Everyone was relieved to see Callie safely home and she was ready to get back into her daily routine of managing the keep with Glenna. She had missed sleeping in their bed, having her own clothes to wear, and the privacy allotted to the laird pf the clan and his lady wife. There was only one big problem standing in her way and she was married to him. Alex stubbornly refused to let his wife do a single thing that could be considered strenuous. He issued an order to the clan at the very first moment they returned home to say Callie needed to rest and not stress herself by working, otherwise they'd have to answer him. He also forbade her to go alone outside the keep. Knowing her uncle was still out there, Alex was determined to keep her safe at any cost.
His sister, Bella, had knitted her a lovely scarf while she had been away. It had the Campbell colours and it perfectly matched her favourite shawl which she dropped during the kidnapping in the stables. The only trouble was Callie barely got to wear the new scarf since she was never allowed to go anywhere outside of the keep and it was driving her up the wall. The first month she was at home, Alex didn't even want Callie going outdoors. It didn't matter if she promised to use an armed escort. She begged him each night for them to take a walk after their evening meal until he finally relented one clear, cool night, more than six weeks after they'd been back home. They walked side by side, not touching each other. Callie had felt him physically withdraw from her since she lost the babe, not knowing it was because he feared to injure her further. It started the day after the attack on the Murray keep and it worsened once they were back home on Campbell land. He didn't kiss or cuddle her any longer, such as their habit was before her uncle's men kidnapped her. Callie started to worry that he had changed his mind about being married to her and then she grew concerned he might prefer to be married to another lass when weeks went by with Alex continuing not to touch her. They walked along the gravel path until they could see the barn and stables up ahead. She was busy looking around and didn't see a root sticking up on the path before she tripped over it.
Instinctively, Alex's arms reached out to stop her falling to the ground. "Careful there, lass!"
"Thank you." She felt a frisson of heat from his large, steady hands on her arms through her shawl, as he held onto her momentarily.
Alex noticeably swallowed before he spoke. "You are all right? I need to let you go."
"Must you? Do you simply not want me any more, Alex?" She said the hushed words in a rush for the paralysing fear of hearing his answer in the affirmative. It was something she knew would utterly break her heart. She sighed and then spoke again before she lost the nerve all together. "Is that why you never touch me any longer?"
His expression was one of intense pain and he raggedly swallowed again before looking away from her into the distance at the tall mountains looming beyond the keep walls. His deep voice was gruff when his answer finally came. "It'd be easier if that was the way of it. I just happen to think you'd be better off without me for a husband."
"What? Alex, no! Dinna say that! You saved my life." She leaned into hug him closely, but he visibly stiffened at the moment she touched him and she felt a crack deep in her heart. It felt like any moment it would unravel completely and she'd lose him forever. "Twice, counting the day we met."
"It's all my fault. How do ye not see that, lass? Those bloody bastards took ye from my keep." His deep voice fully broke, as his anger and shame consumed him. Alex shook his head forlornly. "I let my bloody guard down and couldna keep ye safe. I'm the one who let ye down!"
"Alex! Nay, ye canna blame yourself, it wasna your fault!" Callie tightened her hold on his waist, as he remained there unmoving like a stone. Her heart broke into a thousand pieces to know he had felt this way about her kidnapping all this time and never told her.
"Aye, it is. I ken it well. Everyone else does, too. You deserve a better husband than what you have gotten in me."
"Please don't say such things, Alex!"
He shook his head in misery. "I'm so fucking sorry, love."
The wind picked up and began to howl, as though in sympathy with Alex's complete disappointment in himself. She led him inside the shelter of the warm barn and they sank in unison to sit on a hay bale sitting on the barn floor. Callie held onto his waist the entire time, refusing to let him go for fear he'd turn away from her permanently and she would never be able to regain his interest. After some time, Alex finally leaned his head into her chest when he began to cling to her, a wreckage of sorrow, grief, and guilt.
"You're the husband I want, Alex." Callie smiled down at him through her flowing tears. "The only one. I love you. So very, very much."
Her soft, gentle hands never stopped touching him. She ran them through his hair, down his arms, over his shoulders, all the time whispering words of love and telling him how much she missed him, missed him touching her and being able to touch him in return. That thoughts of him kept her going during her ordeal, knowing he would rescue her.
At the same time, she dropped soft kisses to his eyes, cheeks, neck, forehead, and then finally his lips. It was an embrace offering him love, forgiveness, and hope for their collective future. Alex slowly began to respond to Callie by caressing the places on her body where she first touched him. Her heart leaped in anticipation, as his hands finally started to move along her curves. His mouth began to trail its own path of hot, fevered kisses along the slender column of her neck to her jawline making her whimper and moan in delight. She took more of the initiative by moving her hands brazenly up his muscular thighs under his kilt.
"Callie, no! We can't do this. Not now. Not here. It's too soon, love." Alex broke off their kiss, trying to back away from her.
She grasped both of his arms, keeping them securely anchored around her slim waist. "Aye, we can! The bleeding stopped two weeks ago. Isla said it's okay after that. I'm feeling braw, Alex."
He shook his head in spite of the intense desire in his eyes. "We should wait a bit longer just to be certain."
"Nay, I canna wait." Callie pulled him bodily back down in the hay. She began to pepper more kisses along his neck, as her hands hurriedly worked his shirt out of its place tucked into his kilt and then pulled it over his head. "Alex, I need ye."
"Callie!" He ground out her name when her mouth touched one of his nipples, as she circled it with her tongue. "You're sure about this?"
Her eyes lit up. "Oh, aye!"
"Christ, I've missed you..." It was all the encouragement that he needed, as his wide hands threaded in her long, silky hair. His hungry mouth slanted over hers, his tongue slipping between her lips to mate with hers. Her hands ran from his chest to his waist while his own undid the back of her dress. Callie reveled in his attentions, as he started to lose his tenuous hold on control. He paused long enough to put his tartan down on the hay and gently picked her up to lay laid on top of it. "I need you. I canna wait. I'm sorry, love."
"I dinna want you to wait." He quickly moved between her legs after testing her readiness, as her hands reached out to guide him home. "Alex, now! Please..."
Hours later, Alex awoke to find himself naked in the stables with his beautiful wife sound asleep with a smile on her face laying next to him on the hay. Her naked body plastered to his side and her arm around his waist, as though she feared to be apart from him even in slumber. He gently moved her, covering Callie with his tartan. Alex located a clean, woolen blanket nearby on a shelf, then swapped it out for his tartan covering her. He pleated his kilt on the hay and laid down again, quickly putting on his kilt and belting it snugly around his waist. Even though he was laird of his clan and in charge, it didn't mean he wanted to walk naked as the day he was born back to the keep.
"Callie love, wake up." He whispered into her ear. "Here, put on my shirt."
"Canna we not sleep here?" She nuzzled her cold nose into his warm neck when Alex lifted her. "It's comfy and you're so lovely and warm."
"Ahearn will have our hides if he finds us sleeping in this hay, sweetheart." Alex chuckled to himself picturing the scene of his head groom finding them asleep in the barn, as he continued to whisper in her ear. "Besides, our own bed will be much more comfortable and warmer to be sure. I'm certain of it."
"All right then." She sat up on a soft sigh, lifting her arms over her head to allow him to help her put on his shirt. It was so long that it trailed well past her knees enveloping her slim frame. He put the warm, woolen blanket around her for an extra layer of modesty, then picked her up again. She protested meekly. "Alex, what on earth are you doing? I can walk."
He kissed her, then winked. "Aye, but you'd need shoes."
"I'm already carrying them." She held up her slippers.
He cocked a brow at her, but continued on the path back towards the keep, as he softly admitted. "I know, but I've missed having you in my arms."
"Not half as much as I've missed being in them." She could see his warm smile in the moonlight when he hugged her more tightly to his chest before she warned him in a soft, but firm voice. "Dinna let it happen again. No matter what, Alex."
He immediately nodded. "No matter what."
Ewan had been sitting at the post outside their private suite of rooms knowing they weren't there, as everyone had seen them leave the main hall together after supper to go for a walk and not return for any of the evening activities. He hurriedly stood to greet them, as though it was a perfectly normal occurrence for the laird of his clan to be carrying his wife in his arms after an evident roll in the hay. "Good evening."
Alex nodded. "How's everything tonight here, Ewan?"
"Mercifully quiet, Laird." He answered, as he opened the bedchamber door to allow them entry. "Sleep well."
Alex carefully placed Callie on the bed before going back to close and bolt the door. She stood to put her shoes away and shake out her dress which she'd been holding. He poured them both a dram of whisky after building a fire, and sat down in the chair to admire the view of his wife walking around in their room wearing nothing but his shirt. "Slaínte mhor."
"Slaínte." She smiled in return, tugging on its hem. "Do ye want this back now?"
"It looks braw on you." Alex admitted happily, his blue eyes lighting up to mirror the easy smile on his lips. "Mind ye, I like you just fine out of it."
"Well..." She wondered aloud, as she tugged on the strings at her neck.
"Come here." Alex grinned, pulling her to him and kissing her deeply before he drew his shirt over her head and tossed it easily into the chair behind him. He stood up quickly after sitting to remove his kilt and boots, kissing her again and bringing her flush against his naked, fully aroused body. "Off is better, definitely off."
She weaved her arms around his neck and pressed into him, pushing him on top of the bed and he held onto her waist to ensure she fell with him. Callie moaned into his mouth, as his hands explored her body. He rolled her over, pinning her under his weight and kissing her body, as he shifted to make his way down.
"Alex!" Callie gasped when his mouth reached the curls between her legs.
"I promised the bed would be better than the hay, did I not? I need to make good on that promise, love." He grinned saucily, then moved down her body on the large bed with his breath, a hot blast on her cool skin, as he dropped kisses along the path he made.
Alex took his sweet time loving her there until he had lit a burning flame inside her body. He held her hands down on the bed when she tried to pull him up towards her. Only as she rode a second wave of pleasure, did he then move inside her, releasing her hands and causing Callie to grasp him at his shoulders. He tried to pull away to prolong their pleasure, but his wife wasn't having it. She kept her legs around his waist in a vise grip.
"Now, Alex, please!" Her breathy plea crumbled his resolve. He drove back deep into her again and again, picking up speed until they both cried out with pleasure.
The next day, a loud pounding on the bedroom door made them jump awake. Malcolm called out to him. "Alex, be ye sick, man? The morning meal has come and gone!"
Alex smiled at Callie before calling back to the closed door. "Aye, Uncle, I've caught a wee fever. I think Callie has it as well. Can you send us some food up in a bit? I think we both must stay abed this day."
He reached to cover Callie's mouth when she started to snicker with laughter. She playfully nipped at the palm of his hand making him smile at her, as his free hand reached down to cup her breast.
"Oh, aye, I will." Malcolm replied, his quick response precariously bordering on sarcasm. "We canna have the of you two giving this...uh, fever...to everyone else in our clan. I'll let Glenna ken that you two need to be left alone and not disturbed, so you can stay in bed."
"My thanks, Malcolm. I'm sure a day abed will set it to right."
Malcolm didn't reply, but Callie would swear her uncle by marriage knew they weren't sick given he'd not said words like "rest" or asked if he should send the healer up to look at them. She gaped at Alex. "How could you lie to him like that?"
"I'm laird." He shrugged, as though it should explain everything.
She huffed out a breath. "You ken full well what they'll all be thinking about what we are doing in here!"
"Aye." He nodded slowly, encircling his arms around her and bringing the lower half of her body to rest fully atop his erection. "Exactly what I was planning on us doing all day."
"Alex..." She sighed happily when he sprinkled a few, sweet kisses at her neck, the exact spot he knows will weaken her resolve. "There's work we should be doing."
"Callie, I missed you so much all these weeks and I've been sorely neglecting you." He ran a hand slowly along her cheekbone, trailing his thumb over her mouth. "I've missed talking to you and holding you close. Please let me make it up to you. Just for today."
Callie touched the line of stubble along his face, kissing him deeply before softly admitting. "I canna tell ye no if you look at me like that; however, life goes back to normal tomorrow. Can we agree on that, at least?"
"Aye, love." He smiled readily, kissing her quickly, before answering. "Fair enough."
A softer knock sounded on their door this time. It was a serving girl with food and a pot of hot tea from Glenna. Alex asked her to leave the tray with Ewan outside their room for now, saying they'd get it from him in a few minutes, knowing his wife didn't like having people in their chamber if either of them were undressed.
They spent the day alternating between making love, napping, and cozily talking in bed. Supper and a hot bath were later brought up to their room. Alex supposed they looked sweaty enough from their most recent round of sex to practically look feverish to the two servants bringing in the large tub. Callie had buried herself under the furs to hide her lack of proper clothing.
Alex didn't like the tub in their room, as it forced them to be seen by servants. Since Callie had said she didn't want to sleep in the large, lady's chamber adjoining this room when they arrived here as a newly married couple, the room stood empty and he suddenly got the idea to surprise her with a bathing room. It would be a smart use of the currently empty chamber and it would keep the need for servants to enter their private bedchamber to a minimum. He decided to ask the blacksmith to fashion as large a tub as possible, so they could always bathe together if they desired it.
The next day, they awoke in time to make love before joining the others in the main hall for the morning meal. As Alex gave Callie a long, sweet, parting kiss after they broke their fast, he promised he would see her later for the noon meal before walking with Malcolm and the other men towards the training ground. He stopped off to have a word with the blacksmith to put his plan into action.
Callie finished her morning cup of hot tea, then had a quick look over the account ledgers before she headed over to the kitchens. She discussed some menu ideas with Mrs. Ferguson for the week before going to speak to Glenna. "Good morning, Callie. I take it you're well rested after yesterday."
"Ah, yes, thank you. So, what's the plan for today?" Callie asked when she found Glenna in the root cellar with a serving girl. They were discussing storage of the last harvest before winter.
Glenna looked back in surprise. "Why?What do ye mean, lass?"
"How can I help you?" Callie clarified, a bit annoyed since she thought it was obvious what she'd first asked.
"There's books in Alex's study ye have yet to read or there's the new lovely wool to knit."
Callie was truly getting annoyed with Glenna, as though she was evading the question she now had to pose the same question twice. She slowly inhaled a breath to avoid getting angry before speaking with the older woman. "That's fine and good for the evenings. But, where can I work today?"
Glenna had the decency to look a bit sheepish this time. She put a gentle hand on Callie's wringing hands. "You canna work on it, dear. Or anything else for that matter. Everyone heard what Alex said when he brought you home."
"Alex agreed with me yesterday we'd go back to normal today." Callie replied, trying not to grind her teeth in frustration with her overprotective husband.
"Well, he didn't say anything of the sort to me or anyone else here. I would be the first to ken if he had." Glenna indulgently smiled at her niece by marriage. "Alex loves you, lass. He just wants to keep you safe!"
"Surely, he's wise enough to ken I'm not a bairn who needs to be cuddled!" Callie groaned aloud in frustration. "I'll go to the training ground and have him sort this misunderstanding out."
Glenna nodded to hide a knowing smile, as she watched her nephew's beautiful wife turn to go out the keep. She knew how stubborn Campbell men were from personal experience having been related to so many of them. She nodded to young Grant and another lad beside him who duly followed their mistress out the door to the training fields. They nearly had to jog in order to keep up with her pace.
Rory whistled low in warning to the men when he saw that his sister-in-law was fast approaching them. It couldn't be good news for her to appear here this early in the day, as she normally left Alex in peace when it came to his training of the clan warriors. Alex turned his head in the direction of Rory's call. At first, he was smiling in sheer pride and a healthy dose of lust when noticing it was his lovely wife who approached the men. Her hair had come partly unraveled from the long plait down her back and now flowed over her bouncing, full breasts which moved in time with her swinging hips. Alex would have laid his beautiful wife down here on the ground had he been alone with her and not standing in a field surrounded by his men. It was only when she got close enough for him to observe she wasn't smiling at him that he began to become concerned about why she was out here. Young Grant and Andrew were barely keeping up with her rapid pace.
She stopped in front of him, twisting her small hands. "Alex, would you have time to spare for a quick word with me? It's rather urgent in nature."
He smiled readily. "Of course I can, my love."
"In private." She clarified when he walked up to her, moving back when he reached for her hand.
Nodding with a slight frown, he motioned to lead her some distance away from the men. "What is it?"
"Why didn't you tell everyone that things are back to normal!?" She demanded in a hurried breath.
His brow furrowed in reaction. "I dinna ken what ye mean, love."
"Aye, you bloody do! Glenna won't let me do any work. The larder needs cleaning out and your aunt refused my help. She had the gall to suggest I go and bloody knit something!" She frowned, stamping her foot, and drew more attention from his men. "Can you imagine that? Like I'm going to sit around and knit all day?!"
Alex grimaced now, reaching for her arm, to lead her further away from his warriors who had begun to stop their practice and pay heed to his beautiful, but truly fuming wife. He sighed, as he ran a hand through his hair. "Callie, we will have to talk about this matter later. Preferably in private. The men have quite a lot of work to do before they can stop for the noon meal."
She forcibly extracted her arm from his gentle hold. "No, Alex! This can't wait. We'll talk about it here and now. You promised me yesterday that we'd go back to normal today! Do you often break vows ye make, Laird Campbell?"
Callie should have known that she was on very dangerous ground by taunting him in front of the men who he commanded, but her anger had already taken over her senses and pushed any rational thoughts in her head out of the way. What made matters worse was how he stood as tall as a stone in a circle, silent and unmoving. He glared at her long and hard for a long minute before turning to his uncle.
"Malcolm, take over for me here!" He barked over to his uncle before biting out the next words in a hiss. "I need to speak to my wife in private."
With that said to his uncle, he reached out before Callie had a chance to do anything and easily hoisted her body up and over his left shoulder leaving her legs kicking up in the air and then started to stomp back in the direction towards the keep.
"Alex, put me down! Ye canna be carrying me so. It's indecent!" Callie started to feel woozy from being carried with her head upside down.
"Being laird of this clan means I can do whatever the hell I please including cart ye around." He snarled in answer. "Wife, you would do well to remember that fact before ye attempt to challenge me in front of my men."
She tried to change tactics, now pleading quietly with him. "Put me down, Alex. Can ye not talk rationally about this?"
"No, I bloody won't!" He snapped back.
When she began to struggle in earnest against him to right herself, but he merely tightened his grip around her thighs and put his right hand onto the curve of her arse to balance his hold. While a part of her was burning in humiliation at being carried as if she were a sack of grain across the keep grounds, another part of her reveled in knowing she had made a valid point to invoke such a emotive reaction from him. Soon enough, Alex was stomping back inside the keep where he nearly toppled Glenna who was starting to prep the tables in the main hall for the noon meal, as he wasn't looking where he was going.
Seeing her mistress slung over his shoulder like a sack of grain, his aunt asked him in surprise. "Alex, what on earth is going on?"
He frowned at her, continuing to issue his orders even as he strode up the stairs to get to their private rooms. "Callie and I need to speak alone. No one is to disturb us!"
Callie looked up to find Glenna watching them with a look showing both shock and worry on her face. Shit, Callie said to herself, this canna be good.