by Susan Payne
Jillian tried to ignore the slight flutter in her chest saying, “Well, if you are sure you do not need to rest, we can go up to the library right now. I can show you what I have found so far and the letters from your other colleagues, who added some ideas of their own as to the items.”
“Certainly, Madam, after you.” He again bowed after leaving his great coat with its layers of over-capes near the fire to dry.
The enthusiastic scholars took a break a few hours later so Jillian could freshen her hair before supper. She arranged to meet her guest downstairs in the hall in half an hour. Gazing in the polished mirror in her private chamber to see her reflection, she tucked little tendrils of hair behind her ears to keep them from falling forward as they kept doing while she bent over the artifacts and papers in the library.
Taking a deep breath, she remembered the scent of her guest, probably not a very ladylike memory, especially for a married lady, but he smelled so…simply so good. Like sandalwood and pine trees and lemons.
Jillian hadn’t smelled lemons since spring when she was still at Castle Crawford and their cook had used their juice to cook the ocean fish.
Shaking her head, she got herself together, giving herself a little talk about being big with child was not a guise a handsome, unmarried man like Mr. Butler would find attractive. Even if she were free to indulge, which of course she wasn’t nor did she wish to be - not really. She had a husband even if he did walk around as if trying not to break eggshells or disturb her in any way.
She met her guest as he descended the stairs from his third-floor chamber and put out his arm to help Jillian down the stairs to the hall. The hall was filling as they reached it. Jillian brought Mr. Butler to the dais where Gawain was already seated along with her father and Lady Edith.
Jillian introduced her guest to each of them and Mr. Butler made the appropriate sign of respect for each. The empty chair on the left side of Jillian’s was there for the professor.
When Agatha took her place at the table just in front of Jillian, she introduced Mr. Butler to the Laird’s cousin and he stood until the women were seated. Then he did speak with both women as the meal continued, dividing his time between Jillian and Agatha seated at the table perpendicular to the head table.
Jillian watched as her cousin-by-marriage turned a bright pink with the attention the handsome professor was paying her. Jillian thought, this could be interesting. Agatha always seemed non-sexual, like a drone bee. No real need for a partner, having a job to do and taking pleasure in doing it well. Now here in the cousin’s place is a woman appreciating a handsome male and the attention he was paying her.
That night while they were undressing for bed, Gawain looked at his wife as she allowed her dress to drop to the floor. She stepped daintily out of it, as dainty as any woman getting closer to her birthing day all the time, could.
“Your guest is very attractive if the way Cousin Agatha was blushing and responding to him is anything to go by. Do you find him as attractive? You spent a lot of time secluded in the library today and you call him by his Christian name.”
Jillian stopped what she was doing and gazed at her half-naked husband saying honestly, “He cannot hold a candle to you. You took my breath away the day I met you and I haven’t gotten it back fully, yet.”
He moved smoothly, like a large panther towards her, smiling. “I don’t know how long you’ve planned that last comment, but I have lost all interest in your guest and gained much more interest in you.” He leaned down to cover her lips with his, pulling her into his body which was fast responding to her invitation.
“Our guest,” she replied.
“What?” he responded as he continued kissing her neck and then lower to the swollen breasts that were less sensitive than they were the first few weeks of her pregnancy.
“He is our guest, not only mine. I invited him to our home to study the people that once lived on our lands.” She tipped her chin up to allow him access to her neck again. “You know you have been ignoring me lately. I almost convinced myself you no longer found me attractive.”
He stopped kissing her body parts and whispered, “You could not be more wrong, wife. I must hold myself back when I see you swollen with my child, knowing we created that child doing what we love doing with one another. That soon I will hold that child in my arms all because you were generous enough with your body to share it with me.”
“I think you made your point by pleasuring me beyond my imagination many times. I never stood a chance against your charms,” she answered in return. “But that seems a long time ago now. You used to need me morning and night. Now you hold me, but there is not as much intimacy between us.”
“I want you so strongly, so badly, I fear for our child, that I may do you harm in my, umm, enthusiasm. I know what Edith has said and that you assure me I cannot hurt the babe simply enjoying you, but the fear still hovers in the back of my mind.”
“Then let me be in charge. That way you will get what you want and I will control the vigorous activity you fear may harm our child,” she explained stroking her hands down his arms.
“I can agree with that. It will make me know you are both safer. That I will not get carried away with passion and desire and hurt either of you.” He became more energetic with his stroking and tasting.
This was exactly what Jillian had been craving. Validation she was still attractive to her husband as well as having the ability to drive him to making love by simply standing naked in his presence. She needed this and she would make sure they did not lose this need for one another. It was the one fragile string keeping them tied to one another and she wasn’t as sure any longer she wished to return with her father and Lady Edith after her child is born.
She didn’t know when she made the decision, but she had. She wanted to stay with her husband. A man she was more in love with than she could have ever dreamed. A man who took her breath away time and again.
She allowed Gawain to carry her to the bed and lay down beside her, letting her take the incentive of their joining as soon as she was well pleasured by his hands and mouth.
CHAPTER TEN
Jillian came down a little late for the morning meal and found Agatha entertaining Mr. Butler with tales of her travels over the countryside as a young girl when she came and stayed each summer with Gawain’s parents. A servant scurried towards the kitchen to get the porridge Jillian still preferred in the morning.
Mr. Butler turned to include Jillian into the conversation but the main part of the dialog had to do with a time before Jillian was here. Jillian mentioned Old Bones, the man who worked on a croft not far away and was familiar with all the property around. He had told her he remembered a village of sorts when he was a boy that disappeared overnight.
The professor explained, “Stones were often taken from one place to build another, even reusing the timbers and any bricks or blocks of the foundation. The slate roofs were reused or burned to make lime for mortar. Sometimes, as with Jillian’s find, there is only a slight indentation which tells us that once a prehistoric people lived there.” Most of what he said was for Agatha’s benefit. She, in turn, sat enraptured watching his lips move as if he were spouting the words directly from God.
Smiling, Jillian prayed she never had that sort of love-struck expression on her face when Gawain spoke. Agatha’s face reflected every longing, hope, and lost dream the woman ever had since puberty. It was almost painful to watch and Jillian hoped Mr. Butler was used to his effect on woman and knew how to let them down easily, without making them embarrassed or bruise their hearts.
Jillian was pulled back into the conversation when she heard the excitement in the professor’s voice as Agatha assured him, she knew where a mound like the one he was describing could be found.
“You’re sure you can find it after all these years?” he asked and evidently realized it made Agatha seem like an ancient herself. He restated saying, “I mean, you probably haven’t been there for a while and it
is sometimes difficult to remember things from our childhood.”
Agatha took no offense at his remarks eagerly answering, “Oh, I’m sure I can, but, if not, I know Gawain will remember. We used to play in the area. He would stand on top of the mound and claim it for king and country after fighting off the mythical invading Viking hoards.” Agatha laughed remembering, but sounding like the young girl she must have been at the time.
That is when Jillian realized how pretty and young her husband’s cousin actually was. Probably only a couple of years older than Jillian’s two and twenty. Yet she always appeared older even though she dressed in the very latest mode and always had her hair styled attractively, even when only family were present.
“Do you think it too cold this afternoon to visit the site?” Turning to Jillian without letting his eyes drop to her protruding stomach, he said, “I am sure we can get a groom to travel with us and we won’t be out for long, not this time at least. I am anxious to see if it could possibly be a burial mound.” His eyes were shining and the dimples permanent dents in his cheeks.
Caught off guard, Jillian hated to see the smile disappear off Agatha’s face when Jillian admitted she could use an outing, but instead said, “I am sure someone will be free to accompany you. Mayhaps even Gawain and then you can question him about any other such places that possibly only he knows about.”
As it turned out, Gawain was able to lead Agatha and the professor to the mound the two cousins played on as children. Jillian sat in the keep feeling sorry for herself because she was missing out on the fun and simply knew the three were digging up Pict relics and discovering new artifacts never seen before.
Finally, the three explorers returned to the keep, hungry, thirsty with dirty knees and bottom of skirts having their share of being dragged through moist dirt and leaves. Their gloves were also muddy, having been used to dig and pick up items on the surface of the mound.
Ann was excited to bring them refreshments while listening to the professor and Agatha talk excitedly of opening the mound to discover what was beneath. Although, if the cold keeps as it has been the ground will be frozen and any deeper digging will need to wait until spring. Even Gawain seemed excited about the project as they explained to Jillian there could be gold and jewelry set with precious stones and artifacts buried with the dead.
Lady Edith and Lord Riley joined the impromptu party and heard about the possible burial mound on the property. Robert, Mr. Butler, had now insisted everyone use his Christian name because his students used his sir name not friends. Robert told them the mound may be older than the Picts. He explained that often fertile meadows with access to water had communities made and destroyed repeatedly in the same spot, even if the original groups were nomadic in nature.
Lady Edith asked, “Are you saying there were people here, say, when Jesus was born?”
“Before that, my lady, centuries, no millenniums before Christ’s birth.” He looked at the awe on all their faces saying, “Remember the earth was created a great time before Christ’s birth and man lived in communities since Adam and Eve were escorted out of Eden.”
Everyone thought about what he said even though they had difficulty thinking of life in that sense, thousands of years rather than hundreds.
Jillian said, “I felt a connection to the Pict items I found. How can one feel connected to something that surely was here before Christ was born? It is beyond comprehension.”
“I agree, Jillian, but there it is. We have proof, these people who were unknown to one another lived here in Scotland before the Vikings, before the Roman’s and who knows, there may have been groups living and dying before them. That is why I find this field of study so fascinating. There may never be an end to it. No one knows how long the earth has been here. The Bible tells us that God made it, but not when.”
He downed the hot mulled wine and continued as he stood, “I need to write a letter to my associates in England and brag I have stolen a march on them all. I am certain, after finding those stone slabs which were definitely man-made and put in place, that I have found a prehistoric grave site.” He practically ran in his excitement to write his friends and colleagues of his lucky find.
Agatha, her cheeks still red from her ride out in the cold or her excitement that Robert mentioned the possibility of needing to return, realized she might have another chance to make an impression on this colonist. He would need to supervise the digging-up of the mound and cataloging the artifacts he knew he would find there. Agatha excused herself to change from her riding habit, hurrying since she wanted as much time to prepare herself for supper as possible.
As the household was returning to a normal routine after the Professor’s arrival, there was a cry of riders approaching and the gates, for the first time to Jillian’s knowledge, closed. Men scattered, getting their armor and weapons and taking their positions along the parapets and at the tower arrow slots. All the women were told to go to the hall and wait for further instructions. Lady Edith arrived with Lord Riley and he took his daughter’s hands in his for comfort.
“I am fine, Father. It can simply be a travelling band that needs water or food to get them home. A group of riders does not mean danger and I am sure Gawain and the guards will be able to handle anything easily. We are well fortified,” she told him reassuringly as she tried to calm the older man.
“I know, but we have not had any unexpected visitors and these men are said to be wearing armor with chainmail. Carrying weapons and shields. A group of men needing to reach home would not approach with such disregard for etiquette.”
“We will leave Gawain to do what has to be done. The visitors will soon be gone and we can go back as we were,” she assured him, certain of her husband’s abilities to keep the peace.
Gawain arrived in the hall and came directly to his wife and Lord Riley then spoke quietly. “They say they are here for the Earl - you, my lord. And the Lady Jillian. They say they come from your castle and are demanding I release you to them so they can escort you to your rightful place.” He looked from one to the other to read their thinking.
“Is my cousin, Dennis, among them?” asked Jillian worriedly knowing he would only want to do harm to her father if he got his hands on the older man again.
Before Gawain could answer, Lord Riley stood taller saying, “I will speak with them.”
Jillian held his arm as he turned to go and Gawain said, “I’ll show you the way to the parapet.”
“No. I wish to meet with them out front of the gate, allow my nephew to dare to try to usurp my title and authority now I am stronger. I will not permit him to win easily,” said Lord Riley firmly.
The older man straightened his lace sleeves and coat and went out through the bailey. Gawain, Jillian and Lady Edith went with him while the others watched with interest following at a distance. Gawain motioned for the gate to be raised, more of a portcullis with open space for archers to use if needed when the now unused drawbridge had been let down.
Jillian could see from her position that Dennis was leading the armed men, his personal guards on both sides of his horse while Lord Riley’s guards and men flanked them. Jillian was disappointed to see her old mentor and trainer, Sir Gunn, among them.
Lord Riley took control of the conversation immediately and asked, “Nephew, how dare you come here and disturb my visit? And the rest of you? What could you be thinking to take it upon yourselves to demand my host set me free?” With that he stared directly at his knight, Sir Gunn.
Dennis spoke up loudly, “We are here to take you home where you may recuperate from your illness and so Lady Jillian and I can be wed. We will fight to save you from this man who keeps you prisoner. I note my cousin is being held as hostage inside the keep so that you will order us away.”
Looking around at the men he had backing him, he continued boldly, “I refuse to allow her to be so ill used. You must come to us now so we can protect you and then we shall rescue, Lady Jillian.”
At this
outright lie, Jillian picked up her skirts to walk out to her father’s side, but Gawain reached out and stopped her. She gazed into his eyes letting him know she had to prevent any violence from occurring and he gave an imperceptible nod. He followed her to the gate and then stopped as she went to stand beside her father.
“What is this nonsense, Dennis? I am a married woman and I shall bear my husband, Laird Gawain Macgregor, a child in the spring. My father has been staying with me under his own wishes, no one has kept him prisoner. As you can see, we are free to leave the bailey if we so desire.”
Even through the small opening of the helmet it could be seen that Dennis was gnashing his teeth in frustrated anger, his face a purple hue of rage.
Then Sir Gunn spoke up, “I am sorry, my Lord Riley. We had been told you were being held here against your wishes and that Ji, that Lady Jillian, was a prisoner to keep you from risking asking for help. I can see we have been intentionally misled.” He glared daggers at Dennis as he made his pronouncement.
Her father spoke to his men. “I am glad of your loyalty and admit I was not in good health when my daughter and I left Castle Crawford, but I soon recovered my strength once away from that place. I grew back my youthful vigor when we moved in here. I promise to return to you, to take up my rightful estate duties as soon as I see my grandchild born.”
Lord Riley turned toward the gate and motioned with his hand. “I will have a new Lady with me as I plan on taking a second wife. She is eager to see the castle and work with my people as their healer.”
Jillian was not surprised by the information, of course, but his saying it made it so much more real. Her father and Lady Edith were rarely far from one another and thought they may be sharing a bed, but did not wish to intrude on their early relationship. They were old enough to know their own minds. She was happy for them both.
Lord Riley looked directly at Sir Gunn and his own men and invited them in to eat and rest before making the journey home.