I stayed still but turned my head away as he leaned in to caress a handful of my hair. “Why would they say that? Obviously it isn’t true. I’m a friend of the Conalls and am only staying here until Baodan returns. Then he is going to escort me to see them.”
He stepped toward the bed and held onto me so that I moved with him. “I doona believe ye, lass. ’Tis true that castle servants often form untruths to entertain themselves, but I see no other reason for ye to be here.”
“I just told you the other reason. I’m on my way to the Conalls.”
“Enough!”
Deep and angry, his voice spread goose bumps over my entire body.
“If that were true, ye wouldna be traveling alone. Now, ye have received yer payment, and I will receive me purchase.”
He moved the hand entangled in my hair to the base of my neck and twisted my head until I had no choice but to face him. I closed my eyes, trying to think of what I should do.
His mouth moved to my ear, and he whispered breathlessly into it. Warm breath touched my skin, but it sent ice crystals running down my spine.
“This can be enjoyable for us both, lass, if ye let it. I am no a selfish lover and while I know some men doona mind being met with a struggle, ’tis no something I prefer. But struggle or no, I shall have ye. Make up yer mind which it shall be now.”
He waited for me to answer, breathing down my neck while pushing himself into my stomach. His words offered me solution. He enjoyed being a charmer. He took his pleasure by giving pleasure. He enjoyed the act of leaving women with hope when there was none.
I was strong, but he would be able to overpower me if I struggled. If I could pretend to want him until I made him vulnerable, perhaps I could injure him enough to escape.
Terrified, my hands trembled, but I knew if I cried I would lose my nerve. I needed to give an Oscar-worthy performance. Clenching my hands into fists to still them, I moved them up to his wrists, gently tugging at them so he would release my neck.
He did and looked at me curiously, anxious for me to give him an answer. I stepped away from him and smiled as seductively as I could. “Have you ever done this before? Paid for someone I mean?”
“No.”
His answer pleased me. It meant he wouldn’t be accustomed to a woman who knew anything about sex. He most likely spent his nights with virgins. His eyes danced with anticipation. I knew if I could just pull it off, I would be able to get away.
“Always more of a giver than a receiver, yes?”
“Aye.”
He spoke breathlessly, and he looked as if he would start foaming at the mouth any minute. Disgusted with myself, I was about to throw up, but I would not allow him to have the upper hand in this situation. “Well, then I think it’s time somebody focused on you. What do you say? Take off your kilt.”
He stared at me, clearly shocked, and the lust in his eyes disappeared. I worried I’d taken it too far.
“What about yer dress, lass? This hardly seems fair.”
“I’ll take my clothes off in a little bit, after I’ve sated you.” He seemed to like that answer and stripped quickly. Once naked, he charged me, crushing his mouth to mine as he moved me on top of the bed, pinning me with his body.
He was so ravenous with his mouth that I could hardly breathe. It took all my concentration not to gag. He thought himself better at this than he truly was. Every woman he’d ever been with must have been mighty inexperienced to find that sort of mouth exploration appealing.
He reached his hand underneath my dress, and I threw my hand down to stop him. “Not so fast. Your turn first.”
He grinned and moved to kiss my ear, laughing at the delight of something unexpected. Thankfully, he couldn’t see my face, for I shut my eyes as I reached down to grab him, dreading the sensation. I opened my eyes and rolled them as I latched on. I found very little to grab. No wonder he felt the need to overcompensate in the way he moved and talked. There was no way he didn’t feel a little self-conscious about all that didn’t hang between his legs.
He groaned, and his entire stomach clenched as I stroked him. I concentrated all my energy toward the door, trying to calculate just how quickly I could reach it. As he moaned louder, I knew I would have no chance if I allowed him to finish. I slowed my pace to torture him before following through with my plan.
He reacted as I expected, and he rocked against me when I slowed.
“Doona stop, lass.”
“Okay.” Reaching down with my other hand, I picked up my pace once again and counted to three under my breath. At three, I yanked on his testicles with one hand and his shaft with the other as hard as I could.
Nervous and frightened, I pulled harder than intended and found myself halfway surprised the whole appendage didn’t just fall off in my hand.
I expected him to scream and then roll over on his side in the hopes that he would stay down long enough for me to escape, but my plan worked even better than I imagined. Scream he did, but only for a moment. Then he just turned white and his eyes rolled up into his head as he passed out cold on top of me.
Chapter 13
What on earth was the lass doing, and why didn’t it surprise him that she’d chosen not to wait for him and managed to escape? Baodan just rounded the edge of the pond when he saw her running as fast as she could go into the woods, her red curls bouncing messily out behind her. He’d never seen a woman move so quickly in his entire life.
He called out to her as he approached but, instead of slowing, he watched her pick up her speed as she turned to him.
Worry gripped him, something happened to upset her greatly.
“Come on, Artair, we need to reach her.” The horse sped up as he bid.
* * *
As soon as I rolled out from under the shockingly un-endowed creep, I grabbed my shoes and Morna’s rock and took off from the castle at full speed. I knew he would send someone after me, but it wouldn’t be Niall himself. I expected he would be out of commission for a while.
It felt good to run, and as the cool evening air hit my lungs, I delighted in the pleasant sting with each breath I took.
I neared the edge of the castle grounds when I saw the horse approaching, but it was too dark for me to tell the rider’s identity. I assumed one of the guards found me. I pushed myself to run faster although I knew I wouldn’t be able to outrun the horse.
Eventually, the horse followed close behind me, and I could clearly hear the voice of its rider. Baodan.
“Mitsy, just who do ye think ye are running from? There’s no one coming after ye.”
I slowed to a jog and then to a walk so that I moved right beside him and the horse. “You are. And there is no way in hell that I am going back inside that castle. If you try to make me, I’ll do the same thing I just did to your scum bag of a brother. Then, I’ll steal your horse so I don’t have to walk all the way to Conall Castle.”
“What?” Panic filled his voice.
I heard him jump off his horse as he rushed to stand in front of me. It forced me to stop and, as I did so, he reached out to grab both of my arms. “Let go,” I demanded.
He did so immediately, but didn’t allow me to move around him.
“Lass, ye must tell me what ye mean. Did he hurt ye? I swear I’ll kill him if he did.”
I wasn’t going to stop until I was far away from McMillan Castle. I didn’t want to talk about it anyway, not tonight. If he wanted to know, he would have to keep travelling right along with me. I’d tell him after I cooled down a little. “Are you going to take me to Conall Castle? And I mean like right now, because I’m not stopping until I’m far away from here.”
“Aye, lass. If ye wish it, we shall ride through the night and rest in the morning but, for God’s sake, tell me what happened to upset ye so.”
He walked backward and was about to trip over a stump, so I stopped for a moment and reached out to grab his hand to steady him. He mistook my reach as a desire to draw him near, and he deftly lace
d his fingers with mine, stepping forward to pull me into an embrace. “What happened, lass?”
I knew if things had turned out differently with Niall, I would have flinched at Baodan’s touch, but mercifully they hadn’t and I welcomed Baodan’s embrace. He carried no agenda behind it. He worried for me, and held me because it wasn’t in his nature to do otherwise.
I sighed, laying my head against his chest. With the adrenaline rush of earlier subsiding, I suddenly grew tired. “If it’s ok, I don’t want to talk about it right now. If you’ll take me to Conall Castle, I’ll tell you in the morning.”
“If ye insist, though I wish ye would tell me now. I willna press ye. Come.” He grabbed my hand and led me to the horse. Lifting me up on the horse first, he then swung himself over so that he sat behind me.
He didn’t hesitate to slip both of his arms around my waist. After gathering the reins, Baodan placed the side of his hands directly on my thighs, holding the leather straps perilously close to the center of my legs. I gasped at the sensation. It felt oddly intimate, but he didn’t pull away nor did he act as if he were doing anything unusual.
He wiggled the reins to nudge the horse forward. Once we moved, he extended his hand to pat my knee quickly. “Ye are tense, lass. I willna let ye fall off.” He squeezed his arms around me to emphasize his point. “Lean against me and go to sleep.”
I did allow myself to relax and happily leaned against him but, while I was exhausted, I knew I wouldn’t be able to sleep. Not right away. “I’m not sleepy.”
“Aye, ye are. I’m sorry that I dinna return as quickly as I thought I would. Me mother was ill, and it slowed us down a bit.”
I didn’t say anything. He couldn’t help his mother’s ill health, but I couldn’t bring myself to say it was alright. If he’d returned when he said, Eoghanan wouldn’t have had to leave and Niall would never have approached me.
He reached up to touch my hairline, to examine my injury. “’Tis no so bad as it looked that first day. Does it hurt ye, lass?”
I shook my head lightly. “Not at all. Just a little scab now.”
“Good. I’m pleased to hear it.”
We rode in silence for a while. I spent the hours looking up at the stars, picking out constellations in awe. A million changes would occur in the time that spanned from the year I found myself in now to the time I was born in. Everything would change, everything except the stars.
“What are ye looking at, lass?”
He leaned forward and whispered the words in my ear. Unlike his brother’s breath that chilled me to my bones, the sound of his deep whisper warmed me all the way to my core.
“The stars. They look exactly the same three hundred and sixty-seven years from now. Well, I’m sure an astrologist would tell you they’ve changed a little, but I sure can’t tell a difference.”
His breath caught as I spoke, and I cringed as I awaited more accusations of my insanity. I’d forgotten that he’d thought me ‘daft.’
“Tell me more about your time. What are some of the things ye mentioned before? A plane and a car? What is a toilet?”
I twisted my head to look at him with pinched brows. “What? When you left you thought I was crazy. What happened?”
He laughed and I didn’t miss how his eyes lingered on my lips before he glanced upward again. I turned my head back around to face the direction of our travel.
“Aye, lass, I truly did, but me mother told me the truth. I informed her how ye screamed after someone named Morna when I found ye in the pond, and she knows of the woman’s power. Morna’s been dead a long time, but she was a powerful witch. Mother told me of all that the witch did to bring yer friend Bri here to this time as well. I’m sorry for thinking ye mad. I dinna know any of that until Mother told me.”
“Ah, I see. Well, I’m glad that you don’t think I’m crazy.”
“So tell me, lass. Tell me what all of those things are that ye spoke of.”
Truly sleepy now, I found it hard to keep my eyelids open. I started to speak, but the words came out in between yawns. “Tomorrow, I’ll tell you in the morning.”
I allowed my head to roll to the side as I started to drift into sleep, but it took longer for sleep to find me than Baodan realized. I know he wouldn’t have said what he did if he knew I could hear.
As I leaned into him, he bent downward to plant a kiss on the side of my head. “Aye, I shall happily wait until tomorrow to hear it. For every strange thing that ye utter from that beautiful mouth of yers is a pleasure to hear.”
Chapter 14
Ach, trouble found him. The lass slept soundly against him, and she made the most unusual sounds in her sleep. The sweetest, softest coos of comfort that made his position on his horse so uncomfortable he found himself immensely grateful that she wasn’t awake to know what she did to him. Each unconscious shift she made in front of him tempted him to slide his fingers up her thighs.
He shook his head to clear it. Seeing that the sun rose in the distance, he slowed Artair’s pace so that he could find a suitable place for them to stop and rest. Temptation was a downfall of being a man, he supposed. No matter that he was no longer capable of love, it didn’t stop his body from betraying him at the sight of a beautiful woman, and beautiful she was.
He’d never seen hair like hers, so red, curly and endless. A man could get lost in it, and he wished that he could do just that; to tug hard on it whilst he buried himself inside her.
He leaned down to smell of it, and his stomach grew taut from the sensation that washed over him. What sort of oils and creations must she have access to in her own time to make hair smell so wonderful?
And her eyes, he couldn’t see them now, but they were eyes of such rarity that he need only see them once to remember them forever. They were the oddest combination of green and brown, each color so different and vibrant that from afar it looked as if her left eye was completely green and her right eye brown. In truth, at closer view, each eye had colors of both, and they were captivating and magical. They looked to him like the eyes that should be found in that of a mystical creature, not in an ordinary human.
Not that she was ordinary, she was anything but. Mitsy was loud, bold and, whether she intended to be or not, he found her quite amusing. He wanted to know more about her, more about her time and what had led her here. He hoped he wouldn’t feel the need to sleep too long so that he could spend the day talking with her.
“Are ye ready to wake, lass? Artair here needs to rest, and I’ll no deny that I do as well.”
She threw her arms up to stretch sending one of her hands right into his jaw. She instantly swirled around to face him, an apology mixed with a not-so-subtle hint of amusement dancing in her eyes. “Oh, I’m sorry.” She laughed and reached up to rub his jaw. “Does it hurt?”
He enjoyed the feeling of her hands on him. While it hadn’t really hurt him at all, he was no fool. “Aye, it does, lass. Ye have a strong hand.”
She glanced up at him knowingly, and his face warmed at the embarrassment of being found out.
“Well, here.” She stretched upward and planted a brief kiss on his jawline. “All better?” Every muscle in his body went rigid. “What was that for?”
She shrugged as she continued to look over her shoulder at him. “It’s just something that you do. Kiss a boo-boo to make it better. I don’t know. Sorry, guess that trend hasn’t caught on yet.”
“Ah, well I know that ye doona know it, but ye stretch while ye sleep. Ye hit me then as well. Many times.”
She grinned at him and laughed, turning quickly around to face the front.
What had gotten into him? He was jesting her and it would only lead to trouble for them both.
* * *
I couldn’t believe he’d actually ridden through the entire night. I knew that’s what I told him to do, but he’d been dead on his feet after traveling. I expected him to ride until I fell asleep and then stop to make camp.
Instead, when he woke me at dawn,
we were surrounded by landscape I would not have recognized from later centuries. I was immediately grateful he’d seen me fleeing from the castle. While I would probably have been able to find my way to Conall Castle during my own time, there were currently no roads or landmarks to help me find my way. Each tree looked much like the last.
He’d flirted with me, whether it had been his intention to do so or not. I supposed I gave him reason to though when I kissed him on the jaw, but it just seemed like too good of an opportunity to pass up. Any straight woman with normal levels of sex hormones would find their eggs quivering at the sight of my roadside companion.
As the horse came to a stop at Baodan’s chosen place of rest, I slipped off the side of the horse, rather unthinkingly. I didn’t take into account how numb my bottom would be, having grown so sore and numb that I couldn’t feel it at all. As soon as my feet hit the ground, my knees buckled.
Before I could stand, Baodan lifted me up by both elbows, my chest grazing his as he did so. If my bum hadn’t felt as if a thousand pin pricks were being stuck into it as blood found its way back to my rear, I would’ve found the touch quite flustering.
“Holy mother of crap! My ass hurts!”
Baodan looked down at me and laughed. “Ye have a penchant for swearing, doona ye? And ye are no accustomed to riding, or yer backside wouldna hurt ye so.”
He let go now that I had my footing and twisted to stretch, which emphasized every chiseled muscle in his stomach.
“Although, I’m a wee bit sore meself. ’Twas a long ride.”
I attempted to move around a bit, stretching and turning as much as the dress would allow, so that he wouldn’t see me staring at him with awe. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have made you ride all night. You have to rest now. I’ll keep myself busy with something.”
He looked as if he could fall over at any moment. I wasn’t surprised that after riding all night, his need for sleep now outweighed his curiosity of finding out what happened to me the night before. “I’m sure ye will, lass. Ye doona seem like the sort of person to sit idly. Just stay close and doona get yerself into trouble, aye?”
Morna's Legacy: Box Set #1 Page 56