by Julia London
He meant to blindfold her. Blind her, so that she could not see the revenge he exacted. Instinctively, she strained against the bindings, heard Liam’s low laugh. Blindfolded, bound, and gagged, she lay naked before him, her gown bunched at her throat, and could feel her chest rising and falling with every tortured breath. His hand on her abdomen made her start; his low chuckle next to her ear was another surprise. And then his lips, so soft, on her shoulder, trailing down her side, his hand skimming her breast, kneading, rolling the stiffened tip between his fingers.
A warmth filled her, spreading between her legs, flooding her body. Ellen moved in response to his touch, but then suddenly, he was gone again. She froze, waiting—but there was no sound, no movement, and her first thought was that he had left her, left her bound to be discovered just as she had done to him. The very thought of being discovered like this was horrifying; she was suddenly straining against the bindings, turning her head, trying to see beneath the blindfold.
And then, just as suddenly, his hand was on her ankle, softly caressing, lightly trailing a path up to her thigh, brushing carelessly against the apex. Ellie shifted unthinkingly, closer or further away from him, she couldn’t tell. His mouth was suddenly on her stomach, and she unthinkingly arched into it, heard the low moan as his lips left her skin again. “No, ye’ll no’ have it as easy as this, Ellie,” he said, and without warning, he yanked the gag free of her mouth. Before she could take a breath, his lips were on hers, his tongue sweeping boldly into the recesses of her mouth, his teeth nipping at her lips, suckling them, kissing her with the passion she had felt at Peasedown Park, the crushing, bruising passion that was banging about her chest now. She wanted her arms free, wanted to hold him, and turned her head, breaking the kiss.
“Untie me,” she whispered, but Liam just laughed against her throat, and was suddenly gone again. She waited for what seemed like an eternity before she felt his hand on her knee, pushing her leg aside, then the other, spreading her open. Ellen’s body was on fire, every inch of her screaming with desire. She had expected to be punished, had expected to feel his wrath, but this…this was exquisite torture.
Something brushed against her sex, something light, something soft. There it is again. A feather. He was teasing her with a feather! Ellen strained with her body to find him, to touch him, but he had stepped away again. Panting, she waited.
“Ye want me, lass,” she heard him say from somewhere on her right, near the windows. “I can see that ye do.” His hand, between her legs. “How does it feel, then?” he asked, this time from somewhere on the left of her, near the door. “How does it feel to want someone so completely, so thoroughly, and have that desire, that love so cruelly torn from yer breast?”
“Don’t leave,” she whispered hoarsely, panicking now.
“Ah, leannan, ye’ll no’ leave me sight again.”
She felt her legs being pushed aside, his fingers on her thigh, and then—oh!—his mouth on her sex, lapping her up, devouring her, taking every part of her into his mouth, and what he could not have in him, filling with his tongue. Ellen writhed beneath him—this dark assault on her senses was overwhelming, and she felt it building between her thighs as he buried his face there. Her body began to respond with need, bucking and arching up to meet him…
And then he was gone.
She released her frustration with a cry in the dark; a hand immediately clapped over her mouth. “Be still… be still,” he whispered, soothing her, caressing her neck and her cheek, leaving the scent of her own body behind.
“Liam, I love you,” she moaned.
“Ye love me hands, me mouth,” he whispered, seemingly from somewhere above her, and shoved his hand roughly between her legs again.
Ellen closed her thighs, holding him there. “You won’t believe me, I know, and you have every right. But I was wrong, Liam, I was so wrong to have betrayed you! I came here to tell you so, I came here to beg you to forgive me!”
“Beg, then,” he said coldly, jerking his hand from her thighs and moving again. “What a fool I’ve been, Ellie, for I thought ye couldna possibly love me and betray me as ye did.”
“No, no,” she moaned, shaking her head dumbly. His hand fell to her breast; she caught her breath and held it for a moment as he caressed it. “No,” she sighed again. “I love you. I loved you from the beginning. I just…I thought it would never last, and I thought I had no choice, that Natalie would die in that place if I didn’t do something—”
His hand drifting down her belly, to her sex.
She swallowed a long sigh, forced herself to keep talking. “I thought I could do it, I thought I could just walk away and know in my heart that I had done the right thing for my daughter. But then…” She gasped as his fingers slipped between her wet folds. “But then, you came to…to Peasedown, and I—”
“Ye what?” he breathed, massaging her now. “Ye what? Say it or I’ll stop, I swear I will.”
“I…” She tried to catch her breath, tried not to sink into the furious blaze of desire he had rekindled. “I wanted you,” she breathed. “I wanted you so, wanted you just like this, your hands on me, your mouth on me. I wanted to show you that I thought only of you, dreamed only of you, that I loved only you. I wanted you, Liam—”
She caught a sob in her throat as he increased the pressure, pressing her home, to a naked release. And as she felt herself falling away, falling hard, he said, “Did ye want me like this, Ellie?”
“Yes!”
“And like this?” he said roughly, mounting her now, his body stretching the length of hers, sliding into her wet sheath until she shuddered with the emotion of it.
“I never wanted anything else,” she whimpered into his ear as he began to stroke, long and smooth, gathering her tightly in his arms as he moved. “I wanted to crawl inside of you and stay there, I wanted to hold you in my arms and kiss you, I wanted to feel you, hard and hot inside me.”
Liam moaned; his stroke lengthened, and he held her more tightly, his arms surrounding her. Ellen lifted her hips, let her head fall back with the glorious feel of him. His mouth fell to her throat, and she could scarcely talk, scarcely breathe, so divine was their joining. “I love you,” she gasped, trying to catch her breath. “I shall always love you. With my last breath I shall love you,” she moaned, feeling the pressure building again, building fast, in tune with Liam’s frantic strokes. “So take all of me,” she said, gulping, “take every inch of me, take me deep, take me hard and fast, I pray you, for I cannot endure a life without you, Liam, I cannot.”
His cry of release, in time with hers, was muffled against her throat; he clung to her, his breathing ragged, until his body spasmed once more. And then they lay, panting, their bodies wet with the exertion of his revenge.
Liam had no idea how long they lay there, but when he at last lifted his head, he saw Ellie, her head lolling back, blindfolded. Her body completely still, partially beneath him, the only evidence of life her heart pounding wildly against her chest. Slowly, he pushed himself up. He untied one of her arms, which fell limply to her side. He untied the other, watched it fall, too. Still she did not move, just lay there, as if all the life had bled out of her with that last, terrific climax. With his finger, he pushed her head to the side, removed the loosely tied blindfold, then slipped two fingers beneath her chin and turned her face so that he could look at her.
There were tears glistening in her eyes, tears that burned him; he thought that he had hurt her somehow, and that had not been his intent. But then Ellie smiled up at him, that charming, glorious smile of hers that he had kept in his heart, and she whispered, exhausted, “I do love you, Liam.”
Mo creach, he loved her, too. More than he could have even realized. But gazing on her now, he still didn’t know if he could trust her, or how he might keep her. The only thing he knew with certainty was that he couldn’t be without her. Ever. Not for a moment, a single moment. It left him feeling as if there were several pieces of himself that didn’
t quite fit together.
That raw need, so strange, so unusual, flustered him, and he stood, walked around the bed to where he had tossed his clothing, and picked up the soiled buckskins. “I donna know if that is good enough, Ellie,” he said gruffly. “In London I would have sworn on me mother’s heart that ye loved me.”
“I did!” she insisted, pushing up on her elbows, watching him. “I love you, Liam. I don’t know what else to say except that I am sorry, so terribly sorry, and I beg your forgiveness for what I did.”
“Aye, but should I give it to ye?” he asked the wall, pausing to rub his chin. “If ye love me, ye’ll return the goddamn beastie—”
“Yes, well. As to that…” she said, looking away.
Liam stopped what he was doing and stared down at her. “As to that?”
“All right, then, will you please listen to me?” she asked frantically, and turned abruptly, clasping her hands together to plead with him. “I was so torn! I didn’t know what to do, but then I came to my senses at last, and I realized that the statue did not belong to me, it belonged to you, and there is nothing I can say or think to justify taking it, nothing! And now, if you toss me out on my ear, or take me to the authorities, then so be it, I would not blame you, not at all!”
“Well, then? Where is it?” he asked sternly, his hands on his naked waist.
She winced. “I thought all these things, truly I did, and I felt them rather strongly…but I suppose I thought them a moment too late—”
“Too late?”
Cringing, Ellie drew her knees to her chest, hugged them tightly to her. “I had already sold it.”
“Ye did what?” he asked weakly, disbelieving.
“But that is why I am here!” she said, brightening. “I brought the money to you. Every last farthing—well, except for your kilt—”
“Aye, ye butchered me kilt!”
“I sold it, too,” she said, wincing again.
Would the cruel indignities ever cease? Liam groaned, covered his face with his hands.
“And used the proceeds to come here, to give you the money I got for the beastie. Don’t you see? I am trying to make amends.”
The loss of his kilt momentarily forgotten, Liam peeked up at her. All right, he had to figure out a way to see this as good news, didn’t he? And in truth, he supposed that was exactly what his family had intended to do. Ellie had simply done that for them! Ah-ha! He grinned at her proudly. “Ellie, what a clever lass ye are! Did ye give it to me father, then?”
“Um…no.”
“No?”
She shook her head and bit her lower lip.
Liam felt his heart sink a little. “Why?”
“Well, I wanted to give it to you, of course, so that you would know how sorry I am,” she said, clasping her hands to her naked breast, and to which Liam nodded impatiently. “But…but it didn’t bring quite what you had hoped, I think.”
Mary Queen of Scots, was that all? He smiled with relief. “Lass, a few hundred pounds one way or the other—”
“Five hundred?”
“Aye, five hundred pounds less than what we hoped, ’tis still a pretty sum.”
“No—I mean, five hundred pounds for the beastie. In total, that is.”
Liam blinked. Was certain he had misunderstood. “Ye mean five hundred less,” he tried to help her.
Ellie dipped her gaze away from him. “I was desperate, Liam.” Liam gasped with shock and was instantly beside her, holding her hand, beseeching her. “No, no, Ellie, say ye are jesting with me! Do no’ say ye sold the beastie for a mere five hundred pounds!”
“All right, I won’t say it,” she said weakly, and he knew a glimmer of hope in that moment…until she added softly, “But it’s true.”
“Ah, Christ,” he said, and slapping his forehead, he turned and slid to the floor, leaning against the bed on his haunches, covering his face with his hands. “Have ye any idea what ye’ve done, Ellie?” he cried angrily.
“Yes, I know,” she said quickly. “Believe me, I know very well what I’ve done—”
“No, ye canna possibly understand. Ye’ve given away our one chance to keep Talla Dileas, the one bloody thing we had in hand!” he exclaimed, shaking his empty palm to the ceiling.
“I know,” she said softly, and slid off the bed to sit next to him on the floor. “I know better than perhaps you how much this place means to all the Lockharts. I know how your mother walks the halls every morning, looking for things she might sell to put food on the table,” she whispered, drawing her knees up to her chin. “I know how your father goes to Aberfoyle every other day and says he’s gone calling on friends, when really, I suspect, he’s gone to look for work. I know how Griffin wants to be free, to go and live the life of a gentleman, but how his conscience won’t let him leave the family he loves so dearly. And I know how Mared walks to the top of Din Footh and looks over this valley and dreams of the day when her children will run on the grassy lawns and fish in the loch like you and she and Griffin did when you were children.”
Liam looked at her then, saw the tears shimmering. “Ah, Ellie…”
“I know what I’ve done, Liam. I know very well and I beg God every day to forgive me.”
He shook his head, felt the anger ebbing away.
“I’ll do anything to make up for it,” she said, putting a hand on his arm. “I’ll do anything. I’ll clean, I’ll dig trenches, I’ll learn how to hunt for food…”
Dig trenches, indeed. Liam sighed, looked heavenward, and smiled. He had known it, hadn’t he, that he’d never know a moment’s peace? He lowered his gaze, took her hand, and kissed her palm. “It must be true what they say about the beastie, eh? That it’s English and will slip through the fingers of the Scot who tries to possess it.”
“Liam…please forgive me,” she asked earnestly.
“’Twill no’ be so easy, lass,” he said solemnly, and lifted his gaze to hers. “Ye’ll pay for it all right, with yer very life, mo ghraid, for now ye must consent to marry me. I canna let ye out of me sight, clearly. And I canna live a moment with ye, so there ye have it. I’ve gone and fallen in love with a conniving little thief, the bonniest woman in all of Britain.”
“Liam!” she cried, throwing her arms around his neck. “Do you mean it? You’ll not toss me out? You truly love me still, even after all I’ve done to you?”
“Aye,” he said, his voice filled with bewilderment. “I donna understand it in the least, I swear it, and it will take the rest of yer days to repay the price of the beastie, I’d wager, though I’m bloody certain I’ll be the one to pay for it many times over. But the truth is, I love ye, Ellie. Deeply and completely, I do. I’ll forgive ye being English, and stealing from me—twice—and selling the beastie, if ye’ll just say that ye and Natalie will be mine.”
“Oh, Liam,” she sighed into his neck, and lifted her head as her hands slid from his neck to his chest. “How I love you! You’ve made me so happy,” she exclaimed, her eyes shimmering with happiness now. “I promise not to disappoint you, I promise,” she said, and put her arms around him, kissing him madly, passionately. Then abruptly, she stopped, her angel eyes still gleaming. “Let’s go wake Natalie and tell her that her prince has come at last!”
Aye, and the princess was rescued from her tower and lived happily ever after.
Liam helped her up; they dressed quickly, and hand in hand, walked across the room to the adjoining door, where Ellie paused and peeked up at him. “Ah…Liam, pardon, but I didn’t actually hear you say that you forgave me the kilt—”
“Now that,” he said, “a man canna forgive. It will cost ye dearly, it will,” and he gathered her in his arms, crushing her to him as he kissed her with all the promise of a happy life ever after.
Except that she would never so much as touch his kilt again. Never.
Thirty-two
The Lockharts were, of course, ecstatically happy that Liam was home, safe and sound. They gathered in the main salon, anxious
to hear the entire tale. They listened with great interest, all on the edge of their seats. But as the tale went on, they fell back, one by one, in shocked disbelief.
They were not, needless to say, terribly enthusiastic about the prospect of Liam’s nuptials with the woman who had sold their beastie for a pittance, and while not one of them would ever be impolite to Miss Farnsworth, they exchanged glances with one another, fidgeted with their clothing or whatever they could lay a hand on to avoid Liam’s happy smile.
It wasn’t that they didn’t care for Ellie—they all thought her quite pleasing and agreeable, and it was a fact that the laird had grown quite attached to the child, since his bairns had all grown up and were no longer as awed by his presence as they once had been. And privately, Mared liked having Ellie about, as she had never had much in the way of female companionship. But the family was, to a person, quite perturbed that she had both stolen the beastie (Liam, mercifully had been rather sketchy in the details of that fiasco) and had sold the beastie for a mere five hundred pounds. That seemed an inexcusable offense no matter how desperate she thought her situation to be.
But nevertheless, their mother, Aila, pointed out she had never seen her eldest son look quite so happy or besotted, and in truth, Ellie looked rather happy herself, to which both parties readily agreed, smiling so foolishly at one another that both Mared and Griffin moaned.
“Aye, then we’ll see them married straightaway, for I willna have the entire glen speaking ill of us,” Carson had said gruffly, to which Liam had snorted, but Mared and his mother had squealed with delight at the mere mention of a wedding.
It was Griffin who remained rather perturbed, for he had seen the beastie as their one path out of what had become a huge financial mess. “We should no’ have sent a soldier to do a gentleman’s job,” he complained loudly.