Wee William's Woman, Book Three of the Clan MacDougall Series (33 page)

God-almighty! Had Aishlinn not been standing next to her, holding her up, she would have immediately swooned.

Aye, Rowan Graham was a beautiful man. But Wee William was spectacular.

“I’d like a word with Nora. Alone” Wee William said in a tone that bordered on murderous. Nora thought it went perfectly with the rage-filled stare he was giving Rowan.

“Ye would, would ye?” Rowan asked, crossing his arms over his chest, feet planted apart. “And what if the lass does not wish to speak with ye?”

Wee William pinned Rowan in place with a glare that might have made any other man run screaming like a wee lass. Rowan simply smiled in return.

Somehow Nora had managed to dislodge the walnuts in her throat. “I’ll speak with him!” she blurted out.

Wee William growled, grabbed her hand, and stomped away from the dais, out of the gathering room and into a small room the women sometimes used for sewing. He pulled Nora inside and slammed the door behind them.

“Did Rowan Graham ask fer yer hand?” He was pacing back and forth as much as the small room would allow.

“Nay,” Nora squeaked. She did not bother to tell Wee William that she would have turned Rowan down had he made such an offer.

Wee William stopped in the center of the room and looked at her. She had her back pressed firmly against the wall and her face held a frightened expression. It brought back the memory of the night back in England, when she had been doing everything she could to keep from joining him in the cellar. A flood of something warm, comforting, and peaceful instantly replaced the rage he had been feeling only a moment before.

They stood looking at one another for a few moments before he finally spoke again.

“I had a speech all planned out in me head. Practiced it for the past hour. And now that I’m here, I find I canna remember a word of it.”

Nora raised her eyebrow. “A speech? For me?” She felt a tickle of something in the pit of her stomach.

“Aye,” he said, nodding his head and resting his hands on his hips. “I’ve lots I be wantin’ to say to ye.”

Nora cleared her throat and tried to appear more in charge of her feelings than she actually was. “Such as?”

He took a deep breath in through his nostrils and let it out very slowly. He was trying to remember the words he wanted to say to her, but he was lost again, in those pale blue eyes of hers.

“William, is there something you wish to say to me?” She hadn’t moved, was unable to relax her shoulders, unable to take a step toward him. What she really wanted to ask him was if he had shaved his beard for her, or was there, by some cruel injustice, another woman.

“Aye, lass. There is much I want to say.”

“Has it something to do with whom you have shaved your beard for?”

He chuckled slightly and ran his hand across his bare face. “Aye, it does.”

Nora felt weak in the knees. Her hands trembled. She decided then to throw all caution aside. “Who is it that has led you to do such a thing?”
If he says a name other than mine, I shall die on this very spot. But not before I scratch her eyes out!
She had no idea where such a thought came from! She had never in her life raised her hand to another human being.

For a brief moment, he thought of toying with her, letting her think it was another woman who had captivated his heart and soul. But she had suffered enough the past fortnight, what with his stubbornness and pigheaded ways. Besides, he was not certain yet how she would respond to the question he was finding more and more difficult to ask.

“Nora,” he began. His voice was soft and low, nearly a whisper. “I’ve no’ much to offer a woman. I’ve no skills or trade with which to buy a woman all those things that they often want, such as silk dresses, and fancy headdresses, and sparkly baubles. I am a warrior. I be gone away more often than I be home. I am by no stretch of the imagination a saint of a man. I am often stubborn and slow to change,” he took a step toward her and stopped when he saw that she was trembling.

She was a very bright girl and by now, he assumed, she had figured out it was she for whom he shaved his beard. Mayhap she trembled with dread at the thought of him asking for her hand.

He was about to quit the room when he heard Aishlinn’s voice in the back of his mind.
Regrets
. Earlier, he had convinced himself that he would die if Nora turned him away. Now, as he stood here in the tiny room, just inches away from her, he knew deep in his heart, that he would die if he didn’t at the very least, tell her how he felt about her.

He took a steadying breath and went on. “Nora, I’ve no’ much to offer a woman.”

“You said that,” she murmured quietly.

He resisted the urge to growl. “Nora, from the first moment I laid me eyes on ye, I’ve been a lost man. Ye are in my every wakin’ thought and ye invade my dreams. Ye are by far, the most beautiful woman I’ve ever kent, and no’ just on the outside! Ye’ve a grace, a beauty that comes from within. Ye make me want to be a better man, but I’m having a hard time doin’ that because ye have me innards all jumbled up and knotted and I dunnae whether I’m comin’ or goin’. I have never felt this way about a woman, ever in me life.” He took another breath and fought back the urge to wrap his arms around her and kiss her soundly. “I could no’ live another day in this life without tellin’ ye that.”

Her legs were going to give out she just knew it. He had just spoken the words she had not, until that moment, realized she wanted to hear and now, she could not move, could not speak. She felt like a complete and utter idiot. No man had ever said such sweet, beautiful things to her before and she had no clear idea how she should respond. So she stood there, with her back against the door, clinging to the handle for dear life.

He took a step toward her and reached out his hand as if he wanted to quit the room.

Panic welled up inside her and she refused to let him pass. “That’s it?”

He blinked as if to say ‘what more do ye want’. “Aye,” he swallowed hard, and he was now very unsure what he should do next.

Nora’s eyes widened and he caught a flicker of anger in them. “You drag me in here, say the most beautiful words that no man has ever uttered to me before, and you want to leave?”

He looked positively dumbfounded and lost.

“William, you cannot say such a things to a woman and then just walk away!”

He crooked an eyebrow upward. “What would ye have me do now?”

Nora rolled her eyes, ready to give him a good chastisement. “What would
I
have ye do?” she stuttered and fought to find the appropriate words.

Aishlinn was right. Men were stupid beasts. Aye, they were wonderful, kind, sweet, funny, but stupid nonetheless. They could come up with the most amazing plans for buildings, weapons, battle, and inventions. But when it came to the ways of the heart and women? They were as intelligent as a battering ram and just as graceful.

For the first time in her life, Nora growled. It started deep in her belly, bubbled up and escaped her lips and she made no attempt to stop it. She would have to take the lead at this moment, or he’d walk out that door and she’d never see him again. She took a small step away from the door, letting go of the handle. She straightened her shoulders and looked him in the eye. Of course, she had to lean her head back a ways to do so and could only hope the effect was the same.

“William, if you do not kiss me this very instant, I will go back out into that gathering room and ask Rowan Graham for
his
hand in marriage!” Of course she didn’t think she actually had the courage to do such a thing, but Wee William did not need to have that bit of information at the moment.

His eyes widened and he scowled down at her. “Ye would no’ dare!”

“I do not make idle threats, sir!” She made idle threats with her brother and sister all the time. Such as when she threatened to rip their legs off and beat them about the head when they misbehaved. That was another piece of information William did not need to be privy to at the moment. As angry as she was she felt she could have done that to him and would enjoy it.

They glowered and growled at one another. William’s reserve was the first to falter. She looked breathtakingly beautiful with that murderous gleam in her eye and he could no longer resist his urges.

He rushed forward, wrapped his arms around her waist, and pulled her into his chest. He claimed her mouth with his. It wasn’t the sweet and tender first kiss he had imagined giving her. Nay, he plundered her mouth, took possession of it, kissed her as if it would be his last act on God’s earth.

Nora melted. She could not breathe, could not resist, and her muscles felt as strong as bread dough. When he thrust his tongue into her mouth, she felt as though a bolt of lightning had just pierced her stomach. Her toes and fingers tingled.

And praise be to God, the roof of her mouth tickled!

Sixteen

W
hen Wee William and Nora finally returned to the grand gathering room, Nora’s lips were swollen from his kisses. Her eyes were red from crying a bucketful of happy tears, and there was a smile on both their faces that would have taken a hammer and chisel to remove.

“Where be Father Michael?” Wee William shouted. Nora giggled.

“And why do we be needin’ Father Michael?” Rowan asked from across the room.

Wee William gave him a victorious smile. “Because Nora and I will be gettin’ married.”

Aishlinn was the first to rush to Nora and hugged her tightly. “Nora, I am so happy for you!” In a matter of moments, women offering congratulations and hearty hugs surrounded Nora.

Elise wiggled her way in between them, squealing with delight. “Nora! Nora!” she called out as she tried to make her way through a sea of full skirts and arisaids.

Nora searched for her sister and smiled as she scooped her up and gave her a tight hug.

“Nora, is it true? Are you really going to marry Sir William?” Elise asked.

“Aye, sister, ’tis true!”

“Is he going to let us live with you?” her little face was filled with worry and concern.

“Aye, Elise, he is. William has built a grand home, and you and John will each have your own room!”

Elise squealed with delight over that bit of news and gave Nora another hug around her neck.

John soon appeared by Nora’s side, his face unreadable. His strawberry blonde hair had not been cut in some time, and Nora thought he was beginning to look like a Highlander. She kept that thought to herself as her happiness began to wane slightly. This was the happiest day of her life, yet she worried over John and his reaction to the news.

He stood beside her, his hands thrust deep in his pockets. He shifted from one foot to the other as he stared at the floor.

“John, is there something you wish to say?” Nora asked.

He finally looked up at her. “Are you truly happy Nora?”

“Aye, I am, John. Truly happy.”

He shifted on his feet again, looking very uncertain. “Do you love him?”

“Aye, I do.”

John nodded his head. “Then I am happy for you.”

Nora wrapped her free arm around his shoulders and pulled him in to her bosom. “Thank you John! You’ll be glad to know that William has built a grand home for us.”

“And we get our own bedchambers, John!” Elise said excitedly.

John remained quiet and wriggled out from Nora’s hug. “That will be nice.” He offered his first smile in a very long time to his sister before quietly walking away.

The women enclosed around her again, giggling, chattering away, and offering more hugs. Wee William was swept away by a sea of men, all slapping his back and taunting him about his freshly shaved face. He let the good-natured needling go unpunished. He was too damned happy to care what the rest of the world thought about his face. The woman of his dreams had not turned down his proposal.

“So when is the big day?” a woman called out from the crowd.

“As soon as we find Father Michael,” Wee William called back to her.

The group of women surrounding Nora all stopped their happy chattering, turned and gave him a murderous glare.

“Ye mean
now?
” Isobel asked, aghast at the notion.

Wee William looked confused. “Aye, now.”

“You will do no such thing!” Isobel stormed over to him. “We have to get her a proper gown! There is a feast to prepare, cakes to be made! Ye canna just pretend this isn’t a momentous day Wee William!”

Mary’s cackling laughter could be heard throughout the room. “Isobel!” she called out as she made her way through the crowd. “Isobel, dunna worry it!”

Isobel looked confused. “Of course I will worry it! This is a very special day, Mary. I’ll no’ have Wee William just rush Nora to the alter without so much as a flower in her hair.”

Mary cackled again. “Isobel, when word went out that Angus was going to choose a husband for Nora this day, we all knew Wee William would no’ be able to stand the thought. I baked cakes this morn and have three sucklin’ pigs a roastin’ and two venison on the fire. I’ve been cookin fer this fer days!”