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.”Gordo shook his head.“Och, what a coil, lad.Gillian must know she isna welcome.”“Aye, she knows.I no longer share her bed.”Gordo stroked his chin.“Has Gillian offered an explanation ? We all heard her say she was Sinclair’s leman.”Ross’s face hardened.“She could explain away until doomsday and I wouldna believe her.”“Ross! I know you are avoiding me, but I’d like to speak with you.”Ross bit back a curse when Gillian, wrapped to her ears in her plaid, entered the stables.“That’s my signal to leave,” Gordo muttered.“Stay, Uncle.”“Nay this is between you and the MacKay lass,” he said as he darted past Gillian and out the door.“We need to talk,” Gillian said once they were alone.“Since you insist on avoiding me, I decided to come to you.”“We have naught to say to each other,” Ross bit out.“First, thank you for saving my life.You could have let me die outside your gate.”“I wouldna let an animal die in the snow like that.”Gillian shuddered and pulled her plaid closer around her.His voice was as frigid as a winter night.Thawing him wasn’t going to be easy He had already tried and convicted her.“I truly did intend to kill Angus Sinclair when I set out for his keep, but I made a serious mistake in thinking I could do it alone.”Ross turned away.“No explanations are necessary.Naught can justify the fact that you became Sinclair’s leman.Return to the keep; ’tis cold out here.”Exasperation colored her words.“Why do you refuse to listen to me? Why must you be so stubborn?”“Some things canna be explained nor forgiven.”“Verra well, think what you will.I willna, however, be driven from my home.I belong at Ravenscraig, at your side, in your bed, mistress of your keep.”“You will never, ever take your place in my bed again,” Ross replied.“Now, I have duties to perform.You are still recovering, and ’tis best you return to the keep, where it is warm and dry.”“Doona think you can ignore me forever, Ross MacKenna, for I willna allow it.And if you take a leman, I will make you verra, verra sorry,” she added as she whirled on her heel and stormed off.Gillian was still fuming when she entered the hall.If Ross refused to listen to her, how could she ever get back in his good graces? She settled into a chair before the hearth and stared thoughtfully into the flames.She could be as stubborn as Ross, and she was not about to let him ignore her.She had been ready to die for Ross, and she had to find a way to make him aware of the sacrifices she had made on his behalf.The weather turned again.It snowed for days; the wind howled, and frost covered the windows.Inside, games were played, men diced, women sewed or embroidered, and musicians brought out their instruments and played for the enjoyment of those who had no musical skills.Feople gathered around storytellers of an evening, enthralled by tales of heroism and past battles.During those long evenings, Gillian sat in the hall with the others, yet felt isolated because she was ignored.After a few days of people walking circles around her, Gillian decided she had had enough and planned a night Ross wasn’t likely to forget anytime soon.As people began drifting off to their beds one blustery evening, Gillian returned to her chamber.When Alice arrived to help her get ready for bed, Gillian requested a tub and water to be brought up for a bath.She waited with bated breath until Alice relayed her wishes to the kitchen, fearing that her request would be denied.To her surprise, a tub promptly arrived and was filled in due time while Alice built up the fire and brought towels and soap.Gillian luxuriated in the bath until the water grew cool.Then she stepped into a warm towel and let Alice dry her.After she dismissed her maid, she rubbed fragrant cream Gizela had made up for her into her skin and studied herself in the mirror, noting that while her pregnancy was scarcely noticeable, her breasts were larger.Shivering in the cool air, she pulled on her warmest bed robe and slippers and sat down before the fire to brush her hair dry.Gillian’s mind raced.What if her plan failed and Ross rejected her? How could she continue to live in such a hostile environment? Would her bairn be accepted ? Or would he be ignored by everyone, including his father? Gillian refused to contemplate failure.But of one thing she was certain: She would return to Braeburn if Ross refused to accept their bairn.At least there her babe would be loved and protected by her father and brothers.Gillian inhaled sharply and rose when she heard the church bells chime matins.It was midnight, the darkest part of the night, when everyone in the keep would be sleeping.It was time.Gillian opened the door, pleased to find the corridor outside her chamber deserted.Cautiously she made her way through the chill air and up the stairs to Ross’s chamber on the floor above the solar.She had learned from Alice where Ross slept.Dragging in a sustaining breath, Gillian eased the door open.The only light in the small chamber came from the hearth.The room held welcome warmth after the cold bite of the drafty corridor.Gillian slipped through the door and closed it behind her.The well-oiled hinges did not betray her presence.Gillian glanced toward the bed.The curtains were drawn.She offered a quick prayer that Ross was alone in his bed.She crept on tiptoe to the bed, dropped her robe, and kicked off her slippers.Shivering without the protection of clothing, she parted the curtains and slid beneath the covers.Ross didn’t awaken.He was lying on his side, facing away from her.Her hands itched to touch him, and they did, roaming freely over his warm, naked body.She heard Ross moan and smiled.While his mind might reject her, his body welcomed her.He rolled over on his back.She slid one hand downward, over the hardening length of his manhood, caressing lower to cup the sac beneath.Gillian gasped as Ross awoke and grasped her wrist in a bruising grip.With his other hand he pushed aside the bed curtains, admitting feeble light from the hearth.He murmured her name, his voice a low growl in his throat.“Gillian.”“Aye, did you expect someone else?”“I thought I made it clear I doona want you in my bed.” He shoved the covers down and started to rise.Gillian wasn’t about to let him up until he’d heard everything she had to say.Nimbly, she rose up and straddled him.“You’re not going anywhere, Ross MacKenna.”“Are you so hungry for a man between your legs that you’d go where you’re not wanted?”Anger ate at the edges of her brain.Arrogant and impossibly dense were the only words she could think of at the moment to describe Ross.“I want only you, Ross, no one else.Why do you nae believe me?”Ross raised his hands to push her off of him and had the bad fortune to make contact with her breasts—full, wonderfully warm, and firm breasts with ripe, chenyred nipples.And she smelled delicious.Did she know what she was doing to him? She was naked; he’d realized it the moment she had climbed on top of him.He felt branded by the hot wetness of her sex pressing against his loins.“Gillian,” he gasped in a strangled voice.“You have to leave.We will talk in the morning.”“I’m not leaving, Ross.” She stretched out over him, so they were breast to breast, hip to hip, sex to sex.Ross felt himself spinning into a turbulent whirlpool of sensations.And when she lifted herself slightly and kissed him, he nearly exploded.Ross tried not to return Gillian’s kiss [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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