Page 270 of The Protective Gryphen

The other man sipped his drink.

“Or it was the curse.”

Well, yeah, if you believed things like that, maybe, but then again, they’d both seen her and heard her. Ian had a whole conversation with Ceit.

“Where is she buried, if it’s not in the castle?” he asked, hoping someone would know.

“My granddaddy said that she’s buried as far from the castle as possible. Duncan respected her because she bore him a son, but wanted her gone. It was probably the guilt of knocking her up, causing her to die, and then living his life with another.”

That matched up with the information.

“How big is the property?” he asked, already knowing from Graham, but the man was new to the land there, and Ian was grasping for straws.

“That whole side of the mountain, and up to the overlook. It’s the only part where you can see the sun set and rise by turning from one side of the cliff to the other.”

Ian slid his plate over to Gryphen, who finished the rest of his venison since he’d eaten all of his. One of them had done manual labor, and one of them had only given two blowjobs.

“Why are you so curious if it’s just about the journal.”

He was honest.

“We’re trying to find her. We found the empty crypt in the basement of the castle, and it seems unfair that she bore him a son and was discarded. She loved him.”

The one man was honest.

“He didn’t love her, Lad. Legend says he was forced to marry her. They fought like cats and dogs, and she told him she hated him. Then, he was off to war. There’s no shock there that he found the love of another and a bed to warm him. A man has needs, and they need to be met.”

Gryphen’s hand found Ian’s thigh, and he gave it a squeeze.

It sent shocks through him.

“Men back then expected their loves to be obedient, there for them, and to be ready for when they came back from war. She was a hellcat who supposedly fought tooth and nail. Men like obedient bed mates.”

Gryphen raised his glass.

“Here here,” he said. “Less talk, and more sex,” he stated. “No one wants a shrewish partner that doesn’t do exactly what he wants.”

Ian’s body shivered.

“See? He knows. A man has needs, and when they aren’t met, they go elsewhere. Maybe the lass should have been a little less bossy, and given her lord what he craved most.”

Gryphen was watching him.

“What do you think about that, Ian?” Gryphen asked, sipping his beer.

He could see Ian’s lap, and his erection was there and not going away anytime soon.

“I tend to agree,” he said. “It’s only fair. If he protected her, and their home, Ceit probably shouldn’t have been disobedient. Everyone has needs.”

The older man patted him on the back.

“Exactly, Laddie. Back then, women listened. If I had a pound for every time my wife made my life difficult…”

“That’s because you’re a drunk, not a knight,” the bartender said, laughing from where he stood.

“Aye, you have a point there, but my lass could keep her mouth full a little more, if ya know what I mean.”

Gryphen was watching him, and Ian could feel the flush moving up his body.

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