They were in a drawer in his desk—I think Angus kenned that he would have to prove who she really was sooner or later.”
“But you don’t have them now?”
“Nay. I never want to see them, or her, again. Her faither is goin’ to burn them.”
Callum’s hands were wandering now, and Lydia giggled as they skimmed over her body.
