her trews hidden underneath. He picked her up and carried her to the bed, laying her down. He pulled off her leather boots, untied the cord holding her trews in place, and pulled them off, throwing them onto the floor to the growing pile of clothing.
Kenzie watched as he untied his sporran and kilt, those, too, falling to the floor with a swish. She sat up, pulling off her shirt and the light shift beneath, exposing herself to him. The breath in her lungs expelled when he did the same, the corded muscles on his abdomen flexing with each movement. He was so strong, a magnificent Highland warrior, and he was all hers.
Ben crawled up the bed and came to lay over her, hoisting her legs to sit about his waist. “I canna wait to have ye lass. Say you’ll let me have ye now.”
She nodded, heat pooling at her core as he undulated and teased her flesh. She wouldn’t deny him a thing.
Kenzie moaned as he slid into her, deep and sure. He filled her, made love to her with sweet, endless strokes that drove her to distraction. A perfect combination of pleasure and torture—much like their relationship.
Kenzie woke the following morning warm and snuggled under a multitude of animal furs, less the man she wanted to be beside. Somehow, she’d also managed to get back to her room. A small smile lifted her lips at the thought of Ben carrying her, trying not to be seen at the break of dawn.
The sound of wood being thrown onto the fire had her looking toward the mantle where she spied her maid, busy preparing the room for her. Kenzie sat up and stretched. “May I have a bath sent up this morning?”
The maid dipped into a curtsy. “Of course, m’lady. I’ll have one prepared straight away.”
Kenzie watched her go, not for the first time wondering what would happen to the people who lived here. Where did they go when Castle Ross came under siege from the unknown assailant? Were they killed, driven off without the protection of a laird? Enslaved?
A little while later, the maid returned along with some male servants who set about pouring her bath with a multitude of buckets. Kenzie sat before the fire and asked one of the female servants to sit with her. The poor girl worked her hands in her lap, and Kenzie smiled, trying to calm her nerves.
“May I ask your name?”
“Of course, my name’s Beth, m’lady.”
“And Beth, do you like working here?” The woman’s eyes widened before she nodded.
“Aye, I do m’lady. I was the late mistress’ lady’s maid prior to her death, may she rest in peace. I’m a Ross myself, although many times removed from the laird. But this is my home, and I feel safe here.” The woman paused. “Am I in trouble, m’lady?”
“No,” Kenzie said, not wanting to scare the girl. “Not at all, but there is something that I need you to do over the next week, if possible.”
“Of course. Anything.”
Kenzie took a deep breath. “I need you to give me a list of all the families with children that reside under the care of Castle Ross. And I need to meet with them, not at the same time, but in groups, if possible.”
“Are they in trouble miss?”
“No, they’re not, and that’s exactly how I want it to stay.”
Kenzie was up to something. Ben stood at the battlements and for the fourth time that week he’d watched the woman, whom he’d die to protect, who he adored as much as his son, stride from the castle walls toward the small fishing village beyond his gates, her maid Beth, religiously in tow.
He shook his head, smiling a little at their business as Bruce came to stand beside him. “So, yer lass if off again on her mission.”
“Aye, and before ye ask me what she’s about, I do not know. I’d hoped she’d tell me when she was ready, but she has not.”
“Yer being very trusting. Are ye not the least bit curious what her and Beth are up to each day?”
Ben was more curious than he’d ever thought possible, but he wanted her to tell him when she was ready. But now, after four days, it was time he found out just what his lass was up to.
“Did ye know that she’s been visiting not just the villages, but the people that live just outside the walls? Talking to them about hygiene and food preparation. What in the