Page 31 of Transporting a Ruthless Highlander
It took Gavina a moment to realize his meaning, then she smiled, a wide, joyous, loving smile. “I thought ye had abandoned me,” she murmured. “I love ye too, Struan. Of course I will have ye.”
Struan groaned and pressed her head against his shoulder. It hurt him to think she could believe that. “I would never abandon you. I simply could not, my love. I could not live without you.”
For a long moment they gazed at each other, and Struan felt the stiffening of his shaft against the soft warmth of Gavina’s body as he put his hands on her backside to draw her closer.
Gavina felt a moist warmth and a pleasant fluttering between her thighs. She had felt it occasionally before, but only in her dreams, then the first time Struan had kissed her, but up until then, she had had no idea what it meant. Now she did. She wanted Struan with every fiber of her woman’s body and could hardly bear the thought of being so near him yet unable to pursue the urge that was consuming her.
“I wish—” she began, but he put a finger over her lips.
“Shh,” he whispered. “I do too, but not here in this smelly place where animals sleep. But I do not mind doing this…” His lips swooped down on hers and she breathed a deep sigh of delight and abandoned herself to him in total submission.
Struan’s lips swept across hers in a gentle caress that stopped being tender when his tongue invaded her mouth to stroke and tangle with hers, sending waves of pleasure straight to her core. She felt the rasp of his newly-grown beard against her cheeks and had never been so thankful that she was a woman.
At last, and all too soon, it ended, and they drew away from each other, breathless. Gavina turned away to collect her thoughts and pick up her few belongings, then asked curiously: “How did ye find me?”
“I went on the main road and asked for directions,” he answered. “When I got to the inn at Invermuir, the village back there, I asked the landlady. She told me she had seen you looking for something to eat and then told me what she had seen you doing. If she had been a man, I would have punched her!” His voice was a growl and his hands were bunched into fists by his sides. “But she gave me some bread and cheese.”
Gavina did not take time to look at the food but wolfed it down hastily, then smiled at him. “Time tae get goin’,” she announced. “The sun is comin’ up.”
Struan gazed at her with admiration. His beloved, as he thought of her now, had an ability to survive that was unequaled by anyone else he had ever met. Nothing defeated her.
“Feel better?” he asked, smiling at her fondly, then he frowned and knelt to feel her calf. “Did I hurt your leg?”
“Aye, but I will live.” Gavina smiled and reached out for his hand, then looked at him adoringly. He was the most beautiful man she had ever seen, a masterpiece of maleness that complemented her femininity in the most primal way. “I cannae believe ye love me,” she whispered. “’Tis a miracle.”
“Then it is twice a miracle that you love me too,” he whispered, before leaning over to kiss her, but just then, he whipped his head around as he heard the noise of a horse’s hooves just outside the barn. He stood up as quietly as he could and padded over to the entrance, trying to make as little noise as he could on the rustling straw.
Suddenly a silhouette appeared at the door of the barn, and it was obvious as soon as he spoke that it was the last person either of them had ever wanted to see again.
“Well, well, well!” Kevin drawled. “If it is not my two favorite people! We must stop meeting like this!”
In the near-darkness, they could not see his face, but Struan knew that Kevin’s expression would be a twisted sneer because he knew he had both the element of surprise and the upper hand. No doubt there would be dozens of guards waiting outside.
“Well done, M’Laird!” Struan said with equal sarcasm. “How did you find us?”
“I cannot believe you asked me that,” Kevin answered, laughing in disbelief. “The stableboy saw your mistress leaving, then you and my wife. I knew where she was going, but when I went to her family home, she would not see me. I asked her guards which way they had seen you going, and I followed your trail, and when I came to Invermuir, I asked the landlady and she showed me the direction you had taken. After that, I saw you. The rest, you know.”
“And what do you intend to do now?” Struan asked grimly.
“Kill you,” Kevin answered casually. “And your mistress.”
Struan held up the sword he had taken from one of the guards and placed it in front of him so that his hands rested on the helm. “You will have to get past this first,” he informed his brother. “And Gavina is not my mistress. She has too much honor for that.”
“You took my wife away,” Kevin growled. “How honorable is that?”
“I took your wife to her family because she would be safer there than being anywhere with you,” Struan spat back. “She was forced into marrying you, and she hates you so much that she begged me to kill you.”
“And why did you not?” Kevin asked curiously.
“Because I am not like you,” Struan answered. “I cannot kill a man in cold blood as you can. And do not deny that you killed our father because I know you did.”
“And where is your proof?” Kevin scoffed. “You have never shown me any evidence of your innocence, and now you are questioning mine.”
“I am not questioning anything,” Struan growled. “I am stating loudly and clearly that you are guilty of our father’s murder, although I know you will never admit it.” As he was speaking, he had been backing Kevin slowly outdoors, and as he had expected, saw dozens of heavily armed guards looking down at him from their towering warhorses.
Kevin laughed and threw his arms up in an insouciant gesture. “Does it matter? He is dead.”
“It matters to me. I loved him, and so did many other people. I would never have done him any harm.” His voice was almost a snarl as he backed his brother into the broadening light of dawn.
