Her mother hadn’t told her about this. No one had warned her. No one could have. She wouldn’t have believed them.
CHAPTER 7
Graeme lay there for several minutes, not quite believing what had just happened. He’d never intended to lay a finger on Vanessa. Although certainly the thought had occurred to him, they’d agreed on an annulment. Now that was impossible. Now she was his wife in every way. Had that been her intention?
He looked at her sleeping form, her arms flung above her head, hair splayed across the pillow, pleasure staining her cheeks. She slept hard, her rhythmic breathing slow and steady. What the hell was he supposed to do?
How could any man have resisted her? Her attempt at a seduction, he realized now, had been rather awkward. She knew nothing about the subtleties of luring a man into bed. Yet that was precisely where they’d ended up, because he’d taken one look at her body and desire had surged through him. Even now, with the sheet draped around her waist, she looked beautiful. Unlike most women, she seemed not overly concerned with her appearance. What other woman would wear her spectacles to a seduction?
And she wasn’t shy about her body, which in and of itself was arousing.
Her pert breasts rose and fell with each breath; the rosy hue of her nipples enticed him even now. Her body was not as overly curvy as he usually preferred in his lovers. Vanessa was thin, but her waist narrowed and then her hips were rounded nicely. She was beautiful.
And his wife.
He hadn’t even wanted a damned wife. He leaned against the headboard, his arms cradling his head. Didn’t that just damn it all.
Before this night, he’d never lain with a virgin. This woman was his in a way no other woman had ever been. A surge of protection welled inside him. He’d be the only man to ever touch her. The only man to cup her breasts and bite her neck. The only man to enter her, spill his seed within her. Again lust filled his body, and he grew heavy with need for her. Well, if he was to remain married to the woman, at least he desired her.
He leaned over and covered her breast with his mouth. She stirred, then moaned as he continued to lave kisses on her tender skin. Her hand reached up, threading her fingers through his hair.
He’d take her again this night.
She moaned again as he slid into her. God, she felt good—hot, slick, and tight. And as her pleasure mounted and her soft cries came faster and faster, he thought again and again: his woman, his wife and no one else’s.
The following morning, Graeme sneaked out the back door of the cottage and nearly ran into his brother.
“Dougal, what the devil are you doing up and about so early?” Graeme hissed.
“I had to tend to the animals. You’ve been out of Scotland so long you’ve forgotten where your dinner comes from?” Dougal teased.
His brother’s words jabbed at him. They were meant in fun, but the boy was right. England made him soft, made him pampered and forgetful that his family didn’t live in the same luxurious lifestyle he did. Not for lack of trying on his part. As soon as his father had died, he’d begged his mother to move the family to London, but she’d refused. She would not leave her beloved Scotland, not that Graeme blamed her in the least.
“I’ve got to go,” Graeme said. He wanted to be far enough behind Niall to not be noticed, but not so far that he lost him.
“Where are you off to this morning?” Dougal asked. “I could help.” He set the bucket down. His brother’s face was sharpening, becoming less boylike and more like that of a man. But a determined jaw could do nothing to hide the youthful enthusiasm shining in his eyes.
“Not this time; I need to do this on my own.” He patted the boy’s shoulder. “But we’ll talk later today.” Graeme turned and walked down the path away from the house.
He climbed the hillside to the castle ruins. If Niall was searching for the legendary Loch Ness treasure, then more than likely he was doing so within the caverns that wove beneath Castle Urquhart. The very caves he’d been in many times searching for his own bloody treasure. Today was not the day to look for the decoder, though. He only wanted to follow Niall a while, and see if he met anyone there.
Graeme thought of Vanessa while he climbed. He had consummated a marriage he hadn’t intended to stay in, and he’d done it three times. The rocks from the hillside bit into Graeme’s boots, but he didn’t care. He’d come here with a task to complete, and if he wasn’t careful, he’d get so distracted by his new bride that he’d fail to accomplish it—not to mention the work Solomon’s had requested of him. Hell, he was curious himself about what his cousin was up to.
Niall had been helpful to Vanessa, offering her a place to stay. In his experience, the English were not overly friendly; instead, they were polite and proper to a fault. Yet Niall had brought her back to his home, and they had been chatting in his study when Graeme had found them, as if they were old friends.
There had to be something more. Niall had borrowed that book of Vanessa’s. She’d said it was a book about fossils, though. It seemed unlikely Niall would take time out to study fossils. Solomon’s, though, would not be suspicious without reason. Niall had been behaving in such a way that Jensen had traveled all the way up to Scotland to enlist Graeme’s help. No, there had to be something more useful to him in that book, and Vanessa simply was unaware of it.
Once Graeme discovered Niall’s secret, then he could focus on his own interests. In the meantime, he needed to get Vanessa back to London, where she would be safe.
Graeme continued climbing the hill, and the castle grew closer. Much of the castle’s outer wall remained intact, but the structure itself was composed of mostly crumbled-down walls with one partially standing tower. The entrance to the caves lay deep within the belly of the ruins.
Quickly, yet quietly, he moved, trying to make good time before his wife woke up and realized he’d deserted her—and to prevent Niall from discovering him. Niall had crept past Graeme’s family’s cottage in the early morning hours, and Graeme had waited fifteen minutes before following his cousin. Niall was a talented explorer, or else Solomon’s would not have welcomed him into their fold, so chances were, he’d be watching for anyone coming behind him.
Graeme climbed over a collapsed wall, then skirted beneath what remained of an archway as he entered the ruins of Castle Urquhart. He’d always loved this old place. Despite its condition, it still looked very much a fortress guarding over the loch. There was another entrance into the caverns, below the castle and above the rocky shore, but it was difficult to get to. And Niall had been heading in this direction.
Stepping inside one of the few remaining rooms of the castle that still claimed four walls, Graeme made his way down a stone staircase.
He hit the bottom of the staircase and then started down the tunnel to his left. At first, the area resembled a stone hallway, but the farther he walked, the narrower the passage became, until he found himself standing in a cavern. Gone were the manmade bricks. In their place were the slick, moss-covered sides of a cave. Graeme’s lungs chilled as he took a deep breath. The air was heavy with the scent of his stale, cold, and chalk-like surroundings.