A Very Highland Holiday - Kathryn Le Veque Page 0,101
from the room the minute he’d arrived.
Moreover, she was very well aware that if they didn’t consummate this marriage—here, and now—tonight, she was sorely afraid that everything would fall apart. After all, what if they returned “home” only to discover his brother, young as he was, meant to contest it?
And even if he didn’t, what about her uncle?
It seemed perfectly obvious to Elizabeth that James had intended for Callum to intercept her before she arrived at his home, but that didn’t mean Uncle Edward intended the same. For all she knew, James had carried out the last part of his mission entirely on his own.
All things considered, this “wedding” had turned out better than she’d hoped for, even if it wasn’t yet official in the eyes of the law.
There was simply no help for it; if she didn’t lie with her… husband… as a woman should lie with a man… it would be too easy to challenge the handfasting.
And then a thought occurred to her… a shockingly bold idea that was stunning even for her. She had a very good sense by now that he was too much a gentleman to avail himself of a woman’s body simply because he had a right to…
“May I?” she asked nervously, fiddling with the ribbon at her wrist—a wee scrap of cloth she really ought to remove, lest they brand her traitor for wearing it… and nevertheless, she shoved it higher beneath the sleeve of her chemise, emboldened by its presence.
“May ye what?” he asked, sounding confused.
“If you won’t call for a doctor, may I… see to your wound?” Her gaze fell again to the slip of ribbon still peeking from beneath her sleeve. “If I can help, I would like to.”
Callum swallowed, his mouth suddenly gone dry.
One wound was on his upper thigh, near his groin, the other on his shoulder. The latter was safe enough to show her, though he wasn’t certain he could trust himself to allow her to minister to either. Neither would it change the healing, or the past. Still, he considered her request, reaching down to test the water—warm though cooling by the moment.
God only knew, every part of him longed to wade into that clean, fresh water and inundate himself… It would be a shame to waste Little Joe’s efforts, not to mention all those buckets full of water. But the room was entirely too small, with nowhere to conceal himself… and neither would it be easy to partition, even if he dared to appropriate the bedsheets.
Moreover, he was quite certain Pitagowan didn’t have spares on a night like tonight. It was the first night of Hogmanay, after all, and the inn was filled with guests.
All the worse yet, he couldn’t bring himself to confess the need to conceal himself from the woman who was supposed to be his bride. That wouldn’t make a bit of sense, now would it? As far as Pitagowan was concerned, they were betrothed. So, in the end, he said, “Don’t worry about it, lass, I am fine.”
“But I must insist,” she said, standing.
“No,” Callum said more firmly, although having said as much, he still wasn’t certain how to handle the bath—a surprising quandary, considering that only a few hours ago he hadn’t any notion for how to assuage a blushing bride. And, aye… she was blushing—a very lovely shade of pink that he would dearly love to heighten…
Unfortunately, this was neither the time or place.
On the other hand… dirty as he was, he didn’t intend to crawl into that bed beside her with a week’s worth of stink on his person, and, in truth, if they were going to make this marriage work, there wasn’t any point in concealing himself from her. In fact, if he had his druthers, they’d share the bath together, but it only seemed proper he should offer it to her first. “Would you like to take the first bath?”
“Oh, no!” she said quickly. “Thank you. I can wait.”
“Sadly, I cannot,” Callum confessed. “There’s only one bed and I’d no’ repulse ye with my scent.”
“Y-yes… I-I… understand,” she said.
And then, for a very, very long awkward moment, they simply stared at one another—an odd form of checkmate—until there was nothing left to be done, but to show her his bum…
Chapter Eight
Truth be told, Elizabeth wasn’t sure why she’d declined the bath—wasn’t that that best, most efficient way to get them both undressed?