me show you the respect you deserve by having you after we’ve said our vows. Let me do that right, will you?”
He looked so sincere, so much like the Alec she’d always known. Her heart pounded in her chest, threatening to overflow with affection. She nodded.
Very softly, Alec touched his lips to hers, and tingles raced across her skin. She would never tire of Alec’s kisses. Not if she lived a million years, right along with him.
He stepped away from her and bowed slightly. “Until the morrow, Miss Ferguson.”
“Tomorrow, I’ll be Mrs. MacQuarrie,” she said with a giggle.
“Indeed, you will,” Alec called over his shoulder as he walked toward the front entrance.
“Oh, Alec,” she called to him.
He looked back, distraction on his face.
“Never mind,” she said with a shake of her head. She really should tell him about the spell she’d whispered to his ivy, but there was no need. Not now.
“Get some rest, Sorch,” he teased. “I plan to keep you very busy tomorrow.”
“Oh, the weddin’ will be just fine.” She brushed his comment aside.
“I meant after the wedding, love,” he said. Then he disappeared inside the carriage and it pulled away.
Sorcha’s belly dropped all the way to her toes.
~*~
Exhausted, Alec climbed the stairs of his home and pushed open his bedchamber door. Clearly, Forbes had arrived in one piece at MacQuarrie House. Alec’s black robe lay across a striped Hepplewhite chair and… Alec’s head jerked to his four-poster. Lying across his counterpane, wearing nothing more than a smile, was Delia Sewell. She lay on her side, with her head resting in the palm of her hand.
“What are you doing here, Delia?” Alec snapped as he picked up his robe and tossed it in her general direction.
She let it fall beside her but didn’t bother to cover her nakedness.
“I thought you might need me,” she purred.
“I don’t,” Alec tossed back. “You can see yourself out the same way you saw yourself in.” He turned his back on her.
“How did you find your way inside?” he asked. He’d serve any member of his staff up on a platter if he found out one or more of them had helped her gain entrance to his home, much less his bedchamber.
She cooed from behind him. “Alec dear, you know you want me.”
But he didn’t. She didn’t appeal to him at all. Not even the smallest bit. He turned back around to face her, to tell her just that. As he turned to face her, she parted her thighs and laid a hand on the pulse he knew beat beneath that wizened, well-used skin. “Actually, Delia,” he began with a sigh, “I do not want you.”
Her lips formed an unattractive pout. “But you and I, we have been together so long.”
He remembered it quite differently. It had been a month at the most. They’d shared some moments. He’d drunk her blood and paid her well for it. “You knew what our arrangement was back then. You still do.” He picked up his robe again and draped it over her body like a coverlet. She batted at the length of it, but at least she tucked it beneath her armpits. “A bit of coin, a bit of pleasure. There was never any relationship between us.”
Her face fell. “You woke in my bed, day after day,” she insisted.
“You traveled with me so I wouldn’t have to charm anyone into being my meal. And you were well compensated.” He narrowed his eyes at her. “Any business relationship we had is over. I’m getting married tomorrow.”
“To that little mousy Scot?” she gasped as she jumped to her feet and glared at him.
“To Miss Ferguson,” he reminded her.
“Your Miss Ferguson doesn’t have the skills that I have.”
He knew exactly what skills he was referring to. “Thank God for small favors,” he said with a light chuckle.
Her face reddened in anger. “How dare you?” she gasped. “I served you well.”
“And I paid you well,” he quipped. “Gather your things and dress. I’m certain you can find another of my kind who can offer you what you desire.”
“I desire you,” she snapped.
“Then I am sorry for you,” he returned. “The only woman in my life from now on will be my wife.”
“But—”
Alec jumped when his bedroom window gave a loud squeak as it was pulled open from the outside. What the devil? He was on the upper level. There was no way that window could be opened by anyone.
Finally, Delia clutched the robe around herself. “What’s going on?” she asked.