The Wellspring (Kaitlyn and the Highlander #12) - Diana Knightley Page 0,39

face. “Ma-ma.”

“Good morning.”

“Ma-ma.”

“Yep.”

She patted Magnus’s chest. “Da!” Then a sound came from the kitchen, Emma’s voice. She watched the door and said, “Ma!” and crawled to the end of the bed, turned, dropped down to the floor and toddled out of the room saying, “Go, Ma!”

Magnus’s brow drew down, “Are ye a’right?”

I wiped my eyes. “I am. She called me Ma-ma. It doesn’t matter she calls Emma, Ma-ma too, I’m just grateful to be included.”

Our morning was good, normal, fun — we were some of us a little hungover, but it was the good kind, the ‘it was worth it’ kind, and because most of us felt it, we were kind to each other. We puttered around through breakfast, making up for our sluggishness with too much coffee and packets of vitamins.

Fraoch and Magnus went to ride the horses, taking Archie and Ben with them but returning the boys to the house after about a half-hour. I heard the horse hooves clattering on the driveway outside, and went to meet them on the front step. The two large horses, Sunny and Cynric, were there, stamping, excited by the promise of a full day of riding. Archie rode in front of Magnus, Ben in front of Fraoch, and the two little boys were giggling and happy.

Magnus said, “The boys wanted ye tae take a photo of us.”

“Let me get Beaty!” I brought Beaty to the front porch and she took a bunch of photos of all of them.

And then the boys slid down from the horses and went into the house for lunch. Magnus said, “We will return home this afternoon,” and he and Fraoch were off. I was a little sad to watch them go, but I had a place I needed to be right now, beside Isla.

That evening Magnus showered, and I took the opportunity to lock the bedroom door to keep young intruders out and met him there, dropping my clothes to the bathmat and stepping in to the steamy wonder-stall of awesomeness that was the shower.

“Och, ye are perfectly timed,” he said with a grin, and wrapped his arms around me and pulled me up from the ground and kissing me, pressed me against the wall, and oh wow, I had already showered that day, but showers… making love in showers, was a special kind of goodness… This was something I had missed so much — heat and steam and press and wet and slippery damp skin under my grasping fingers and drips of water on my lips, the scents of coconut and fruit and spice filling the space, enveloping us as he entered me full of force and effort… oh god. He was strength within and soft caresses without as we played and fondled and brought each other to a climax in the hot heat warm release of the shower. God—ohgodohgod, my love.

We rested and then I slowly slid down until my feet were on the floor, a few more sweet kisses and cuddles and then I broke the sweet lingering magic with a, “Showers, am I right?”

And he laughed and we stepped apart to wash and rinse ourselves. Magnus chuckled, his voice low and deep. “I thought the bairn were goin’ tae interrupt us.” He splashed water on his face.

“Me too, now I’m regretting we didn’t go slower, but last I saw them they were on the back deck, and I’m also kind of wondering what they’re up to? I miss them.”

“Tis hard tae dally in yer gardens when we canna be sure if the bairn need us.”

I pushed his hair back from his face and rinsed his head and shoulders with the shower wand. “We haven’t been around to be needed in so long — it’s to be expected I think, to want to be close. They do need us and plus you have ‘dallied in m’garden verra often.’”

“Och, tis braw tae hear ye mock me.” He kissed me while a hand dove between my legs, a finger entering me and wiggling around causing me to squirm.

I sprayed the wand in his face in response but said, “No mocking, promise.”

“I hae dallied in yer garden verra often this year, and ye arna with bairn, tis okay with ye?”

“Yeah, I’m okay with it, I need to focus on Isla. I was actually thinking about going on the pill again, just to be sure.”

“Aye.” He kissed me and stepped from the shower, pulling a towel from the rack to dry off. He was quiet, long enough