The Clan MacDougall Series (46 page)

“And ye’ll be noticin’ also, the glass in the windows?” Angus asked. “I insisted upon it. Nothing too good for me daughter, ye know.” He smiled as he accepted the hug from her.

“Thank you both, so very much,” Aishlinn told them. She tried to keep the smile upon her face, but the melancholy in her heart threatened to dampen her spirits. She wanted not to seem an ungrateful person.

Angus picked up on her mood. “What be the matter, lass? Do ye no’ like yer new home?” he scowled at her.

“Nay! I love it!” she assured him. “It is more beautiful than I could have imagined.” She tried smiling again, but it wasn’t working.

“What be the matter, lassie?” Wee William asked. “Is there somethin’ ye be wishin’ we did different?”

Aishlinn shook her head. “Nay,” she told him. “It is quite silly really. Nothing at all for you to be concerned with.” She rubbed her father’s arm.

“I’ll no’ be believin’ ye, daughter,” Angus told her. “Now tell me, what be the matter?”

Knowing well that they would not give up until she confessed what bothered her, she sighed heavily. “When I look about the home, and it is a grand home,” she said, pausing to take a deep breath, “there is nothing of mine here. Nothing of my mother’s.”

She waited to see if they would laugh at her silly notions. When they did not, she continued to explain. “I know I did not have much in the way of an upbringing. And it would be very nice to leave my past behind me. But I’ve nothing to remind me of my mother. I had to leave her things behind.” It seemed a lifetime had passed since that fateful day.

“When my brothers told me I was leaving that day, I hid some of my mother’s things in the barn. Up in the loft there was a spot I could hide things in. So I hid her candlesticks and her trinket box, thinking I could come back for them some day. I even hid the bowl she used to make her bread in.” She wiped away a tear as Angus and Wee William looked at her. They didn’t look at her with pity, just sadness.

“Lass,” her father said. “It breaks me heart to see ye so sad. We’ll replace those things for ye. I ken it won’t be the same.”

“Nay,” she told him. “Duncan and I will fill this house with our things. I was just sad for a moment. I’ll be fine and I don’t want you worrying over it.” She gave him a big hug as Isobel approached.

“How do ye like it, Aishlinn?” Isobel asked.

“’Tis beautiful!” Aishlinn answered. “I’m certain you helped with it, for I see books and art all about.”

Isobel smiled. “Aye, I did. And I’ve something else I want to show ye.” She took Aishlinn’s hand and led her into the bedroom. As Aishlinn sat upon the bed, Isobel went to the trunk that sat at the foot of it. She pulled out a basket and sat it between the two of them.

“These are some of yer mother’s things,” Isobel told her as she opened the lid of the basket. “There isn’t much mind ye, but a few things I saved after—” she stopped short and shook the memory from her mind.

Isobel removed a leather necklace with a small seashell fastened to it and carefully handed it to Aishlinn.

“Yer mother made this when she was a little girl. We had gone to the ocean to stay with some of her father’s relatives for a time. She was eight, I think, when we were there.”

Aishlinn felt her heart swell with joy. She was holding a piece of her mother’s past in her hands. Tears welled in her eyes as she draped it around her neck.

Next, Isobel pulled some colorful threads from the basket. “These were some of her favorite colors to weave with,” she said, laying the spools in Aishlinn’s lap. Dark green, dark blue, crimson and goldenrod colored threads filled her lap. Aishlinn tenderly brushed her fingers across them, knowing these were things her mother had loved and had once held in her own hands. Aishlinn promised herself she would make something from them very soon.

Isobel gently removed a small blanket and handed it to Aishlinn. “This was yer mother’s blanket when she was a bairn.” Aishlinn noticed that Isobel’s eyes were brimming with tears. She was glad for the gifts, but sad that Isobel’s memories were so painful.

“Ye can wrap yer own bairns in it,” Isobel said, wiping a tear away. “I think she would have liked that.”

Aishlinn held the soft blanket to her face, breathing in the scent of heather and lavender. The small blanket soaked up the tears that fell from Aishlinn’s eyes.

Not able to stand it any longer, the women embraced, hugging each other tightly as the tears came. Angus had been standing quietly in the doorway. He came to them and knelt on one knee hugging them both tightly.

“I hate it when lasses cry!” he said with a scowl. A tear came to his own eyes then, thinking of Laiden, of his daughter and of what had taken place over the years.

Isobel and Aishlinn laughed at him wiping away tears from each other’s faces. “I haven’t met a Highlander yet, who could stand the sight of a woman in tears,” she told Aishlinn as she hugged her again.

Later that night, long after the guests had left, Duncan held Aishlinn close to him in their bed. She slept peacefully with her arm draped over his chest, her head nestled into his shoulder. He enjoyed the way her breath tickled his skin and how warm she felt next to him.

It had taken weeks for him to be able to sleep soundly without the fear that he would wake and find her gone. Tonight, he lay awake thinking about their future, the bairns he wanted to give her, the life he wanted her to have. He felt blessed, more blessed than he knew he deserved to be. His entire world was under this roof, in this bed, and he didn’t think he could ever be happier than he was in this peaceful moment.

“Husband?” Aishlinn whispered sleepily, startling him slightly. “Why are you awake?” she asked, snuggling in even closer.

“Just thinkin’, wife,” he said as he gently caressed her bare arm.

“Thinking of what?” She yawned, hugging him gently.

Duncan let out a sigh. “How much I love ye. How blessed I am to have ye as me wife.” He hugged her; his heart filled with more love than he felt a man ought to have for someone.

Aishlinn lifted her head and looked at him with sleepy eyes. A warm smile came to her face. “I love you as well.” She kissed him tenderly, her lips barely touching his, but it was enough to bring desire to his belly. Damnation, he thought. All she had to do was cast him a glance, barely touch him, and he was filled with want and lust of her.

An urgent need, one he thought she had quenched for him just a few hours before, rose once again. Never in his life had he felt so starved or so needy. ’Twas as if the more she fed him, the more he needed. There’d been no other lover he had ever taken that had managed to make him feel this way. Nor had there ever been one to satisfy him with the intensity his wife managed to bring to him.

He rolled her over to her back, his hands desperate and needy, caressing every inch of her soft skin that he could reach. He could feel her desire for him rising with each rapid breath she took, as she tenderly caressed his back and arms, pulling him closer.

As he nuzzled her neck, he whispered in the dark to her. “I want to give ye many bairns, lass.” Her neck was soft and smelled of lavender, the scent of her made him nearly delirious.

“You will,” she said as she released soft moans of pleasure, pulling him on top of her. She loved the way he felt when he was joined with her, the sweet rhythm that would increase with his desire and need of her. His need to bring her pleasure only intensified the explosions that washed over her each time they joined. Knowing she brought him just as much satisfaction made it all the more wonderful and left her feeling quite proud that she could make him call out her name.

She had been keeping a secret from him for many days now, wanting to wait until the moment was right. As he made love to her now, speaking of the many bairns he so desperately wanted to give her, professing his love of her, she felt was it the perfect time.

“Come spring, the first should be here,” she whispered in his ear as she pressed her fingers into his back.

Duncan stopped instantly and looked at her not certain he had heard her correctly. His mind whirled and he forgot for a moment that he was supposed to be making love to his wife. “Aishlinn?” he asked. “What did ye say?”

She smiled up at him. “I said come spring you’d be getting your wish. Our first bairn should be here then.”

Stunned, he could only look at her. “Are ye certain?”

“Aye, I am certain.” She kissed him, wanting very much for him to return his attentions to loving her.

Duncan doubted his heart could ever be filled with more joy than at that very moment. He was going to be a father come spring. Come spring, their cottage would be filled with the delight of a bairn, the love and laughter that he and his wife had so profoundly wanted to give to each other.

He stopped for a moment to look at the beautiful woman he had married. “Are ye certain ’tis all right to do this? I dunna want to bring you any discomfort.”

“The only discomfort you’d bring me is if you stop now,” she whispered in his ear as she pressed her fingers into his back, urging him to continue. “Now haud yer wheesht and love me.”

Book Two of The Clan MacDougall Series

By
Suzan Tisdale

ISBN: 0985544325

ISBN-13: 978-0-9855443-2-4

Cover design by Carrie with Seductive Musings

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review.

For all the strong men in my life

For my Dad who taught me that sometimes you should bet the hard eight…

For my brothers, Danny and David, my uncles, and grandfathers who prove that heroes come in all shapes, sizes and backgrounds.

For my husband for showing me what it truly feels like to be cherished.

And for my husband’s dad for being such a good example to his kids.

A special thanks to Judy Tisdale, without you, this book would never have been completed. I love you and thank you.

I want to extend my warmest thanks and gratitude to my friends in the independent publishing and writing world. We’re a unique lot, much like the pioneers of yesteryear who settled the west. No, we might not face the same hardships they did, but we’re still settling unfamiliar, new and exciting territories that reap untold rewards—and you know that I don’t think of only the gold;

I speak of freedom

I would like to thank the following indie authors for their encouragement, help, understanding and friendship—yes, I risk leaving someone out, but there are more books to be written….

Carl Purdon
: You wrote the best damned fiction novel I’ve ever read. I want to write like you someday.

Ashley Barron
: I envy your mental acumen, insane business sense, and your ability to think outside the box

Melissa Foster
: Thanks for jogging while I eat cheesecake thereby leveling it all out; remember, when you break the chocolate in half, all the calories leak out. You’re a sweetheart beyond measure