Though they’d stayed up much of the night making love, when dawn broke, Dirk and Lilias managed to pull themselves from their warm bed to take to the road once more.

They rode hard back to Dunstaffnage, fearing Olafsson’s men were on their tail. They warned every village of the possibility of a raid at best and a war at worst, that the men should be ready to fight, the villages reinforced, to let him know what they needed. Soon, word would spread throughout every clan.

There was no telling whether the Norsemen had seen the Scots upon the rise, but soon enough, perhaps in a day or two, they’d realize that Dirk was not coming. That Lilias was not to be delivered. And then they’d march toward Oban to find out why. To punish Dirk for breaking the treaty, they would lay waste to the land.

The priest had been paid good coin to pretend he’d never heard of them, as had the innkeepers, but that didn’t mean someone wouldn’t eventually say they’d seen something, if the price they were offered was exciting enough. Or if they were tortured. Lilias hoped that they all took to the hills to hide out for a little while, to keep themselves safe. But she knew they were all too proud to abandon what was theirs. They’d want to fight for it. Fight Olafsson. In fact, every person they’d warned along the way had agreed that Dirk had done the right thing. Somehow, the wars with Olafsson over the years had touched them all, and they wanted it to end—and not with a bride price.

She still couldn’t believe that they’d wed.

Lilias sighed with pleasure, riding at an intense pace beside her husband. Last night had been magical. The way he’d strummed her body, making her cry out with unimaginable pleasure… Her face heated at the thoughts tunneling through her mind, but she welcomed the distraction away from the fear of what would happen in the next sennight. Basking in the glow of the way her husband held her, touched her, kissed her, she let her mind wonder. She felt incredibly wanton, but not in a way that made her feel shameful. Dirk made it clear she was wholly desired, that he enjoyed her response to him. There was no shame in that. Every time Dirk looked at her, the expression in his eyes was a repeat of the night before, as though he, too, were thinking the very same sensual things.

Even with the dread that surrounded their decision to wed, her new mother-by-marriage couldn’t have been happier, either. A smile never left Lady Fenella’s face, and she even became a bit of an accomplice at giving them time alone when they stopped to refresh the horses and rest.

Though most everyone likely knew what they were doing, Lilias didn’t care. For the first time in her life, she didn’t feel like she had to hide, or that she had to live up to a certain expectation. Dirk loved her for who she was, what she was, and her dreams and desires.

Holding her hand, he tugged her deeper into the forest while their men watered the horses and worked to prepare their noon meal. As soon as the sounds of the men faded, he whipped her against him, claiming her mouth in a searing kiss that had the entire world around her disappearing.

Lilias tugged at his shirt, her fingers searching out bare skin, and she moaned when she grazed them over the rigid contours of his belly. Zounds, but the man was built like a god, and had to be just as powerful. His lips skimmed down the column of her neck, teeth scraping over her collarbone and the tops of her breasts.

“I could feast on your skin all day,” he murmured. “Never taking a bite of anything else again.” He nibbled her nipple outside of her clothes.

Lilias’s head fell back as she moaned. His every touch made her body come alive. Between her legs was damp with wanting, ready for him to thrust deep. She reached for his plaid, lifting the hem and letting the weight of his delicious erection rest in her palm. She stroked him, reveling in the intimate sounds he made against her breasts and then the skin of her neck.

“I want ye,” he growled.

“Aye, ye can have me.” Her voice had taken on a throaty, sensual quality.

“I need ye now.” Gently, he bit her lower lip.

“I need ye more.” She tugged at her skirts, hiking them up, as he backed her against a tree.

Dirk lifted one of her legs around his hip, jerking the fabric of his plaid and her skirts out of his way, and at last the heated, pulsing flesh of his arousal was touching the very tingling part of herself.

Dirk thrust forward with a groan, filling her up completely, making her head spin with passion. In and out, he thrust with purpose, lifting both of her legs up around his hips, his mouth claiming hers. Her spine pounded against the bark, and though it stung a little, it was nothing compared the pleasurable fire pulsing in her loins.

How was he able to do this to her? To ignite her in such a way that she felt as though she were coming apart? He possessed her, and with one look, one growled demand, she was a bone-melting mess of passion.

It didn’t matter where and when, if he glanced at her with those hooded eyes that sank deep into her core, she went running for cover and praying he followed. Her desire ruled her. Even the rocking gait of her horse made her think of making love. How did anyone ever survive it? She surmised that perhaps it was because it was all so new, that she needed to do it as many times as she could and then the pulsing demand of her body would cease.

But the spine-tingling desire only seemed to heighten.

And now, with him thrusting into her, her skirts up around her hips, her lips melting against his, she wasn’t certain she’d survive.

When her body exploded, he followed her into that pleasure-filled oblivion that seemed to take over the world for half a minute or more. And at last, when they could see again, when their breaths started to slow, and he pulled away from her, she felt bereft, as though he belonged melted with her, but had been cut away.

“I fear I am becoming addicted,” she said, a secret smile playing about her lips.

“Addicted?”

“To ye, husband. I canna get enough, and when ye touch me… when ye’re inside me, I never want ye to leave.”

Dirk grinned with self-satisfaction. “Then I am doing it right.”

“Was there ever any doubt?”

He tapped the tip of her nose. “Not with the way ye sing your release.”

“’Tis better than anything else I’ve ever experienced.” She shook her head. “I fear I will not make ye a good wife.”

Dirk raised a quizzical brow. “Ye please me verra much, love. How could ye think ye’d not be a good wife?”

With a coy cock of her shoulder, she winked at him. “I am a wanton. I have no interest in taking care of menial things when I can take ye to bed instead.”

Dirk let out a laugh that made her tingle all over with happiness. A loud guffaw, it was, filled with pure delight. And infectious, too, she was soon giggling as well. “I canna say I’d argue with ye, beag calman, I might prefer ye remain abed all day.”

She swatted at him playfully and then she fixed her skirts and re-plaited her hair. “I dinna think your warriors would be too pleased if they could never find ye.”

“That is true, but is not begetting an heir part of my duty as well?” Wrapping an arm around her waist, he tugged her closer and pressed a hard kiss to her mouth. “I love ye, Lilias MacDougall. Ye’re the most honest person I’ve ever met.”

“And ye’ve seen me at my worst,” she mused, thinking of the crapulous morning that he’d tended her.

“And your verra best,” he whispered, taking her earlobe gently between his teeth.

She sighed, leaning close and feeling her nipples harden, between her thighs tingled with anticipation for another round of lovemaking.

“See?” she murmured. “I want ye again.”

“As do I.” He took her hand and brought it to the front of his plaid, letting her feel the rage of his desire as it swelled against her palm. “But, alas, we have to get back to camp. They’ll have made a meal already, and then we’d best be on our way before Olafsson and his men catch up with us.”

That night when he tucked her into their makeshift bed of plaids, beneath their low-hanging tent, they made love as though the sky above them would burst at any moment. Quick and heated. Full of pleasure and wanting. Though urgent, they were quiet, so as not to alert the men and Lady Fenella too much of what they were doing just a few feet away.

There was an overpowering exhilaration in knowing that they had thwarted the plans of an obvious menace. That Dirk’s enemy would not get what he wanted. But there was also a fear that went with it. They knew that soon enough, war would be upon them for having so blatantly broken the treatise.

The next morning they woke just before dawn, packed up their camp, trying to hide as much evidence of who they were and then took off at a gallop. The scouts that Dirk had going in all directions reported back to him every few hours that no one was as yet following.

By late afternoon, Lilias was starting to feel exhaustion set in. Dirk pulled her onto his horse, settling her in front of him as he rode at the head of their party. He whispered in her ear, when they stopped to eat, saying how he couldn’t wait to get back to Dunstaffnage where he could make love to her languidly in the bed they’d share as a wedded couple. And then he proceeded to pleasure her, his fingers deftly finding the tiny nub between her legs that fired sparks as he stroked. She worried the men might see, but no one seemed the wiser. Burying her face against his chest, she cried out when he brought her to release. He toyed with her that way as the rode for the next few days, and when they stopped, he would make love to her on the forest floor, his plaid beneath them, or up against a tree. He even taught her to ride him, bringing them both to heights of pleasure as she took the lead.

Three days later, they arrived at Dunstaffnage, still elated and filled with anticipation their hurried couplings had ignited. And even more so for what the future held. This was a new beginning. A dawning of a new era. Dirk MacDougall, her proud husband, was not going to be bullied any longer by his distant cousin. He was going to show Morten Olafsson who was the more powerful of the two, and somehow, Lilias played a part in that. At least, that was what he told her.

As they crested the hill and Dunstaffnage came into view, Lilias’s heart pounded. It had all seemed like a dream until now, but soon they would be there, and then it would be real. These were her people now. Dunstaffnage and the MacDougall clan, her destiny.

Lady Elle stood in her usual green gown upon the battlements, silver-red hair flying out behind her in waves, a knowing smile creased her face as she waved and the portcullis was raised.

There was no need to explain to Lady Elle what had happened, for she seemed to have expected their imminent return. She tugged Lilias into a vigorous hug and whispered how when she’d first met her that she’d wished for her to marry Dirk, and now her dream had come true, too.

“My new granddaughter.” Elle held her at arm’s length, joy on her face, and then she leapt into Dirk’s arms, giving him just as emphatic a hug as she’d given Lilias.

Dirk grinned from ear to ear as he held his tiny grandmother and winked at Lilias over the silver-red head.

“We’ll have a great feast!” Lady Fenella announced.

“I’ll have the messengers sent out to the surrounding villages and clans, and of course to Clan Cameron, to come and celebrate this momentous occasion,” Lady Elle replied.

“No feasting, just yet. We must vanquish Olafsson first,” Dirk said. “We will need all the reinforcements we can get. Olafsson will not take lightly to this news, and he will bring with him all the rage and cunning he can muster. Once he is put down, we will feast for days, weeks even.”

Lilias shivered, wringing her hands, once more reminded that though she’d been filled with bliss these past few days, she could not remain blinded to what brought them together in the first place.

“Dinna fash, beag calman.” He reached for her then, tugging her close and whispered in her ear so that no one else could hear. “I want ye… Now…”

Lilias cleared her throat, announcing loudly, “I would love a bath,” in hopes no one would realize she wanted to ravish her husband.

“I called for a bath to be drawn in the master chamber when I saw your horses approaching,” Lady Elle said. “They are waiting for ye both.”

“Then we’d best make haste afore the water gets cold.” Amid the cheers of those in the great hall, Dirk lifted Lilias into his muscled arms and carried her up the stairs to their shared chamber.

Once the door was locked, they weren’t seen, though they may have been heard, until the next morning.