“Slow him down a bit next time,” Oria suggested.
“He’s all right then?” Penn asked and slipped his arm around his wife and stared at his son, his eyes almost closed in sleep.
“He’s good. There’s nothing wrong with him,” Oria assured both parents.
“Thank you. Thank you so much,” Emily and Penn both took turns offering their gratitude.
This time Royden didn’t wait for his wife to reach for his hand, he took hers after stepping out of the cottage.
“How did you know what to do?” Royden asked as they walked back to the keep.
“Detta, the old woman at Learmonth who you met. She is an exceptional healer. I watched her treat many bairns,” Oria explained.
“Why watch her treat bairns when you knew there was no chance of you having any of your own with Learmonth? Or did you think to wed again after his death?” He surprised himself with the question.
“I knew I’d wed again,” she said. “As I told you and will keep reminding you. I never doubted you’d return to me. I wanted to be prepared to take care of our children.”
The woman left him speechless far too often.
“Now if my husband would stop being a stubborn arse and plant his seed where it belongs, we could get started on the five or six bairns I plan to give him.”
“So I’m not an old, stubborn arse anymore,” he asked a joy overcoming him that he hadn’t felt in a long time at the thought of having a large family with Oria. It had been something they had both once wanted and Oria hadn’t changed her mind.
“No, you’re just a stubborn arse now,” she confirmed.
“I’ll have to work on that.”
“You have a lot to work on, husband,” she said and poked him in the arm. “I want my own bairn to hold in my arms sometime this winter.”
He had almost strangled her last night while in a nightmare. How would she feel after she coupled with a savage?
Chapter 13
Royden stood by the side of the bed naked and turned a deep scowl on his wife snuggled comfortably beneath the blankets. “You will keep your promise and poke me if I get too close to you.”
Oria thought about all the promises she had made and how some of them were causing senseless sorrow.
“You hesitate,” Royden snapped.
She shook her head. “My mind wandered. I promise, but you must promise as well. If I get too close to you, you must poke me.”
“It’s not a poke I’ll be giving you when the time comes. You have definitely changed, wife,” he said, relieved he had seen to pleasuring himself before coming to her bedchamber. With his desire satisfied, it made it easier for him to sleep beside her. But then he hadn’t counted on her playful words arousing him.
“I have,” she admitted. “I’m not the young, innocent woman you once knew. And to be honest, I’m glad I’m no longer her. My da, God love him, protected me from far too much. Burnell encouraged me to learn as much as I could. He insisted I speak with the merchants that came to sell him their wares, to learn from them about distant lands they had traveled and even learn some of their languages. I found I quite enjoyed learning. It was why I accompanied Detta when she tended the ill. I wanted to learn all I could from her to be prepared for whatever the future held. What did you learn?”
His response came easily. “That there is a savage in every man.”
“You fought rough battles here,” she reminded.
“Aye and Highlanders can be a vicious lot, but they’re kind compared to some of the savages I fought.” He refused to detail what he’d been through. He hated having the memories in his head and he wouldn’t put them in hers. “It often took being more than a savage to win against them.”
“You’re not a savage, Royden,” she said, turning on her side and reaching out to lay her hand on his chest. She startled when his hand gripped her wrist, stopping her.
“Don’t touch me,” he warned with an underlying growl.
“Habit and instinct are difficult to control,” she said and when he loosened his grip, she brought her hand to rest on her stomach.
It had taken her a while to understand how much of a toll their time apart had taken on them both and the depth of how much they both had changed. How could they resume what they once had together when they weren’t the same people? Maybe they couldn’t. Maybe they needed to start anew.
Nothing more was said between them. Oria turned on her side, her back to her husband and his back to her, having felt him turn. She didn’t intend to sleep at least not yet. She was going to do her best to remain awake so that if Royden had another nightmare, she could comfort him and hopefully prevent it from going any farther. He may have demanded she promise to poke him, but nothing had been said about a comforting touch.