GUNNER: MC ROMANCE (Forsaken Riders MC Romance Book 4)

by Samantha Leal

  When they arrived, that day’s fighting had ended, but the English (knowing the importance of Stirling’s royal castle) had not withdrawn, but chose to regroup rather than abandon the castle. The next day, Matthew took up his customary position at King Robert’s right hand, and Lily took a position with the Scottish corps of archers. Within an hour, the English army had massed on the far side of the field at Bannockburn, just outside of the village of Stirling, and proceeded to march on the Scottish positions.

  “Ho’, men!” King Robert called out over the ranks of his soldiers. From her position, Lily was able to easily make out the tall, imposing figure of Matthew directly next to the King. The Bruce leaned toward him, and Matthew raised his hand, the signal for the archers to load their bows, so Lily followed suit along with the other archers in the Scottish ranks, taking aim in the direction of the English infantry that were advancing en masse across the field. When Matthew’s hand dropped, the archers all let their arrows fly, immediately cutting down most of the first line of English attackers.

  Next, Matthew (at the King’s direction) lifted his massive claymore sword in the air with his right arm, and Scottish infantry fell into ranks like a well-oiled machine. When he dropped his sword, the men began to advance across the field toward the English in uniform, disciplined ranks. In the meantime, the Scots archers were commanded to fire upon the English infantry fifteen times more before the two armies met in the center of the field, substantially thinning the ranks of the well-disciplined English soldiers.

  The carnage of war, however, began as soon as the two armies met in the center of the field. The Scots were able to fight without fear of the English cavalry, which had been effectively wiped out the day before. Before long, however, the drastically outnumbered Scots began to fall back in the face of the English horde, even unto the crest of the small hill where Robert, Matthew, and some others sat on the backs of their horses.

  Then, from out of nowhere, an arrow (which could have come from either side) struck Robert’s horse in the eye, killing the beast instantly and pinning the King beneath his mass. Lily could see Matthew frantically attempting to dislodge his King, but having little success.

  “Matthew! Watch out!” Lily screamed as the blade of an English sword was raised beside him, poised to sever his head. Lily watched in horror as Matthew turned from the defenseless king to his assailant, and engaged him in swordplay. While his chief bodyguard was busy in this fisticuffs, King Robert was left completely defenseless. Lily broke ranks with the other archers without thinking, and proceeded to run to his aid.

  When she was only fifteen paces from the imperiled king, an English officer poised himself to run him through with the sword. Reflexively, Lily loaded her weapon, and the infantry officer met his end before he had the opportunity to smite the King…she had saved him.

  At that moment, Matthew was successful in removing the head of his attacker, and the Scottish forces, seeing their King restored to the saddle of a horse, took heart and fought like wild men, smiting every Englishman within reach and forcing the forces of King Edward of England to fall back. Thanks to Lily, the day had been won, and King Robert’s throne was secure.

  “Robert would go down in history as the man who unified Scotland, and legends would grow about him that only one person on that field knew—Lily. Lily, the one whose arrow had ensured that he would survive the day, had ensured that the legend would grow.”

  Chapter 7

  “And then what happened?” Rose asked a few three quarters of a century later.

  “Matthew came over to me, and kissed me, thanking me for saving the King,” Lily answered simply.

  “Wow…” Rose exclaimed softly.

  “What?” Lily asked.

  “You know that by doing that, you basically saved the U.S., right?”

  “What?”

  “Yeah…I don’t know if you remember or not, but King James the First of England—

  “The guy with the Bible?”

  “Yeah. Well, before he became King of England, he was known as King James VI of Scotland…he became King of England when Queen Elizabeth died.”

  “Okay, so?”

  “He was a grandson of some kind of Robert the Bruce’s.”

  “I never thought of that,” Lily answered.

  And she hadn’t. After Matthew had kissed her in the midst of the victorious Scotsmen who had officially earned their independence from England, too much had happened between Lily and Matthew that the implications of her arrow had not fully registered to Lily.

  Together, they had ridden back to Culcreuch to much fanfare. The entirety of the Clan Galbraith celebrated the exploits of Matthew and the strange woman at a feast held in the dining hall of the Culcreuch Castle. A few days later, and edict came from King Robert, granting ownership of a large tract of land in the area of Stirling Castle, the title of Baron, and the right to include the motto “Friend of the King” on his personal coat of arms from then on.

  Matthew had asked Lily if she would accompany him to his new home…and she had agreed. The tension between them was palpable when they had first arrived, and finally, Lily had had enough of waiting for the erstwhile gentleman to make a move, and like the 21st century woman that she was, she made a move for him.

  “Matthew…what do you want from our relationship?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “What do you want to see happen between us?”

  “I—I don’t know what to say, Lily,” he answered.

  “Well, if you don’t know what you want, there is no way that I can know. You need to know this, however: I have a life in my own time, and I will go back to it…unless I have a damn good reason to stay here.”

  Matthew considered this for a minute, and finally asked, “What would be a good reason?”

  “Why?”

  “Because I don’t want you to go.”

  “Well, if you don’t want me to go, then why do you want me to stay?”

  “Because in the last few weeks, I have fallen in love with you.”

  “That is a damn good reason, Matthew,” Lily said, wrapping her arms around his neck, and pulling him in for a long kiss. At first, Matthew seemed unsure of himself, until Lily pushed him into one of the empty chairs, and began removing her clothes in front of him. When she stood there, wearing nothing but her undergarments, she turned to him and said, “Aren’t you going to take yours off?”

  Matthew, finally realizing what Lily was saying, hastily began to remove his clothes as well. When he was completely naked, she instructed him to sit back down in one of the chairs. When he was seated comfortably on one of the velveteen chairs, she kneeled before him, lightly touching the tip of his lance with her tongue. When he let out a low moan that only Lily could hear, she giggled naughtily, making it plain that there was definitely more where that came from.

  She continued this for a few minutes, waiting for Matthew to nearly burst from longing, and only then did she take him into her mouth. Slowly, with painstaking precision, she used her tongue to wet every inch if his large member. All the while, however, she was becoming more and more hungry as well, and after licking and sucking on his potency for a few minutes, she finally stopped and stood back up.

  “Why did you stop?” Matthew asked in a voice that was pleading with her to resume.

  “You’ll see,” she said, grinning mischievously. Slowly, so as to continue the process for as long as possible, Lily removed the last vestiges of clothing that hugged the firm curves of her body before finally standing completely naked before her lover. “Do you like what you see?” she asked in her most seductive voice.

  “V—very much so,” Matthew answered, breathing in deeply the scent of her arousal which hung potent on the air. Lily turned around, exposing her rear to him, and sat, slowly taking in the inches of his dagger into her wet, quivering sheath. Her folds expanded and stretched as she learned to accommodate him, and when comfortable, she began to grind on him, slowly taking him in and
out of her and relishing every amazing second of it.

  Thanks to the large size of Matthew’s organ, it did not take long for Lily to feel the powerful waves of ecstasy that accompany a coming orgasm, and so she began to move faster, slamming Matthew into herself repeatedly.

  “Oh my god!” she exclaimed, her eyes rolling in her head, “that feels so good!”

  Matthew must have liked her vocal nature while in the throes of passion, because even through the clenching of the walls of her hollow, she could feel him stiffening as she rode and grinded on him. Finally, together, the two lovers both achieved release and collapsed on the chair, with Matthew holding her while they both fell into sleep.

  ***

  “So…you slept with him?” Rose asked.

  “Yes, of course!” Lily answered. “And we are going to get married!”

  “How long do you think you were gone?” Rose asked.

  “About five months…why?”

  “Because in my time, you’ve only been gone for a week.”

  “Wait, what?” Lily asked.

  “Yeah, you weren’t even scheduled to be home until next week.”

  “So you mean that I can use this necklace to stay there for a year if I want to, and still come back here every week?”

  “Yeah, I would think so!” Rose answered. “Why?”

  “Just because I’m living full time in 14th-century Scotland doesn’t mean I don’t want to see you, ho,” Lily answered. “I could come here and stay for a month, and the necklace could take me back so that I would only be gone from then for about five minutes if I want.”

  “Seems like it!” Rose answered. “What’s your point?”

  “My biggest fear about living in the past is that I have been worried about how hard it would be to keep in contact with you.”

  “Well, with this necklace, you can come see me any time,” Rose said with a genuine smile.

  “That’s great! Oh, I love this necklace!”

  “Well, you may have control over time and space, but I have to get to work,” Rose said.

  “Okay!” Lily said, standing to hug her friend. “When do you want me to come see you again?”

  “I think once a week will be nice, so when you get a chance or just want to get away for a bit, come visit!” Rose answered, before turning to walk to her car.

  The two women waved at each other, and Rose drove away. Lily, on the other hand, found a secluded spot, and whispered the words tempus imperium while grasping the necklace that she still had not taken off. When the gateway appeared before her, Lily stepped through it: back to both her past and present…to her one love.

  Together, she and Matthew grew to an old age and had eleven children, the oldest of which was a girl. When Lily reached an old age and was ready to die, she gave her 14th-century daughter the necklace and started the legend of the necklace, thus continuing the loop.

  THE END

  The Highland Locket

  Jessica Savage

  Copyright ©2015 by Jessica Savage. All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic of mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Thank you so much for your interest in my work!

  ’TWAS on the 9th of September, a very beautiful day,

  That a numerous English army came in grand array,

  And pitched their tents on Flodden field so green

  In the year of our Lord fifteen hundred and thirteen.

  ***

  All was quiet across the hillside, the air eerily calm as before a storm. The occasional sound of a horse braying or a man shouting echoed across the valley, disturbing the peace. A bright sun gleamed across the vast blue of the skies as William Stewart waited for the signal for the battle to commence. He did not know that thousands of the men and boys around him would be dead by the time the sun rose again, one of them being his King. But he could not alter history or the lineage of over 10,000 men. It was possible, however, that he could shape his own destiny.

  ***

  Rebecca Brooke stared out the window. All week the weather had been cold and dreadful, and a low mist had hung over the valley, blotting out the wonderful view that the brochure had promised. For a summer vacation, late August in Scotland had proved to be a damp squib so far. OK, so it was a working vacation, two months working on a 16th-century archaeological dig in Scotland. It had sounded pretty awesome at the time. Cool, yes. Cold–no!

  It was her first proper assignment and her first time in Scotland. She would have preferred Egypt or India, but she had been allocated to Scotland instead. Although she had been told to pack for the weather, she had ignored the advice. Living most of her life in California, she spent most of the time in shorts and miniskirts that showed off her tanned and toned legs. What she needed here was a woolly jumper and thermal underwear! She had managed to buy a few pairs of thick leggings and wore these under her shorts and socks. It wasn’t her best look, but at least they showed off her figure. Most of the other girls wore thick, shapeless sweaters over practical-looking outdoor pants that didn’t do them any favors.

  Not all was lost, however. There was James Anderson.

  James was the lead archaeologist on the dig, a Scotsman and an expert on Scottish history. Not only was he handsome, but he was intelligent, too–the new sexy. With his deep auburn hair and brown eyes, no woman was safe. Not that he noticed her, or anyone else for that matter. By breakfast, he had already eaten and gone out to the dig, and when he returned, his nose was always in a book. At least he was eye candy.

  Her cell phone rang in her pocket and Rebecca looked at the number. It was her Mom. She had only been here for a couple of days but she had already phoned twice to see if she was eating properly and if she had managed to see the Queen of England yet; it was a no to both.

  “Hi, Mom.” She tried not to sound bored.

  “Becky, sweetheart, how are you doing out there?”

  “Same as ever. How’s Dad?”

  “He’s good, sweetie. Are you eating OK?”

  The conversation continued thus and Rebecca tried hard to stifle a yawn. Her Mom meant well, but sometimes she could be overbearing.

  “Are you tired, honey? You sound tired.”

  “No, Mom, I’m still a bit jet-lagged. We haven’t been able to go out on site yet because of the good old British weather.”

  “Well, don’t forget you could check out our relations there. We do have a great Aunt, twice removed, if she’s still living. She must be at least 90 by now. Wait a minute, and I’ll get you the details.”

  “Mom...” But it was too late. Rebecca could hear her Mother scrabbling around in her bag for one of her notebooks.

  “Here we are. Have you got a pen handy? It’s Mrs Nora McPherson, the Old Vicarage, Selkirk. Did you get that, sweetie?”

  Rebecca hadn’t any desire to visit a relative who wouldn’t know her from Adam, but agreed with her Mom just to shut her up. After she promised her mother not to fall into a Loch, the call was finally over.

  Sammy, a bespectacled English girl, was walking towards her with a smile. She had done her best so far to avoid her. Sammy was a “jolly hockey sticks” type who was always trying to arrange outings and activities for the others.

  “Hey, Rebecca, do you feel like braving the weather and heading into the nearest village this afternoon? We might even find a pub–do you want to come?”

  They were all staying in a large rented property on the outskirts of a village, and Rebecca hadn’t had time yet to get her bearings.

  Sammy was of the baggy jumper brigade and Rebecca felt nothing in common with her. She would rather stick pins in her thighs than have to make small talk.

  Shaking her head, she stood up to leave when Johnny Hampshire strode into the room. Johnny was handsome yet arrogant. He was Scottish but had attended an English public scho
ol and spoke with a very clipped accent. He worked closely with James, and neither man had much time for each other. Unfortunately, Johnny had noticed her long blonde hair and treated her like the local bimbo. For once she wished she was wearing Sammy’s shapeless garb.

  “Hey, Becky, fancy a stroll in the heather with me?” he grinned suggestively as he looked her up and down, before placing his hand territorially on her arm.

  She wanted to tell him to go screw himself but was far too polite.

  “Actually, I’ve already arranged to go out with Sammy.” Rebecca shrugged his arm away and his grin slipped into a sneer.

  “Frigid bitch,” he muttered under his breath, the muscles clenching around his jaw line.

  “What did you say?”

  Johnny smiled again, but this time it made her shiver with its coldness. “I said have a great time” and with that, he turned and slowly left the room.

  “What a creep.” Sammy made a face as he left and Rebecca laughed. Perhaps the afternoon wasn’t going to be so bad after all.

  They ventured out into the mist and fog. The drizzle was light yet constant and Sammy loaned Rebecca a bright green jacket to wear. There was no one to see her wearing it in this place, and James would probably find it sexy.

  The girls walked along a little path, and for once Rebecca was glad she had bought a decent pair of walking boots. She could feel the mud slip and slide beneath her feet and was glad that she wasn’t wearing her usual flimsy sneakers.

  After half an hour, they had almost given up hope of finding a place when they stumbled across an old coaching house –The Bluebell Inn. Relieved, they staggered inside, dripping water across the polished floorboards as they made their way to the bar and ordered double whiskies to warm them through.