by Alisa Adams
Gillis was standing at Kaithria’s bedside. “Ye may come in now, Lord Gunn.”
He rushed over to the side of the bed to stare down at her. Gillis had given her something to help her with the pain and she was sleeping peacefully. Gillis put her hand on Keir’s arm and explained to him that the lump on her head had already gone down quite a bit, but Kaithria must be watched and not to let her sleep too long. Gillis did not want the bump on her head to cause her to sleep and not wake up. Lady Gillis said that Kaithria may have what is called a concussion. She had read much about it.
Keir knew what Lady Gillis meant, he had seen many men who had suffered head trauma in battle; men who never woke up.
The ladies started discussing who would sit with Kaithria first. Keir immediately raised his hand to silence them all.
“Thank ye ladies, for all that ye have done for Lady Kaithria.” He swallowed past the lump in his throat. “Now ye may all leave. I will be staying with her.”
None of them could convince Keir otherwise.
He sat beside the bed, his elbows resting on his thighs, staring down at her with his hands clenched in fists.
The ladies looked at him sitting there watching over Kaithria.
Cat smiled a secretive, knowing, happy smile. She signaled to the others, and they all trooped out.
With the exception of Agnes and Hextilda.
The old aunts stood there looking at him with their hands on their hips. One a giantess with hair as black as pitch that matched her expression, and a pipe stuck in the corner of her wrinkled lips. The other was a diminutive old lady with her hair hanging sideways.
“Keir!” Agnes shrilled. “Ye willnae be staying here alone with this girl!” she said to his back.
Keir did not turn around at Agnes’s demand.
“Aggie, I love ye, but get out,” Keir growled. He slowly turned around and leveled his eyes narrowly on hers. “And this lady’s name is Kaithria. Get used to it.”
He turned back around to stare at the beautiful woman who lay sleeping in his bed.
He heard Hextilda’s light cackling laugh as the two women made their way out of the room. “Och, he told ye Aggie, ye giant windbag, telling a man sich as him whot to do and whot not. Shame on ye.”
“What did he mean, get used to it?” Agnes demanded of Hextilda.
Keir heard Hextilda laugh again. “I am thinking it means he is keeping her,” Hextilda said to Agnes.
And then the door closed on the rumble of Agnes’s tart response back to Hextilda.
Keir sighed and made himself comfortable in the chair beside his bed.
He heard a soft moan from Kaithria when she rolled to her back in her sleep. He silently reached out and rolled her to her stomach. She groaned loudly.
Keir heard her murmur, “Dinnae touch me…” before she fell back to sleep, resting comfortably on her stomach now.
Keir gazed at her long, black hair. It was spread out on his pillows, like glistening black ink.
It occurred to him that no other female had ever been in his bed.
Kaithria was the first.
He thought of what old Hextilda had said to his Aunt Aggie. That he was keeping Kaithria.
With a solid feeling in his gut, a feeling that filled him with rightness, Keir knew that Kaithria would be the last—the only—woman to share that bed with him.
He sat there beside the bed throughout the day, watching for any sign of pain on Kaithria’s face. Any time she moved, she let out a small groan and a wince of pain that stole Keir’s breath.
He woke her off and on, but only briefly. Sometimes giving her a sip of water before letting her slide back into the escape from pain into sleep. She seemed to be comfortable on her back now, and he left her, not wanting to wake her by his touch.
As day turned to night and she still slept on, he worried. In the darkness of night with only a candle to see her, he woke her again. Softly calling her name until her long, black eyelashes fluttered open to reveal those beautiful eyes. He did not dare put his hand on her for fear she would be terrified once again at someone touching her.
She slowly opened her eyes. It was the first time she had fully awakened. At least enough to look at him, to realize that he was there, with her.
He smiled at her with relief.
She frowned at him.
“I am sorry to wake ye, my jewel,” he whispered, “but I must. Ye have been asleep a long time.”
“Why do ye keep waking me?” she asked in confusion.
“Ye hit yer head,” he whispered softly in the darkened room. “I was told to make sure ye could wake up.” At her frown, he added, “Some people, if they have hit their head hard enough, may never wake up.”
She scowled. “I hit me head?” she asked hoarsely.
“Aye,” he said gently. He went to touch her hand but then thought better of it.
“’Tis me back that hurts,” she said in irritation.
Keir frowned. “I know, my jewel.”
“Dummy?” she croaked hoarsely as her eyes widened and her fingers clutched at the bed coverings as she remembered what had happened.
Keir smiled. “Yer horse is fine, mo leannan.”
“Those men, they were whipping—”
“They are gone,” Keir said gruffly, low in his throat. “They will never bother ye or Dummernech ever again.”
“Did ye…?” She looked at him worriedly.
“I ended the fight,” he said simply with a crooked tilt to his lips. He was using her words. He watched as her face registered this.
“Ye ended the fight. ’Tis what I always say,” Kaithria said in a whisper, echoing his thoughts.
She stared at him, her eyes looking trustingly into his. Finally, after many moments, she sighed and her body relaxed.
“Where am I?” she asked as she looked around. “This is not my bedchamber.”
“Nay, ye are in mine,” Keir said calmly to her with a sense of rightness and satisfaction.
“Yours?” she repeated, startled. She managed to sit up.
“Ye will stay here Kaithria. Ye mustnae move and tear yer wounds open,” he insisted as his voice dropped deeper.
“But, ’tis—”
Keir leaned over her. “Ye must be still, my jewel,” he said quietly.
She stared up at him, her mouth slightly open. Her eyes slowly moved over his face, and his taught neck, down to the open V of his shirt. She swallowed. She remembered touching him, there in the stables. He had stayed very still, patiently letting her explore him.
Here, now, in the darkness with only one candle to light their intimate space, they were alone. She desperately wanted to touch him again.
“Go ahead,” he whispered, reading the look of interest and desire in her eyes. Praying that he was correct. He leaned over her. Resting his hands on the bed, on either side of her hips. “I promise I willnae touch ye,” he said as his voice came from deep in his throat.
Kaithria stared up at him. His dark eyes smiled down into hers in the darkness. His white teeth flashed a smile, tempting her.
“I ended the fight. Can ye see to giving this poor mon some thanks, mayhap?” he said with a crooked grin.
“I see no injury to yer large self from this fight ye ended,” she said to him with a slight grin of her own.
“Ye think I am large, do ye?”
Kaithria stilled at the look in his eyes.
She was desperately trying not to forget to breathe. He was so close. She could just catch the spicy scent of him with each breath she took. He was so close she could watch the play of his lips as he spoke. Watch the flaring of his nostrils and his eyes dilate when he looked at her.
“I am injured,” he whispered hoarsely. “Here,” he said and touched his lips as they tilted up in that devilish smile he had.
Kaithria tried to contain her smile. “Did ye hurt yer head too, then?” she whispered back. “For ye are talking nonsense.”
Keir frowned charmingly. “I was trying
to get ye to kiss me, my jewel,” he whispered.
Kaithria swallowed. “Kiss ye?”
“Aye, if ye would like. I was teasing ye, courting ye if ye will.” He stared deeply into her eyes as his heart sped up and lightning raced through his limbs.
She looked confused. “Teasing me?” she breathed out. “Courting?” she stammered out in her husky voice.
Keir backed away, just slightly. “Aye, ye have surely been courted? Ye have been kissed before,” he said.
“Of course. Ye kissed me, in the garden,” she said on a trembling breath as she remembered that night. But then he had grabbed her and she had panicked.
“Has no one else ever kissed ye?” he said with wonder.
Kaithria shook her head.
Keir smiled slowly as a feeling of complete satisfaction came over him. He had been the first to kiss her, and he intended to be the last. In everything.
He sat down carefully on the side of the bed, watchful that he didn’t jostle her.
“Did ye like it when I kissed ye?” he asked in a low, deep voice. He gave her his most charming smile. He held his breath, waiting for her answer.
Her cheeks turned bright pink; even in the candlelight, he could see this.
He waited.
And waited.
She only stared at him.
“Ye dinnae have to answer that,” he said gruffly, his eyes downcast. No woman had ever turned him away. He was not sure how to handle this feeling either. This woman had his world turned upside down and inside out. He started to stand back up.
“Yes,” she whispered. It was so quiet that at first, Keir did not hear her.
Kaithria swallowed and said it again. “Yes.” She reached up and lightly touched the cleft in his chin that had fascinated her from that very first day that she pulled him out of the bog.
“Kaithria, will ye kiss me?” he asked gently. He knew his voice shook.
This was not a woman to be conquered, as the others had been.
This was not a woman to be played with.
This was not a woman to pass idle time with.
This was a woman to be treasured, revered, respected, and cherished.
“’Tis yer choice,” Keir said with great feeling. “I willnae touch ye or hold ye in any way,” he added as his words tumbled out of him just as if he was a young boy, begging for his first kiss.
“I dinnae like to be touched,” she said.
He nodded his head.
“I panicked,” she whispered. “That other time.”
“I know this.”
She hesitated, watching his eyes, but slowly brought her hands up and very cautiously placed them on either side of his face, cupping his jaw.
Keir felt her thumbs run over the stubble along his jaw. Watched as her eyes alone seemed to caress his face.
His breath shuddered out of him, but he dared not move as he watched her expressive eyes as she explored him.
He leaned in closer, letting her do as she wanted.
Kaithria ran her fingers through his dark wavy hair, sighing with pleasure as her fingers sifted through the silky strands. She brushed it back off the right side of his face, over his ear, and then tilted his head to do the same to the other side. Her fingertips lightly traced the grey at his temples and the grey at the sides of his face as well. She smiled softly as her fingers traced his dark eyebrows, and she could not resist feathering the pads of her fingers across his impossibly long and dark eyelashes. She found a small scar near his hairline and traced that with a caress of a single finger. She ran her hands over the back of his head and down to his neck as he bowed his head, letting out a soft growl of pleasure. Her hands moved from the back of his head down his neck, where they slowed.
He raised his head and their eyes met and held within the flickering, soft, golden haze of the candle.
Kiss me, his eyes said.
I want to kiss ye, but I am afraid, her eyes said to him.
Keir leaned closer. Dinnae be afraid, his eyes said.
She leaned in with breath held and ran the soft tip of one finger over his lips. She hesitated a moment but then her lips traced the path that her finger had explored. Her breath quivered against his lips. She increased the pressure of her mouth on his and he accepted and met it.
Slowly, Keir chased her mouth on his, teaching her how to kiss. He kissed the soft bow of her lips, then her lush bottom lip. He lightly traced his tongue along the seam of her lips, once more begging. Begging for her to part her lips for him. He gently pushed his tongue between her lips and she gasped a small, tiny gasp. But it was all that he needed. He thrust his tongue between her beautiful lips and danced his tongue against her own. She trustingly met each parry, tangling her tongue with his. Keir’s heart raced in his chest as he deepened the kiss, taking her mouth with his, over and over again.
“Hold onto me, my jewel. I willnae touch ye, but hold on…” His voice rumbled against her lips.
Kaithria did not hesitate this time. She closed her hands around the back of his neck and pulled his mouth back to hers.
This time it was her mouth that explored his and taught him what she wanted, what she was looking for. She was learning him, just as he had her.
They became hungry, panting as their mouths danced and chased and followed and parried with small licks and nibbles of each other’s lips.
He pushed harder on her mouth, forcing her head back, since he did not have the use of his hands. Then he plunged his tongue deep into her mouth, growling with need for this woman.
She tugged harder on his neck, pulling him, deeper yet, against her mouth.
“Kaithria,” he growled as he kissed her hungrily. “Kaithria,” he said over and over again as he kissed her with lips, tongue, even teeth, nibbling along her lips and her chin, and then down her neck.
She tipped her head back, letting him have his way as his mouth moved down her neck. Branding her with teeth, his scent, his desire for her. Her world shrank to just this man—his mouth, his scent, his voice. She was floating in a candlelit haze of senses filled with only him.
“Say my name,” he said hoarsely as he kissed her. “I want to hear me name on yer lips.”
“Keir,” she said in a rush of breath. “Keir…” She kissed him. “Maxwell…” She kissed him again. “Gunn,” she sighed as she sank into his kiss.
“Let me touch ye,” he said hoarsely. His hands were in tight fists at her hips. He felt he would die if she did not let him touch her with his hands. “Please, my jewel.”
Kaithria trembled and pulled slightly away.
Keir’s mouth followed. But then he stilled. He had caught the wince on her face.
“Are ye hurting, my jewel?” he asked as he stopped kissing her. “Kaithria?” he repeated, watching her face.
“Aye,” she answered as she tried to move to get more comfortable.
Keir reached over to a small table and gave her a cup of what looked like whiskey. “Gillis said to give ye some of this if ye woke up in pain again. It will help ye,” he said gently. “She added something to it, for yer pain.”
She was asleep again within moments.
Keir studied her for a long while. Then he turned to the window to watch the sun rising over Gunn lands.
He smiled.
His world felt complete.
13
As the sun was rising on the horizon it struck the room in beautiful shafts of light. One such shaft lit up a glint at the end of the bed. Keir’s eyes were drawn to Kaithria’s clothing, which had been neatly folded and placed at the end of the bed. Her brooch was still pinned to her tartan, and the sunlight was reflecting off of the jewel at the center of the brooch. He reached forward and unpinned it. Keir held it in his hand and studied it closely. There was a large, bright, golden-yellow jewel in the center. Above it was a crown. This is a royal crest, Keir thought, and that jewel is real. The crest looked familiar. Keir’s eyes narrowed as he tried to place the ornate crest and crown. Where did Kathria ge
t this? And why? he wondered.
A noise at the door interrupted Keir’s thoughts. It was Lady Gillis and his niece, come to check on Kaithria. Behind them came the rest of the women: Lady Ina, Lady Jane, Hextilda, and Aggie. They marched into the room, bustling about the bed in which Kaithria lay quietly resting.
“Ye must leave, Nephew,” Aunt Agnes announced. “Lady Gillis must check the girl’s wounds, and she will wake her.”
“I will stay, Aggie,” Keir said crisply.
“Ye have been with her all day,” Aggie said sternly. “And night.”
Keir just smiled charmingly at her.
Agnes tried again. “Ye look grey, ye need to eat, and rest.” When Keir started to say more, she stopped him. “’Tis unseemly. Ye will leave the room while we see to her.” Aggie stared at Keir as if he was a small boy.
Keir stood up to his full height. “Vera well, Aggie, haud yer wheesht. I will leave so ye women can get on with it. But dinnae hurt her. I willnae have it, Aggie,” he growled at her. “If I hear her cry out in pain I’ll...I’ll…”
“Ye’ll what?” Aggie demanded shrilly. “Ye, a big hero warrior, will do what to yer dear auntie?” she said archly.
“Just dinnae cause her any further pain,” he said tiredly as he turned away from his aunt. He stood looking down at Kaithria. He leaned down and kissed her cheek. Tenderly, and very gently.
He heard Agnes gasp behind him but ignored it. “I will be back, mo leannan, my jewel,” he whispered softly as he kissed her lightly again.
He turned and looked around the room at the women.
They all stood stiffly, looking at him.
Keir arched an eyebrow as he looked at them.
His niece smiled a secret smile at him. “Go, Uncle Keir,” Cat said, “we’ll take care of yer lady for ye.” Cat gave him a knowing smile and a wink.
Keir narrowed his eyes at her.
The women shooed him out of the room
Keir tried to smile, but even that felt like too much. His heart was heavy at leaving Kaithria, even for only a moment.
He went through the stables to check on Kaithria’s horse, who was grazing along the stone wall of his pasture. He saw that Gillis had done a good job on his wounds. Keir fondly patted the old warhorse’s neck, thanking him for his heroics that day near the Devil’s Pool.