Was there a part that bored you or that you didn't really like in the book? *

Even a character, a scene, or anything. You could say no if nothing bothered you.

What moment from the book you enjoyed the most? *

Something you liked, a specific scene, a character's quality, some detail that caught your eye.

Which forbidden love story do you think is too much? *

• Falling for her betrothed's father.
• Falling for her guardian who looked after her after she lost her parents.
• Falling for her new step brother after her father/mother remarries.
• I don't feel overwhelmed by forbidden romance, so all options sound good to me.

What do you feel about having the MFC as cover instead of the MMC? *

• I like it. I think it is different and makes me emphatize with her character more.
• I don't like it. I prefer to have the MMC as cover.
• I would like to see the couple as the cover of the book.

Is there something else you'd like to share? *

Something you noticed, frustrated you, left you confused, etc.

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“Tae me wife,” Tad said, raising his goblet in the air.

“Tae Lady MacBean!” a chorus rang out.

Catreena was still laughing at Tad’s toast as he sat down beside her at the feasting table and leaned toward her.

“Some toast,” she whispered as the pipers began to play their music and the dancing recommenced around them. They had only been married a couple of hours, and already she and Tad were teasing each other mercilessly. She was loving every single second of it. “I think it said somewhere in there that ye loved me.”

“It definitely did.” He laughed and threaded his arm around her waist. “And dinnae look at me like that if ye want me tae behave. We are here tae feast and celebrate the wedding.”

“What look?” she asked innocently, though her hand had gone wandering beneath the table. She raised her hand up the inside of his thigh, watching as his gray eyes darkened with lust.

“That look,” he said simply, fighting his smile. “Or I shall be taking ye intae the garden tae consummate this marriage right now.”

She was still laughing and snapped her hand away, not wanting the intimate touch to be seen, when Bran and Dunn wished them well and many happy years together.

“Speaking of happiness,” Dunn said. “Catreena, take a look.” He elbowed her, jerking his head toward their brother, Evander. Enna was not with him today, and Catreena didn’t think she had seen Evander this happy in a long time. He was smiling and laughing with Alec as the two of them got rather drunk, sharing a jug of mead. Nearby, Ilyssa and Kira were dancing together.

“He’s happy,” Catreena murmured in amazement. “If only he could be like this all the time.”

“Nay chance of that without May around,” Bran said with a heavy sigh.

“Dae ye think she’ll ever come back?” Catreena asked, thinking of the woman who had left her warrior brother heartbroken. “Or that, maybe, he’ll one day forget her?”

“People are never forgotten, nae really,” Tad said, something of wisdom in his tone as he sipped his mead and looked at Evander across the room.

“Speaking of women who shouldnae be forgotten, me wife wants me tae dance,” Bran said with a laugh as he pointed through the merrymakers toward Ilyssa who was now begging him to join her with rapid movements of her arm. “Congratulations tae ye both.”

“Thank ye, Bran,” Catreena said, as Dunn took his leave too, moving to find another woman in the room to dance with.

Catreena stared after Bran as he parted, comforted that despite all his fatherly ways toward her, he had at last taken a step back. It seemed that as of now, she would be another man’s responsibility.

“What are ye thinking?” Tad asked with interest, his hand threading around her waist. She smiled at the sudden intimacy as she fell against his side.

“I was thinking that it seems Bran has handed me intae yer care. He may nae reprimand me as much these days. Perhaps he thinks I’ll listen tae ye instead of him.”

“Listen tae me?” Tad said with raised eyebrows.

“I already told ye, I will nae follow yer orders.”

“Maybe in just one regard.” He winked at her and lowered his lips to her ear. “The bedchamber, or wherever we choose tae make our bedchamber.”

“What dae ye mean?”

“I mean…” He trailed his hand from her waist down her back. In this part of the room, there was no one behind them except tapestry-clad walls. No one to see what he was doing as his hand gripped her rear through the skirt and squeezed. “Come outside.”

“Maybe I’ll listen tae just a few orders. Very occasionally,” she whispered.

He smiled and stepped back as they made their way through the crowds toward the nearest door. Many stopped them on the way to congratulate them, but they never tarried for long.

Outside, Catreena stepped into the chilly air.

“It’s so cold,” she murmured.

“Fear nae. I’ll warm ye up.” Tad took her hand and led her far away from the windows of the great hall. They made their way through formal borders, ending up near a stone bench that overlooked the village in daylight. This dark at night though, with no light around them, they could not be seen. “Trust me?” Tad asked, moving his lips toward her.

“Ye ken I dae,” she repeated the promise she had made before as she felt him move through the darkness and kiss her.

The kiss was one of need, testament to how long they had stayed away from each other with her brothers watching over her all of the time.

Their grabbing hands came next, pulling at one another, trying to reach one another as best as they could.

“Tonight,” he murmured between kisses. “I want ye in that bed, without a stich. Ye will be wearing nothing fer me when I come tae ye in.”

She gasped at the heat of his words, tipping her head back as he trailed her neck with searing kisses.

“But fer now… the first time now we’re wed, it will be fast,” he promised, nibbling a spot at the base of her throat. “It will be hard.”

She panted, needing his touch, thinking only of the promise of his words and the way his hands were tipping her down to that bench.

“It will be everything ye and I have wanted tae dae fer this last month.”

“Ah, Tad,” she moaned as he gripped her through the skirt. It was a tease of how he could touch her, but not enough. Nowhere near enough to satisfy the ache between her legs. “Please,” she begged him.

Flattened suddenly to the bench, she felt her body jerked toward the edge, her legs lifted high as he bundled her skirt around her hips. In the moonlight, she watched his eyes, that gray intense gaze now looking silver in that light. She bit her lip, watching as he growled, clearly as intoxicated by the sight of her as she was by him.

“Tell me what ye want,” he ordered, talking to her in that seductive way he could do so well as his fingers teased the tops of her legs.

“Tad,” she whispered. His fingers brushed her center, but they didn’t give her what she wanted. “Please, make love tae me,” she begged. “Make love tae me.”

A sensual smile appeared on his lips as he reached down to his trews and released his length. He teased her at first, nudging her entrance, but not quite taking her.

“Tad, please,” she whispered. He bent over her, finding her lips as he entered her.

He had not lied when he said it would be hard and fast. It showed just how much he had missed her that the last month, although they had of course secretly met a few times. With no pain at all this time, Catreena was quite delirious from the pleasure in seconds. She couldn’t keep quiet. She had to bite her lip and sometimes Tad muffled her moans with his kisses.

He moved her body increasingly toward the edge of what she could handle, then he slowed, just as she was building up to that release. Infuriated, she pulled him closer toward her.

“Dinnae stop,” she begged. “Tad!”

“There’s something else I want tae hear first,” he said, breathlessly. One of his hands traced her waist through the dress as the other went to her hair. He pulled playfully on those tendrils, just enough to make her gasp. “Tell me what ye wanted tae say last time, but couldnae quite say.”

Her eyes opened wide.

He remembers.

“Tell me what ye feel,” he pleaded, rocking his hips gently into hers. His movements were like a soft caress now, a sizzling pleasure, deep within her abdomen.

“Tad,” she said softly, reaching up toward him. She traced her fingers down his chest then up toward his cheek, cupping it softly. “I love ye.”

He halted his movements, bending down toward her, catching her lips with such an all-encompassing kiss that she could scarcely draw breath.

“I love ye too,” he murmured as he pulled back. Then he flipped her skirt even higher, taking hold of her thighs as he rocked into her harder.

“Oh, Tad!” she screamed out in pleasure, praying no one else had escaped into the garden that night as he drove her fast into oblivion. When she released, she felt him do so at the same time, only on this occasion, he did not pull out. The perfect picture of pleasure erupted into his features as he thrust into her repeatedly, sweat beading around his jawline as he moaned her name, the sound mixing with a growl that sounded purely animalistic.

When they came to a stop, Catreena stared up at him, unable to stop herself from smiling as she realized what he had done.

We risk a child.

She laid a hand to her stomach, softly trailing her fingers across her skin.

“I have never done that before,” he confessed, his voice utterly breathless.

A happiness overtook Catreena that she had not known it was possible to feel. Here was something that Tad had never shared with another woman. It was unique to the two of them.

“Tad, I love ye so much.” She pulled him down to kiss her again, and as they lost themselves in their embrace, Catreena had a feeling they would not be returning to the feast any time soon.

The End.

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