Page 38 of Cherished By A Highlander

Quint had not kissed her since she learned that he was The Monk. She assumed it was on purpose, though why she wasn’t sure. Did he think she would deny him? That she would believe him a stranger to her. He was no stranger. He was Quint, the man she loved, the man she knew, and she missed his kisses especially with it being their wedding day.

It hadn’t been lost on her that their vows were yet to be sealed, leaving their marriage vulnerable.

Quint entered the cottage, a strong gust of wind entering with him to swirl around the room and send a chill through her.

The words fell from her lips before she had a chance to think better of it. “Who do I sleep with tonight?”

He responded quickly. “You sleep with Quint tonight, but you wake in the morn beside The Monk.” He waited to hear how she would respond. It worried him for he feared he would losehis wife before he had a chance to be a husband to her. Her response surprised him.

“I look forward to meeting him.”

“You might think differently when you do,” he warned.

“We’ll see,” she said, though worried. What if The Monk was the raging madman everyone believed him to be? What if she couldn’t save his soul?

Trust and faith.

That was what she had told Brother Emmett helped her be a skilled healer and he had smiled, telling her those were the very two things that made him a good monk.

She left what she was doing at the narrow table and went to her husband and kissed him. He stood stiff at first barely returning her kiss. Then it was as though something fell away and he slipped one arm around her waist and nearly lifted her feet off the earthen floor as he pulled her up against him. His kiss turned demanding, and she responded in kind, sensing an unusually strong need for him.

He turned and walked with her to the bed. There were times they took their time and explored each other and other times their need outweighed patience. This was one of those times. Her need and his were too great to linger. Her body had burst to life as soon as his kiss changed, and she wanted nothing more than to feel him inside her.

Their hands hurried their garments off each other, and they fell on the bed together.

“I should take my time with you. It is our wedding day,” he said.

“I don’t want you to,” she said, spreading her legs for him. “I need you now.”

“Thank the heavens,” he said with a light chuckle.

She chuckled as well. “It isn’t the heavens you should be thanking.”

“Oh, believe me, wife, I definitely intend to thank you.”

Shade restedagainst her husband’s naked body, spent from making love after getting in bed later that night. This time they had taken their time and explored, teased, and satisfied. She loved those intimate moments they shared, the comfort, the closeness, the love.

“I never asked you, Shade. Do you believe in revenge?”

She thought about it as it related to her healing. “Healers can only do so much for the ill and some people get upset when I cannot save their loved ones from dying. It is far easier to blame the healer then death itself. There are those who believe revenge is the only way to solve their pain and suffering.”

“Sometimes revenge is the only way. So, I take it that you don’t believe in revenge?”

“I don’t know since I was never thrust into a situation where revenge was given a thought. But I have seen the results of revenge, and it can be never-ending, its tentacles reaching out far and wide and often trapping the innocent.”

“Do you think forgiveness is the answer?” he asked, never considering that such tentacles could have somehow reached out and trapped Amara.

“I don’t know if there is a correct answer. I don’t know if endless pain and suffering can be found in forgiveness or retribution. And I don’t believe anyone knows what they would do in any given situation until they are faced with it. Only then, I think the answer can be found.”

“On that we agree,” Quint said, a difficult lesson he had learned. He heard her yawn and felt a shiver rush through her naked body. Quint pulled another blanket over them and tuckedher close against him. “Sleep. It is a full day’s ride to Clan MacLeish, and we will make few stops before we stop for the night tomorrow.”

“Ayyyyye,” she said, it being drawn out with another yawn and fell asleep giving no thought on who would greet her in the morning.

They had been travelingsince just after sunrise, not that the sun rose today. The skies were cloudy, though it didn’t look like rain nor did the chilly air smell of rain, but the Highland weather was too unpredictable to be certain. It was now midday, and they had yet to stop. She had dozed off not long after they left, the warmth of her husband’s body, the strength of his arms, and the sway of the horse lulling her into a light sleep. She woke a little while ago, exchanged a few words with him and realized he had no interest in conversing just like this morning when they woke. Quint looked the same to her, but she felt there was something different about him. He was more intense and his body taut.

It was with a heavy heart that earlier she had closed the cottage door and rested her head against it in silent prayer, then whispered, “We will return.”

Quint had come up behind her and pressed himself against her, his arm going around the front of her waist to give her a gentle squeeze. He leaned his head down and whispered in her ear, “Aye, we will. You are all I need.”

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