Pledged to a Highlander (Highland Promise Trilogy 1)

“Emily does well. It’s going to be a while. You should keep busy. I will send word when the time is near,” Oria said, her voice soothing and reassuring.

Penn felt helpless and it showed with the way he looked from Oria to Royden.

Royden laid a strong hand on Penn’s shoulder once again. “You can find us working on the new stone hut today.”

Relief surged on Penn’s face. He’d be able to see his cottage from where he worked and he was grateful.

Royden walked over to Oria. “Do you need anything? Are you all right?”

“All is good. Sara is here to help and Calla as well and with Calla having birthed five, healthy bairns she’ll be of great help.”

He reached out and tucked a long strand of her blonde hair, that had fallen along her face, behind her ear. “I want to know how you are.”

She smiled softly, recalling how often he had tended to one of her stray strands and how it had always warmed her heart as it did now. “I’m good, Royden.”

“You will let me know if you need anything,” he said, though was acutely aware it sounded more like a command.

“I promise I will,” she said and instinct had her leaning forward and kissing his cheek.

He stood staring after her as she entered the cottage, the door closing behind her. He shook his head and turned to Penn. “Come, we must keep busy.”

Royden hefted stone after stone along with Penn and Stuart while Calla’s youngest two sons played with little Stuart, their da, Innis also helping, while the three older brothers worked in the fields. Royden was glad for the mindless work, not that it kept his thoughts from straying. He hadn’t had control of them since Oria had kissed him on the cheek—an innocent gesture that had touched his heart, the way her innocent touch had once stirred his loins.

He had never realized how much of a loving gesture it had been until that moment. A gentle kiss that demanded nothing but gave everything. That they loved each other wasn’t in question, that he had changed was and he worried those changes might make a difference between them.

He was also still reeling from finding out that his wife had remained a virgin, though wed. He had fumbled his way through coupling at first, finding little pleasure in it. Then experienced women he bedded showed him a different way. He had learned more after that, trying things he never would have thought to do or was even possible. He had found more pleasure in coupling once he had gained experience, but still sensed he was missing something. If he introduced such intimacy to his wife, would she object and would he finally find what was missing?

“Don’t worry, lad, she’ll do just fine,” Innis said.

“But will the bairn? She cried heavy tears that it was too soon, the bairn wouldn’t survive,” Penn said, his glance going to his cottage.

“Liam, over there,” Innis said with a nod toward a lad of about four years running in circles with little Stuart. “He came sooner than expected. Not much frightens my Calla, but she feared for the little bairn. I did to when I saw him, small and skinny he was, and he fit in the palm of my hand. But Lady—a mean Mistress Oria, she took good care of him. She made sure he was kept close to the heat of the hearth and she fed the little fellow drops of his mum’s milk off the tip of her finger since he didn’t have the strength to suckle. She saved his life, she did.”

Royden got another glimpse of what it had been like for Oria the years following the attack. She had not forgotten his clan. She had made sure to visit here and tend those in need.

“I wish I could have been here when my son was born, but from what my Sara said, Mistress Oria got her through it and delivered little Stuart without a problem. She’s a good woman. Your wife couldn’t be in better hands,” Stuart said. “Now get moving and stack those stones close. We want a good, strong shelter for our food this winter.”

Royden worked side by side with his men, though he kept a silent tongue while they kept Penn occupied with talk. He thought on his wife and how she had never deserted his clan. She had seen to visiting his clan regularly and tending to those in need, in spite of entering the enemy’s camp each time she did. He had always known Oria was a good woman, but he never realized how brave of a woman she was, and he wondered what else he had failed to see about her.

The men had half the hut built when Sara rushed out of the cottage and ran past them, Penn ready to pounce on her if she hadn’t waved him off.