Logan’s plans for the evening were ruled out by the boisterous Raphael. As their last night in the castle, everyone turned the dinner into a festive party. Raphael was the first one to knock on Logan’s door to get him and enjoy the festivities of the evening.
“Open the door, Logan. I know you are in there. I saw you sneak inside the castle,” shouted Raphael in a booming voice.
‘Heaven help me! I am going to kill this guy one day!’ thought Logan to himself. He had been anticipating the arrival of Kate in their room so that they could continue what they had to leave at the riverside. His manhood was still hard thinking of the afternoon spent in Kate’s arms. He tried to hide his arousal as he opened the door for Raphael.
“Ah! There you are! We have been searching for you all over the place,” said Raphael as he entered Logan’s bedchambers without permission. But then this was Raphael for you.
Logan raised his eyebrows as he leaned on the door and folded his arms looking at Raphael and said, “All over? I thought you just said you knew I was in here.”
“Oh well. It was a guess! I saw your lovely wife downstairs with mine and I knew that if you were not with her you would be sitting here waiting for her,” said Raphael smugly.
‘Laird! Am I that apparent?’ thought Logan. To Raphael he said, “And why would that be?” With that Logan stared at Raphael as if to challenge him to say something inappropriate.
But then again, this was Raphael for you. “Oh stop pretending as if you don’t know that I know. All of this castle knows that you are smitten with Kate. Not that I don’t approve,” Raphael went on to say while Logan kept staring at him as if he had grown two heads, “she is very beautiful with a form to please the eye. But then again it is very apparent from your condition down below,” finished Raphael while pointing towards Logan’s private parts.
Logan could not believe the audacity of the man. He was completely perplexed with what to say to Raphael. Seeing his inability to speak Raphael said, “Now come on. It will not do for the other ladies of the castle to see you thus. So relieve yourself or calm yourself enough to get relieved of this condition, get ready and come down. I shall give you some privacy and go now. But if you are not there in another fifteen minutes I shall send the kitchen maid from the morning to get you down.”
Logan was speechless yet again. How does he know about the kitchen incident?
“What? You thought I didn’t know about the kitchen incident?” asked Raphael
The guy was a bloody mind reader. Logan looked at him with a murderous look and Raphael said, “Okay, okay. I am leaving before you murder me here on the eve of my wedding.”
Raphael left the room and Logan looked down at his fast shrivelling manhood. Raphael poked his head back in the room and with a smug smile said, “Fifteen minutes.”
“Get Out!” shouted Logan as the door shut and Raphael’s booming laughter could be heard going down the stairs.
Exactly after fifteen minutes Logan came out of his room. Heaven forbid, that pest would definitely find another way to harass me.
Raphael saw Logan climb down the stairs and said, “Come come my man. We have been waiting for you. Join us and take a drink with us.”
The table was set up with Daisy’s father, Laird McDonald, the Earl of Kinkaid sitting at the head of the table. Daisy was sitting to his left and Raphael was sitting next to Daisy. The two chairs to Laird McDonald right were empty. Raphael pointed at the chair opposite himself for Logan to sit. The chair to the right of Laird was probably left empty for Kate. Laird McDonald loved her like a daughter and that is where Kate generally sat when it was just the three of them having their meals – Laird McDonald, Daisy and Kate.
Logan mumbled a greeting to Laird Kinkaid, Daisy and Raphael and sat in the chair indicated by Raphael wondering when Kate would appear. It had been hours since he had last seen her. Immediately someone was there to set up his plate and offer him some mead. He turned to say thanks to the maids serving him and saw that the kitchen maid from the morning was the one who was holding the trencher of mead. He mumbled a ‘Thanks!’ and turned to say thanks to the maid serving him bread and saw that it was no maid. It was his Kate standing over his shoulder with an outstretched hand to the breads and another hand lying on the back of his chair.
She smiled at him and after placing the bread and the meats in Logan’s plate she sat in between her husband and Laird McDonald. The kitchen maid served her some mead as well and smiled at them both before leaving the room.
Logan’s dejected spirits were uplifted seeing the smile of his wife. His petulant mood because of all of Raphael’s teasing suddenly improved and he thought that he would not let Raphael spoil it again. He smiled at her and dug into his food. One taste of the food and he was sure it was his wife’s cooking. It was as delectable as the morning meal, as delectable as the whole of her. He closed his eyes and savoured the taste. When he opened his eyes he saw Raphael cutting into his meat and mumbling something. Logan knew that Raphael was mumbling about the food and his fortune with Daisy as a wife. By now he could guess that Daisy knew not a thing about cooking. Logan pitied Raphael’s luck and this uplifted his spirits even more.
All around the table everyone praised the good food and Logan looked at Kate to see that she was shyly looking into her plate.
“It is really good, Kate. I have missed your cooking,” said Laird McDonald.
“Thank you, sir,” replied Kate.
“What’s new about that? Your cooking is always the best, Kate,” said Daisy with a smile at her best friend. Kate smiled back.
“Unlike someone else’s I know of,” mumbled Raphael.
“You said something, my laird?” said Daisy looking at him sharply with her knife yet again pointed at him.
“Nothing. Just said that it is as good as the morning fast,” Raphael replied and gulped his food down.
“Kate, If you were not married, I would request Daisy to bring you along with her to Northamber,” continued Raphael to Kate with a twinkle in his eye.
Logan scowled at him. “But she is married. To me,” retorted Logan as he cut his meat viciously.
“All of us know that, Logan. No need to remind me,” said Raphael merrily, his good humour back. Logan didn’t say anything and dug into his food more vehemently.
“But Kate can visit us after the marriage,” said Daisy. “You will come see me, right, Kate?” she asked Kate.
Kate looked at Logan, who smiled for her sake. Kate smiled back and turned to say to her friend, “Of course I will. I might even bring Logan along so that he and Raphael can continue their bonding. It is so nice to see them become such great friends, like us.”
Daisy and Laird McDonald who could both see the tension simmering between the two young lairds burst out laughing, while Raphael sheepishly took up his glass of mead and took a sip. Logan was the one who was completely shocked, not so much by the words but by his shy wife’s teasing. She generally stayed quiet and serious and he liked her for not chattering incessantly, but he seemed to like this side of hers as well.
His napkin fell down from his hand and Kate bent to pick it up. Logan bent at the same time and caught her hand with the napkin in it. He took the napkin with his other hand and they both straightened up but Logan did not leave her hand. He just continued eating with one hand.
“We will definitely come to Northamber. But right now I need to get back to our home. By the way, the food is delicious,” said Logan to Kate. All the while, he kept eating with one hand and didn’t let go of her other hand.
“Kate, everyone has been praising your cooked meal. When will you eat it though?” asked Daisy as she saw that Kate’s plate of food was still untouched.
“Yes Kate, why are you not eating?” asked Logan with a straight face.
“Umm.... yeah. I shall eat,” said Kate and tried to free her hand under the table from Logan’s grasp. But he wouldn’t let go.
In the end Kate started using the fork with her free hand to eat.
“Why are you eating with your left hand? You are not used to do this,” commented Daisy.
“She is right. You never eat with your left hand. Why are you eating like that Kate?” asked Logan again with another of his straight faces.
“Umm... just like that,” replied Kate. She again tried freeing her hand but it was futile.
“Hmm... maybe cause her right hand is occupied, right Logan?” said Raphael with a grin.
This time around all his teasing could not spoil Logan’s mood. “Maybe,” he replied smugly and continued eating his food all the time holding Kate’s hand in his.
Soon dinner was over and the plates were removed, but Logan had still not let go of Kate’s hand. Daisy and Raphael had moved along with Laird McDonald to go to his study to discuss the upcoming nuptials tomorrow.
Kate was tired having worked in the kitchens the entire morning since five o’ clock and then after the stint near the river having worked the entire evening to make this feast a success.
She nudged Logan and asked, “If you do not mind, can I retire to our rooms?”
But Logan was busy talking to the old man Brian McDonald sitting next to him. He didn’t reply and the only indication Kate got that he had heard her was that he held on to her hand more tightly.
Kate tried to appear interested in the talk Logan was having with Briand McDonald. But soon the talks ventured towards war and Kate got bored with it. She rested her head on Logan’s shoulder and dozed off at the table itself.
For sometime Logan thought that Kate was just resting her head on his shoulder. He thought she was finally not going to fight to get free of his hold on her hand and relaxed his grip. But then old man Brian McDonald said, “Poor Lass. Has been working since five in the morning. I saw her go in the kitchen when the rooster was croaking. And then even in the evening it took so much out of her to prepare this magnificent feast. You sure are a lucky man McPherson! You have got such a lovely and industrious wife. She will prove out to be the best decision you ever took, mark my words.”
Logan looked down at his wife and realized that she was so tired that she was sleeping with her head on his shoulder. She looked so pretty with her eyes closed resting so trustingly on his shoulder. Logan looked at Brian McDonald and said, “Excuse me. I think my wife has had an extremely long day and is in need of rest. We shall retire for the night.”
Having said that, Logan bid a good night to all the people still in the grand hall and picked up his wife in his arms and walked up to their room. He nudged the room door with his shoulder and opened it quietly and led her inside. Then he walked up to the balcony and sat on the lone chair out there with her in his lap. He could see the river flowing in the moonlight from the balcony, the very river where he had spent a wonderful afternoon with his wife who was now sleeping in his arms.
Having stopped in the afternoon, he had thought of making sweet love to her in his rooms at night, but now seeing her so exhausted and tired he just wanted to hold her for the night. He looked down at her once again and then looked at the beautiful moon above in the starry night. He thought his Kate was as pretty as the moon, probably prettier because she was without any blemish. He thanked the stars who had led her to him.
He was lost in his musings, when he felt her move. Groggily Kate opened her eyes and found herself in the lap of Logan. She tried to straighten herself and he let her. Last she remembered, they were at the dining table and he was holding her hand while talking to the people around. She looked embarrassed at her lack of awareness of falling asleep.
Logan saw her shyness return and smiled down at her, “Go to sleep. You have had a long day.”
Kate got up from his lap and moved towards the door leading to their rooms. When she saw no sign of him moving from the chair, she turned and asked, “You?”
“I will come after sometime. I remember my promise to you,” he replied.
She looked down shyly at her feet at the reminder of that promise he had given not so long ago of spending each night in her bed. She went inside the room and to the bed. She got under the bed covers and tried to be comfortable. At first her mind kept drifting to what Logan was doing outside alone in the balcony. But then the hectic schedule she had kept during the day took its toll and she again fell into a slumber.
Logan came inside after sometime and saw that his wife was asleep. He went up to their bed and got inside beside her. He took her in his arms and she came trustingly. She cuddled to him in her sleep with her head on his chest and her arm lying across him. Her leg fell in between his legs and nudged his manhood which was never far from becoming alert whenever she was near. He adjusted her legs so as to cause him less pain tonight when he wanted her so much and tucked her head under his chin. He laid a kiss on her hair and held her tightly secured in his arms. He was proud to have her as his wife and felt lucky to have her all for himself. With this thought he fell asleep as well.
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