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The sennight that followed proved his fears to fruition. Teagan took to her chamber and would not leave. Nor would she welcome anyone, including him, inside the walls. The only person allowed in or out was her maid. And when Sebastian stopped her in the hall, her eyes were filled with sadness, and she merely shook her head.
Something had to be done. But what? One morning after a terrible night’s sleep, actually—no sleep at all—he knocked on Lachlan’s study and entered upon his, “Come in.”
“We need to talk.” Sebastian sat down without waiting to be invited. He kept forgetting Lachlan possessed the title of duke now. “I’m beside myself with worry about Teagan.”
“As am ah,” Lachlan said as he rose from his seat and went to the sideboard. He held up a crystal decanter. “Is it tae early, or can we partake in some fine Scot’s whiskey?”
“Partake please.”
Sebastian took the glass out of Lachlan’s hand and downed the contents. “Damn, but that stuff is fine. Burns like hellfire though.”
“Wouldnae be good otherwise. Have another, it will go down smooth as silk.”
And sure enough it did and took the edge off his nerves. “What do you think is wrong with her?”
“Damn if ah ken. Ah’ve never seen her like this. Nae even when Maw died. Witnessing Bradbury’s gruesome death broke her somehow. ‘Tis my only explanation because she is nae a shrinking violet, as ye ken. She rides and shoots better than most mon ah ken. And has never even appeared squeamish when attending tae the injured or sick. Ah think her mind is healing, and the only way she can allow it tae is tae rest in solitude. If it persists much longer, ah will send for the local physician. Although ah will admit, Teagan is a far better healer than he. Dinnae take it personally if she willnae see ye, she willnae see me either.
Another sennight passed and Teagan remained behind closed doors. Sebastian was at the end of his patience and understanding. Why was she ignoring him? Had her feelings for him vanished? Lachlan kept reassuring him, but it didn’t help his mind from creating all sorts of scenarios. Scenarios that had him traveling back to London with his heart in tatters. The physician examined her and said she was healthy and eating. She was in shock and could remain that way for some time. He left several bottles of laudanum which Lachlan promptly threw out. Teagan would never forgive him if he gave her any. She always called it the devil drug. She preferred to make her own medicine. Medicine that wouldn’t make a person crazy.
Today, a fortnight since he arrived at Murray Castle, Sebastian dressed in his riding clothes, hoping a good long ride would ease his mind. Just as he descended the stone stairs a gentleman, perhaps around forty, leaning heavily on a cane, stepped out of a carriage.
“May I be of assistance?” Sebastian queried.
“Ah hope so. Ah’m looking for Lachlan and Teagan. Ah’m their uncle.”
“Uncle. But...I...they...thought you were dead.”
“Ah nearly was. Ian is a crazy bastard. Killed Paw and my brother. Left me for dead. Took me this long to recover my wits enough tae even ken who ah was. Came as soon as ah could travel. Had my mon scouring all of Scotland looking for Lachlan and Teagan, only tae find out they were in England until recently. Is that where ye met them?”
“Yes. It’s a long story and should be told around a warm fire with a glass of Lachlan’s fine whiskey.”
“Ah hear he is the duke now? What about Ian? Is he still alive?”
“Let me take you to Lachlan, and he can explain everything that has happened.”
Sebastian knocked on Lachlan’s study door and entered when the familiar Scottish brogue said, “Come in.”
“Uncle Bruce,” Lachlan bellowed and stood abruptly, sending his chair crashing to the ground with a loud thud. “Ah thought ye were dead.” Lachlan righted the chair then hurried around the desk, pulling his uncle into a hug. “Ah thought tae never see ye again. Is Grandpaw and Uncle Fergus with ye?”
“Sit down, we have much tae discuss.”
“I’ll just excuse myself.” Sebastian backing away toward to door.
“Nonsense.” Lachlan waved his arm. “Sit down. Ye ken everything and have been through much with us.” He headed to the sideboard and poured three generous glasses of whiskey and handed them out. “Ian told me ye were dead. That he killed ye.”
Bruce downed his glass in one swallow and held it out for another. “He bloody hell almost did.” He motioned to Lachlan’s glass. “Ye might want tae down that before ah begin my tale.”
Lachlan tossed the contents of his glass back and looked directly at his uncle. Sebastian, as much as he felt like an intruder, same as when they traveled with Bradbury, knew wild horses couldn’t drag him away from what was about to be said.
“Ian came in the dead of night with a ragged bunch of mon. They were nae Murray mon, that is for certain. Or at least ah pray they were nae. He visited Paw’s room first and slashed his throat as he slept. Ill-fated on our part that Fergus and ah were visiting at the time, which made it easy for Ian tae kill all three of us in the same night.” He took a sip of whiskey. “For some reason ah couldnae sleep that night and was warming myself by the fire when my door was broken down and ah faced Ian and his mon. He told me my sister was dead. As ah processed that terrible news, ah was shot several times. I think each body bastard took a shot at me. The bullet that grazed my head made me forget who ah was for a spell. Hence, why it has taken me so long tae venture out.”
He closed his eyes and shook his head. “When ah finally come tae, ah was told Paw and Fergus were both dead, and that Paw’s steward sent mon looking for ye and Teagan tae no avail. Until now.”
Lachlan topped off his uncle’s glass. “The duke wouldnae let us send word about Maw’s death. He said he wouldnae have her relatives in his home for her burial.”
“Bloody bastard,” Bruce growled out.
For the next half hour Lachlan retold the series of events that brought them to this moment in time. Including how they met Bradbury and how he was murdered in cold blood by Ian.
“Ah’m sorry, lad. It shouldnae ever have come tae this.”
“Nae yer fault. But we need yer help. Teagan hasnae left her bedchamber since we arrived here. Sebastian and ah are worried sick over her. As is the rest of the staff.”
“Ah’ll go tae her now,” Bruce said as he stood, leaning heavily on his cane. “Bloody arse, Ian shot me in the thigh and ah will forever need this cane.”
“But you live,” Sebastian said.
“Aye, ah live. And ah thank the good Lord every day for it.”
***
Resting in bed, again for another day, Teagan couldn’t seem to get her body to move. Nor her brain to tell it to. She ached in parts of her body she didn’t know existed. And her head, it felt three times the size and as though it was used as an anvil by the blacksmith.
She wanted to get up, truly she did. She hated worrying Lachlan and Sebastian. But she just couldn’t face anyone yet. Nor did she know how many days she lay here, although she knew the numbers were climbing alarming high.
Last night, in the dead of darkness, she promised herself she would venture outside her bedchamber today. A promise she’d made many times over to no avail. Somehow, when the morning came each day, she couldn’t do it. No matter how much she chastised herself for wallowing in self-pity, she could not leave her room. She barely left her bed long enough to take care of her business and change into clean clothing.
So here she lounged in bed once again, a tray across her lap, with her now cold breakfast when a knock sounded at her door.
“Will they never give up?” She huffed believing it to be either Lachlan or Sebastian.
“Go away.”
“‘Tis yer Uncle Bruce, lass, can ah come in please?”
“Uncle Bruce,” she cried as she swung her legs off the bed and stood only to sit back down again as the room spun and her legs gave way. “Come in.”
Tears pooled in her eyes when she saw her uncle. He’d aged since she last saw him. Then again it had been several years since her mother took them for a visit. Yet somehow she believed the events of the past months had to do with his aging.
“Teagan, my lass,” Uncle Bruce said as he bent down and kissed her cheek. “Ye are a sight for my sore and tired eyes. Ah believed ah would find ye both dead when ah arrived this morning.”
Teagan looked at the door, hoping with all her heart her grandfather and uncle Fergus would walk through the door any moment. Her heart weighed heavy inside her chest when they did not.
“What about Grandpaw and Uncle Fergus?”
Resting on the edge of her bed, she listened to the nightmare Uncle Bruce told. Several times, if she hadn’t been sitting down, she would have fallen.
“So, what is this ah hear ye refuse to leave yer rooms. Lachlan is beside himself with worry. And ah dinnae have tae tell you, lass, he has had enough tae concern himself with. And a certain Englishmon who cares for ye deeply is even more worried.”
“Perhaps today.”
“Nay perhaps about it. Ye will leave this room. Ah give ye an hour before ah expect ye in the drawing room.”
After her uncle left, all the emotions she’d been suppressing bombarded her, and she lay back on her bed in a heap of sobs that shook her entire body. Feeling...hurt too much. How was she expected to deal with so much loss of life and anger and hatred toward Ian and the man who raised her?
“Ah will nae let Ian win? He willnae ruin my life,” Teagan said as she pulled herself together and rang the bell for her maid.
After a soothing warm bath scented with sprigs of lavender, she dressed in a lovely peach day dress and ventured down the stairs to the family drawing room. Upon entering, she almost turned and ran out. Three sets of eyes stared at her. Her eyes swept over Lachlan’s and her uncle’s to finally settle on Sebastian’s. The blue of his eyes penetrated deep within her soul, and she wondered how she could have been so selfish.
“Lachlan, Sebastian, ah owe ye both an apology. It was never my intentions tae worry ye both. Please forgive me.”
Lachlan came forward first and hugged her close. “Nothing tae forgive. Just dinnae do that tae me ever again. Ah was worried for ye.”
“Ah ken.”
Then Sebastian approached and bowed. “I’m glad to see you up and about.”
“Nay need tae be so formal, Sebastian, after all we have been through,” Lachlan said.
Sebastian’s eyes locked with hers and she nodded her head, suddenly unable to speak. Had he given up on her? Was he just waiting for her to recover her wits to go back home to London? The tremors started in her hands and spread quickly throughout her body. Unable to breathe from uncertainty, she moved forward just as he reached for her and engulfed her in his strong arms.
“Ah’m so sorry ah pushed ye away.”
“Nonsense.” He pulled back and cradled her face in his hands. The love shining from his eyes melted her bones. “I will never leave you. I love you and with Lachlan and your uncle’s permission, I would like to marry you.”
“Sebastian,” she whispered right before he kissed her. That kiss conveyed all the unspoken words that were never said between them, and never needed to be said.
He pulled back and smiled. “I take that as a yes.”
“Aye, Sebastian Seabrook, ah will marry ye.”
Late that night, as Teagan lay in bed, her heart pounded inside her chest as she anticipated Sebastian sneaking into her bedchamber at any moment. She’d trusted her maid with a note inviting him to her room. Too much had happened, and she didn’t want to wait until their wedding in a month’s time to become intimate. She wanted to become Sebastian’s and him hers, in every sense of the word—this very night.
When she heard the creak of the door opening, her hand flew to her stomach and tried to calm the family of butterflies making a home there. It wasn’t so much nerves but anticipation for what would come.
“Sebastian,” she whispered, suddenly afraid it may be someone else.
“Yes.”
She breathed a sigh of relief because for a moment she’d panicked and was thrown back in time.
He strolled to her bedside without saying a word. He didn’t need to as his eyes, glowing in the candlelight, expressed all. As he began undressing, her eyes were riveted to his large hands as they unbuttoned his waistcoat. It slid to the ground, soon followed by his shirt, which left him in his breeches and boots. His weight sunk the bed as he sat and removed first one boot then the other. Standing again, he stared deeply into her eyes and goose flesh broke out on her skin and she trembled. His fingers made quick work on the front buttons of his breeches. They slid down his muscular thighs, leaving him naked and powerfully aroused before her.
Her breath caught in her throat at the sight of his manhood thrusting out large and hard from between his thighs. “Is that...”
He grinned a wickedly. “Do not fret, I will prepare you and yes, God created it so it will fit. I believe it will fit you to perfection.”
She swallowed. “If ye say so.”
“Come,” he said with his hand out.
Hesitating for only a second, she crawled to the edge of the bed and stood in front of him on wobbly knees, her arms down by her side and her eyes locked on his face.
“Ah have come.”
He chuckled. “Not yet you haven’t. But you will.”
“Ah will...” Before she could utter another word, he had divested her of her night rail and she stood equally naked and self-conscious while his eyes slid up and down her body from head to toe and back.
“You are beautiful.”
Her arms covered her breasts and he gently tugged them aside.
“I will be your husband in a month, no need to be bashful with me.”
She went to drop her arms to her side then thought better of it and placed them on his warm, muscular chest instead. Her head tilted up, she licked her lips, and waited for Sebastian to kiss her.
And kiss her he did. He lowered his head and took her mouth with in fierce, savage need. Sebastian devoured her mouth, and then moved on to her neck and lower. All the air escaped her lungs when his hot mouth sucked in her nipple, causing liquid heat to pool between her thighs.
Then he scooped her up into his strong arms, dropped her down on the bed, and covered her body with his.
“What did I ever do to deserve you?” Sebastian murmured as he placed kisses down her stomach while one hand slid up her calf, over her knee to the inside of her thigh—to there.
The moment his hand found her, she arched her back and her body trembled.
“You’re ready for me. Had you been thinking about what we had done before while you were waiting for me to come to your bed tonight?”
“Aye.”
He positioned his body over hers, nudged her legs open with his knee, and his manhood pushed against her. She didn’t want to tense, tried to keep her body relaxed, but it had other ideas at the invasion.
“Relax, my love.” Sebastian’s mouth covered hers in a kiss that caused the room to twirl. His tongue swirled with hers, he bit her lip with his teeth all the while he pushed more and more inside of her until a piercing pain had her gasping and Sebastian froze.
“I’m sorry.”
“Dinnae be. ‘tis part of becoming a woman, a lover, and wife.”
“Which you will be all of those things to me.”
Slowly, he swirled his hips and the pain was replaced with a need to move against him. To feel all that she knew she could now that their bodies were joined.
She met each thrust of his hips with her own and soon they were both gasping as their lungs heaved. Her insides tightened. It started in her stomach and spread below until her insides contracted. She closed her eyes, clenched the sheets with her hands, and let herself fly into the midnight sky.
***
When Sebastian first entered Teagan’s room, he expected her to say she changed her mind and wanted to wait until their wedding night. When she didn’t, his insides shook with such a need it took all his self-control to go slow. He undressed first, letting her get a good look at his naked form, hoping to ease her worry. He’d been wrong. It increased her anxiety.
Never in his life had he been with a virgin, so he had to rely on instinct. There would be pain, it was unavoidable. But he would do everything in his power to lessen her discomfort. The truth of it was he would rather cut off his right arm than cause her agony of any kind.
Unfortunately, breaking through her maidenhead could not be avoided. Once he had her on her back and he positioned himself he tried to go slow. He did go slowly until she wrapped her legs around his waist and pushed her hips up into his repeatedly. When her insides clamped down around his cock, he thought he’d died and gone to heaven. The pleasure she brought him spiraled through his body and settled deep inside his heart.
After he collapsed on her, and his breathing returned somewhat back to normal, he rolled off, taking her with him so she was tucked against his side. “I didn’t know it could be like this.”
She tilted her head up, smiled, and his heart stopped at the love he saw radiating from the depths of her green eyes. “Me neither. But ah thought...”
“Yes. I have been with other women. But let me assure you, never, ever was it like what we just experienced. Being in the arms of someone you love and who loves you in return makes all the difference in the world.”
“Good.”
He nuzzled her neck. “Good what?”
She sighed and her body curled around his. “Good ye have never experienced such a thing with anyone else but me. Ah want tae be yer everything.”
“Haven’t you figured it out by now that you are?”
