by Lucy Lixx
Going to the gardens seemed like the best plan, hoping that it would buy me peace and quiet to gather my thoughts. I smiled at people as I passed them, yet I was still getting mixed reactions. It was obvious that many people were jealous. Men and women alike. I smiled at them despite whatever look they gave me, relishing the fact that soon enough I’d be his wife, and there would be nothing but warm welcomes around me. That thought warmed my heart and allowed me to keep moving toward the garden to find my solitude. I enjoyed the idea of sitting in Briana’s seat with Scott at my side as I walked through the garden. I was so lost in my thoughts, that I didn’t realize when someone’s hands snaked around my waist.
Panic surged through me, and his other hand went to my mouth. I was nearly paralyzed with fear before my instincts kicked in. I went to kick him as hard as I could, but the man maneuvered to keep me from landing the blow to him where it would hurt him the most. Instead, I hit his leg as I was pulled against a large, chiseled chest. He had his nose in my hair, taking a large whiff, and panic surged through me again as his hand went from my stomach to my delicate hip, pulling me back further. I could feel his hardened member, and as he chuckled at my reaction, his amusement at my struggle rumbled through his chest.
“Ouch, Lass. It’s me.” Came Scott’s familiar voice. “It’s good to know you wouldn’t allow anyone to touch you but me…” He said as all further drive to fight left me. I could feel my heart start to flutter at the way his large, strong chin settled at the top of my head in my hair. I was pulled tightly against him.
“People will see…” I protested, and I could hear him chuckle again.
“Then let them, Lass. It’ll be fine. You’re my mistress. What is the shame of that?” He asked me before he swept my hair to the side. He started to place feather light kisses on my neck, causing my toes to curl as I felt heat rush into me, making me ache for him.
A lot. My parents wouldn’t be proud. I thought despite myself, but his lips were more persistent as they worked across my shoulder, loosening my bodice to move my sleeve aside enough to expose more skin. I gasped at the idea of being so indecent in public, and yet I knew his figure shadowed me. I will not be a mistress for long. I reminded myself, but thoughts were becoming hard as he kissed back up to the crook of my neck all the while holding me against him. His teeth grazed my skin, and my mouth fell into an ‘oh’.
I don’t know why I didn’t expect it by now. Scott was full of surprises, but I jumped, gasping out loud. He shushed me before his teeth sunk into my neck and the hand he had placed at my hip started to knead my flesh, pulling my skirts up just slightly, teasing me. I whimpered as tears pricked at my eyes before his lips moved over the spot he had just bit more tenderly, massaging away the pain before he went back to kissing up my neck to whisper in my ear.
“Not here.” I protested, but my protests were weak with desire even to my own ears as he inched my skirt up even higher. The hedges and trellises of jasmine would hide us, but we were in plain sight if anyone decided to come further into the garden which set my nerves on edge.
“Why not, Amelia? Do you believe love is just for the bedroom?” He teased me as my heart pounded out a yes that my lips couldn’t seem to form. He nipped my ear tugging at it.
“Oh no, no, Lass. Love can be shared anywhere. Should I show you how?” He asked teasingly but then that’s when someone interrupted us.
“My Laird!” Osgar’s gruff voice came out from behind us, and Scott let my skirts fall but my bodice was still loose. He quickly helped me to straighten them out, leaving me to tie them as he shadowed me, turning to face to Osgar. His annoyance was clear.
“Osgar.” He said, as Osgar coughed hiding his own amusement.
“My Laird, we have a messenger. He says it is urgent.” Osgar said without apology in his voice. My blushing couldn’t get any worse as I stepped out from behind Scott who now had a frown on his perfectly sculpted face. I looked at him with a hint of worry on my face.
“From who?” Scott asked. There was no playfulness in his voice now.
“Laird McDougal’s from the Lowlands.” He said. Scott was nodding to himself after hearing the name, as if he was already going through all the reasons that he would be called upon.
“I see. See to his comfort and I’ll be there soon.” Scott said dismissing him. He looked at me with hunger in his eyes, and as my eyes wandered down, I could see his swollen manhood under his kilt which he hadn’t bothered to hide in front of his brother.
“We will continue this later, Amelia.” He said in a soft, husky voice full of promises.
I took his arm as we walked back to the manor together. I was left with the same dizzying thoughts as before with the lingering feeling of his lips on my neck causing me to try to distract myself even more urgently to make the ache between my legs go away. I now knew what I was aching for, but it didn’t help me any when I closed my eyes and I still had his naked form in front of me, spurning my desire to escalate all the more.
Chapter Two
I was sleeping soundly until I was woken up with the curtains being pulled back, spilling light into the room. Sure enough, I opened my eyes trying to focus on who was in the room with me. I knew it had to be either the servant that Lady Briana was sending or Scott himself, but much to my surprise I could see platinum hair starting to catch the early rays of morning light that streamed. There was no mistaking Briana and her amused expression. She once again had her wooden rod with her, and she wearing nothing but a small robe accentuated every curve. My eyes flew open as I looked at her in my white shift, pulling the covers up.
“I thought you’d send for me.” I said, and Briana just tilted her head back to laugh.
“I thought why do so? I am right in the other room, and Scott is off on his horse already.” she teased me.
“Does it upset you when someone deviates from plans?” She tsked at me. “If so, do not expect to hold my husband’s interest for long.” I could tell that something was wrong as she spoke to me, but I didn’t feel that it was my place to ask. Was it the messenger? I thought, but I didn’t have long to think as she had crossed from the window to my bedside. She sat on the opposite side of me with a dangerous smile on her lips as she prodded my side with the wooden rod.
“He did not take you last night, do you know why?” She asked, and I shook my head no.
“Because he is preoccupied with the stress of a messenger. Osgar spoke to me about the state he found you in at the gardens.” She told me, and I shied away from her gaze but the rod was quickly under my chin forcing my eyes to meet hers.
“That means he is stressed. You knew it, and did nothing. It will cause him to seek another. This time it was me.” She said delivering the blow to my pride in a soft, sensual voice that did nothing to lessen the sting. Sure enough, I had heard them, but it had sounded as if she was muffled.
“Tell me, Amelia. For lesson number two, if you believe that you can handle his stress as well as his joy?” She spoke softly, but I felt as if I was being tricked.
“Yes, of course.” I said looking at her through sleepy eyes.
She stood up, and her body was illuminated in the morning rays as she let the robe fall to the ground. I could see that there was bruising around her hips in the same place that Scott’s hand was on me just yesterday in the gardens. There were thumb print bruises on her wrists that I had not seen and marks on her breasts that looked like they would have been both painful and pleasurable to receive. I looked at her, eyebrows knitted together as I tried to figure out if I should feel pity or envy.
“Oh, Amelia, trust me I enjoyed it, but will you?” She implored, walking around to my side of the bed still completely naked and bathed in the morning light.
“Get undressed.” Briana spoke softly, but it was an order in her voice. I got up, and my fingers were trembling as I pulled the nightgown up and over my head.
“Remind me to help you to get more appealing nightgowns and robes.” She mumbled, and I nodded lo
oking at the way she tapped the rod on her leg as I discarded my shift. Lady Briana motioned for me to get up on my knees, and so I did. Just as I was getting up, she caught sight of my neck and she had me pause. I looked at her confused before I remembered the mark that Scott had left. Her eyes were mischievous.
“I see that he gave you a love bite.” She said. “They get harder.” She cooed at me as she told me to get on my hands and knees.
She nudged my knees wider apart, which brought my breasts closer to the sheets. My nipples hardened despite myself, and the familiar feeling of the rod was now between my spread open lips, rubbing up and down my slit. I tried to suppress a small moan. She hit that sensitive point that made my toes curled, and I was lost in the sensation that she was bringing me. I didn’t even notice Briana lean down to whisper in my ear.
“He’s frustrated. Don’t you think that you should share in that frustration?” She said as she continued at a slower pace, making me continue to climb towards the release I so desperately craved.
I couldn’t get my wits about me to talk, but I tried to nod. She stopped rubbing, and I groaned at the loss of friction. I tried to still my hips not wanting to embarrass myself further. The rod was now tracing my spine before it was raised and landed with a thwack against my bottom. I groaned, jumping. It wasn’t a gentle hit this time, but I knew that she was still careful not to leave marks.
“You think he won’t hit you harder to see your toes curl?” Briana teased me before continuing to redden my ass.
I was lost in desire and pain as she continued to rain down thwack after thwack on my bottom, make it red and sore. It seemed to cause me to ache even more as my nipples rubbed against my sheets with each jump, and just as I thought I could take no more she told me to kneel on the bed. I didn’t see it coming. The rod was on my breasts now just as it had been on my bottom moments before making my eyes widen as I cried out.
“You respond so beautifully…” Briana said in a breathy whisper as she started to hit me from the underside now. I was a frenzy of desire with pain and pleasure seeming to run through me, making my blood boil. I was looking at the ground now, but soon enough I was forced to meet her cool blue eyes again.
“I have to stop. You’ll have marks, and we don’t need Scott asking questions now do us?” She teased me. She was smiling now. It was a real smile, and I could tell that she was worked up just as much as I was. I felt like my entire being was centered at the desire between my legs. My hands itched to pleasure myself, but I couldn’t bear the idea of doing so in front of her.
“Osgar isn’t here…” She said softly to herself. “So you’ll have to do.” She told me with her voice a little bolder, making my eyes widen as she pulled me from the bed. I stumbled to my feet before she had me on my knees in front of her with her sitting on my bed. Her hand was in my hair.
“Does he do this to you?” She asked.
“Yes ma’am.” I told her.
“You can handle pain well. You’ll need that. You should thank me for showing you how…raising your tolerance even.” She said, and I nodded.
“Thank you, ma’am.” I said, but she laughed. It was a light, teasing sound.
“That is not the type of thanks that I want.” Briana cooed before she spread her legs, bringing my mouth to her own slit, and my eyes widened.
“Ma’am.” I squeaked, but she wasn’t going to let me move back.
“Use your tongue.” She told me, and I did. I started to lick her slit, feeling that need build up inside of me again. There wasn’t anything I could seem to do about it. The moment I reached down to play with myself, I received a sharp tug to my hair.
“Have you learned nothing?” She asked. Briana didn’t give me time to say anything.
She had me run my tongue up and down her slit, and I imagined what Scott would do when I took him in my mouth as well. I shivered at the thought. The moans were muffled above me, as if she was trying to stay quiet, but I knew that just like me Briana was working herself up to a peak. I gently lapped at her silky folds, tracing firm, wet circles around her clit, feeling the thickness of it increase as I drew my tongue deeper into her warm garden. Her hips began swaying against to and fro, rhythmically, as I felt the gentle twitch of her thigh against my cheek. She muffled a soft groan, which incited my urge to please her all the more. Though on my knees, I was in control, sucking, lapping drawing forth pools of her nectar; the only sweetness I could imagine within such a brash woman. From deep within her wet valley, she came. I felt as if I couldn’t breathe. A flood of her womanly juices coated my lips, and I was forced to lick them off before she moved away from me, as if we had never touched. I ached, and Briana put her robe on, dressing so that she could leave. She paused in the doorway, arching an eyebrow at me.
“Do not relieve that desire.” She said. “You will need it to endure him right now. I want you to work yourself up every night, actually.” She said, speaking softly. I went to protest, but she raised her hand at me to be quiet.
“If you wish to keep him by your side and enthrall him, you will do well to actually pay attention to my lessons, Amelia. This lesion especially. It’s much more important than you think. Scott loses himself in the moment often, and he is quite a strong man.” She said before walking out, leaving me aching without the ability to relieve it.
Chapter Three
I thought that I wouldn’t be able to sleep that night with the way that Scott had looked at me when I was seated by him at dinner. He smiled at me, and I couldn’t stop myself from smiling back. Briana was beaming, and it seemed to anyone else that she didn’t act anything more than politely appropriate with Osgar, but I could see the longing, hopeful looks that they shared. Scott’s hand was under the table on my thigh, and Briana pretended not to notice it, but it still made me feel ashamed and delighted. It was as if my heart was at war, and I had to once again think about my mission.
For me and for her. It’d work in my favor. Then my parents will not have to be ashamed. I thought, worrying once again if they had heard the news. Scott inching my dress up to playfully tug it above my ankles was more than I could bare. I was still aching from earlier. I looked up at him with a playful smile. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Osgar smirking, but Briana was keeping a perfect mask. When dinner was over, I smiled at him.
The Chief looked at me, as well as his wife, and I was worried that they were all too aware of what I was doing. Can they see right through me? I pushed the thought aside, reminding myself that everyone now knew that I was the Mistress. Scott had made it clear so that I would have a station here and no reason to fret. I blushed under his hard stare, but Scott didn’t seem to notice. I reached for my drink, but I couldn’t quite seem to quench the fire in my belly or the thirst that I had. I was desiring something that food and drink would not have helped with, and yet I drank the honeyed mead with delight as the harvest approached.
“Soon we will have mulled cider.” Scott said, chuckling. “Have you ever partaken in it?” He asked, and I shook my head.
“You will love it.” Briana piped in with her soft, seductive voice. Scott nodded, seemingly happy that we were getting along, and I smiled at her.
“Oh yes. I forgot that you came from such a poor village.” The Chief spoke in a voice that made me shiver. Scott huffed.
“Father there is no need to remind her of such things.” He told me.
“Scott.” His father said, sighing. It was clear in that moment that the Chief did not care for me, and it was something I would have to learn to muddle through.
“Have you thought of your parents much since coming here?” The Chief asked, and I shook my head. Briana looked at me, as if thinking for the first time.
“Have you wanted to visit them? Did they sell you, Amelia?” Briana asked in a soft, prodding voice. It was clear that she was planning something, but no one else seemed to pick up on it. I wondered briefly if I could only it, her scheming, because I’d known her so intimately recently. I turned
my thoughts to her question before I could start blushing again.
“No, Lady Briana. They did not sell me.” I said, trying to soften the hardness from my voice. The Chief and his wife leaned in closer. Scott was watching me with a mixture of apprehension and intrigue. I realized that he had not been listening when I had been sold. He did not know my story, and suddenly with his eyes boring into me, urging me on to satisfy his own curiosity, I found my voice to be a little stronger.
“I wanted to avoid a loveless marriage, and my parents were in debt. They could not pay their taxes to the McKenzie clan, as we have fallen on a hard year. There were two choices, and I made mine.” I said. My voice cracked on the words loveless marriage but had gotten stronger as I continued speaking.
“Do you regret it?” The Chief’s wife asked. I knew that she was asking me both as a woman and as Scott’s mother. I raised my eyes to meet hers briefly before bowing my head.
“No, my Lady.” I said, and I could hear a hint of a smile in her voice when she spoke next, making me wonder if she knew of Briana and Osgar.
“Good.” She said. The Chief grunted, but I could feel his eyes on me, boring into me as if he was trying to read something from me. I could not understand why he looked at me so intensely.
“Your father allowed you a choice?” He said, and I nodded.
“Yes, for which I am grateful.” I answered honestly.
I knew that right now my parents might not be the proudest, but I was still happy with the choice that I made. Even if it stung to still have to look at Scott with Briana. Not for long. I reminded myself. Everyone seemed engrossed in their own thoughts of my strange circumstances which had landed me here at their table, and the rest of the meal seemed to pass in relative silence. When I dared a glance at Lady Briana, I could tell that with that gleam in her eyes that I was right.