Black Richard's Heart (The MacCulloughs #1) - Suzan Tisdale Page 0,87

a bow, tighter and tighter.

As they found their pleasure together, so did they find their release together.

Warm, jolting sensations washed over Aeschene, from tips of her toes to the top of her head. Richard held on to her as they rode the wave of pleasure together.

They lay there, spent, exhausted, and content for a long while. Richard caressed her back with his fingertips.

“Ye amaze me, Richard MacCullough,” she murmured against his chest.

“How so?” he asked in a low voice.

“Ye are a warrior. Big and strong and betimes, scary. But when we are alone? Just the two of us?” she sighed again. “Ye are gentle and quite generous in yer loving.”

Richard grew quiet, simply enjoying the sound of his wife’s voice. He rather liked how she felt right now, all snuggled into him. But that was as far as he was willing to go; appreciating one tender moment.

Chapter Fifteen

Another night spent in his office, Richard woke early to the sound of a quite keep. His thoughts immediately turned to his wife, to the thought of her sleeping all alone in their bed. He didn’t like leaving her alone, but didn’t feel he had any other alternative. If he dared sleep beside her, he risked injuring her during one of his nightmares. ‘Twould be an embarrassment he knew he’d never fully recover from, for her to see him in the throes of one of his horrid dreams. Behaving like a madman, lost, angry, terrified. Nay, ’twas best she never see him like that.

He also risked losing his heart.

Neither of those things he could afford.

He rolled up his pallet and headed to the gathering room to break his fast.

Not only were his brothers already seated, but once again they were being cordial to everyone at the table. While he was pleasantly surprised, he was a bit angry for it.

Is this behavior nae what ye had always demanded from yer brothers? Why did he still find it so irksome? The answer, of course, was sitting across from the boys, smiling at whatever they were saying; Aeschene.

He knew ’twas ridiculous when he realized he was jealous. Jealous of the fact that his wife had managed to accomplish in one day, with kind words and encouragement, what he hadn’t been able to do in years, even with the threat of violence. She had gained control of Colyne and Raibeart.

“Good morn, Richard!” Colyne exclaimed when he saw Richard standing in the doorway.

Damn it if Richard didn’t smile back at the boy and everyone else at the table.

Bidding each of them a good morn, Richard sat down just as Lachlan and Rory came in. They too paused at the doorway with a look of uncertainty in their eyes. Lachlan whispered something into Rory’s ear which made his eyes grow wide in stunned disbelief. After a brief, quiet discussion, they were soon taking their seats at the table.

“We are goin’ to thatch a few more roofs this morn,” Colyne said with the kind of pride and bravado that only an eleven-year-old boy can possess. “What are ye men up to?”

Blessedly, the adult males at the table quashed any need for laughter. Colyne had asked the question with the air of a man five times his age.

Rory cleared his throat and smiled warmly at the boy. “We will be workin’ in the quarry most of the day,” he replied.

Colyne nodded his head and rubbed his chin, much the same way he’d seen Richard do a thousand times before. “For the wall?”

“Aye, for the wall,” Rory replied.

“When do ye think ye will be finished fixin’ it?”

Rory shrugged his shoulders. “Mayhap by the end of the month.”

“I hear it has been a bloody nightmare workin’ in the quarry,” Colyne said.

“Colyne? Yer language, please?”

He apologized rather sheepishly.

“Aye, it has been a nightmare at times,” Rory told him. “But naught we cannae handle, aye?”

They conversed for a little while longer, Rory and Colyne, as if they were two men of equal age and experience. It did warm his cold heart just a little to witness the exchange. Rory, to his credit, was not treating Colyne like a bairn. And to Colyne’s credit, he was asking some very intelligent questions.

Mayhap, just mayhap, things were turning for the better.

Word had spread like wild fire about the free labor offered by their laird’s younger brothers. Early the next morn as the lads led Aeschene and Marisse down the path people began coming out of their crofts and cottages to inquire about that free labor. Colyne stuck his